More project news

I actually completed the move generation for 2 pieces today. That's huge, considering the weeks it took me to get a handle on the pawns only! Then again, a lot of that was about focus, and after being sick it was very hard to focus. So, as I was saying, this evening I have the Knight and King move generators working, which leaves me with Rook, Bishop, and Queen. That's not as bad as it sounds, because they all move the same... once one is figured out, the other's should be quick. The Queen, for instance, is just a combination of both the rook and the bishop. The bishop is just the rook rotated 90 degrees. Having said that, I don't expect the next one to be easy. I have some ideas, but it's a complicated concept because these are sliding pieces, and can only capture the 1st opponent piece it comes to on a given rank/file or diagonal. Still, I'm looking forward to it because as soon as these 3 pieces are done I can really start putting some of the ancillary pieces together and should soon be having an engine that plays... poorly. I'd really like to get there this weekend. That would be most excellent! The odds are slim though, I think it's going to take at least another week. I've got to look over my timeline again and see where I'm at... how far behind I am.

I have a 10 minute oral presentation due Thursday night, and tomorrow night is my guitar lesson. So I'm sure that I won't have any more time to actually work on the project until Friday. Tomorrow I'll be focusing on the presentation for Thursday. I'm just thrilled the past couple of days to have some motivation. It's about time!

I played some terrible chess tonight. One 15 minute game and I played like I was still playing blitz. I dropped a pawn without even thinking out of the opening, and that was pretty much it. My mind just wasn't in it. So I played a bunch of blitz games too. I started out good, but soon got on a losing streak. One of these days I need to find some time to study. I should start taking notes after a game of the openings that I'm having trouble with so that I can do some review.

That's all for tonight. I'd like to get to bed a little early given my lack of sleep last night. 8 hours, that's all I need!

Take care, Ed.