Upcoming Chess for Android 2.0

[abik]

I am working on a version 2.0 of Chess for Android for the G1 phone, which will use the limited screen size of phone devices much more efficiently. Some preliminary screen shots can be seen at my blog http://aartbik.blogspot.com/. Please email me if you have any suggestions for further improving the layout before I release the application on the Android market later this week.

[Don]

I am working on a version 2.0 of Chess for Android for the G1 phone, which will use the limited screen size of phone devices much more efficiently. Some preliminary screen shots can be seen at my blog http://aartbik.blogspot.com/. Please email me if you have any suggestions for further improving the layout before I release the application on the Android market later this week.

I'm thinking about getting an android in the future. Is the chess program written in java as most android apps? Is it a toy or does it try to be a state of the art program?

- Don

[abik]

I'm thinking about getting an android in the future. Is the chess program written in java as most android apps? Is it a toy or does it try to be a state of the art program?
- Don

Hi Don,
It is a mere hobby application aimed at providing a quick game of chess. The engine is indeed a Java version derived from BikJump. And although I have tried to be responsive to feature requests, I don't think this program will evolve into an extensive chess application. It was actualy meant to bridge the gap until professional programs would become available, but I have been pleasantly surprised with the popularity of the app so far.
Hope this provides sufficient insights.
Aart

[Don]

This makes me wonder how good a program could be if one were inclined to try hard to write a java program. It's possible to write fairly sophisticated programs that come close to C speed but it seems to me it would be challenging getting within 2 or 3X of C with a chess program which really seems to demand very low level programming to do right.

Would one have to avoid bitboards and stick with 32 bit style programs?

- Don

I'm thinking about getting an android in the future. Is the chess program written in java as most android apps? Is it a toy or does it try to be a state of the art program?
- Don

Hi Don,
It is a mere hobby application aimed at providing a quick game of chess. The engine is indeed a Java version derived from BikJump. And although I have tried to be responsive to feature requests, I don't think this program will evolve into an extensive chess application. It was actualy meant to bridge the gap until professional programs would become available, but I have been pleasantly surprised with the popularity of the app so far.
Hope this provides sufficient insights.
Aart

[abik]

This makes me wonder how good a program could be if one were inclined to try hard to write a java program. It's possible to write fairly sophisticated programs that come close to C speed but it seems to me it would be challenging getting within 2 or 3X of C with a chess program which really seems to demand very low level programming to do right.
Would one have to avoid bitboards and stick with 32 bit style programs?
- Don

Performance issues are more related to the virtual machine running on the mobile device than to the language itself. For what it is worth, I have written a 32-bit bitboard checkers program and a 64-bit bitboard reversi program for Android as well, and did not feel any language restriction. Better virtual machines with JIT technology are just around the corner as are, no doubt, game programs that are much better than my humble attempts.