Author: Swaminathan
Date: 20:12:34 10/26/05
Go up one level in this thread
On October 26, 2005 at 21:30:57, David Mitchell wrote: >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 Hi David, Thanks for writing in,It is a refreshing read. >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. Well,there are lots of other hobbies that one could benefit from doing it. >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. yes,It is a good idea for computer chess programmers to group each other and release a strong engine that would,say have more features and more popular than a chessmaster,will any program ever get better in commercial marketing than chessmaster?Let's hope Fabien can :) >What alternative would you recommend we take up, other than CC? Reversi? >Checkers? I can hack up a pretty good Tic-Tac-Toe! :) People have less interests on other board games,I mean other than chess as there are no frequent tournaments for human >Could we get Kasparov to come out of retirement to play a Checkers match? Kaspy wouldn't even play chess,he's out of game. >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. there have been lots of controvery amonst the christians,but Da Vinci code is still a best seller,can't wait for a new movie from sony to come out :) I checked out the website a while ago,the movie has got Tom Hanks! >Dave
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