One of his first endeavors into computers was writing a computer chess program and then later working on a global optimizer for C at Bell Labs. This computer chess program competed in multiple computer chess tournaments such as the Toronto chess tournament in 1977 (2nd place) and the Linz tournament in 1980 (3rd place).
One of his initial computer projects involved creating a chess program, which he later improved to develop a global optimizer for C at Bell Labs. This chess program participated in various chess tournaments like the Toronto tournament in 1977 (2nd place) and the Linz tournament in 1980 (3rd place).