Author: Dann Corbit
Date: 04:24:43 02/15/99
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On February 15, 1999 at 04:43:47, Rémi Coulom wrote: >It is a long time since I have considered releasing the source code of The Crazy >Bishop since I think that it would be an excellent opportunity to share ideas >with other programmers. However, the recent Bionic scandal and the older Gunda >case show that doing so could cause problems. I would like to publish it anyway, >since most tournament organizers are now aware of this problem and include >necessary rules to avoid double entries. Anyway, if anyone here thinks that I >should not publish the source code of TCB, I would like to hear from him(her) >before I take this irreversible and possibly harmful decision. I've been in software development since the mid 70's and I see a new crisis brewing. In the 70's, people used to publish their algorithms at the ACM just for the joy of finding them. Some really incredible stuff got published that way. After a while that dried up to a degree because people realized that they could make more money by keeping their discoveries to themselves (though algorithms still do get published that way, it's not like the old days). Now we see a new problem. People want to be helpful and teach. Yet some people will abuse that trust in ways not intended. Instead of using the code for examples and to gain understanding, they might just slap their name on it and enter it in a contest. :-( I don't think that there are solutions to problems of this kind, any more than there are ways to clear cheaters off of ICC. You can stop publishing your source code. Then all the honest people who want to learn how to write chess programs get punished and have to reinvent the wheel. This will retard chess programming, as it is an incredibly complex subject. You can keep publishing your code and have persons simply take it and claim it is theirs. The original author gets punished, and all those that have to compete against the 'new' entry at a contest. The good guys get punished both ways. With imperfect humans running the show, and society the way it is today, I don't think that any solution will be without flaws. I would say that at a minimum you should put copyright notices in your code. But apparently, this is not much of a protection in Europe (according to some emails I have received). Maybe someone else has some better ideas.
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