Critter 1.2 update + new homepage

[rvida]

Norman,

I dont know what you are up to, but you hijacked a thread that was meant to be about Critter (questions, bug reports, etc). If you have something to say then please start a new topic.

Now if someone has a relevant question (on the topic), it might get unnoticed and unanswered because of the noise you have produced. Please consider not posting again in this thread...

Richard

[Albert Silver]

Norman,

I dont know what you are up to, but you hijacked a thread that was meant to be about Critter (questions, bug reports, etc). If you have something to say then please start a new topic.

Now if someone has a relevant question (on the topic), it might get unnoticed and unanswered because of the noise you have produced. Please consider not posting again in this thread...

Richard

I actually thought I had misclicked the wrong thread.

Anyhow, I was hoping you might describe what you considered to be the biggest changes or improvements if anything notable.

[notyetagm]

Consider how you might feel if you spent 3 or 4 years designing and building something at your job, then just before it was finished you are fired. Someone else takes over the project and claims success and almost complete credit for your work. You did the hard part, they did very little but get the credit and an enormous bonus for a job well done! Doesn't that seem offensive?

well Don, I can certainly relate to that...

i've been working really hard on the Ippolit source code continuously for 2-3 years now...
all my free time...
i have ported virtually every release beginning w/ Ippolit 0.83 over to windows,
fixed bugs, created stability, added features, improved strength, created RobboLito 0.085g3,
and many more release...etc., etc.
and much code from Sentinel and I has found it's way back to IvanHoe...the # 3 engine in the world!
(if you don't have you head in the sand, like some)

but what do i find recognized as legitimate on the 'rating lists'?
Rybka (based on Fruit)
Houdini - almost certainly beginning w/ (cloned from) RobboLito 0.085g3
Komoda (using ideas from Ippolit/RobbolIto/Igorrit/IvanHoe)
Stockfish (using ideas from Ippolit/RobbolIto/Igorrit/IvanHoe)
etc.
etc.

but Robbolito, IvanHoe, Iggorit, and Fire are banned from tournaments and rating lists, they are illegitimate 'clones'!?

what a farce!

That is just beyond ridiculous.

[tomgdrums]

Norman,

I dont know what you are up to, but you hijacked a thread that was meant to be about Critter (questions, bug reports, etc). If you have something to say then please start a new topic.

Now if someone has a relevant question (on the topic), it might get unnoticed and unanswered because of the noise you have produced. Please consider not posting again in this thread...

Richard

Hey Richard!

Thanks for putting Critter up on it's own site! I downloaded it today and it is working great. I am very excited to use Critter for analysis now!

[kranium]

Norman,

I dont know what you are up to, but you hijacked a thread that was meant to be about Critter (questions, bug reports, etc). If you have something to say then please start a new topic.

Now if someone has a relevant question (on the topic), it might get unnoticed and unanswered because of the noise you have produced. Please consider not posting again in this thread...

Richard

I agree with this. Komodo has borrowed much from:

1. Ideas presented on this forum.
2. Ideas implemented in Stockfish
3. Ideas implemented in the Ippo family

We have some ideas of our own too of course as do all the good programs.

One thing that is perhaps not given enough credit is the huge importance of massive automated testing - in some sense I think this has been the major breakthrough of the past few years. It has not really been possible to do this well within a reasonable budget until multi-core chips have become ubiquitous.

Richard-

i did not hijack this thread...not sure why you are blaming me for the diversion.

if you look closely, you'll see that i simply responded to Don's message above, and the other self-congratulatory
messages concerning the Ippo sources...
all of which which (to the best of my knowledge?) has nothing to do with your Critter 1.2 release.
and there are quite a few other posts that have nothing to with Critter as well...

but I do understand your point and will respect your request.

Norm

[Sylwy]

Hi Norm !

Unil now -10h 54' CET- you have :

10,588235294% from the posts in this thread !
Impressive !

All are not about Critter 1.2 bugs or features !
Impressive again !


Regards,
SilvianR

[IanO]

A Mac OS X binary would be very much appreciated. Shouldn't be much different than creating a Linux binary---provided you have access to a Mac.

Unfortunately I do not have access to a Mac. In our country they are not very popular (OTOH iPhones do sell like hotcakes). We need to find some volunteer to compile a OSX binary.

Mac OS X version is now available.
Jeremy Bernstein has kindly volunteered to compile it for me.
Big thanks.

Richard

Thanks also! Looks to be on par with Stockfish as the strongest Mac engines available.

[rvida]

Anyhow, I was hoping you might describe what you considered to be the biggest changes or improvements if anything notable.

You would be surprised but the biggest improvements were achieved by bug-fixing. Critter 1.01 was my worst release ever. Despite being stronger than 0.90 (elo-wise), it was worse in almost all aspects: it was weaker tactically, had a very strange un-human positional sense, and a very boring playing style. With 1.2 most of its shortcomings seem to be fixed, but I still think the 0.90 was the cleanest and most bug-free version of Critter.

Richard

[BubbaTough]

Anyhow, I was hoping you might describe what you considered to be the biggest changes or improvements if anything notable.

You would be surprised but the biggest improvements were achieved by bug-fixing. Critter 1.01 was my worst release ever. Despite being stronger than 0.90 (elo-wise), it was worse in almost all aspects: it was weaker tactically, had a very strange un-human positional sense, and a very boring playing style. With 1.2 most of its shortcomings seem to be fixed, but I still think the 0.90 was the cleanest and most bug-free version of Critter.

Richard

I was wondering about that. After our chat in TCEC I decided to stick with 0.9 in my tested since I like the beta in results to be because of my own bugs, not the bugs of the testbed programs. If most of the oddities are gone, however, perhaps I should move to 1.2, particularly since I like to test with time advantages against strong engine such as yours and it seems 1.2's improvement is particularly large at fast time controls.

-Sam

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Anyhow, I was hoping you might describe what you considered to be the biggest changes or improvements if anything notable.

You would be surprised but the biggest improvements were achieved by bug-fixing. Critter 1.01 was my worst release ever. Despite being stronger than 0.90 (elo-wise), it was worse in almost all aspects: it was weaker tactically, had a very strange un-human positional sense, and a very boring playing style. With 1.2 most of its shortcomings seem to be fixed, but I still think the 0.90 was the cleanest and most bug-free version of Critter.

Richard

And that's why it recieved a permanent spot in my rating list....it will always be the milestone of the Critter's chess developement
Dr.D