Re: computer-go: Interfacing 2 engines for automated play

[heikki@xxxxxx]

On Thu, Apr 19, 2001 at 06:09:10PM -0400, Fant, Chris wrote:

> 1.  What interface (go modem protocol, local IGS server, local NNTS server,
> OpenGo, or CGoban) will have the lowest overhead and be able allow the fastest
> play?

I think go modem is pretty fast, especially if you do not do it over modem,
but over stdin/stdout, like GnuGo does. I believe the time is neglible
compared to anything you may want to do inside your program (transmitting a
few bytes from one process to another)
 
> 2.  Do the good Go engines usually make these interfaces available to the
> public?  Because it seems that if you made a living from writing Go software for
> public consumption or competition, you may not want that kind of insight into
> you engine accessible.  In other words, if someone did make a learning Go
> program good enough, it could be trained specifically to take out a difficult
> opponent.

I don't think many programmers worry about the possibility. So far we
haven't seen much success with learning programs. Maybe things change if you
turn out to be wildly successfull...  Even then, many programmers here are
quite willing to discuss the internals of their programs, and stuff like
GnuGo is open source, so anyone can look inside. 

-H

-- 
Heikki Levanto  LSD - Levanto Software Development   <heikki@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>