New 'Micro' Chess Engine - Iota 0.1

[Daniel White]

Hi Daniel,

Very well done. It's quite remarkable you can get working engine in such a small amount of code.

I compiled a very small windows executable using Tiny C + Upx compression and got the binary size down to an incredible 3.50 kb.

I named it 'Iota' to avoid confusion with other engine.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5047625/iota-10-32-tcc-ja.zip

Jim.

Thank you very much Jim, your continued efforts are very much appreciated.

[Jim Ablett]

Hi Daniel,

Very well done. It's quite remarkable you can get working engine in such a small amount of code.

I compiled a very small windows executable using Tiny C + Upx compression and got the binary size down to an incredible 3.50 kb.

I named it 'Iota' to avoid confusion with other engine.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5047625/iota-10-32-tcc-ja.zip

Jim.

I thought Tiny C was just notable for the small size of the compiler, not the size of its compiles. Couldn't you get better results with intel compiler optimizing for size?

Smallest size I can get with GCC (inc compression) is 26.5kb
Smallest size I can get with Intel (inc compression) is 30.0kb

Ok my challenge is for someone to produce a windows exe smaller than 3.50 kb

Jim.

[Jim Ablett]

Hi Daniel,

Very well done. It's quite remarkable you can get working engine in such a small amount of code.

I compiled a very small windows executable using Tiny C + Upx compression and got the binary size down to an incredible 3.50 kb.

I named it 'Iota' to avoid confusion with other engine.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5047625/iota-10-32-tcc-ja.zip

Jim.

Thank you very much Jim, your continued efforts are very much appreciated.

You're Welcome.

I knocked up a little logo. Of course no engine is complete without that



Jim.

[Mincho Georgiev]

Hi Daniel,

Very well done. It's quite remarkable you can get working engine in such a small amount of code.

I compiled a very small windows executable using Tiny C + Upx compression and got the binary size down to an incredible 3.50 kb.

I named it 'Iota' to avoid confusion with other engine.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5047625/iota-10-32-tcc-ja.zip

Jim.

I thought Tiny C was just notable for the small size of the compiler, not the size of its compiles. Couldn't you get better results with intel compiler optimizing for size?

Smallest size I can get with GCC (inc compression) is 26.5kb
Smallest size I can get with Intel (inc compression) is 30.0kb

Ok my challenge is for someone to produce a windows exe smaller than 3.50 kb

Jim.

Try this, Jim:

http://bellard.org/tcc/
or
http://www.smorgasbordet.com/pellesc/

[Jim Ablett]

Hi Daniel,

Very well done. It's quite remarkable you can get working engine in such a small amount of code.

I compiled a very small windows executable using Tiny C + Upx compression and got the binary size down to an incredible 3.50 kb.

I named it 'Iota' to avoid confusion with other engine.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5047625/iota-10-32-tcc-ja.zip

Jim.

I thought Tiny C was just notable for the small size of the compiler, not the size of its compiles. Couldn't you get better results with intel compiler optimizing for size?

Smallest size I can get with GCC (inc compression) is 26.5kb
Smallest size I can get with Intel (inc compression) is 30.0kb

Ok my challenge is for someone to produce a windows exe smaller than 3.50 kb

Jim.

Try this, Jim:

http://bellard.org/tcc/
or
http://www.smorgasbordet.com/pellesc/

Hi Mincho,

Tcc is what I used.

Pelles C throws up a few errors and won't compile.

Code: Select all

C:\temp\iota.c(57): warning #2099: Missing type specifier; assuming 'int'.
C:\temp\iota.c(60): warning #2027: Missing prototype for 'strtok'.
C:\temp\iota.c(60): warning #2241: The function 'gets' is marked as deprecated.
C:\temp\iota.c(61): warning #2027: Missing prototype for 'strncmp'.
C:\temp\iota.c(62): warning #2027: Missing prototype for 'strncmp'.
C:\temp\iota.c(63): warning #2027: Missing prototype for 'strncmp'.
C:\temp\iota.c(64): warning #2027: Missing prototype for 'strncmp'.
C:\temp\iota.c(71): error #2168: Operands of '=' have incompatible types 'char *' and 'int'.
C:\temp\iota.c(71): warning #2030: '=' used in a conditional expression.
C:\temp\iota.c(72): warning #2027: Missing prototype for 'strncmp'.
C:\temp\iota.c(73): error #2168: Operands of '=' have incompatible types 'char *' and 'int'.
C:\temp\iota.c(73): warning #2030: '=' used in a conditional expression.
C:\temp\iota.c(74): warning #2027: Missing prototype for 'strcmp'.
C:\temp\iota.c(74): error #2140: Type error in argument 1 to '__stoul'; expected 'const char *' but found 'int'.

Jim.

[Ajedrecista]

Hello:

Hi Daniel,

Very well done. It's quite remarkable you can get working engine in such a small amount of code.

I compiled a very small windows executable using Tiny C + Upx compression and got the binary size down to an incredible 3.50 kb.

I named it 'Iota' to avoid confusion with other engine.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5047625/iota-10-32-tcc-ja.zip

Jim.

I thought Tiny C was just notable for the small size of the compiler, not the size of its compiles. Couldn't you get better results with intel compiler optimizing for size?

Smallest size I can get with GCC (inc compression) is 26.5kb
Smallest size I can get with Intel (inc compression) is 30.0kb

Ok my challenge is for someone to produce a windows exe smaller than 3.50 kb

Jim.

Try this, Jim:

http://bellard.org/tcc/
or
http://www.smorgasbordet.com/pellesc/

@Mincho: Jim has already used TCC (your first link) in conjunction with UPX, as he has just written. I knew about the existance of UPX although never tried it: it is a good tool! TCC was unknown for me, but also good. I can confirm that the minimum size I got was 3584 bytes = 3.5 KB. For curious people, what I did is the following: compile iota.c source file with TCC 0.9.25:

Code: Select all

tcc -Os iota.c

It is written by memory, so may contain errors. The executable size was 6 KB; then, I used UPX 3.08 with the following arguments (after read the help shown with --help argument):

Code: Select all

upx --best --ultra-brute -o Iota_01 iota.exe

It is written again by memory, so may contain errors. The final size of Iota_01.exe was 3584 bytes, as I said before.

I wish you good luck with the development of Pawny!

@Jim: I thought that the version was 0.1 and not 1.0 of your executable... Just kidding. Thank you very much for your superb compiles!

I am surprised that I can beat (in compression size) a truly entity in compilation as you are. I tried a version of GCC (download here) with the following arguments (written again from memory, so may contain typos):

Code: Select all

gcc -o Iota_01 -O2 -s iota.c

The size was 13 KB (or 13.5 KB) IIRC. Compiling with -O1 and -O2 flags, the executable size was 13 KB or 13.5 KB, while compiling with -O3 flag, the executable size was 14.5 KB; -s flag aims for a reduced size of the executable, as you know very well. So, nothing of 26.5 KB as minimum size. I do not know where I got lucky (or where you got unlucky).

@Daniel: Congratulations! It seems impossible to me that such a low amount of code is able of play legal chess... I am amazed with micro engines, the same as the normal engines. Both are an impossible task for me! Please keep up the good work.

Regards from Spain.

Ajedrecista.

[Jim Ablett]

Hello:

Hi Daniel,

Very well done. It's quite remarkable you can get working engine in such a small amount of code.

I compiled a very small windows executable using Tiny C + Upx compression and got the binary size down to an incredible 3.50 kb.

I named it 'Iota' to avoid confusion with other engine.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5047625/iota-10-32-tcc-ja.zip

Jim.

I thought Tiny C was just notable for the small size of the compiler, not the size of its compiles. Couldn't you get better results with intel compiler optimizing for size?

Smallest size I can get with GCC (inc compression) is 26.5kb
Smallest size I can get with Intel (inc compression) is 30.0kb

Ok my challenge is for someone to produce a windows exe smaller than 3.50 kb

Jim.

Try this, Jim:

http://bellard.org/tcc/
or
http://www.smorgasbordet.com/pellesc/

@Mincho: Jim has already used TCC (your first link) in conjunction with UPX, as he has just written. I knew about the existance of UPX although never tried it: it is a good tool! TCC was unknown for me, but also good. I can confirm that the minimum size I got was 3584 bytes = 3.5 KB. For curious people, what I did is the following: compile iota.c source file with TCC 0.9.25:

Code: Select all

tcc -Os iota.c

It is written by memory, so may contain errors. The executable size was 6 KB; then, I used UPX 3.08 with the following arguments (after read the help shown with --help argument):

Code: Select all

upx --best --ultra-brute -o Iota_01 iota.exe

It is written again by memory, so may contain errors. The final size of Iota_01.exe was 3584 bytes, as I said before.

I wish you good luck with the development of Pawny!

@Jim: I thought that the version was 0.1 and not 1.0 of your executable... Just kidding. Thank you very much for your superb compiles!

I am surprised that I can beat (in compression size) a truly entity in compilation as you are. I tried a version of GCC (download here) with the following arguments (written again from memory, so may contain typos):

Code: Select all

gcc -o Iota_01 -O2 -s iota.c

The size was 13 KB (or 13.5 KB) IIRC. Compiling with -O1 and -O2 flags, the executable size was 13 KB or 13.5 KB, while compiling with -O3 flag, the executable size was 14.5 KB; -s flag aims for a reduced size of the executable, as you know very well. So, nothing of 26.5 KB as minimum size.

@Daniel: Congratulations! It seems impossible to me that such a low amount of code is able of play legal chess... I am amazed with micro engines, the same as the normal engines. Both are an impossible task for me!

Regards from Spain.

Ajedrecista.

Hi Jesus,

Ah I made fatal mistake. I compiled for speed not size. I used

Code: Select all

tcc -O3 iota.c

instead of

Code: Select all

tcc -Os iota.c

You got it down even smaller - well done.

Jim.

[Jim Ablett]

I got size reduced again using 'Mew' packer & TCC to 2.54kb

Problem is that packing with Mew will trigger false alerts with some antivirus software >

https://www.virustotal.com/file/074f694 ... 341683884/

Jim.

[Jim Ablett]

Here is a link to the 'Mew' compressed executable >

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5047625/iota-10-32-mew-ja.zip

I would guess this is now the smallest fully functional chess engine executable in the world.

Jim.

[Mincho Georgiev]

Sorry, I didn't saw that you already use tcc. Otherwise I would be surprised by the 30k size /obiously the size optimization fixed this/. tcc and pelle's where the compilers that I was able to produce smallest win executables with. The only compilers for smaller windows executable that I have been used are masm and nasm, irrelevant in this case though.