Author: Dann Corbit
Date: 17:36:33 12/12/05
Go up one level in this thread
On December 12, 2005 at 20:07:08, Uri Blass wrote:
>On December 12, 2005 at 19:30:50, stuart taylor wrote:
>
>>It's very interesting, and I don't think it ever happened before, that
>>non-commercial programs came out, and became rulers over the commercial ones.
>>And not only that, but SEVERAL have now done just that.
>>
>>How did it suddenly happen all at once?
>>
>>Perhaps there were a few very talented programmers who all thought they were
>>going to outsmart the best, and then one released his, and then the other one
>>broke his silence, and showed he could do the same (or better), and then they
>>ALL went wild together? There are about atleast 4 programs which should make
>>stunning headlines, BUT, they all have rivals!
>>
>>Or perhaps there was a good book that came out, for programming something
>>special, and all those who saw it, went for it. But alas, they had company.
>>
>>How and why now?
>
>You can blame Fabien about it.
>After he released fruit2.1 other learned.
I doubt it (for the most part) {though it is also clear that he has advanced
state of the art computer chess programs}.
Zappa was world champion before any Fruit code became available (IIRC).
Rybka seems rather different than Fruit.
Similarly for Spike.
I think that the situation is similar to what was going on in Newton's time
frame.
Newton, Leibnitz [and Pascal to some degree] simultaneously developed calculus.
Hooke claimed also some of it to be his invention.
But the precursors had built up to the point where *someone* was going to invent
it eventually.
I attribute the leaps and bounds improvments to the following:
1. Lots of good, public, new ideas
2. Some good private new ideas
3. Some really good programmers getting interested in computer chess.
Ten years from now, Fruit-level programs will be the norm and not the exception,
even for a beginner. That is because information is advancing and smart people
are adding their input. It's like a snowball rolling downhill. It can't help
but get bigger.
Fabien is responsible for some innovations. I guess that 2/3 of the chess
programmers don't even understand them yet. At some point, it will become clear
but by then there will be new fresh ideas. Probably just as important as having
new ideas is implementing the ideas in a robust and correct manner. I think
that is the most important lesson we can glean from Fabien's code.
P.S.
I predict he will have a very hard time writing a SMP version because of all the
global variables. So catching Anthony Cozzie might be hard in the near term
[before the end of 2006]. I do not know about the organization of Rybka's code.
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