From: Tord Romstad gmail com> Date: 16 jan 2007 Subject: Re: Some thoughts on computer Shogi ------=_Part_363214_7665854.1168944978993 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Hello Adrian, Thanks for your reply! On 1/15/07, Adrian Petrescu cogeco ca> wrote: > > > I am very glad to read this post by you. In fact, just a week or two > ago, I posted something very similar myself (you should check the > archive for it), where I complained not about the lack of a standard > engine protocol, but about the lack of a standard file format. For > example, whereas Chess has .pgn and Go has .sgf, Shogi has about three > or four different competing standards that nobody can agree upon. Yes, that's also a problem. It seems to me that there also isn't a standardized FEN notation for shogi positions. Am I right? Although you are writing a Shogi engine and I am writing a Shogi server > for online play, our core problems are the same -- the fragmented and > lacking state of software and standards in the shogi community. > > I propose that a few of us who are interested in bringing new > technologies to the Shogi community begin a group of sorts to lay out a > lot of these standards. And there's a lot that needs to be designed -- > file formats, engine protocols, and probably a lot more. Once these are > laid down "in stone" I think it will warm up a lot to outside developers > who may wish to contribute to this community. > That's a nice idea. Once we have sufficiently many interested people, we can set up a mailing list or a Web-based discussion forum somewhere. At any rate, I would still be interested in contacting you with regards > to engine protocols :) It would be a nice feature to my server if I > could write, say, a UCI client so computer shogi programs could connect > and play as well. > > I have this feeling that pretty big things are going to be happening to > the English-language shogi community pretty soon! I hope you are right, but I hope it will not be restricted to the Englilsh-language shogi community. :-) > So please contact me Tord, either on the list or off as you prefer it, > as I would really like to discuss your plans further! :) Unless people start complaining about too much noise, I think it is better to keep the discussion on the list for the moment. We need to attract the attention of as many people as possible, and this is obviously easier when we discuss in public. Tord --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: shogi-l shogi net EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a2i6Ys.aBsjvI.c2hvZ2kt Or send an email to: shogi-unsubscribe topica com For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit: http://www.topica.com/?p=TEXFOOTER --^---------------------------------------------------------------- ------=_Part_363214_7665854.1168944978993 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Hello Adrian,

Thanks for your reply!

On 1/15/07, Adrian Petrescu <adrianp@cogeco ca> wrote:

I am very glad to read this post by you. In fact, just a week or two
ago, I posted something very similar myself (you should check the
archive for it), where I complained not about the lack of a standard
engine protocol, but about the lack of a standard file format. For
example, whereas Chess has .pgn and Go has .sgf, Shogi has about three
or four different competing standards that nobody can agree upon.

Yes, that's also a problem. It seems to me that there also isn't a standardized FEN notation for shogi positions. Am I right?

Although you are writing a Shogi engine and I am writing a Shogi server
for online play, our core problems are the same -- the fragmented and
lacking state of software and standards in the shogi community.

I propose that a few of us who are interested in bringing new
technologies to the Shogi community begin a group of sorts to lay out a
lot of these standards. And there's a lot that needs to be designed --
file formats, engine protocols, and probably a lot more. Once these are
laid down "in stone" I think it will warm up a lot to outside developers
who may wish to contribute to this community.

That's a nice idea. Once we have sufficiently many interested people, we can set up a mailing list or a Web-based discussion forum somewhere.

At any rate, I would still be interested in contacting you with regards
to engine protocols :) It would be a nice feature to my server if I
could write, say, a UCI client so computer shogi programs could connect
and play as well.

I have this feeling that pretty big things are going to be happening to
the English-language shogi community pretty soon!

I hope you are right, but I hope it will not be restricted to the Englilsh-language shogi community. :-)

So please contact me Tord, either on the list or off as you prefer it,
as I would really like to discuss your plans further! :)

Unless people start complaining about too much noise, I think it is better to keep the discussion on the list for the moment. We need to attract the attention of as many people as possible, and this is obviously easier when we discuss in public.

Tord

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