******** Mini-Othello ********

DISCLAIMER: Absolute no warranty!!!


Written by Yunpeng Li	
yl@middelbury.edu   http://bj.middlebury.edu/~yl

Originally a joint project with Dobo Radichnov for CX 311 (Artificial Intelligence).


SOURCE CODE
Source code can be compile with GCC. Verson 2.95.x is recommend. For some reason, which I haven't figured out myself, executable compiled by GCC 3.x is much larger and has much worse performance. I will be really interested in knowing why. You can also compile it using Borland C++ compiler using "make bcc", but the exe is slightly slower as tested on my computer.

There IS the gets() function in the code, so one can do a "buffer overflow" against the program. Anyone interested in winning the game in this way is welcome to try that, though I don't think it will be any easier.


USAGE:
This is a command-line program, i.e. it need to run in a console window (or DOS window for Windows). Use "--help" switch to see a full list of options. 


ABOUT THIS PROGRAM
This is still an elementary level program, low search speed, manually tuned (and hence inaccurate) evaluation funcion. Therefore it is pretty weak and definitely no match for good Othello programs such as WZebra, Pointy Stone, etc, or strong human players. However it is should be more or less enough for beginning level players. Have fun!

