Chess programmer. Where do I start

I don't agree that you need to begin with something like Tic-Tac-Toe first.  Don't learn how to program by reading a book and not implementing examples; rather, choose an ambitious project and look up what you need to know.  For example, let's say you choose to do it in Java (which I would strongly recommend: It would be a great introduction to OOP).  You realize that you need some way of representing a board.  Boards are two-dimensional, so let's see if there's a data structure that allows for this.  Hey, 2-d arrays!  It's a much better way of learning than reading it in a textbook, because it's sometimes difficult to see the purpose.

Dude! Thank you. :)

If you want to be a good programmer, take some advanced math courses (e.g., number theory) and maybe some physics/electrical engineering courses (to understand E&M and circuits).  Take the time to learn and understand computing concepts/principles, such as data structures (e.g., arrays, heaps, stacks), computability and computational complexisty.  Don't worry so much about learning the semantics of any particular computer langauges.  That's easy, and you'll pick it up when you start coding.  It's much more important to be well grounded on theory than learning any specific programming language. 

The question was what to study to be able to creat your own chess engine. My suggestion would be artificial intellegence. One of the people you might want to contact would be IM Danny Kopec PHD.

Please drop me a message with your email adress and I will send you the source and the docs zipped together.

Here is a screenshot from analyzing the starting position:

Visit http://greenchess.com/apps/index.html

I have uploaded the zip of Winglet engine source and docs to a file sharing site:

http://www.4shared.com/archive/UeUCoX8sba/Winglet.html

You have to be a little bit careful which download link you click since it is a free file sharing site and there are quite a few download links [ so you may end up downloading something else :) ].

This is the link you need:

I received feedback that the download does not work.

I have uploaded it to a simpler file sharing utility, it seems easier to use:

http://www.filedropper.com/Winglet

Drop me a message with your email address and I will send it to you zipped.

To compile something from source created by someone else is not a trivial business ( I could not compile it at my first attempt either ). I suggest that you follow the step to step guide and first compile only the smallest possible part ( the basic part of the command interpreter ). When it works include other modules etc. It is easier to identify errors if you have two or three source files than if you have twenty.

https://code.org/  

also scratch.com and get scratch

You should buy some books and learn c++ and how programming works in general

Python is great for prototyping, but it's too slow for a chess engine.

Does it need to be a GUI program or can it be a text-based program?

no.what do you mean???????/