Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Tangential curiosity I didn't knew,

> The first chess programs were written in the early fifties, one by Turing himself

When readed that I wondered in what computer could possibly that chess program ran. The amazing answer is: nowhere. Turing executed himself the orders of the program he wrote acting as cpu.

http://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com/Alan+Turing#Chess%20a...



A chess-playing computer had been suggested as early as 1864, and the first machine able to carry out a "program" was invented in Spain in 1914 by the engineer Leonardo Torres-Quevedo and called Ajedrecista http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ajedrecista


Site in general is NSFW, this specific comic has some swearing.

Disclamer aside, I always thought this was a pretty hilarious alternative to real automation, in the spirit of the xkcd security wrench.

http://media.oglaf.com/comic/theautomaton.jpg


Kasparov played a game against that program too, for the Turing centenary celebrations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrxdWkjmhKg


[deleted]


If you're going to correct someone, you should do so correctly.

You're missing the word "you" in "I hope you won't mind".

You're missing the word "I" in "When I read that".

It should be "what computer that chess program could possibly have run on". The "could that" order only works in a question.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: