[Flame]

I'd like to get into the computer's bridge buisness, either as a pro or just as a hobby ( i rerly do things just for fun, i must do my best to have fun)
I have no idea where computer's bridge is standing today, i heard of competitions and know GIB is the best but i would like to know alot more, how is it done, how good are those comps, and any other info, including how can i get in.
Thanks to anyone who can help.

[Free]

Hmmm, isn't Jack the worldchampion a few years in a row by now?? Perhaps I'm misinformed, but I thought Jack was worldchampion 2002 and 2003, about 2004 I have no idea.

I know how Jack works, others probably work a similar way. For bidding and play, the program runs a lot of simulations with hands which fit with current bidding and play, and then they decide on percentages what the best bidding continuation or play is. The real challenge is to make this happen as fast and accurate as possible.

[Flame]

Free thanks for the info, can you tell me of a simple way i can make my own bridge software (even if it will be very premitive) ? i mean there must be some platform i can work on, and i guess there must be such a platform so computers can play vs each other.

[Trpltrbl]

Must have to much free times on your hand. It takes years to get a program like Jack and the other 50 or so that are out there to work. Fulltime work, especially in beginning, if you would have started this 10 years or longer ago, maybe you would have had a change. The market is already overflowing, unless you can teach a program how to handle psyches That's about the only thing missing.

Mike

[Flame]

Trpltrbl, on May 30 2004, 08:31 PM, said:

The market is already overflowing, unless you can teach a program how to handle psyches That's about the only thing missing.

[paulg]

History and most other information (including how to interface) relating to the Computer World Championships can be found at:

http://www.ny-bridge...computerbridge/

Jack has won fairly convincingly in the last three events. Unfortunately GIB has not competed for some time so it is not easy to gauge its strength against this newer programs.

The next Computer World Championships are being held in New York during the NABC in July.

Cheers

Paul

[csdenmark]

Flame the market for bridge software will be shrinking. ADSL connections undermine the value of off-line products. Bridge is a very small niche. It is a specilised niche where there still are needs but for those kind of needs no obvious market. I think of specialized systems, interference handling and especially defense.

The basic for software development is C++ and database products like DB2. If you are an experienced programmer - then why asking here? If you are not an experienced programmer - you will need 2-5 years to adopt those kind of basic skills.

[Flame]

thxs guys, i think i got what i needed. you might be right and this doesnt worse getting into right now.

[Fluffy]

Pavlicek runs a fun contest with bidding polls, and does the same with most popular bridge softwares, you may check it at his page: http://www.rpbridge.net

[Free]

yes, teach your program to field psychs, and let it use psychic bids itself. You'll have a sure winner!

[catch22]

I've dabled in this in the past, a lot of it as been done and there is a large amount of work required to get a product to market. No idea what the bridge software market is worth, probably not a lot. As a challenge try writing a double dummy solver, I started writing one but it is hard to make it fast, took about 10 days to get to the point were it wasn't too painfully slow (got it down to about 10 times slower than GIB). Learnt a lot, but to get any better speed would probably require a re-write using partition search. The other area that seems sadly lacking is in bidding system definition, a number of poor products on the market and some vague research information. I think it requires someone or a group of people to define a bidding markup language in XML, then build an editor around that. If it was good I'd buy something that would allow me to practice some of the stupidly complex systems I play with various partners. I always seem to select partners who want to play a lot of system and I never know it much beyond the first response.

Of course there may be a killer product that loads of bridge players would buy. I think Fred's BridgeMaster is original and a great product, be interested to know how many have been sold. I bought GIB, but never play it, not sure why people would when access to a computer gets you a great game on-line. On the shareware front, then suitplay is a great little product.

Anyway, good luck in whatever you try, I must admit the various projects I have done in the past have been fun, but not very lucrative.

[Flame]

I got off the idea pretty fast, didnt even start anything, I was ready to work on the fun part but that doesnt worth all the work for me, especially today when i got alot of importent things to do (and doesnt do any of them) . anyway thanks for all the info, maybe one day.

[NotButter]

Flame,

don't be put off because Claus tells you the market will shrink (he is so wrong).

The market for bridge software is booming and the primary market is 'empty-nesters', those people/ couples whose children have left home and are getting their first PC. As it happens, these are the same demographic as a large proportion of the bridge community. Great business plan, huh?

You should give up the idea because there's no need to re-invent the wheel. Savvy entrepeneurs are years ahead of you in terms of development and on the whole have designed mildy acceptable products - there are of course exceptions worthy of discussion in another thread.

Better to spend your time coming up with a better mousetrap.

NotButter

[bridge7]

I don't agree with the people who say loading of bridge hands is necessary for a bridge software. I made my own bridge software (it is premitive), it has no such database..

I wrote that software in Java Script (I can convert it later in visual Basic). You can find that primitive software at the Section-10 of:

Bridge7

in the name of "Play Bridge With B7"

You can start such a software by writing a simple line which creates random numbers. In Javascript it is:

var x = Math.random()

Never give up: Because, bridge world needs a software which beats their champions like chess players..
Some players may need a good program if they are bored to see "Permision Denied" warnings in experts tables..

[Flame]

I didnt give up because the market is loader, i actually never intended to develop a software for the market, i wanted to win the computer tournament
I am rusty in anything related to programing and therefore it will take me lots of time to get to the fun part, i will have lots of work before i even get to anything that is related to bridge or to AI in general, and i cant do it right now.