25,161
edits
Changes
Created page with "'''Home * People * John J. Scott''' '''John J. Scott''',<br/> a British computer scientist and early computer chess programmer. '''Scott's program''', also..."
'''[[Main Page|Home]] * [[People]] * John J. Scott'''
'''John J. Scott''',<br/>
a British computer scientist and early computer chess programmer. '''Scott's program''', also dubbed [[Lancaster]] or '''Scott''', ran on an [[ICL 1900|ICL 1909/5]] mainframe computer.
It played an exhibition match versus [[Mac Hack|Greenblatt's Chess Program]] at the 1968 [[IFIP]] [[Conferences#IFIP|conference]] held in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh Edinburgh] quite well but finally lost <ref>[[John J. Scott]] ('''1969'''). ''Lancaster vs. Mac Hack''. [[ACM#SIG|SIGART]], Vol. 16</ref>.
The game was analyzed by [[Jack Good]], published in [[Donald Michie|Donald Michie's]] ''Machine Intelligence 4'' <ref>[[Jack Good]] ('''1969'''). ''Analysis of the machine chess game, J. Scott (White), ICL-1900 versus R.D. Greenblatt, PDP-10''. [http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~shm/MI/mi4.html Machine Intelligence Vol. 4]</ref>.
Scott's program was further sparring partner of [[Alex Bell|Alex Bell's]] program [[Atlas]], the forerunner of [[Master]]. In the 70s John Scott was affiliated with the [[Queen Mary, University of London|University of London]], where he defended his M.Sc and Ph.D- under supervision of [[Alan H. Bond]].
=Quotes=
==Games Playing with Computers==
[[Alex Bell]] in ''Games Playing with Computers'' <ref>[http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/literature/books/gamesplaying/p005.htm#index22 Chess programs: Scott] from [[Alex Bell]] ('''1972'''). ''[http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/literature/books/gamesplaying/overview.htm Games Playing with Computers]''. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_%26_Unwin Allen & Unwin], ISBN-13: 978-0080212227</ref>:
Greenblatt's program was exhibited at the 1968 IFIPS held in Edinburgh. It was a major attraction, drawing large crowds who cheered the program on to a win against the majority of its opponents. A special match was arranged between the program and one written by John Scott for the ICL 1909/5. An analysis of this game was made by I. J. Good, with the comment that Scott's program had a chance to draw at the 58th move, but made a bad move and then resigned. Because it was generally agreed that Greenblatt's program was the best to that date, Scott's program had done well to last so long. Both these programs were powerful opening and middle game players but became, from recorded games, relatively weak should they reach an end game. It seemed to the author that if it were possible to play a vigorous swapping strategy in order to reach an end game quickly then, even with a queen advantage, neither program would be actually able to realise the mate.
==Master at IFIPS==
[[Alex Bell]] in ''MASTER at IFIPS'' <ref>[[Alex Bell]] ('''1978'''). ''[http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/applications/cocoa/p008.htm MASTER at IFIPS]''. from [[Atlas Computer Laboratory]], hosted by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford_Appleton_Laboratory Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)], excerpt from [[Alex Bell]] ('''1978'''). ''The Machine Plays Chess''. Pergamon Press, ISBN-13: 978-0080212227, from [http://www.amazon.com/Machine-Plays-Chess-Pergamon/dp/0080212220 amazon]</ref>:
The only other chess program in England in 1968 was one written by John Scott, then a 17-year-old schoolboy. His program actually played MACHACK at the Edinburgh IFIPS (International Federation of Information Processing) and just lost after a long struggle. John and I were present at a talk a few days later by Jack Good who analysed this game; in fact, we both remember that some of the reasons given for John's program choosing a move were, in Our opinion, over-sophisticated.
In 1972 I was back in England again and met John Scott, who was doing a PhD, and his tutor [[Alan H. Bond|Dr. Alan Bond]]. Naturally we talked about chess programs and the recent happenings in the [[ACM North American Computer Chess Championship|American ACM tournaments]]. As we talked it became fairly obvious that in the intervening 4 years a number of new ideas had appeared on the scene. One idea was called [[Refutation Table|refutation]], a technique which (like [[Alpha-Beta|alpha-beta]]) could vastly speed up the tree searching without any loss of information.
=Publications=
<ref>[http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/literature/books/gamesplaying/references.htm Games Playing with Computers - References]</ref> <ref>[http://www.exso.com/cvu.html Alan Bond. Curriculum Vitae]</ref>
* [[John J. Scott]] ('''1969'''). ''A chess-playing program''. [http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~shm/MI/mi4.html Machine Intelligence Vol. 4]
* [[Jack Good]] ('''1969'''). ''Analysis of the machine chess game, J. Scott (White), ICL-1900 versus R.D. Greenblatt, PDP-10''. [http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~shm/MI/mi4.html Machine Intelligence Vol. 4]
* [[John J. Scott]] ('''1969'''). ''Lancaster vs. Mac Hack''. [[ACM#SIG|SIGART]], Vol. 16, pp 9-11
* [[John J. Scott]] ('''1974'''). ''Adaptive Data Structures''. Masters Theses, [[Queen Mary, University of London|London University]]
* [[John J. Scott]] ('''1978'''). ''High Level Machines and the INTELL Programming System''. Ph.D. Thesis, [[Queen Mary, University of London|London University]]
=External Links=
* [https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=164961 The Mathematics Genealogy Project - John Scott]
* [http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/literature/books/gamesplaying/p005.htm#index22 Chess programs: Scott] from [[Alex Bell]] ('''1972'''). ''[http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/literature/books/gamesplaying/overview.htm Games Playing with Computers]''. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_%26_Unwin Allen & Unwin], ISBN-13: 978-0080212227
=References=
<references />
'''[[People|Up one level]]'''
[[Category:Chess Programmer|Scott]]
'''John J. Scott''',<br/>
a British computer scientist and early computer chess programmer. '''Scott's program''', also dubbed [[Lancaster]] or '''Scott''', ran on an [[ICL 1900|ICL 1909/5]] mainframe computer.
It played an exhibition match versus [[Mac Hack|Greenblatt's Chess Program]] at the 1968 [[IFIP]] [[Conferences#IFIP|conference]] held in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh Edinburgh] quite well but finally lost <ref>[[John J. Scott]] ('''1969'''). ''Lancaster vs. Mac Hack''. [[ACM#SIG|SIGART]], Vol. 16</ref>.
The game was analyzed by [[Jack Good]], published in [[Donald Michie|Donald Michie's]] ''Machine Intelligence 4'' <ref>[[Jack Good]] ('''1969'''). ''Analysis of the machine chess game, J. Scott (White), ICL-1900 versus R.D. Greenblatt, PDP-10''. [http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~shm/MI/mi4.html Machine Intelligence Vol. 4]</ref>.
Scott's program was further sparring partner of [[Alex Bell|Alex Bell's]] program [[Atlas]], the forerunner of [[Master]]. In the 70s John Scott was affiliated with the [[Queen Mary, University of London|University of London]], where he defended his M.Sc and Ph.D- under supervision of [[Alan H. Bond]].
=Quotes=
==Games Playing with Computers==
[[Alex Bell]] in ''Games Playing with Computers'' <ref>[http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/literature/books/gamesplaying/p005.htm#index22 Chess programs: Scott] from [[Alex Bell]] ('''1972'''). ''[http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/literature/books/gamesplaying/overview.htm Games Playing with Computers]''. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_%26_Unwin Allen & Unwin], ISBN-13: 978-0080212227</ref>:
Greenblatt's program was exhibited at the 1968 IFIPS held in Edinburgh. It was a major attraction, drawing large crowds who cheered the program on to a win against the majority of its opponents. A special match was arranged between the program and one written by John Scott for the ICL 1909/5. An analysis of this game was made by I. J. Good, with the comment that Scott's program had a chance to draw at the 58th move, but made a bad move and then resigned. Because it was generally agreed that Greenblatt's program was the best to that date, Scott's program had done well to last so long. Both these programs were powerful opening and middle game players but became, from recorded games, relatively weak should they reach an end game. It seemed to the author that if it were possible to play a vigorous swapping strategy in order to reach an end game quickly then, even with a queen advantage, neither program would be actually able to realise the mate.
==Master at IFIPS==
[[Alex Bell]] in ''MASTER at IFIPS'' <ref>[[Alex Bell]] ('''1978'''). ''[http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/applications/cocoa/p008.htm MASTER at IFIPS]''. from [[Atlas Computer Laboratory]], hosted by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford_Appleton_Laboratory Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)], excerpt from [[Alex Bell]] ('''1978'''). ''The Machine Plays Chess''. Pergamon Press, ISBN-13: 978-0080212227, from [http://www.amazon.com/Machine-Plays-Chess-Pergamon/dp/0080212220 amazon]</ref>:
The only other chess program in England in 1968 was one written by John Scott, then a 17-year-old schoolboy. His program actually played MACHACK at the Edinburgh IFIPS (International Federation of Information Processing) and just lost after a long struggle. John and I were present at a talk a few days later by Jack Good who analysed this game; in fact, we both remember that some of the reasons given for John's program choosing a move were, in Our opinion, over-sophisticated.
In 1972 I was back in England again and met John Scott, who was doing a PhD, and his tutor [[Alan H. Bond|Dr. Alan Bond]]. Naturally we talked about chess programs and the recent happenings in the [[ACM North American Computer Chess Championship|American ACM tournaments]]. As we talked it became fairly obvious that in the intervening 4 years a number of new ideas had appeared on the scene. One idea was called [[Refutation Table|refutation]], a technique which (like [[Alpha-Beta|alpha-beta]]) could vastly speed up the tree searching without any loss of information.
=Publications=
<ref>[http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/literature/books/gamesplaying/references.htm Games Playing with Computers - References]</ref> <ref>[http://www.exso.com/cvu.html Alan Bond. Curriculum Vitae]</ref>
* [[John J. Scott]] ('''1969'''). ''A chess-playing program''. [http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~shm/MI/mi4.html Machine Intelligence Vol. 4]
* [[Jack Good]] ('''1969'''). ''Analysis of the machine chess game, J. Scott (White), ICL-1900 versus R.D. Greenblatt, PDP-10''. [http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~shm/MI/mi4.html Machine Intelligence Vol. 4]
* [[John J. Scott]] ('''1969'''). ''Lancaster vs. Mac Hack''. [[ACM#SIG|SIGART]], Vol. 16, pp 9-11
* [[John J. Scott]] ('''1974'''). ''Adaptive Data Structures''. Masters Theses, [[Queen Mary, University of London|London University]]
* [[John J. Scott]] ('''1978'''). ''High Level Machines and the INTELL Programming System''. Ph.D. Thesis, [[Queen Mary, University of London|London University]]
=External Links=
* [https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=164961 The Mathematics Genealogy Project - John Scott]
* [http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/literature/books/gamesplaying/p005.htm#index22 Chess programs: Scott] from [[Alex Bell]] ('''1972'''). ''[http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/literature/books/gamesplaying/overview.htm Games Playing with Computers]''. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_%26_Unwin Allen & Unwin], ISBN-13: 978-0080212227
=References=
<references />
'''[[People|Up one level]]'''
[[Category:Chess Programmer|Scott]]
