Author: Bob Durrett
Date: 17:03:29 02/19/04
Microprocessors are lovable little creatures which are ADORED by all programmers, both male and female, because they are so easy [ : ) ] to program. [That, in fact, is part of the problem.] There is even a new breed of digital engineers who have wrapped their entire careers around the little cuties. Many programmers owe their very professional existence to microprocessors. It's all an evil deception intended to make programmers and engineers alike go astray. When microprocessors first became widely available, about thirty years ago, they hit the technical world like an atom bomb. People jumped on the microprocessor bandwagon like they were the best thing since sex and now some even worship microprocessors! The new programmers, scientists, and engineers just coming out of college think that microprocessors [and EPROMS] have been around forever, since before creation, and that it is a SIN to design anything which does not contain at least one microprocessor. It is the speed and sequential nature of microprocessors which is both their strength and their weakness, depending on the application. A chess programmer sees a microprocessor as being a gift from Heaven, along with the alpha/beta algorithm. [Shannon is seen as being a Saint.] If a chess engine were functionally decomposed into simple functional elements and if it were decided to provide hardware to perform those simple functions, then you can be sure that the modern designer would, without hesitation, reach for a microprocessor. Why? Because "That's the way things are done." Each functional element would have it's own dedicated microprocessor. Suppose the overall function of a chess engine were accomplished, mainly, by performing the various functions sequentially, one after the other. Suppose also that each function is performed by hardware elements each containing a microprocessor. What would happen? Since the functions would be performed one after the other [i.e. sequentially] and since each individual simple function would be performed by the sequential process within the microprocessor for that simple functional element, then the net result would be no faster or better than doing the entire chess engine function on a single microprocessor. To make this completely evident, note that I am postulating that only one microprocessor is working at any given time and that after one finishes the next starts. It should be evident that trying to create a hardware version of a chess engine should involve few if any microprocessors. Only those tasks which cannot possibly be performed non-sequentially should have a microprocessor. If more than one microprocessor must be used, then a way should be found for them to run in parallel. Better would be no microprocessors at all. The problem is that hardware designers skilled in digital design without the use of microprocessors is a breed of cat which may have long since become extinct. Satan laughs!!! Bob D.
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