Terminating the ChessGUI project.

Discussion about chess-playing software (engines, hosts, opening books, platforms, etc...)
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Matthias Gemuh
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Terminating the ChessGUI project.

Post by Matthias Gemuh » Fri Aug 27, 2010 6:18 am

Terminating the ChessGUI project.

There's nothing as bad as a buggy GUI.
I have not been able to account for time forfeits under Windows 64-Bit. Furthermore, ChessGUI has crashed 3 times in just a few days in Martin Thoresen's tournament. If I cannot figure out the cause of the crashes, it makes no sense to continue with the ChessGUI project.
If the project must end here, I shall update ChessGUI one last time.

Cheers,
Matthias.
Aided by engines, GMs can be very strong.
http://www.hylogic.de

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thorstenczub
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Re: Terminating the ChessGUI project.

Post by thorstenczub » Fri Aug 27, 2010 6:46 am

don't give up.
time will help you to find the bugs.
make something different then programming.
suddenly, the mind is free. and the bugs come to the surface.

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Uly
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Re: Terminating the ChessGUI project.

Post by Uly » Fri Aug 27, 2010 7:04 am

All software has bugs, that you can't fix them isn't a good reason to quit IMHO. And I'd use ChessGUI if it supported the features I'm interested in even if it crashed now and then.

Have you considered open sourcing it so people that want to continue the project are able to? You might be surprised about how many people would be interested.

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Matthias Gemuh
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Re: Terminating the ChessGUI project.

Post by Matthias Gemuh » Fri Aug 27, 2010 8:38 am

thorstenczub wrote:don't give up.
time will help you to find the bugs.
make something different then programming.
suddenly, the mind is free. and the bugs come to the surface.
That is often the best thing to do. ;)
Aided by engines, GMs can be very strong.
http://www.hylogic.de

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Matthias Gemuh
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Re: Terminating the ChessGUI project.

Post by Matthias Gemuh » Fri Aug 27, 2010 8:48 am

Ovyron wrote:All software has bugs, that you can't fix them isn't a good reason to quit IMHO. And I'd use ChessGUI if it supported the features I'm interested in even if it crashed now and then.

Have you considered open sourcing it so people that want to continue the project are able to? You might be surprised about how many people would be interested.
Open sourcing code as mine is, can be extremely embarassing even for a hobby programmer like me :D .
I once gave out the source code, though.
Aided by engines, GMs can be very strong.
http://www.hylogic.de

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kingliveson
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Re: Terminating the ChessGUI project.

Post by kingliveson » Fri Aug 27, 2010 12:30 pm

Matthias Gemuh wrote:Terminating the ChessGUI project.

There's nothing as bad as a buggy GUI.
I have not been able to account for time forfeits under Windows 64-Bit. Furthermore, ChessGUI has crashed 3 times in just a few days in Martin Thoresen's tournament. If I cannot figure out the cause of the crashes, it makes no sense to continue with the ChessGUI project.
If the project must end here, I shall update ChessGUI one last time.

Cheers,
Matthias.
This is what happens when you let Mechanical Engineers handle work that is for Computer Engineers. :)
On a serious note, if you are developing an application and it just works without bugs, it is definitely not a sophisticated program.

Lately, for tournaments with 3 or more engines, I only use ChessGUI because it's easier to use, pause and resume, provides unique features -- and I suspect it is why Martin decided to move on to ChessGUI. I have not had a single ChessGUI crash. Let me repeat that; I have not had a single ChessGUI crash. Does our friend needs to check his over-clocked system for stability?

I did notice one particular engine was having more than normal time losses on ChessGUI. Guess what? That same engine has the exact problem with Arena GUI. After a small correction on the engine side, it no longer loses on time, and 1 minute sudden death matches can now be played without problem.

We understand you do this only for fun and sincerely appreciate it, but quitting or terminating the project because of a couple minor bugs is just silly -- there's just no other word to describe it. Perhaps a short break from the project is what's needed.

Franklin
PAWN : Knight >> Bishop >> Rook >>Queen

Roger Brown
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Re: Terminating the ChessGUI project.

Post by Roger Brown » Fri Aug 27, 2010 1:56 pm

kingliveson wrote:
[SNIP]

We understand you do this only for fun and sincerely appreciate it, but quitting or terminating the project because of a couple minor bugs is just silly -- there's just no other word to describe it. Perhaps a short break from the project is what's needed.

Franklin


Hello Franklin,

I regard Matthias as a friend so I would not be as harsh in my description but essentially I agree with it.

:-)

Besides, until he incorporates Chessbase native engines and skins it cannot be a finished product.

Who says that fans of free stuff cannot be pushy?

:-)

Seriously though Matthias, when it works for most and not all it is reasonably good design.

Do not let perfectionist tendencies get in the way of pretty good.

Later.

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Matthias Gemuh
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Re: Terminating the ChessGUI project.

Post by Matthias Gemuh » Fri Aug 27, 2010 2:07 pm

kingliveson wrote: This is what happens when you let Mechanical Engineers handle work that is for Computer Engineers. :)
On a serious note, if you are developing an application and it just works without bugs, it is definitely not a sophisticated program.

Lately, for tournaments with 3 or more engines, I only use ChessGUI because it's easier to use, pause and resume, provides unique features -- and I suspect it is why Martin decided to move on to ChessGUI. I have not had a single ChessGUI crash. Let me repeat that; I have not had a single ChessGUI crash. Does our friend needs to check his over-clocked system for stability?

I did notice one particular engine was having more than normal time losses on ChessGUI. Guess what? That same engine has the exact problem with Arena GUI. After a small correction on the engine side, it no longer loses on time, and 1 minute sudden death matches can now be played without problem.

We understand you do this only for fun and sincerely appreciate it, but quitting or terminating the project because of a couple minor bugs is just silly -- there's just no other word to describe it. Perhaps a short break from the project is what's needed.

Franklin
If I don't upgrade to Windows 64-Bit soon, chasing a crash bug can be very frustrating, as the GUI runs fine on my WindowsXP32.
Any feedback from Windows 64-Bit guys helps quite a bit.
BTW, Martin says he has previously run ChessGUI for weeks without a crash. Either it was a more stable version or he ran it on Win32, I guess.
Here are some reasons why I will at least continue using ChessGUI: it has some partly unique features like Team Fight, Infinite Swiss, Swiss with TC gradients, double-round Swiss with alternating colours, multi-engine gauntlets, unparalleled support of Chess960, support of 10x8 chess, etc.

Matthias.
Aided by engines, GMs can be very strong.
http://www.hylogic.de

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Matthias Gemuh
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Re: Terminating the ChessGUI project.

Post by Matthias Gemuh » Fri Aug 27, 2010 2:17 pm

Roger Brown wrote:
Besides, until he incorporates Chessbase native engines and skins it cannot be a finished product.

Who says that fans of free stuff cannot be pushy?

:-)

Seriously though Matthias, when it works for most and not all it is reasonably good design.

Do not let perfectionist tendencies get in the way of pretty good.

Later.
Hi Roger,

it is unbelievable that ChessGUI was "bug-free" not long ago. :? :lol: :D

Matthias.
Aided by engines, GMs can be very strong.
http://www.hylogic.de

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Matthias Gemuh
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Re: Terminating the ChessGUI project.

Post by Matthias Gemuh » Tue Aug 31, 2010 10:19 pm

Maybe 0.197 saves pgn mating scores wrongly for some WB engines.

I recommend 0.198d, though I've uploaded only the exe file.

http://www.hugedrive.com/published/WG/s ... =-0b2a2a2f

I have not found the reason why first 0.198 crashed.


Matthias.
Aided by engines, GMs can be very strong.
http://www.hylogic.de

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