On Tue, May 13, 2008 at 2:28 PM, Mark Boon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On 13-mei-08, at 15:08, Jason House wrote: > > The range of the random number is reduced by one after each failed lookup. > Shuffled data has no impact on future use of the array of empty points. > > OK, I understand now why a point at the end (or beginning) is a little less > likely to be picked. Although I still have doubts whether that will lead to > a noticable bias, I'll try to think about it.
I don't care much about it being noticeable. This thread is about putting bots on CGOS that use a reproducible algorithm, to help people detect bugs in their implementations. As part of specifying what these bots do, we should all pick the next move in a playout using the same criteria. If we agree to use uniform distribution among empty non-eyeish points, that's what should be implemented. > I would imagine moving an illegal point towards the end and only start > including it when the other 'legal' moves run out can lead to terrible bias > however because they may not remain illegal for very long and actually > become important points to play. A ko-point is probably the most extreme > example of that. I don't think you understood the algorithm. The eyeish point is removed from the lottery only for picking this particular move, not for the rest of the playout. > Anyway, I don't bother to order the empty-point-list or scramble them in any > way prior to the game. So the first point is the 1-1 point and the last is > the 19-19 point (or whatever boardsize you're playing) so I have no qualms > about those moves being a little less likely to be played. Or even a lot > less. I think it would actually be beneficial. Reproducibility was the point, not strength of the bot. > If this asymmetry really bothers you, you could very easily fix this by > wrapping the search around. There's no asymmetry in a circle. That doesn't fix anything. Álvaro. _______________________________________________ computer-go mailing list computer-go@computer-go.org http://www.computer-go.org/mailman/listinfo/computer-go/
