Author: Bo Persson
Date: 08:48:15 08/25/05
Go up one level in this thread
On August 24, 2005 at 16:21:39, José Carlos wrote: >On August 24, 2005 at 12:47:37, Bo Persson wrote: > >>On August 23, 2005 at 16:50:48, José Carlos wrote: >> >>> I agree with you and Uri about there's no clear definition of what a clone is. >> >>Of course there is, if you have copied the code it's a clone. If you have >>written it yourself, it is original. >> >> >>>"Having source code of other engines" is miles away from clear. Example: I have >>>in my code: >>> >>>int i = 0; >>> >>> Either it is in some prior program (I'm a cloner) or in some later program (he >>>cloned me -early versions of Averno were open source-). >> >>Yes, but did you think of this line yourself, or did you paste it from another >>program? > > > For sure I didn't invent that line myself. I've seen it many times in other >programs. It doesn't matter if you have seen it before. For this particular line, did you write int i = 0; because *you* figured out that you needed an integer or just because some other program does that. Why did you name it i and not j or k? Would you have used j if Crafty or Fruit did? If you figured out that you needed this code, it's ok. > > >>> Of course copying that line is not cloning. >> >>Of course it is!! > > > Come on! You can't expect people inventing C language everytime. Of course >I've copied that line. I learnt it in the university, I didn't figure it out >myself. And of course I'm not a cloner for that. Using things you have learned is exactly what you should do! Cutting and pasting is not. > > If I take an open source program, make some small changes and release it, I >know I'm a cloner. But if I study crafty and then I implement rotated >bitboards... am I a cloner? I honestly say I don't know. It depends on how you do it. Is it cut-and-paste or a separate design? If your code is 100% like Crafty, it is easy to tell. If it is just similar it is harder to say. But the author still knows how the code was created. I have rotated bitboards in my program, implemented after reading Bob's descriptions and peeking at Crafty's code (and other programs). Then I wrote my code, independently. It took me several years before I noticed that Bob's bitboards are rotated 0, 90, and +/- 45 degrees. My bitboards happen to be rotated 0, 45, 90, and 135 degrees. Definitely not a cut-and-paste, but using the same ideas - which is ok. >> >>"Copying or retyping other code is cloning. Writing it yourself is not." :-) > > > Read above. People learn programming from others. People use instructions they >have learnt before. Then, everybody are cloners? No, you can use the ideas, but not the code. When I write this text I use words that have been written before. That's not cloning. If copy it from someone else, it is. Bo Persson
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.