question: public static final String asciiBoard ( Position pos ) { StringBuilder ret = new StringBuilder ( 400 ) ; String nl = String . format ( Locale . US , "%n" ) ; ret . append ( "    +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+" ) ; ret . append ( nl ) ; for ( int y = 7 ; y >= 0 ; y -- ) { ret . append ( "    |" ) ; for ( int x = 0 ; x < 8 ; x ++ ) { ret . append ( ' ' ) ; int p = pos . getPiece ( Position . getSquare ( x , y ) ) ; if ( p == Piece . EMPTY ) { boolean dark = Position . darkSquare ( x , y ) ; ret . append ( dark ? ".. |" : "   |" ) ; } else { ret . append ( Piece . isWhite ( p ) ? ' ' : '*' ) ; String pieceName = pieceToChar ( p ) ; if ( pieceName . length ( ) == 0 ) pieceName = "P" ; ret . append ( pieceName ) ; ret . append ( " |" ) ; } } ret . append ( nl ) ; ret . append ( "    +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+" ) ; ret . append ( nl ) ; } return ret . toString ( ) ; }
target:  Create an ascii representation of a position.