David's Mumblings

New York, Week 1

category: General
Well, here I am at the end of my first week in New York City. I've been working for a week and am fairly tired, and I've definitely been enjoying a little rest during the weekend. The heat and humidity here are fairly oppressive; although California is hotter in degrees, NYC is much more humid and the air is much heavier on you. I'm not a big fan of the heat, but oh well. Read More → ^ TOP

Posted on 06/25/06 at 01:48:36 by dchaley (David Haley)
No comments

Progress on game player; class competition

category: General Game Playing
We've been pretty busy with our general game player recently. The class is almost over, and on Wednesday there will be a competition pitting all of the game players against each other. The winner is likely to get an A+ plus some kind of mystery prize. So yes, we've been slaving away trying to get our player ready for the competition.

Writing this player has been difficult, to say the least. There are lots and lots of gotchas, but most importantly the program has to be very stable. If it dies in the middle of a game, you still get to participate but all the rest of your moves are made for you very, very stupidly. (The game master finds the first legal move and picks that.) It's not so hard to make your program stable if you don't try to be smart about playing the game, but as soon as you start playing the game "intelligently" you can seriously shoot yourself in the foot. Read More → ^ TOP

Posted on 06/06/06 at 04:52:20 by dchaley (David Haley)
1 comment

Coterm Admission

category: School
I am very pleased to report that I've been accepted into Stanford's co-terminal Masters' degree program starting in Fall 2006. As soon as I get 180 units (which will be at the end of this quarter) I'll be a grad student, with all the perks and pains that go with it. (For one thing, my tuition rate goes up, but I also am eligible for a teaching/research assistanceship which would cover tuition, rent plus a small stipend.) I should be graduating from Stanford with my bachelor degree(s) and my master degree in Spring 2008 (two more full years). So I'll be at Stanford for a little longer...

Anyhow, I'm very happy about this. Pardon me while I go bounce off the walls for a while. :-) ^ TOP

Posted on 06/01/06 at 13:25:04 by dchaley (David Haley)
1 comment