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Subject: Re: Chess in BASIC?

Author: Roberto Waldteufel

Date: 05:48:21 09/13/98

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On September 12, 1998 at 06:58:18, Jim Phillips wrote:

>Hey Roberto...
>I have been curious about the PowerBASIC Console Compiler ever since I
>got the flyer in my mail.  It is very enlightening to hear from a real-
>world user.  At the very least, you've convinced me to try their demo.
>I still intend to write the first 2 or 3 versions of my chess game in
>QBasic for the public domain, just as an aid to other beginners.  But I
>suspect the day will come when I get speed-hungry... :)
>By the way, I am awake at these terrible hours (early A.M.) because I am
>on night shift (work at a generating station) and they let us log on the
>net on our breaks.  Very considerate company that way (Minnesota Power).
>Good luck in your next tournament!!!!!  8^D
>Jim Phillips

Hi Jim,

I hope more company's follow Minnesota Power's example!

I bet you will be impressed when you run the benchmark tests on the demo. If you
do decide to buy, I suggest you don't do what I did, and get both PBDLL and
PBCC, because they are almost identical. The difference is that in PBDLL you
design your own GUI for each application you write, whereas in PBCC you don't
have to worry about that, and the application is automatically a text-mode
program that can be run full-screen or in a DOS-box. This means that things like
printing to the screen can be done in the same way as you do in PB32 under DOS.
I think PBCC is easier to learn to use, but PBDLL offers more scope for the
interface. For chess, I found that I could produce a reasonable chess diagram
using graphic characters on the text screen in 50-line full-screen mode. The
resolution is a bit coarse, so it's not as beautiful as the Winboard ches
diagram, but it is quite serviceable for playing.

One big advantage of these two compilers is the flat memory model. No more
virtual arrays - there is no longer any limitation on the memory available for
the application, but if you use lots of it, you are at the mercy of Windows when
it is swapped in. I have found this a problem for the hash tables at the start
of play, but I understand that Win 98 or Win NT may be better in this respect
than Win95.

When you release your program, I would be interested to see it, and to see how
Rabbit does against it in comp-comp games.

Best wishes,
Roberto



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