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Subject: Re: I need advise !

Author: James Robertson

Date: 08:53:51 04/19/99

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On April 18, 1999 at 03:16:23, Anatoli wrote:

>Dear Friends !
>I want to start to learn a computer programming language. I can't do it full
>time because I am very busy at my work. I have a dream to write a new chess
>program in future. So, I met my friends and asked what sort of language they
>would recommend.
>As you can guess they sent me in different directions ! I found a book in
>the local library "Visual Basic 4 for windows for dummies". Of course it is
>quite old book because the latest version of Basic is 6. I started to read
>it every evening and found it very interesting and simple for my
>understanding (my native language is Russian). And the author give a good
>hint. He writes if speed crucial, Visual Basic is not a wise choice. And he
>recommends C++ or Delphi. I heard about these languages from my friends and
>one of them strongly recommended Delphi. So, do you know which sort of
>languages did use the authors of the famous chess programs like Fritz,
>Crafty, Junior, Nimzo, e.t.c ? What language will you recommend for me to
>learn ? I prefer to work with books alone then attend courses. Which books
>would you recommend ? Maybe I will use the knowledge of this language to
>change my future career.
>Best wishes
>Anatoli

I agree with everyone else: use C, and/or C++. Regardless of what people say,
until you get to pointers and some aspects of arrays, C is actually simpler than
Basic, and a lot simpler if you factor in the wierd nonsensical quirks of
VBasic. Also, C uses many fewer English words than VB, so it will be easier to
understand. But your English sounds fine, so you would have no trouble with it
anyway. :)

For the languages used by programs:
Fritz is written in assembler, only something a lunatic would do.
Crafty is written in C.
Junior is written in C (maybe C++).
I don't know about Nimzo, but I stronly suspect it is a C/C++ program too.

Hope this helps!
James



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