Author: David Mitchell
Date: 18:30:57 10/26/05
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On October 26, 2005 at 09:08:09, Swaminathan wrote: >This post is questioning,nothing against the charter > >Is writing a chess program as hobby a waste of time?A long time ago,Bruce said >that most people can write a program,meaning it's not hard to write but it takes >a lot of time to produce a bug free engine >and also what does the tester benefit from testing a lot and producing a whole >wade of logs,games and results? >You are not going to benefit a lot of money from releasing the product >commercial unless it is more like chessmaster >There are already a lots of engines available for free download,I don't see any >point in producing a new engine no matter how strong it is,and what unique style >the program plays >I know most programmers here would disagree with me and some testers would flame >me,but atleast this is a positive criticsm in question, and it is not against >the efforts of a programmer nor against the hobby time pass of testers,I respect >their work.You are not going to flame the work of Dan Brown when he brings >criticsm against christianity. >PS:I'm not gonna respond to sub thread message if it contains rudeness,flaming >etc > > >Swami For most hobby chess programmers, it is a challenge, and a labor of love. Not a way to fatten their wallets. Most hobbies are that way - you don't make money from them, but instead spend your money and leisure time enjoying them. Think about other hobbies: astronomers, bird-watchers, sports fans of all kinds. They don't make money, they spend it on telescopes, binoculars, stadium tickets, and books and magazines that specialize in their hobby. Bruce is probably right, but he speaks from the perspective of a professional programmer, not an amateur. For myself, I can only say it is quite challenging, and easily the largest program I've ever written. For the tester, there has to be that satisfaction of pushing a program, selflessly forward. To any programmer, such a person is a treasure, and greatly appreciated. For both the programmer and any testers, I agree with you, there is little economic incentive for most programs, and most programs will not be in the same comprehensive scale as CM. What alternative would you recommend we take up, other than CC? Reversi? Checkers? I can hack up a pretty good Tic-Tac-Toe! :) Could we get Kasparov to come out of retirement to play a Checkers match? Dan Brown is a good writer, but his work is just fiction. In a free society, he can criticize any institution (including religion), that he wishes. Despite any assertions to the contrary, God's salesmen are hardly free from sin. Dave
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