Author: Dave Gomboc
Date: 12:23:00 06/02/99
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On June 02, 1999 at 13:51:47, Melvin S. Schwartz wrote: >Well, if I am wrong, than blame the people responsible for writing in both the >manuals for Hiarcs 7 and Fritz 5.32 that the programs strength would be better >by running them on a faster pc! > >Mel Why would we blame them? That their statement is correct does not make the other statement incorrect. program A running on a P90: rating = 2400 program B running on a P90: rating = 2410 program A running on a P200MMX: rating = 2450 program B running on a P200MMX: rating = 2440 program A running on a K2-450: rating = 2480 program B running on a K2-450: rating = 2480 Both programs play better as the hardware improves. But which program is better? If you tested only on "equal hardware", you could come up with any of three conclusions, depending on what hardware you happened to pick! And your answer might change every time a new CPU is tested. There are other problems with "play a match on equal hardware" as well. Situations such as "program A beats program B, program B beats program C, program C beats program A" are common. Which of these is the best program? Tough to decide, isn't it? So I hope that you can appreciate these arguments and agree that attempting to come up with a player rating, where a player is comprised of hardware and software, is a good solution to the question "how good is it?", and indeed, a better solution than various alternatives such as playing short matches. Dave
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