zig-chess/docs/learning-roadmap.md

Learning roadmap

Phase 0: Zig environment and language model

• Install/verify Zig and editor tooling.
• Learn zig build, tests, allocators, slices, error unions, defer, comptime, and C interop.
• Keep notes on concepts that differ from Go/Rust/C.

Phase 1: Rendering bootstrap

Goal: finish the copied Vulkan/GLFW path well enough to draw and present simple 2D shapes.

Learning targets:

• Vulkan setup order and resource lifetimes.
• Swapchain, render pass, framebuffers, command buffers, synchronization.
• Coordinate transforms for a 2D board.
• Frame timing and redraw strategies.

Phase 2: Chess model

Learning targets:

• Board coordinates and piece representation.
• Move structs and game-state snapshots.
• Rule edge cases: castling, en passant, promotion, check, checkmate, stalemate.
• Tests for correctness before UI complexity.

Phase 3: Interactive board UI

Learning targets:

• Mapping mouse/window coordinates to squares.
• Selection state and legal-move highlighting.
• Separating rendering state from game rules.
• Debug overlays for learning and testing.

Phase 4: Notation and validation

Learning targets:

• FEN import/export.
• Algebraic notation basics.
• Perft-style move-generation tests.
• Golden tests and small fixtures.

Phase 5: Engine/search experiments

Learning targets:

• Evaluation functions.
• Minimax/negamax and alpha-beta pruning.
• Move ordering, transposition tables, and iterative deepening as later topics.
• Deterministic benchmarks for search changes.

Phase 6: Optimization

Learning targets:

• Profiling before optimizing.
• Board representation options: mailbox arrays, 0x88, bitboards.
• Allocation-free move generation experiments.
• SIMD/vectorization and cache-aware data layouts where evidence supports it.