Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I open Billy?
- How do I make an AI similar to Billy?
- Why isn't Billy 2.0 available in the archive?
- Why isn't Billy 1.0 available in the archive?
- What language is Billy written in?
- Where can I find more mind files for Billy?
- If I already have 4.0, can I upgrade to 4.1?
How do I open Billy?
When you download Billy, you get an MSI file, which is a Microsoft Installer file. All you should have to do if double-click on the MSI file, and the program will install. You can then start the program by clicking on Start, Programs, Billy, and then the Billy 4.0 icon.How do I make an AI similar to Billy?
Writing an artificial intelligence program can be hard, and there's no one way to do it. Really, writing an AI program is no different than writing a "normal" application -- but instead of developing a word processor, you're developing a program trying to fake intelligence. The first step is to learn a programming language. Eventually, you should try to learn C++, but a good learning language is Pascal. My recommendation is to download the Free Pascal compiler at http://www.freepascal.org, and then search on Google or Yahoo for Pascal tutorials. Once you know Pascal well enough, you'll be able to start planning how to write your own bot.Why isn't Billy 2.0 available in the archive?
I wrote Billy 2.0 my senior year of high school because I wanted something interesting to do with my spare time. I never intended to do a big release with it. I decided to do a "limited edition" release for my friends at Christmas that year. I bought a stack of floppies and handed them out to some of my friends. Only 12 copies were made of Billy 2.0, and 2.0 was never made available online. I've since decided to keep it that way -- as a personal Christmas gift to my friends. Billy 2.0 will never be re-released. For what it's worth, though, Billy 2.0.1 is essentially the same as 2.0, but with bugfixes.Why isn't Billy 1.0 available in the archive?
Billy 1.0 wasn't much of a program. Shortly after getting my first computer, I was starting to get into programming. I had been playing around with Dr. Sbaitso (a classic), so one of my first "projects" was to write an AI chat program similar to it. After a little programming I realized that project was far beyond me at the time, and so decided to wait for the time being and hopefully return to it after I had more programming experience.A lot of time passed between Billy 1.0 and Billy 2.0. In that time, my computer suffered one major virus infection, in addition to an accidental hard disk format while upgrading Windows 3.1 to 95. Somewhere in there, the original Billy 1.0 sources were lost.
What language is Billy written in?
Billy 2.x and 3.x were written in Pascal, but the upcoming generation, 4.x, has been written in C++. C++ has allowed me to do things I simply could not have done in Pascal. Billy 4.x was mostly written using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003, but some older parts were written using Vim and Borland C++ Builder 5, and some other parts were written under Red Hat Linux 9 using Vim and GCC.Where can I find more mind files for Billy?
I don't have any available here on my website besides that which comes with Billy. However, there are several sites on my links page that offer new mind files.If I already have 4.0, can I upgrade to 4.1?
You sure can! If you already have Billy 4.0 installed, 4.1 will install in addition to 4.0 (i.e., it will not delete 4.0). This is for two reasons. One, if you have spent time developing your billy.mnd mind file, I would not want the installer to accidentally delete that file on you. Also, being able to have both installed at the same time allows you to link them with the UDLP Link Shell. If you wish to upgrade to 4.1 and get rid of 4.0, you may manually uninstall Billy 4.0 in the usual way (Control Panel, Add/Remove programs).