Rating: 
Summary: The fascinating story of one Man and his Machine
Review: This book tells the story of an ambitious computer scientist who sets out to write a program that can beat the World Checkers Champion. He succeeds, although it takes him six years to achieve his goal. On the technical side, the book describes how the checkers program works, and how much effort it took Schaeffer and his team to make it play well enough to beat the human Champion. On the human side, it tells the story of the amazing Dr. Tinsley, probably the best checkers player who ever lived, who had beaten all his opponents, who had become bored with the game, and who finds in the computer a fresh opponent that has no fear for him, that plays for the win, that is actually fun to play against. The most intense passages of the book are the ones where Schaeffer, as the operator of his program, has to watch his creation make moves he doesn't trust, but cannot do anything about. The most intriguing aspect of the book is that the way in which Chinook calculates it! s best moves doesn't come close to how man does it. (Or how we think we do it.) Chinook's is a fascinating story. The book is very well written, and reads like a thriller.
Rating:
Summary: The fascinating story of one Man and his Machine
Review: This book tells the story of an ambitious computer scientist who sets out to write a program that can beat the World Checkers Champion. He succeeds, although it takes him six years to achieve his goal. On the technical side, the book describes how the checkers program works, and how much effort it took Schaeffer and his team to make it play well enough to beat the human Champion. On the human side, it tells the story of the amazing Dr. Tinsley, probably the best checkers player who ever lived, who had beaten all his opponents, who had become bored with the game, and who finds in the computer a fresh opponent that has no fear for him, that plays for the win, that is actually fun to play against. The most intense passages of the book are the ones where Schaeffer, as the operator of his program, has to watch his creation make moves he doesn't trust, but cannot do anything about. The most intriguing aspect of the book is that the way in which Chinook calculates it! s best moves doesn't come close to how man does it. (Or how we think we do it.) Chinook's is a fascinating story. The book is very well written, and reads like a thriller.
Rating:
Summary: Great book. For sale - used in the zShops.
Review: This is a great read if you have a computer programming interest. I'm selling one used in the zShops. It's in very good condition.
Rating:
Summary: Great book. For sale - used in the zShops.
Review: This is a great read if you have a computer programming interest. I'm selling one used in the zShops. It's in very good condition.
Rating:
Summary: A Gripping Read
Review: Well I never thought that title would describe for a book on a project to create a world champion beating chequers playing program! I originally read the first half of the book when staying with a friend. When I got home I had - for the first time in my life - to buy a book merely to read half of it, so un-put-downable is it. The book requires no technical knowledge either or computers of of draughts (and to an extent if one approaches it expecting technical insights in to either one will be disappointed). In practice it's such a good read as the story is well told and gathers momentum the nearer the author gets to the goal. It is focused on the people and the project and not the technicals. Schaeffer recounts his hopes, feelings and motivations with a brutal honesty - never shying away from an accurate description when authorial licence might have presented him in a better light.
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