mclane wrote:Lets wait until we benchmarked the monster with stock fish.
We'll need to recompile the iOS app in 64 bit to get the best out of it. Tord, are you reading this ?
Yes, I am reading this, while taking a short break from my work on the updated iOS 7 version of Stockfish. So yes, there will be a 64 bit iOS Stockfish in the very near future.
Apple's latest iOS development kit contains two separate 4-inch iPhone simulators; "iPhone Retina (4-inch)" and "iPhone Retina (4-inch 64-bit)". Stockfish is only about 5% faster in the 64-bit simulator. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean the speedup will be similarly small when running on the actual devices. We'll just have to wait and see.
Good news!
I would have volunteered to publish a 64bits build on the AppStore, but there are enough copies of Stockfish crawling around...
Here's an idea: as Apple forbids to load external binaries in iOS apps, do you think you could include some other chess engines in your App ? The user could chose which engine he would like to play against through a simple menu. My repository has many uci engines sources that might not be too hard to add to your interface (at least for the C++ ones). Later, when you take another break from work ( ), or contributors if you add your app to github, some basic engine vs engine functionalities could be added (Game Center would be a good way to maintain tournaments results and ratings I think.)
Just my two cents, I certainly don't want to push for things you maybe don't want to do.
Last edited by JuLieN on Fri Sep 13, 2013 4:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
mclane wrote:Lets wait until we benchmarked the monster with stock fish.
We'll need to recompile the iOS app in 64 bit to get the best out of it. Tord, are you reading this ?
Yes, I am reading this, while taking a short break from my work on the updated iOS 7 version of Stockfish. So yes, there will be a 64 bit iOS Stockfish in the very near future.
Apple's latest iOS development kit contains two separate 4-inch iPhone simulators; "iPhone Retina (4-inch)" and "iPhone Retina (4-inch 64-bit)". Stockfish is only about 5% faster in the 64-bit simulator. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean the speedup will be similarly small when running on the actual devices. We'll just have to wait and see.
A little off topic here, Tord, but I hope you will release an iOS app for 5x5 chess! Although the "Martin Gardner 5x5" opening position has been solved, I don't believe the other interesting 5x5 openings have been solved. I think it would be very popular!
JuLieN wrote:Here's an idea: as Apple forbids to load external binaries in iOS apps, do you think you could include some other chess engines in your App ?
It's not entirely impossible that I will do something like that some time in the future, but it is very unlikely. It's a feature that has interest for only a very small fraction of all users, and such features are usually best avoided in mobile apps. Adding new engines to the app is also not quite as trivial as one might believe. Even updating the internal Stockfish engine usually takes me an hour or two, and this is code I am very familiar with, and which the user interface code was designed to talk to. Adding other engines just isn't worth it, at least for the moment. There are so many more important tasks right now, even after the iOS 7 version is finished.
The iOS 7 version adds more than just iOS 7 support, 64-bit and an updated engine, by the way: There are also some user interface improvements.
Mark wrote:A little off topic here, Tord, but I hope you will release an iOS app for 5x5 chess! Although the "Martin Gardner 5x5" opening position has been solved, I don't believe the other interesting 5x5 openings have been solved. I think it would be very popular!
Thanks for your support, it's still possible that I will do it. The reason I lost some enthusiasm for the idea (I guess you are referring to my post to the openchess forum) isn't just that the game is solved, but also that I got the impression that the game is considered too dull and drawish by experienced human players.
But as I said, there is still a chance that I will write the app. Watch out for it on October 21 next year (Gardner's 100th birthday): if I release the app at all, that will be the date.
Tord Romstad wrote:Apple's latest iOS development kit contains two separate 4-inch iPhone simulators; "iPhone Retina (4-inch)" and "iPhone Retina (4-inch 64-bit)". Stockfish is only about 5% faster in the 64-bit simulator.
Correction: It's actually about 35% faster. I just hadn't figured out how to compile a proper 64-bit binary. Of course, the speedup on an actual device may turn out to be bigger or smaller than this.
Tord Romstad wrote:Apple's latest iOS development kit contains two separate 4-inch iPhone simulators; "iPhone Retina (4-inch)" and "iPhone Retina (4-inch 64-bit)". Stockfish is only about 5% faster in the 64-bit simulator.
Correction: It's actually about 35% faster. I just hadn't figured out how to compile a proper 64-bit binary. Of course, the speedup on an actual device may turn out to be bigger or smaller than this.
Apple own testing suggests that this new iphone will be 40x faster than the original. From looking at the list I imagine the 3G would be about 50kn/s so it is quite feasible that new version will break the 800kn/s mark. And if your personal attempt at modifying for 64 bit could possibly break the 1000kn/s. I know that these guesses are vague and would not bet money on them as previous extrapolations have been wrong but just want to put it out there.
Tord, are you reading this ?
), or contributors if you add your app to github, some basic engine vs engine functionalities could be added (Game Center would be a good way to maintain tournaments results and ratings I think.)
