Scid is open source, and you can download TCL/TK for free, so you could debug both sides at once if you like to.
It is pretty hard to debug a chess engine without the engine code. Perhaps if you post your interface code, someone can help you to debug it more easily.
The world's simplest and easiest evaluation is simply to count the wood. It will play like a lunatic, but it is better than nothing. I am including here a routine to calculate material imbalance I use to check EPD records in test sets. You can use the wood calculation as the start of an eval.
Code: Select all
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <assert.h>
/*
* Copyright (c) 1988 Regents of the University of California.
* All rights reserved.
*
* Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
* modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
* are met:
* 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
* 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
* documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
* 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
* may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
* without specific prior written permission.
*
* THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
* ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
* IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
* ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
* FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
* DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
* OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
* HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
* LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
* OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
* SUCH DAMAGE.
*/
/*
* thread-safe version of strtok
*/
char *strtok_r(char *s, const char *delim, char **lasts)
{
const char *spanp;
int c,
sc;
char *tok;
/* s may be NULL */
assert(delim != NULL);
assert(lasts != NULL);
if (s == NULL && (s = *lasts) == NULL)
return (NULL);
/* Skip (span) leading delimiters (s += strspn(s, delim), sort of). */
cont:
c = *s++;
for (spanp = delim; (sc = *spanp++) != 0;) {
if (c == sc)
goto cont;
}
if (c == 0) { /* no non-delimiter characters */
*lasts = NULL;
return (NULL);
}
tok = s - 1;
/* Scan token (scan for delimiters: s += strcspn(s, delim), sort of).
* Note that delim must have one NUL; we stop if we see that, too. */
for (;;) {
c = *s++;
spanp = delim;
do {
if ((sc = *spanp++) == c) {
if (c == 0)
s = NULL;
else
s[-1] = 0;
*lasts = s;
return (tok);
}
}
while (sc != 0);
}
/* NOTREACHED */
}
char string[32767];
char last_epd[32767];
/*
The original getsafe() function is due to Jack Klein from news:comp.lang.c
*/
char *getsafe(char *buffer, int count)
{
char *result = buffer,
*np;
if ((buffer == NULL) || (count < 1))
result = NULL;
else if (count == 1)
*result = 0;
else if ((result = fgets(buffer, count, stdin)) != NULL)
if (np = strchr(buffer, '\n'))
*np = 0;
return result;
}
/*
The purpose of this routine is to read an EPD record, and decide if it is imbalanced in material.
*/
int main(void)
{
while (getsafe(string, sizeof string))
{
char *finger = 0;
char *chessmen;
strcpy(last_epd, string);
chessmen = strtok_r(string, " ", &finger);
if (chessmen)
{
char *color = strtok_r(NULL, " ", &finger);
if (color)
{
int pawns = 0;
int minors = 0;
int rooks = 0;
int queens = 0;
int wood_score = 0;
while (*chessmen)
{
switch (*chessmen)
{
case 'P':
pawns++;
break;
case 'p':
pawns--;
break;
case 'N':
case 'B':
minors++;
break;
case 'n':
case 'b':
minors--;
break;
case 'R':
rooks++;
break;
case 'r':
rooks--;
break;
case 'Q':
queens++;
break;
case 'q':
queens--;
break;
}
chessmen++;
}
wood_score = pawns * 111 + minors * 415 + rooks * 640 + queens * 1275;
if (wood_score < -99 || wood_score > +99)
printf(">> ** IMBALANCED ** << [%d]:( %s )\n", wood_score, last_epd);
#ifdef _DEBUG
else
printf("BALANCED:( %s )\n", last_epd);
#endif
}
}
}
return 0;
}
. I've got a simple 0x88 engine working, (No search or evaluation yet, that will come in a little while). I've been trying to hook up my engine to a UCI interface, one called "scid". I've tested scid with fruit and an engine it came with called toga, they both run fine. But I'm having trouble sending info and such for Scid to display. For instance, it appears that when schid boots up my engine, it sends "go infinite" to the engine. I know this because I told my program to exit if it got "go infinite" and then scid displayed 'program exited with exit coded "" '. If I take out the exit then scid doesn't display that and my program stays running, as I can see in activity monitor. I wanted to test to see if I could get my engine to talk to the interface, so now when I get "go infinite" I just have the following code: