compass
Tamsin: This term is proposed for a set of guidelines by which to play a game of go. It is different from an algorithm? in that it is much less formal and binding; the idea of a compass is to provide the user with an idea of where they are, rather than a strict course of actions to follow. It is like a compass used at sea: it will help you establish your position and will provide such vital information as which way is north; it won't actually tell you in which direction you ought to be going.
What can a go compass be used for? I suggest it as a tool for removing rust. I stopped playing for almost a year and found when I started to play again that I did not know where I was in a game - I have been having problems finding the direction of play. So, I'm setting out three simple principles to give me a start; they won't take ages to apply like a checklist and they won't provide me with a complete way of generating moves like an algorithm?, but they should at least give me some basic orientation for thinking about my game.
SAMPLE COMPASS
1) Is there anything too big to lose?
2) Does the move under consideration have two or more functions?
3) Do a positional judgement so that you know where you would like to be playing
Bob McGuigan: Is this idea related to Heuristics?
Tamsin: It's certainly related, but it's not quite the same. A compass is a small set of heuristics that you might wish to bear special attention to, in order to give you something to "hold on to", rather than all of the proverbs, principles and their exceptions that you need to know. For instance, there's more to go than the simple compass expressed by "Urgent - big - honte", but that would at least give you something to think about when you sit down to play, rather than "oh my gosh! where do I begin?"
Bill: Different compasses point to different lodestones. Mine asks, What can I throw away? ;-)
MalwethPDA: This is a good way of learning new ways of play and improvement of your play. Although it won't help much with reading ability, it can help teach or reinforce shape, direction of play, and size of moves.
Tamsin: Thanks for the affirmation :-) You will note that my checklist idea is a bit similar to this, but this avoids the drawbacks of a checklist, which are that it's practically difficult to apply so many formal steps to selecting every move and that such an approach can create a somewhat rigid mindset. A "compass" gives you a few basic themes by which to shape your play, and that has got to be better than trying to select your moves by a complex algorithm? (or checklist) and more useful as a general guide than proverbs. Perhaps, in a teaching situation, the ideal would be for the sensei to examine your games and then to give you a compass tailored to your personal learning needs.