something you need

[tcusr]

this is a question intended for testers/users/programmers, what's something that you need and would make your life easier but don't have?
related to chess, of course

[algerbrex]

Theoretically? A reliable and efficient to tune search parameters similar to texel tuning. Practically? A dedicated desktop so I can do testing more efficiently. The laptop I have now is definitely an upgrade from what I use to have (AMD Ryzen 7 4700U, 8 cores 8 GB rams), but it'd be nice to have an actual desktop for testing with more cores and ram. Something I'll have to save up for, as I'm sure it'll be useful for more than just chess programming.

[tcusr]

Theoretically? A reliable and efficient to tune search parameters similar to texel tuning. Practically? A dedicated desktop so I can do testing more efficiently. The laptop I have now is definitely an upgrade from what I use to have (AMD Ryzen 7 4700U, 8 cores 8 GB rams), but it'd be nice to have an actual desktop for testing with more cores and ram. Something I'll have to save up for, as I'm sure it'll be useful for more than just chess programming.

good points but i should've explained better what i meant with the question.
i wanted to know some tasks that are repetitive or tedious to do (because of/old/abandoned programs for example) and that can be improved.
i'm a bit bored and i wanted to try other chess related projects.

[algerbrex]

Theoretically? A reliable and efficient to tune search parameters similar to texel tuning. Practically? A dedicated desktop so I can do testing more efficiently. The laptop I have now is definitely an upgrade from what I use to have (AMD Ryzen 7 4700U, 8 cores 8 GB rams), but it'd be nice to have an actual desktop for testing with more cores and ram. Something I'll have to save up for, as I'm sure it'll be useful for more than just chess programming.

good points but i should've explained better what i meant with the question.
i wanted to know some tasks that are repetitive or tedious to do (because of/old/abandoned programs for example) and that can be improved.
i'm a bit bored and i wanted to try other chess related projects.

Ah, I understand I think. You're looking to work on making some sort of utility?

Afaik, there's no standard tool available for doing texel tuning. Something like that might be nice, especially for people just wanting to get their feet wet, or quickly compare ideas, without having to write their own fully-fledged tuners. Just a thought.

Also, if you're bored with chess programming, maybe branch out to some other classic board games? I've been tempted to start working on a checkers engine that should keep me busy when I'm running long tests on Blunder, or I get bored of working on it or stuck.

[Ovyron]

this is a question intended for testers/users/programmers, what's something that you need and would make your life easier but don't have?
related to chess, of course

A CTG book adapter that works. AquariumBookAdapter doesn't do the work properly and would sometimes resort to letting the engine think and make a move ignoring what the book has in store.

Using CTG directly doesn't allow the engine to ponder when it's in book, and if the engine doesn't have a move to make on book and has to think and makes a move, then other future moves that the user put there (with 0 games) will be ignored, so one would need to rely on a Bin book for that, which is a hassle.

Plus, CTG books can only be used in CB/Fritz software, it'd be cool to have one that allows users to use them anywhere, with the book learning abilities that AquariumBookAdapter lacks.

[hgm]

The problem with CTG books is that the contain the raw WDL statistics (plus some annotations), and that it isn't known how this should be converted into playing probability given a certain variability setting of the GUI. So it is easy enough to write an adapter that uses the book, but it would probably not behave the same as when a CB program uses the book.

[Ovyron]

So it is easy enough to write an adapter that uses the book, but it would probably not behave the same as when a CB program uses the book.

The way AquariumBook adapter does it is fine, except for the mentioned problems and that "ponder while in book" is there but doesn't work at all.

Now that you mention it, an adapter that showed the probabilities of the moves played of the CTG book and allowed one to overwrite them would be excellent, that's a thing Bin books have going that is better than CTG's.

(since we're talking about this, the reason I dislike bin books is that once the book gets big one has to wait up to 30 seconds for a change to be saved - and one needs to reload the engine for changes to take effect - CTGs update instantly and ready to play without reload -- as long as you have 2 GUIs opened to do it.)

[AdminX]

I need for the advancements in AI using GPU to bring me a better (Than what is currently available.) computer generated natural language automatic game annotator program! It should also have an optional sarcasm mode to add some humor to the notes.

[Ovyron]

It should also have an optional sarcasm mode to add some humor to the notes.

Current AIs are able to speak in a human-like way, and copy any human voice that you want! So if this was implemented you'd just need for it to copy someone you know that has that sarcastic tone

[AdminX]

It should also have an optional sarcasm mode to add some humor to the notes.

Current AIs are able to speak in a human-like way, and copy any human voice that you want! So if this was implemented you'd just need for it to copy someone you know that has that sarcastic tone

True dat! So let's add Richard Pryor, Samuel Jackson, and Jeff Foxworthy to the options list of tones also.