[author : MDO] #Edito
Extract : « People’s Computer Company is dedicated to computers (and computing, a very different matter) for people. The beneficial result of this credo will be a much friendlier and more pleasant future than that formed out of the concept of keeping these powerful machines reserved for companies. This is an admitted bias, however, and we must not allow it to prevent us from taking a close look at the technological growing pains some people experience. Are they brought about by computing? Or perhaps these are personality-related events which would manifest regardless of the environment. What the technology-laden future holds for humanity is a question we may well address. [...] »
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[author : Dave Cortesi] #BASIC #Index #Book #Software
Extract : « Pegasus Not Repulsive (BASIC) [...]
Input on Output [...]
MicroServe produce a Software Vendor Directory of 200 pages, said to list 1000 vendors and 4000 products [...]
Commodore is now preparing the second edition of their Software Encyclopedia, a listing of products for the PET and CBM machines. [...]
Irv Brechner of Irv Brechner Enterprises sent us a copy of his report, Computer Store Advertising [...]
General Input [...]
Osborne Business Software Users Group [...]
The 16-bit Microprocessor Handbook [...]
A Gallimaufry of Software [...]
Forth implementation for the CompuColor machine [...]
sample application programs by Scott Pickett. They can be used with Timin- or FIG-Forth [...]
Apple owners now have yet another choice in word processing packages. Westico is selling WORD /// [...]
Magic Spell (tm, and good name, guys) from Star-Kits [...]
Interactive Microware offers BASEX on cassette and diskette [...]
alphaSyntauri keyboard synthesizer supporting software [...]
Microsoft is pleased to inform us that they have produced Release 5.30 of their BASIC compiler [...]
SuperCalc is what Sorcim call their spreadsheet calculator program for CP/M [...]
Build Strong Programs 3 Way [...]
Screenmaster, from Marketing Essentials [...]
Quic-n-Easy from Standard MicroSystems goes Screenmaster one, maybe two, better [...]
RADAR is the name of a system that makes a CP/M system into a data entry station and a suitable replacement for a keypunch station or IBM 3741 data entry station [...]
Percom, maker of diskette drives for SS-50 and TRS-80 systems, has built a mini-disk system for the AIM-65, KIM, and SYM machines [...]
CP/M system in a TRS-80 Model III? That’s what Parasitic Engineering claims that their Shuffleboard gives you [...] »
[author : Peter D. Scargill] #Listing #Assembly #GameAdventure #Programming #Book
Extract : « For those not familiar with Adventure, it is a game which could simply not have existed before the age of the computer. Imagine reading a story tale where you follow the hero (or heroine) in a fantasy world where anything can happen. The difference between Adventure and a simple story book is that you can be the hero and be instrumental in affecting the outcome of the story, rather than being simply a passive reader.
More specifically, in most Adventures, you are in control of an "entity" which acts as your eyes and ears throughout the story. You can look, listen, manipulate objects, collect treasures, move in whatever direction you want, in fact do anything you want within the confines of a limited universe maintained by the computer.
Conceivably, some day, 3-dimensional tactile dream-worlds will become possible as technology progresses, perhaps coupling computer technology with some form of video disk system; but for the present, Adventure and similar games provide us with the first simple examples of this exciting concept.
This article is probably the first to be published of its kind, in that it provides a complete package for creating Adventures. The code presented here is a completely general-purpose adventure "interpreter" together with a BASIC program, designed to allow you, the reader, to create a database for your own Adventures with only the vaguest knowledge of assembly language programming. The code is not intended to be clever; experienced programmers can no doubt quite drastically improve upon the techniques used ; however, it does work quite well and I would appreciate any feedback on possible improvements. [...] »
[author : Richard Blessing] #Listing #Assembly #Fortran #Pascal #Networks
Extract : « Although I have had my North Star Horizon for almost three years, only recently have I had the opportunity to use it to communicate with another system. A change of employers has provided a Prime computer which may be accessed, via a modem, at 300 or 1200 baud. This was enough motivation for me to borrow a modem and write a routine that would allow me to use my North Star system as a terminal with which I could communicate with the Prime computer. At first, the results were very disappointing because characters were being dropped in almost every line received. On a hunch, I modified the North Star’s initialization routine so it programmed the 8251 USART for one stop bit instead of two, and the problem disappeared. [...] »
[author : J. E. Hendrix] #Simulation #OperatingSystem #Programming
Extract : « Portability is, or should be, a major concern of everyone developing software for microcomputers. The present variety of computers and operating systems, and the rate of new product announcements makes it highly desirable to write software which can be ported easily to foreign environments.
One approach to limiting the impact of porting software is to create a virtual operating system (VOS); i.e., a pseudo operating system which runs under and takes advantage of the services provided by a real operating system. This VOS would look the same to the user and to the programs running under it regardless of the particular, real operating system being used.
Application software is then written in a high level language under the VOS. Porting any amount of software is just a matter of developing another VOS for the new operating system and recompiling. If the new computer uses a different processor chip, then the compiler, assembler, and loader software must be revised or exchanged for different packages. Having a self-compiler is a real advantage. [...] »
[author : Richard Roth] #Listing #C #Programming
Extract : « [...] I had been playing with an experimental "C" compiler when Ron Cain’s "Small-C" was printed in Dr. Dobb’s issue #48. Glory Day — a much easier path presented itself. My progress was soon dashed as I found the BDS C compiler I’d been using could neither compile the whole source till I’d fragmented it, nor link the total result when done. Back to the drawing board—to form the gem of a new approach. By using the structure of Small-C, I divided the compiler into the basic elements of operation:
Pass 1 - Lexical analysis and tokenizing
Pass 2 — Syntax analysis
Pass 3 — Code generation [...] »
[author : Gandalf] #GeneralQuestions #Glossary
Extract : « They were among the brightest computer-science students at Stanford. They spent their days and nights in the concrete-and-glass computer center playing harmless games and mock-vicious "wheel wars" on the terminals. Then, one night, a hacker (computer addict) whose code name was Gandalf sat down and tapped out a cri de coeur: in their single-mindedness, he and his fellow hackers were losing touch with the human race. Quickly the issue was joined. The complete printout follows. (For a glossary of hacker terminology, turn to page 57.) [...] »
#Printer #Assembly #ComputerKit #Mathematics #Time #BASIC
Extract : « Ep, Son of Ep (Epson MX-80 printer) [...]
Kruskal’s Disassembler [...]
Stop, Heath! (Heath H8) [...]
The Root of the Matter (square root) [...]
Thirty Days Hath Septober (calendar routines) [...]
Basically Difficult
The USR function of Microsoft BASIC is a nasty, but often necessary, way to escape into machine code to accomplish something that can’t be done well enough (or at all) through the interpreter. [...]
Share the Wealth [...] »