4 ms·

The only thing I can find is one of the original versions of the chess engine. It's still running on a free web-host: http://blitzter.atspace.com/ http://blitzt

by pattrn 9y ago

The only thing I can find is one of the original versions of the chess engine. It's still running on a free web-host: http://blitzter.atspace.com/ http://blitzter.atspace.com/. Pardon the writing style of 16-year old me. Unfortunately, I can't find any of the newer versions of the engine or the FPGA code. I wrote most of the newer versions in college, eight to ten years ago; the hard-drive for my desktop may be around my house somewhere, but it will take some time to find, setup, and search. You've piqued nostalgic interest, so I may just do that... I'm currently running a small software agency in the Boston area that employs a couple developers. One of our larger clients integrates their AI-based product with larger customers' platforms, and my company does quite a few of the implementations. That has given me enough of a taste for now; hopefully we can pivot completely into that space one day. For now, I'm enjoying working at an arm's reach.

exikyut 9y ago
Wow, I think I was in the middle of finding PHP really hard when I was 16... :) I'm falling over a bit at how the high-bit-finding system actually works (in http://blitzter.atspace.com/documents/game/index.html http://blitzter.atspace.com/documents/game/index.html), along with the rest of the page to be honest. I'd say this is 90% my brain not being great at this sort of thing, and 10% me not knowing chess (shh). I'm very impressed though. It's great that you're able to keep AI on the radar in a reasonable capacity, even if it's not front and center at the moment. Hopefully the pivot you mention does happen one day, and works out really well. :)
- pattrn 9y ago
  I won't lie: all of this was incredibly difficult and time consuming to learn. Homeschooling was a double edged sword. On one hand, I had five to six extra hours per day for activities like this; on the other hand, I had no teacher, so I relied on Barnes and Noble and rare internet access. It took many years to reach even a basic level of competence. Sixteen year old me also found most things quite difficult :). That said, the page definitely lacks the rigor necessary to communicate the concepts used in the chess engine -- another downside of my education. My parents emphasized engineering related subjects over everything else, which held back the development of my writing while accelerating subjects like math. You can see that pretty clearly in the descriptions on the site. Regardless, the terminology is correct, so it's easy to find a more clear explanation by searching for it elsewhere. Perhaps it's better to think of the descriptions as a poorly written glossary. Talking about this brings me back to a time where I wrote software because it satisfied a burning passion, and not because it paid the bills. I still enjoy it, but with less intensity. Maybe that will return if I can get into AI again. Thank you for the kind words! I've thoroughly enjoyed this conversation.

by pattrn 9y ago

exikyut 9y ago

Wow, I think I was in the middle of finding PHP really hard when I was 16... :) I'm falling over a bit at how the high-bit-finding system actually works (in http://blitzter.atspace.com/documents/game/index.html http://blitzter.atspace.com/documents/game/index.html), along with the rest of the page to be honest. I'd say this is 90% my brain not being great at this sort of thing, and 10% me not knowing chess (shh). I'm very impressed though. It's great that you're able to keep AI on the radar in a reasonable capacity, even if it's not front and center at the moment. Hopefully the pivot you mention does happen one day, and works out really well. :)

pattrn 9y ago
I won't lie: all of this was incredibly difficult and time consuming to learn. Homeschooling was a double edged sword. On one hand, I had five to six extra hours per day for activities like this; on the other hand, I had no teacher, so I relied on Barnes and Noble and rare internet access. It took many years to reach even a basic level of competence. Sixteen year old me also found most things quite difficult :). That said, the page definitely lacks the rigor necessary to communicate the concepts used in the chess engine -- another downside of my education. My parents emphasized engineering related subjects over everything else, which held back the development of my writing while accelerating subjects like math. You can see that pretty clearly in the descriptions on the site. Regardless, the terminology is correct, so it's easy to find a more clear explanation by searching for it elsewhere. Perhaps it's better to think of the descriptions as a poorly written glossary. Talking about this brings me back to a time where I wrote software because it satisfied a burning passion, and not because it paid the bills. I still enjoy it, but with less intensity. Maybe that will return if I can get into AI again. Thank you for the kind words! I've thoroughly enjoyed this conversation.