FAQ

1. What is OthBase?
   
   OthBase is an Othello® database program that allow players to open and read any XOF, Thor, PGN (Kurnik, VOG), SGF, GGS format game database. Please see Bruno de la Boisserie pages for more infos about Othello programs history.
   
   
2. Why developing such a program?

   As an Othello® player I have used since 1988 several tools and programs for improving my game play. The most often used tools have been: Thor, Cassio and WZebra. Those programs are very interesting tools for studying Othello® but they have all the same drawback: you are locked to one OS platform.
   
   The OthBase project has started beginning of November 2002 based on the following constatations:
   

   •  there was no cross platform Othello® database program that was available on several platforms; you needed for example to use Cassio for MacOS 9.X, or use WZebra for Windows if you wanted to study tournament level games
     
     
   • there was no Othello® database program available on the Java platform nor Linux (sorry LZebra was not very well supported on Linux)
     
     
   • there was always the need to update manually the database when using Cassio or WZebra; this task should have been done automatically via the program itself
     
   
   Ajax and Cyrano, two good Othello® programs written in Java, have shown that we can have strong and interesting Othello® programs written on the Java platform
   

   As an early Java adopter (since the first JDK 1.0 beta release in 1996!) and Othello addict, I decided on November 2002 to start this project as the Java platform is now very popular and really more mature than a couple of  years ago. The SWING/JFC GUI library is now at a good level and JVM performances are increasing each year. Check for example infos about HotSpot. Moreover the Java developers community is really alive and responsive. You can check at Apache Jakarta Project and at JavaDesktop.
   

   My main goals are:
   

   • to promote Othello® thru the use of a database program for studying games of tournament players
     
     
   • to develop an Othello® database program in Java that will be the same on Windows, MacOSX or Linux
     
     
   • to support the Thor database format and other popular game file formats (e.g. XOF, SGF, PGN, Cassio)
     
     
   • to implement a database feature set identical at minimum to Cassio's one
     
     
   • to allow an easy installation and update of the program
     
     
   • to allow an easy update of the FFO game database available in the Thor database format
     
     
   • to add new cool extra features that are needed by Othello® players in a responsive way
     
     
   • to allow developers to add some plugins into the program to add new features
   
   
3. Where does this name come from?
   
   OthBase = Othello + Base; in fact Emmanuel Lazard was the first to use this name for a database program he developed on Atari ST around 10 years ago. I have been one of the first happy users of this incredible program and my Othello player level increased a lot at that time with using it. Emmanuel has nicely allowed me to use this name for my new Othello database program.
   
   
4. What is the XOF format?
   
   This XML database game format has been created by me to allow easy Othello games database exchange between people and programs. The format definition is available here.
   
   
5. What is the Thor format?
   
   This database game format has been created by Sylvain Quin, a French developer who authored also the Thor/WThor/Balder programs. The format definition is available here.
   
   
6. Why choosing Java?
   
   Java has become this days a very mature platform (J2SE, JEEE, J2ME...) to enable development of cross platform programs. Moreover, Java Virtual Machines are now available on all major OS (Windows, MacOSX, Linux) and both performances and GUI libraries are at a good level. Moreover the Java developers community is really responsive today in both the commercial and OpenSource part.
   
   
7. What is a Java Virtual Machine (JVM)?
   
   It is an execution environment to run Java code (aka bytecode) based on a virtual machine (a program that emulates a virtual processor). VM are not a new idea as they have been used a lot by LISP or other language implementations, but the Java VM has greatly improved the way garbage collection is done (thru a garbage collector, GC). Now, since JDK 1.3.1 release,  GC are very optimized and are no more a strong overhead during runtime of Java bytecode. Check this url about HotSpot internals.
   
   
8. Is there any constraint to the JVM to use?
   
   Yes, supported JVM are 1.5.0 at minimum. Any OS that support a such a Java VM should be ok. It runs perfectly on Windows, MacOSX and Linux.
   
   
9. What is Java Web Start (JWS)?
   
   A new way of deploying Java application & applets. You just need to use a browser and clic on a URL and "voila", JWS starts and downloads and installs your application. If there is a newer version of your application available, JWS will detect it and download only the parts that need to be updated.
   
   
10. What is the licensing model and how much OthBase will cost?
    
    OthBase is NO MORE available as a Shareware.
    
    You NEED to buy a license to use it on a regular basis. This will strongly help its development by motivating me delivering new features. It has already a rich and strong feature set for dealing with Othello games database analysis and it can be very usefull for all Othello players (casual to strong).
    
    
11. Does OthBase source code will be available?
    
    No sorry but I may include an SDK API that allow developers to add their own plugins. I have already some request from a Go player to make OthBase more generic and have it manage a Go game database.
    
    
12. Can I contribute to OthBase?
    
    Yes of course every volunteer is welcome. You can contribute in several ways:
    
    
    • by buying a license to support its developement.
    • by helping finding bugs and report them to bug (at) othbase.net
    • by helping for OthBase localization at feature (at) othbase.net
    • by asking for feature or enhancement request at feature (at) othbase.net
    
    
13. What are the tools used to develop OthBase?
    
    Check the OthBase development  page.