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International Conference on Computers and Games

CG 2008: Computers and Games pp 217–228Cite as

GTQ: A Language and Tool for Game-Tree Analysis

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Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNTCS,volume 5131)

Abstract

The search engines of high-performance game-playing programs are becoming increasingly complex as more and more enhancements are added. To maintain and enhance such complex engines is a challenging task, and the risk of introducing bugs or other unwanted behavior during modifications is substantial. In this paper we introduce the Game Tree Query Language (GTQL), a query language specifically designed for analyzing game trees. The language can express queries about complex game-tree structures, including hierarchical relationships and aggregated attributes over subtree data. We also discuss the design and implementation of the Game Tree Query Tool (GTQT), a software tool that allows efficient execution of GTQL queries on game-tree log files. The tool helps program developers to gain added insight into the search process of their engines, as well as making regression testing easier. Furthermore, we use the tool to analyze and find interesting anomalies in search trees generated by a competitive chess program.

Keywords

  • Search Tree
  • Query Language
  • Parse Tree
  • Game Tree
  • Principal Variation

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-87608-3_20
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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer Science, Reykjavík University, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Jónheiður Ísleifsdóttir & Yngvi Björnsson

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  1. Jónheiður Ísleifsdóttir
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  2. Yngvi Björnsson
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    © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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    Ísleifsdóttir, J., Björnsson, Y. (2008). GTQ: A Language and Tool for Game-Tree Analysis. In: van den Herik, H.J., Xu, X., Ma, Z., Winands, M.H.M. (eds) Computers and Games. CG 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5131. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-87608-3_20

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-87608-3_20

    • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

    • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-87607-6

    • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-87608-3

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