# DEALER, a bridge hand generator program

## Description

The program dealer can be used to generate hands for partnerships bidding training or for generating statistics that can be used to design conventions, or win postmortems.

Running the program involves 3 steps. First, the user has to write an input file containing hand-descriptions and action. A very simple example would look something like: A simple example:

> condition shape(north, any 4333 + any 4423) and hcp(north)>=19
> action printall

The first 2 lines specify a condition for the north hand, in this case, a hand with 4333 or 4432 shape and at least 19 high card points. The last 2 lines tell the program to print the 4 hands. The program reads from standard input, so in principle, it is possible to enter the conditions directly into the program. Using a file is a lot more practical though, as it allows the user to re-use conditions and fine-tune the conditions.

Then the program has to be run, it reads the file, looks at the various command line switches and then produces a number of hands. The output appears on the screen but can be re-directed to a file.

Finally, the user has to look at output and analyze the produced hands. Alternatively, the output can be used for a playing program.

## Index

- Read this first
- Copyright
- Authors
- Downloading and installation
- Using the program
  - The input file
  - Command Line Switches
  - Running the program
  - Using the Output
- Performance
- Updates and modifications