3 ms·

You need to switch your data representation to 0x88 [1] or bitbords [2] to get anything performant. You won't get anywhere with a class hierarchy [1] https://w

by durbat 7y ago

You need to switch your data representation to 0x88 [1] or bitbords [2] to get anything performant. You won't get anywhere with a class hierarchy [1] https://www.chessprogramming.org/0x88 https://www.chessprogramming.org/0x88 [2] https://www.chessprogramming.org/Bitboards https://www.chessprogramming.org/Bitboards

saagarjha 7y ago
Perhaps they don’t need anything performant? You don’t need a bitboard for everything. (They’re also not always performant.)
voz_ 7y ago
If the API is well written, this is an implementation detail.
- durbat 7y ago
  Well, it depends on the project goals. For a GUI app I can agree but good luck writing a chess engine where data representation is hidden behind an abstract interface.
  - blackflame7000 6y ago
    Abstract as in using bit-boards or proper abstraction as in giving a clean interface to interact with a model and let the implementation worry about itself?
thom 7y ago
If someone just wants a library to power a chess UI this isn't really necessary. Either way I'd suggest the author finish off the current implementation until they can get perft and other automated tests up and running first. That said, chess programming is a _wonderful_ education in Computer Science, and you'll be following in the footsteps of so many great figures in the industry. Understanding bitboards and how to work with them can take you all the way from the bit-twiddling chapters of The Art of Computer Programming, right up to recent advances in CPU architecture and instruction sets. Learning how search works will teach you both very low techniques and high level heuristics in performance optimisation. And of course you can go all all the way up to recent advances in evaluation from deep learning.
blackflame7000 7y ago
Yea and you probably also need OpenCL or CUDA and several GPUs to get anything really “performant”. The basic OO model is good for its own purposes
reitzensteinm 7y ago
You need to consider the goals of a project before giving advice.
- durbat 7y ago
  OP mentions chess AI and game analyzer. Those would benefit from an optimized data representation.
  - reitzensteinm 6y ago
    But both can also be written optimizing for simplicity and clarity at the cost of performance. Competing with the state of the art is not an implicit goal for every project.

by durbat 7y ago

saagarjha 7y ago

Perhaps they don’t need anything performant? You don’t need a bitboard for everything. (They’re also not always performant.)

voz_ 7y ago

If the API is well written, this is an implementation detail.

durbat 7y ago
Well, it depends on the project goals. For a GUI app I can agree but good luck writing a chess engine where data representation is hidden behind an abstract interface.
- blackflame7000 6y ago
  Abstract as in using bit-boards or proper abstraction as in giving a clean interface to interact with a model and let the implementation worry about itself?

thom 7y ago

If someone just wants a library to power a chess UI this isn't really necessary. Either way I'd suggest the author finish off the current implementation until they can get perft and other automated tests up and running first. That said, chess programming is a _wonderful_ education in Computer Science, and you'll be following in the footsteps of so many great figures in the industry. Understanding bitboards and how to work with them can take you all the way from the bit-twiddling chapters of The Art of Computer Programming, right up to recent advances in CPU architecture and instruction sets. Learning how search works will teach you both very low techniques and high level heuristics in performance optimisation. And of course you can go all all the way up to recent advances in evaluation from deep learning.

blackflame7000 7y ago

Yea and you probably also need OpenCL or CUDA and several GPUs to get anything really “performant”. The basic OO model is good for its own purposes

reitzensteinm 7y ago

You need to consider the goals of a project before giving advice.

durbat 7y ago
OP mentions chess AI and game analyzer. Those would benefit from an optimized data representation.
- reitzensteinm 6y ago
  But both can also be written optimizing for simplicity and clarity at the cost of performance. Competing with the state of the art is not an implicit goal for every project.