Re: [gnugo-devel] endgame tuning

[bump]

> > Perhaps the standard can allow reg_genmove to be passed an
> > optional integer parameter which can be silently discarded
> > or used as a random seed by the engine.
> 
> The point of having a standardized reg_genmove command is to promote
> sharing of test cases between programs. It's unrealistic that two
> programs would interpret a random seed sufficiently similarly for it
> to be a useful parameter. Hence I prefer to leave it out and keep the
> specification simpler.

Allowing an optional parameter which can be discarded by the
engine doesn't seem to me to much complicate the protocol.

It seems plausible that exactly the same considerations that
make the random seed useful for gg_genmove would apply to
other engines. An engine must include randomness in normal
play, but should be deterministic in running a testsuite. 
Occasionally a bug will appear only intermittently when the
same position is executed with different seeds. These
considerations must surely apply to other engines.

It is true that two programs would not interpret the
random seed the same way. However it might still be a
useful feature in the protocol.

Dan