HexWiki - User contributions [en]

Talk:HexGui

2011-04-04T07:26:55Z

Littlefish:

== HexGui and TwixtGui for Linux? ==

Is source code available? I run Gnome on Debian 6.0 for amd64.

Thanks for any info.--[[User:Twixter|David]] 22:41, 21 March 2011 (CET)

: The sources for HexGui and TwixtGui are included in the zip files. The jar files should run on Linux, but I only tested with a recent version of OpenJDK, I don't know what version Debian includes. I also haven't tried if the Hex engine "Six" that is included in HexGui and written in C++ can be compiled without modifications on Linux, but its source is also included. --[[User:Littlefish|Littlefish]] 09:26, 4 April 2011 (CEST)

HexGui

2010-12-29T14:29:26Z

Littlefish: There is also another program named HexGui

HexGui is a modified version of the application GoGui, for the game Hex. It was created mainly to have a Windows version of the open source engine [[Six]] (originally a KDE-Application by Gábor Melis).

GoGui is a tool for Go programmers and players, to display Go game trees, save them in .sgf format, attach an engine and debug it (analyze mode). Also some smaller non-GUI tools like TwoGtp (test two engines against each other) are included. GoGui is an open source application, written in Java, by Markus Enzenberger.

In HexGui, some features were removed (e.g. "set up" a position), and tools like TwoGtp may be untested, but could quite easily be made working again.

Link: [http://mgame99.mg.funpic.de/hex.php HexGui homepage]

References:
http://gogui.sourceforge.net/,
http://six.retes.hu/

'''Note:''' There is also another program named HexGui and derived from GoGui. This program is the GUI that the authors of [[MoHex|Mohex]] and [[Wolve]] recommend on [http://benzene.sourceforge.net/ their web page]. It is available at http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~broderic/hex/

History of computer Hex

2010-12-02T11:12:43Z

Littlefish: typo

Hex has been invented by mathematicians and the [[rules]] are basic. Therefore it is relatively easy to make a simple [[artificial intelligence]] compared to chess for instance. However the [[branching factor]] is huge and a brutal approach is not as efficient in Hex than in Chess. This fact is another similarity to [[Go]].

== Chronology ==

* 1942 Invention of Hex.
* In 1953 Shannon and Moore build an electric machine able to play Hex. The board is considered as an electric circuit with one player's ([[Blue]] for example) hexes being off switches and the other's being on switches, the empty hexes are resistances. The machine measures the global resistance of the circuit between [[Red]]'s edges, tries every move and then chooses the one that minimizes the resistance value of the circuit, trying to make it easier to join the two sides.
* 1994 Birth of [[Queenbee]].
* In 2000 [[Hexy]] is gold medallist of the [[ICGA|5th Computer Olympiad]] in London. Hexy is the first computer program to use [[virtual connection]]s.
* July 7th 2002. [[Six]], the current best available hex playing program is created.
* October 2008. [[Wolve]] is gold medallist of the 13th Computer Olympiad in Beijing. [[MoHex]] uses [[UCT]] algorithm in Hex, and plays better than Six.

== See also ==

* [[History of Hex]]
* [[Computer Hex]]

== References ==

* Anshelevich, Vadim V. [http://home.earthlink.net/~vanshel/VAnshelevich-01.pdf The Game of Hex: An Automatic Theorem Proving Approach to Game Programming]. See paragraphs 2 and 3 for the first Hex playing machine.
* Gardner, Martin (1988). [http://www.amazon.com/Hexaflexagons-Other-Mathematical-Diversions-Scientific/dp/0226282546 Hexaflexagons and Other Mathematical Diversions: The First Scientific American Book of Puzzles and Games]. University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-28254-6.
*[http://six.retes.hu/ChangeLog Reference for creation of Six.]

{{stub}}
[[category:Computer Hex]]
[[category:History]]

Six

2010-12-01T18:39:43Z

Littlefish: typo

Six is a free [[Hex]] playing program running on Unix written by Gábor Melis. The currently offered version is 0.5.3. It has won [[ICGA]] Hex tournament in 2003, 2004 and 2006. Six is quite good against human beings too.

==Features==

*It allows playing form [[board size|size]] 4 to 15.
*It offers 4 different skill levels (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert).
*Games as well as positions can be saved.

==Windows Port==
Six has been adapted to Windows by [http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/info/player.jsp?plid=6603 ab]. The project came out [http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/forum/topic2.jsp?forum=50&topic=301 a thread] in the [[Little Golem]] forum. "ab" separated the GUI from the Six engine, thus creating [[HexGui]], inspired by GoGui.

To play the AI:
*Put HexGui.jar and six_gtp_engine.exe in one directory
*Double-click on HexGui.jar (or use "java -jar HexGui.jar")
*File menu / attach / "six_gtp_engine.exe --level=0"
*F5 to make a computer move, or
*Game menu / Computer plays / "Black" or "White" or "Both"

While the computer makes a move, which can take a while at expert level, you cannot access all the program functions.
The two zip files full of source code are unnecessary to play.

==See also==

[[Hexy]] is another Hex playing program. Hexy runs on Microsoft Windows.

[[Roland Illig vs. Six 0.5.3, 2007-09-28]].

==External links==

[http://six.retes.hu/ Six on Gábor Melis page].

[http://mgame99.mg.funpic.de/havannah.php Download Windows version].

[http://www.grappa.univ-lille3.fr/icga/round.php?tournament=100&round=1 8 games between Six and Mongoose] in the 8th Computer Olympiad in Graz (2003).

==References==

[http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/forum/topic2.jsp?forum=50&topic=294 Six is pretty damn strong on a fast machine] a forum topic by David J Bush (top hex rating > 2150 on [[Little Golem]]).

[[category:Computer Hex]]
[[category:Hex playing program]]

Philip Henderson

2010-12-01T18:35:57Z

Littlefish:

Philip Henderson is a computer scientist at the University of Alberta and co-author of [[Wolve]] and [[MoHex]]. He published several papers on [[Computer Hex]] and is doing his PhD thesis on this topic.

* [http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~ph/ Homepage at U of A]
* [http://www.grappa.univ-lille3.fr/icga/person.php?id=289 Participation at ICGA tournaments]

MoHex

2010-12-01T18:31:23Z

Littlefish:

MoHex is a Hex program based on Monte Carlo tree search developed at the University of Alberta by [[Philip Henderson]], [[Broderick Arneson]] and [[Ryan Hayward]].

MoHex is Free Software and released under the terms of the Lesser General Public License.

MoHex won the gold medal at the Computer Olympiad 2009.

* [http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~hayward/hex/#MoHex Information at Ryan Hayward's page]
* [http://www.grappa.univ-lille3.fr/icga/program.php?id=555 MoHex results at ICGA tournaments]
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/benzene/ Project page at SourceForge with source code release]
* [http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~hayward/papers/rptPamplona.pdf MoHex Wins Hex Tournament (14th Computer Olympiad 2009 Pamplona) (PDF)]

Wolve

2010-12-01T18:30:02Z

Littlefish:

Wolve is a Hex program developed based on alpha-beta search at the University of Alberta by [[Philip Henderson]], [[Broderick Arneson]] and [[Ryan Hayward]]. Older versions were also developed by [[Yngvi Björnsson]],
[[Michael Johanson]], [[Morgan Kan]], [[Martin Müller]] and [[Geoff Ryan]].

Wolve is Free Software and released under the terms of the Lesser General Public License.

Wolve won the gold medal at the Computer Olympiad 2008.

* [http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~hayward/hex/#Wolve Information at Ryan Hayward's page]
* [http://www.grappa.univ-lille3.fr/icga/program.php?id=135 Wolve results at ICGA tournaments]
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/benzene/ Project page at SourceForge with source code release]
* [http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~hayward/papers/rptBeijing.pdf Wolve 2008 Wins Hex Tournament (13th Computer Olympiad 2008 Beijing) (PDF)]

Broderick Arneson

2010-12-01T18:27:37Z

Littlefish:

Broderick Arneson is a software developer at the University of Alberta and co-author of [[Wolve]] and [[MoHex]]. He is co-author of several papers on Computer Hex.

* [http://www.grappa.univ-lille3.fr/icga/person.php?id=288 Participation at ICGA tournaments]

Wolve

2010-12-01T18:22:53Z

Littlefish:

Computer Hex

2010-12-01T18:18:46Z

Littlefish: /* Available programs */ MoHex is stronger than Wolve (see Computer Olympiads)

This article enumerates diverse ways to exploit [[Hex]] with a computer.

== AI techniques used in Hex ==

*[[Minimax (computer)|Minimax]] and alpha-beta search were used by [[Queenbee]].
*[[UCT]] is used in MoHex.

== Programs with AI ==

There are several computer programs which play Hex.

=== Available programs ===

* The currently strongest available Hex program is [[MoHex]] is a [[UCT|UCT-Monte Carlo]] Hex program developed at the [[University of Alberta]] by Philip Henderson, Broderick Arneson and Ryan Hayward
* [[Wolve]] is the gold medallist of 2008 Computer Olympiads.
* [[Six]] by [[Gábor Melis]], running on Linux or Unix or Windows.
* The second strongest program available is [[Hexy]], running on Microsoft Windows. Hexy was the first program to use [[virtual connection]]s and was champion of the 5th Computer Olympiad in 2000.
* [http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~queenbee/ Queenbee] by [[Jack van Rijswijck]] finished second that year.
* An iPhone app also named [[Hexy (iPhone)|Hexy]] (no relation), released in November 2008, offers an AI opponent; the AI appears to be a custom design and hasn't been rated.
* A second iPhone app named '''Hexatious''' released in August 2009, appears to offer a stronger AI than the iPhone Hexy app (in particular, Hexatious easily beats the other iPhone app in head-to-head competition).
* An online Java AI called [http://www.mattesmedjan.se/hexilla/ Hexilla] by Jonatan Rydh, released in October 2009.

=== Unavailable programs ===

* [[Mongoose]] by [[Yngvi Björnsson]], [[Ryan Hayward]], Mike Johanson, Morgan Kan, and Nathan Po.

== Non playing programs ==

=== Front End ===
* [[HexGui]] is a graphical user interface designed by "ab", mostly used as a front end to play against Six. It is possible however to play against other programs that can communicate via [[GTP]]. It can be downloaded on "ab"'s web [http://mgame99.mg.funpic.de/havannah.php page].

=== Reviewing and Editing Programs ===

* [http://canyon23.net/jgame/README_hex.html JHex] by Kevin lets you analyse a game, and databases of games.
* [http://www.drking.plus.com/hexagons/hex/khex.html KHex] by David King is a tool for reviewing games. Very well suited for sharing commented games (it exports games in [[Smart Game Format]]!)

== External link==

=== Articles ===

*Anshelevich, Vadim V. [http://home.earthlink.net/~vanshel/VAnshelevich-ARTINT.pdf A hierarchical approach to computer Hex].
*van Rijswijck, Jack. [http://home.fuse.net/swmeyers/y-hex.pdf Search and evaluation in Hex].
*Rasmussen, Rune K. and Maire, Frederic D. and Hayward, Ross F. (2006) [http://eprints.qut.edu.au/5121/1/5121_1.pdf A Move Generating Algorithm for Hex Solvers].
*Rasmussen, Rune K. (2008) [http://eprints.qut.edu.au/18616/1/01Thesis.pdf Algorithmic approaches for playing and solving Shannon games] (PhD Thesis).

== See also ==
[[History of computer Hex]]

The [[ICGA|International Computer Games Association]] also has some [http://www.cs.unimaas.nl/icga/games/hex/ information on Hex]. They organize an annual [[Computer Olympiad]], which also covers Hex.

[[category:Computer Hex]]

Computer Hex

2010-12-01T18:17:54Z

Littlefish: /* Programs with AI */ MoHex and Wolve are now available (source code), MoHex the strongest (winner of Computer Olympiad 2009 and 2010 (?))

This article enumerates diverse ways to exploit [[Hex]] with a computer.

== AI techniques used in Hex ==

*[[Minimax (computer)|Minimax]] and alpha-beta search were used by [[Queenbee]].
*[[UCT]] is used in MoHex.

== Programs with AI ==

There are several computer programs which play Hex.

=== Available programs ===

* The currently strongest available Hex program is [[MoHex]] is a [[UCT|UCT-Monte Carlo]] Hex program developed at the [[University of Alberta]] by Philip Henderson, Broderick Arneson and Ryan Hayward
* [[Wolve]] is currently the best Hex program. It is the gold medallist of 2008 Computer Olympiads.
* [[Six]] by [[Gábor Melis]], running on Linux or Unix or Windows.
* The second strongest program available is [[Hexy]], running on Microsoft Windows. Hexy was the first program to use [[virtual connection]]s and was champion of the 5th Computer Olympiad in 2000.
* [http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~queenbee/ Queenbee] by [[Jack van Rijswijck]] finished second that year.
* An iPhone app also named [[Hexy (iPhone)|Hexy]] (no relation), released in November 2008, offers an AI opponent; the AI appears to be a custom design and hasn't been rated.
* A second iPhone app named '''Hexatious''' released in August 2009, appears to offer a stronger AI than the iPhone Hexy app (in particular, Hexatious easily beats the other iPhone app in head-to-head competition).
* An online Java AI called [http://www.mattesmedjan.se/hexilla/ Hexilla] by Jonatan Rydh, released in October 2009.

=== Unavailable programs ===

* [[Mongoose]] by [[Yngvi Björnsson]], [[Ryan Hayward]], Mike Johanson, Morgan Kan, and Nathan Po.

== Non playing programs ==

=== Front End ===
* [[HexGui]] is a graphical user interface designed by "ab", mostly used as a front end to play against Six. It is possible however to play against other programs that can communicate via [[GTP]]. It can be downloaded on "ab"'s web [http://mgame99.mg.funpic.de/havannah.php page].

=== Reviewing and Editing Programs ===

* [http://canyon23.net/jgame/README_hex.html JHex] by Kevin lets you analyse a game, and databases of games.
* [http://www.drking.plus.com/hexagons/hex/khex.html KHex] by David King is a tool for reviewing games. Very well suited for sharing commented games (it exports games in [[Smart Game Format]]!)

== External link==

=== Articles ===

*Anshelevich, Vadim V. [http://home.earthlink.net/~vanshel/VAnshelevich-ARTINT.pdf A hierarchical approach to computer Hex].
*van Rijswijck, Jack. [http://home.fuse.net/swmeyers/y-hex.pdf Search and evaluation in Hex].
*Rasmussen, Rune K. and Maire, Frederic D. and Hayward, Ross F. (2006) [http://eprints.qut.edu.au/5121/1/5121_1.pdf A Move Generating Algorithm for Hex Solvers].
*Rasmussen, Rune K. (2008) [http://eprints.qut.edu.au/18616/1/01Thesis.pdf Algorithmic approaches for playing and solving Shannon games] (PhD Thesis).

== See also ==
[[History of computer Hex]]

The [[ICGA|International Computer Games Association]] also has some [http://www.cs.unimaas.nl/icga/games/hex/ information on Hex]. They organize an annual [[Computer Olympiad]], which also covers Hex.

[[category:Computer Hex]]

MoHex

2010-12-01T18:15:24Z

Littlefish: