Re: [gnugo-devel] interested in helping GNU go

[Gunnar Farnebäck]

On 11/23/2011 12:11 PM, Joe Lee wrote:
> Hi.
>
> I heard a lot of good things about the GNU Go program for a while now
> (maybe a couple of years?? wow!). Personally, I'm a 1 Dan go player and
> also an experienced programmer. I have also worked with AI algorithms as
> well as framework-based and engine-based projects. If anything, I could
> do some documentation, test for bugs and provide feedback, and do some
> coding contributions myself (after I become comfortable with the GNU Go
> framework). I would love to contribute to the project, especially
> because I enjoy Go and because I have an engineering/programming background.
> *What do I need to do and prepare to get started? Thanks!

The development has admittedly been rather slow the last few years so 
fresh contributors would be most welcome.

To get started with the code I recommend first digging into board.c for 
the central board logic code. Then the rest of the core board stuff 
making up libboard in the build, hash.c, boardlib.c, and printutils.c.

After that it's instructive to study the low-level tactical reading code 
in reading.c and see how it interacts with cache.c and persistent_cache.c.

Next a good place to enter is genmove.c, which in turn calls functions 
in worm.c and dragon.c to build up the internal representation of the 
understanding of the board. This also involves more advanced reading 
functions in owl.c, readconnect.c, and semeai.c plus a lot more.

To see the whole chain of code the main function is in interface/main.c, 
which in turn calls different playing interfaces, of which 
interface/play_gtp.c is the most important. The latter is also the basis 
for the regression testing in the regression directory. The regressions 
can be run in several ways but most features are in the regress.pike script.

However, the most important part of the code when it comes to potential 
for gaining playing strength is in montecarlo.c. Today Monte Carlo 
techniques are the key to a strong go program and GNU Go has quite a bit 
of catching up to do.

An important part of the development infrastructure is the 
http://trac.gnugo.org site.

Welcome.

/Gunnar