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Subject: Re: What constitutes a clone?

Author: Daniel Shawul

Date: 04:25:08 02/16/05

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On February 16, 2005 at 07:08:08, Daniel Shawul wrote:

And it doesn't matter to me how a clone is defined here.
We will use that same definition for the other engines too.

>On February 15, 2005 at 18:38:43, John Merlino wrote:
>
>Hello all,
>i think this thread is probably about DanChess.
>So i will propose this deal.
>If you form a group of inspecting people here,I will send my code.
>And those people will post their results here, so that this matter is
>settled. I would like also to know which things specifically are cloned.
>
>I will post any open source engine's code as my defense
>
>daniel
>
>>I'm not trying to start a brutally long thread here, but I'm just curious about
>>how people feel about a particularly touchy subject -- clones. What, in your
>>mind, would lead you to the conclusion that an engine is a clone?
>>
>>Let's forget trying to find ways to PROVE that a clone is a clone; I'm just
>>trying to define one. For the sake of argument, assume that the author of this
>>engine in question tells you exactly what he did and did not do, and you must
>>decide whether to call it a clone or not.
>>
>>Here are some hypothetical questions to start the debate:
>>
>>If the author took Crafty and completely rewrote the evaluation code and nothing
>>else, would it be a clone?
>>
>>How about if the author rewrote the evaluation code and search algorithm only,
>>but left the hashing code, et. al.?
>>
>>How about if the author rewrote everything EXCEPT for the evaluation?
>>
>>How about if the author rewrote everything EXCEPT for Crafty's evaluation of
>>passed pawns?
>>
>>I think you can see where I'm driving. Obviously, many engine authors have
>>studied Crafty and other engines whose authors have graciously provided their
>>source code. But, for an engine to not be considered a clone, does it have to be
>>absolutely 100% the work of the author? (Forget about Nalimov's EGTB probing
>>code and any other code that can be used with permission).
>>
>>Many thanks in advance for your thoughts,
>>
>>jm (who's just preparing for any eventuality during his upcoming stint as
>>moderator :-)



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