[Scidvspc-users] CQL port to Scid vs PC

[Lionel <hay...@gm...>]

I've ported Lewis Stiller's and Gady Costeff's CQL v5.1 implementation 
(http://www.gadycosteff.com/cql) to Scid vs PC as a fully integrated 
search engine.

I and a couple of others have been beating up on the engine for 10-12 
days and it appears to be quite solid. The port was relatively trivial, 
so I'm not expecting many problems, but I'm looking for more volunteers 
to help test what is a rather extensive grammar, especially on non-Linux 
platforms.

In particular, it would be very helpful if someone possessing Harold van 
der Heijden's study database (http://hhdbv.nl/) could test the port 
against that db. There is a set of scripts in the examples directory to 
aid in that endeavor. I've done my best to find or generate games which 
test the edge cases which are not likely to be present in one's typical 
chess database, but Stiller recommends Heijden's db as something of a 
testing high bar.

The build process for including the CQL engine in the Scid executable 
has only been implemented for the Linux platform, as I have no way of 
testing on other platforms.  I will happily incorporate patches for the 
Makefiles for other platforms as they are offered.  The build requires a 
C++11 compiler. The CQL engine has been successfully compiled with GNU 
g++ and with clang, as well as with Microsoft Visual C++.  The entire 
Scid+CQL build has been tested with GNU g++.

I very strongly recommend that users of this feature read the CQL Search 
section in the Help Guide before getting started. There are some 
essential guidelines in that section which can save one from any number 
of major headaches and points of confusion.  Read all of it.  Twice.

Please contact me off list for the [rather large] CQL patch, which 
applies cleanly to the v4.18.1 tarball.  To avoid spamming this list 
with CQL-related noise, please address all questions/problems directly 
to me.  Further notices, clarifications, faqs, update patches, etc., 
coming from me will be addressed only to those who have requested the patch.

I'll be welcoming comments and feedback and suggestions while I'm 
eliminating the last of the minor memory leaks in the engine over the 
next few weeks, and hope to release a final patch toward the end of the 
year.  I personally find this integrated CQL engine an 
order-of-magnitude more satisfying to use than the standalone version, 
and the language, itself, continues to impress the hell out of me.


Many thanks go to Stiller and Costeff for their innovative work on CQL, 
and to Steve Atkinson for his long years of dedication to the Scid vs PC 
project.


-- Lionel