And Others Computer Applications in Instruction

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

And Others Computer Applications in Instruction DOCUMENT RESUME ED 234 741 IR 010 807 AUTHOR Edwards, Judith B.; And Others TITLE Computer Applications in Instruction: A Teacher's Guide to Selection and Use INSTITUTION Northwest Regional Educational Lab., Portland, Oreg.; State Univ. of New York, Albany. Research Foundation. SPONS AGENCY National Inst. of Education (DREW), Washington, D.C.; National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. REPORT NO ISBN-0-89466-280-5 PUB DATE 78 CONTRACT PES-7309325 NOTE 220p.; Foreword by Richard Otte. PUB TYPE Collected Works..- General (020) -- Guides - Non-Classroom Use (055) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Computer Assisted Instruction; *Computer Programs; Elementary Secondary Education;'Evaluation Criteria; Input Output Devices; *Media Selection; *Programed Instructional Materials; Programing; *Programing Languages IDENTIFIERS *Computer Uses in Education ABSTRACT Intended for upper elementary and secondary teachers in all subject areas, this guide provides- practical advice on \determining the appropriate application of computer technology and on the selection of specific, subject-related computer-based instruction units. Under the heading of hardware and software, topics discussed include communicating with a computer, computer size, getting and using user's programs, translators and programming languages, and the elements of a program. The computer is analyzed in terms of its uses as instructor, laboratory, calculator, object of instruction, and instructor's aide. The selection of computer-based instructional units is described from the beginning of the selection process through final decision making. Individual papers then focus on uses of the computer in the following specific areas: art education, business education, instruction for the deaf and hard of hearing, elementary school, language arts, mathematics curriculum and instruction, music education, physical education, secondary science, natural science, and the social sciences. "Keys to Recognizing General Purpose Languages," and some primary sources of eomputer-based instructional units, are appended. (L* t) **********************************************************%************ Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made froWthe original document. *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPASTSIENOE EDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL_RES_OURCES.INFORMATION -MPUTER CENTeR IERIC) This document as been reproduced as received from the person or organization originatZng it Minor.changes have been made to =Wave, PPLICATIONS iePrOduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this docu do riot necessarily represent official NIE position Or policy. ? IN INSTRUCTION: i. eN1 A Teachers Guide to SelettiOri and Use Judith B. Edwards Antoinette S. Ellis Duane E Richardson Donald Holznagel Daniel Klassen Foreword by Richard Otte Project Officer Technologjcal Applications Division National InStitate Of Education Director, Computer Technology Program Judith B. Edwards Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory a 710 S.W. Second Avenue Portland, Oregon 97204 A Houghton-Mifflin Company Hanover, New Hampshire 03766 "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE IRIS MA TERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY M. Margaret Rogers TO THE EDU_CATIONAL RESOURCES rI INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)" N Some of the materials incorporated into this work were developed with the financial si:-.::port of the National Science Foundation, Grant PES-7309325 to the Research Foundation of State University of New York. The grant was entitled Development of Computer- Sinulation materials and was_under the dhection of Dr: Ludwig Braun; Professor of Electrical and System Engineering; State University of New York at Stony Brook. Copyright C) 1978 by Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. Published by Time Share Corporation, Hanover, New Hamp- 011ie 01755: All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright is claimed until September 1, 1983. Thereafter all portions of this work covered by this copyright will be in the public domain. This work was developed under a grant and contracts with the National Institute of Education, U.S. Department of HeWth, EduT cation and Welfare. However, the content does not necessarily reflect the position or policy of that Agency, and no official endorsement of these materials should be inferred. ISBN: 0-89466-280-5 iv CONTENTS I.THE ESSENTIALS OF HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE To tlie User A Computer System: Hardware + Software 2 Modes of Communicating with a Computer 5 The Hardware of Communication 9 The Question of Computer Size 12 Getting and Using User's Programs 14 Translators and Programming Languages 16 The Elements of a Program 22 Where is the. Program? 29 II.INSTRUCTIONAL USES OF THE COMPUTER Introduction: The Versatile Computer 32 The Computer as Instructor 34 The Computer as Laboratory 39 The Computer as Calculator 61 The Computer as an Object of Instruction 63 The Computer as Instructor's Aide 65 III. SELECTING COM UTER-BASED INSTRUCTIONAL UNITS Selecting Computer-Bas d Materials: Some Basics 74 &ginning the Selection Process 77 The Final Decision 89 Making the Final Decision 103 IV. READINGS IN COMPUTER IN THE CURRICULUM Introduction to Computers in the Curriculum 109 Computers in Art Education 112 Computers in the Business Education Curriculum 116 Computers in Instruction for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing 121 Computers in the Elementary School 126 Compuiers in Language Arts 133 Computers in the Mathematics Curriculum 140 Computers in Mathematics InstruCtion, 145 Computers in Music Education 152 Computers in Physical Education 157 Computers in Secondary Science 162 Computers in the Natural Science Curriculum 170 Computers in the Social Sciences 176 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Computers in the Social Studies 179 Computers in Vocational Agriculture 183 APPENDIX I: Keys to Recognizing General Purpose Languages 188 APPENDIX II:Some Primary Sources of Computer-Based Instructional Units 203 FOREWORD The role of the classroom teaches becomes increasingly demanding and complex as we understand more about how people learn and as tested technologies become ,available. Learning is a highly individual experience, an active rather than a passive act, with the learner seeking the information, the structure, and experiences, and the means he or she may need to understand and internalize new inform,ation. It is increasingly important that students be provided with a Vanety of instruc- tional resources that incorporate multiple learning styles and modes of interaction. This multi- plicity of resources increases the probability of a match between what is available and what the learner is seeking. The computer provides a variety of instructional strategies and delivery modes,: and can be a useful and exciting means for expanding learning opportunities. The cost of education increases daily. At the same time, the cost of computer technology has continued to drop dramatically. In fact; complete "home computers" offer programs ranging from arithmetic tutoring and biorhythm charts to simulated science lab experiments and com- puter based games such as Star Trek. These computers are broadly available for modest costs that are usually less than the cost of color TV sets. The implications for education are intriguing. In five years, the same computer capability will undoubtedly be notebook-sizeor smaller like hand `calculators are today. The challenge to the classroom teacher who anticipates the utility of such technology is to become familiar with it and to learn to incorporate it effectively in his or her subject matter areas. How can teachers determine which of the many instructional units available are appro- priate and useful for their students to experience? This book deals with these concerns. It is intended for upper elementary and secondary teachers in all subject areas. It provides a practical guide to determining the appropriate applica- tion of computer technology and to the selection of specific subject-related computer based in- struction units. The leader will become acquainted with the rudiments of computer hardware; computer programming languages, the different roles the computer can play in instruction, and how the computer can he used in several different curriculum areas for evaluating and selecting application units for instruction. Development of this book by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, was spon- sored by the National Institute of Education as a part of its continuing commitment to the sponsoring of research that results in the improvement of education through the application of modern technology. Richard B. Otte Education Technology Specialit National Institute of Education Yu THE ESSENTIALS OF HARDWARE . AND SOFTWARE. A COMPUTER SYSTEM: HARDWARE + SOFTWARE TO THE USER The two basic components of any computer system are the computer's physical equipment and the computer programs. The physical equipment is hardware and the programs are software. Hardware As illustrated in Figure 1 -1, the main pieces of hardware in a computer system are: INPUT/OUTPUT DEVICE COMPUTER AUXILIARY STORAGE DEVICE The input/output device, or terminal (commonly a teletypewriter, as pictured in FigureI-1) is used for communicating with the computer; both to input information and to receive informa- tion the computer prints out. The computer itself (called the Cential Pirocessing Unit, or CPU) is often located some distance from the input/output
Recommended publications
  • Application for a Certificate of Eligibility to Employ Child Performers
    Division of Labor Standards Permit and Certificate Unit Harriman State Office Campus Building 12, Room 185B Albany, NY 12240 www.labor.ny.gov Application for a Certificate of Eligibility to Employ Child Performers A. Submission Instructions A Certificate of Eligibility to Employ Child Performers must be obtained prior to employing any child performer. Certificates are renew able every three (3) years. To obtain or renew a certificate: • Complete Parts B, C, D and E of this application. • Attach proof of New York State Workers’ Compensation and Disability Insurance. o If you currently have employees in New York, you must provide proof of coverage for those New York State w orkers by attaching copies of Form C-105.2 and DB-120.1, obtainable from your insurance carrier. o If you are currently exempt from this requirement, complete Form CE-200 attesting that you are not required to obtain New York State Workers’ Compensation and Disability Insurance Coverage. Information on and copies of this form are available from any district office of the Workers’ Compensation Board or from their w ebsite at w ww.wcb.ny.gov, Click on “WC/DB Exemptions,” then click on “Request for WC/DB Exemptions.” • Attach a check for the correct amount from Section D, made payable to the Commissioner of Labor. • Sign and mail this completed application and all required documents to the address listed above. If you have any questions, call (518) 457-1942, email [email protected] or visit the Department’s w ebsite at w ww.labor.ny.gov B. Type of Request (check one) New Renew al Current certificate number _______________________________________________ Are you seeking this certificate to employ child models? Yes No C.
    [Show full text]
  • Program #6: Word Count
    CSc 227 — Program Design and Development Spring 2014 (McCann) http://www.cs.arizona.edu/classes/cs227/spring14/ Program #6: Word Count Due Date: March 11 th, 2014, at 9:00 p.m. MST Overview: The UNIX operating system (and its variants, of which Linux is one) includes quite a few useful utility programs. One of those is wc, which is short for Word Count. The purpose of wc is to give users an easy way to determine the size of a text file in terms of the number of lines, words, and bytes it contains. (It can do a bit more, but that’s all of the functionality that we are concerned with for this assignment.) Counting lines is done by looking for “end of line” characters (\n (ASCII 10) for UNIX text files, or the pair \r\n (ASCII 13 and 10) for Windows/DOS text files). Counting words is also straight–forward: Any sequence of characters not interrupted by “whitespace” (spaces, tabs, end–of–line characters) is a word. Of course, whitespace characters are characters, and need to be counted as such. A problem with wc is that it generates a very minimal output format. Here’s an example of what wc produces on a Linux system when asked to count the content of a pair of files; we can do better! $ wc prog6a.dat prog6b.dat 2 6 38 prog6a.dat 32 321 1883 prog6b.dat 34 327 1921 total Assignment: Write a Java program (completely documented according to the class documentation guidelines, of course) that counts lines, words, and bytes (characters) of text files.
    [Show full text]
  • Administering Unidata on UNIX Platforms
    C:\Program Files\Adobe\FrameMaker8\UniData 7.2\7.2rebranded\ADMINUNIX\ADMINUNIXTITLE.fm March 5, 2010 1:34 pm Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta UniData Administering UniData on UNIX Platforms UDT-720-ADMU-1 C:\Program Files\Adobe\FrameMaker8\UniData 7.2\7.2rebranded\ADMINUNIX\ADMINUNIXTITLE.fm March 5, 2010 1:34 pm Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Notices Edition Publication date: July, 2008 Book number: UDT-720-ADMU-1 Product version: UniData 7.2 Copyright © Rocket Software, Inc. 1988-2010. All Rights Reserved. Trademarks The following trademarks appear in this publication: Trademark Trademark Owner Rocket Software™ Rocket Software, Inc. Dynamic Connect® Rocket Software, Inc. RedBack® Rocket Software, Inc. SystemBuilder™ Rocket Software, Inc. UniData® Rocket Software, Inc. UniVerse™ Rocket Software, Inc. U2™ Rocket Software, Inc. U2.NET™ Rocket Software, Inc. U2 Web Development Environment™ Rocket Software, Inc. wIntegrate® Rocket Software, Inc. Microsoft® .NET Microsoft Corporation Microsoft® Office Excel®, Outlook®, Word Microsoft Corporation Windows® Microsoft Corporation Windows® 7 Microsoft Corporation Windows Vista® Microsoft Corporation Java™ and all Java-based trademarks and logos Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX® X/Open Company Limited ii SB/XA Getting Started The above trademarks are property of the specified companies in the United States, other countries, or both. All other products or services mentioned in this document may be covered by the trademarks, service marks, or product names as designated by the companies who own or market them. License agreement This software and the associated documentation are proprietary and confidential to Rocket Software, Inc., are furnished under license, and may be used and copied only in accordance with the terms of such license and with the inclusion of the copyright notice.
    [Show full text]
  • DC Console Using DC Console Application Design Software
    DC Console Using DC Console Application Design Software DC Console is easy-to-use, application design software developed specifically to work in conjunction with AML’s DC Suite. Create. Distribute. Collect. Every LDX10 handheld computer comes with DC Suite, which includes seven (7) pre-developed applications for common data collection tasks. Now LDX10 users can use DC Console to modify these applications, or create their own from scratch. AML 800.648.4452 Made in USA www.amltd.com Introduction This document briefly covers how to use DC Console and the features and settings. Be sure to read this document in its entirety before attempting to use AML’s DC Console with a DC Suite compatible device. What is the difference between an “App” and a “Suite”? “Apps” are single applications running on the device used to collect and store data. In most cases, multiple apps would be utilized to handle various operations. For example, the ‘Item_Quantity’ app is one of the most widely used apps and the most direct means to take a basic inventory count, it produces a data file showing what items are in stock, the relative quantities, and requires minimal input from the mobile worker(s). Other operations will require additional input, for example, if you also need to know the specific location for each item in inventory, the ‘Item_Lot_Quantity’ app would be a better fit. Apps can be used in a variety of ways and provide the LDX10 the flexibility to handle virtually any data collection operation. “Suite” files are simply collections of individual apps. Suite files allow you to easily manage and edit multiple apps from within a single ‘store-house’ file and provide an effortless means for device deployment.
    [Show full text]
  • Modern Programming Languages CS508 Virtual University of Pakistan
    Modern Programming Languages (CS508) VU Modern Programming Languages CS508 Virtual University of Pakistan Leaders in Education Technology 1 © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Modern Programming Languages (CS508) VU TABLE of CONTENTS Course Objectives...........................................................................................................................4 Introduction and Historical Background (Lecture 1-8)..............................................................5 Language Evaluation Criterion.....................................................................................................6 Language Evaluation Criterion...................................................................................................15 An Introduction to SNOBOL (Lecture 9-12).............................................................................32 Ada Programming Language: An Introduction (Lecture 13-17).............................................45 LISP Programming Language: An Introduction (Lecture 18-21)...........................................63 PROLOG - Programming in Logic (Lecture 22-26) .................................................................77 Java Programming Language (Lecture 27-30)..........................................................................92 C# Programming Language (Lecture 31-34) ...........................................................................111 PHP – Personal Home Page PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (Lecture 35-37)........................129 Modern Programming Languages-JavaScript
    [Show full text]
  • Getting to Grips with Unix and the Linux Family
    Getting to grips with Unix and the Linux family David Chiappini, Giulio Pasqualetti, Tommaso Redaelli Torino, International Conference of Physics Students August 10, 2017 According to the booklet At this end of this session, you can expect: • To have an overview of the history of computer science • To understand the general functioning and similarities of Unix-like systems • To be able to distinguish the features of different Linux distributions • To be able to use basic Linux commands • To know how to build your own operating system • To hack the NSA • To produce the worst software bug EVER According to the booklet update At this end of this session, you can expect: • To have an overview of the history of computer science • To understand the general functioning and similarities of Unix-like systems • To be able to distinguish the features of different Linux distributions • To be able to use basic Linux commands • To know how to build your own operating system • To hack the NSA • To produce the worst software bug EVER A first data analysis with the shell, sed & awk an interactive workshop 1 at the beginning, there was UNIX... 2 ...then there was GNU 3 getting hands dirty common commands wait till you see piping 4 regular expressions 5 sed 6 awk 7 challenge time What's UNIX • Bell Labs was a really cool place to be in the 60s-70s • UNIX was a OS developed by Bell labs • they used C, which was also developed there • UNIX became the de facto standard on how to make an OS UNIX Philosophy • Write programs that do one thing and do it well.
    [Show full text]
  • Linking + Libraries
    LinkingLinking ● Last stage in building a program PRE- COMPILATION ASSEMBLY LINKING PROCESSING ● Combining separate code into one executable ● Linking done by the Linker ● ld in Unix ● a.k.a. “link-editor” or “loader” ● Often transparent (gcc can do it all for you) 1 LinkingLinking involves...involves... ● Combining several object modules (the .o files corresponding to .c files) into one file ● Resolving external references to variables and functions ● Producing an executable file (if no errors) file1.c file1.o file2.c gcc file2.o Linker Executable fileN.c fileN.o Header files External references 2 LinkingLinking withwith ExternalExternal ReferencesReferences file1.c file2.c int count; #include <stdio.h> void display(void); Compiler extern int count; int main(void) void display(void) { file1.o file2.o { count = 10; with placeholders printf(“%d”,count); display(); } return 0; Linker } ● file1.o has placeholder for display() ● file2.o has placeholder for count ● object modules are relocatable ● addresses are relative offsets from top of file 3 LibrariesLibraries ● Definition: ● a file containing functions that can be referenced externally by a C program ● Purpose: ● easy access to functions used repeatedly ● promote code modularity and re-use ● reduce source and executable file size 4 LibrariesLibraries ● Static (Archive) ● libname.a on Unix; name.lib on DOS/Windows ● Only modules with referenced code linked when compiling ● unlike .o files ● Linker copies function from library into executable file ● Update to library requires recompiling program 5 LibrariesLibraries ● Dynamic (Shared Object or Dynamic Link Library) ● libname.so on Unix; name.dll on DOS/Windows ● Referenced code not copied into executable ● Loaded in memory at run time ● Smaller executable size ● Can update library without recompiling program ● Drawback: slightly slower program startup 6 LibrariesLibraries ● Linking a static library libpepsi.a /* crave source file */ … gcc ..
    [Show full text]
  • Language-Parametric Methods for Developing
    Gabriël Ditmar Primo Konat was born in The Language-Parametric Methods for Developing Interactive Programming Systems Language-Parametric Methods for Developing Interactive Programming Hague, the Netherlands. In 2009, he received his BSc in Computer Science from the Institute of Ap- Invitation plied Sciences in Rijswijk. In 2012, he received his MSc in Computer Science from Delft University of Technology (TUDelft). From 2012 to 2018, he was Language-Parametric a Ph.D. student with the Programming Languages Methods for Developing group at TUDelft, under supervision of Eelco Viss- Interactive Programming er and Sebastian Erdweg. His work focuses on lan- Systems guage workbenches and incremental build systems. Gabriël Konat [email protected] You are cordially invited to the public defense of my dissertation on Monday, November 18th, 2019 at 3pm. At 2:30pm, I will give a brief presentation summarizing my dissertation. The defense will take place in the Senaatszaal of the Delft University of Technology Auditorium, Mekelweg 5, 2628 CC Delft, the Netherlands Afterwards, there will be a Gabriël Konat Language-Parametric Methods for reception. Developing Interactive Programming Systems Gabriël Konat Propositions accompanying the dissertation Language-Parametric Methods for Developing Interactive Programming Systems by Gabriël Ditmar Primo Konat 1. Language-parametric methods for developing interactive programming sys- tems are feasible and useful. (This dissertation) 2. Compilers of general-purpose languages must be bootstrapped with fixpoint bootstrapping. (This dissertation) 3. Manually implementing an incremental system must be avoided. (This dissertation) 4. Like chemists need lab assistants, computer scientists need software engineers to support them in research, teaching, and application in industry. 5.
    [Show full text]
  • AR400 User Guide 2.7.1
    AR400 SERIES User Guide Software Release 2.7.1 AR410 AR440S AR441S AR450S AR400 Series Router User Guide for Software Release 2.7.1 Document Number C613-02021-00 REV F. Copyright © 2004 Allied Telesyn International Corp. 19800 North Creek Parkway, Suite 200, Bothell, WA 98011, USA. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from Allied Telesyn. Allied Telesyn International Corp. reserves the right to make changes in specifications and other information contained in this document without prior written notice. The information provided herein is subject to change without notice. In no event shall Allied Telesyn be liable for any incidental, special, indirect, or consequential damages whatsoever, including but not limited to lost profits, arising out of or related to this manual or the information contained herein, even if Allied Telesyn has been advised of, known, or should have known, the possibility of such damages. All trademarks are the property of their respective owner. Contents CHAPTER 1 Introduction Why Read this User Guide? ............................................................................... 7 Where To Find More Information ...................................................................... 8 The Documentation Set .............................................................................. 8 Technical support .............................................................................................. 9 Features of the Router .....................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Institutionen För Datavetenskap Department of Computer and Information Science
    Institutionen för datavetenskap Department of Computer and Information Science Final thesis NetworkPerf – A tool for the investigation of TCP/IP network performance at Saab Transpondertech by Magnus Johansson LIU-IDA/LITH-EX-A--09/039--SE 2009-08-13 Linköpings universitet Linköpings universitet SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden 581 83 Linköping Final thesis NetworkPerf - A tool for the investigation of TCP/IP network performance at Saab Transpondertech Version 1.0.2 by Magnus Johansson LIU-IDA/LITH-EX-A09/039SE 2009-08-13 Supervisor: Hannes Persson, Attentec AB Examiner: Dr Juha Takkinen, IDA, Linköpings universitet Abstract In order to detect network changes and network troubles, Saab Transpon- dertech needs a tool that can make network measurements. The purpose of this thesis has been to nd measurable network proper- ties that best reect the status of a network, to nd methods to measure these properties and to implement these methods in one single tool. The resulting tool is called NetworkPerf and can measure the following network properties: availability, round-trip delay, delay variation, number of hops, intermediate hosts, available bandwidth, available ports, and maximum al- lowed packet size. The thesis also presents the methods used for measuring these properties in the tool: ping, traceroute, port scanning, and bandwidth measurement. iii iv Acknowledgments This master's thesis would not be half as good as it is, if I had not received help and support from several people. Many thanks to my examiner Dr Juha Takkinen, without whose countin- uous feedback this report would not have been more than a few confusing pages.
    [Show full text]
  • Text Editing in UNIX: an Introduction to Vi and Editing
    Text Editing in UNIX A short introduction to vi, pico, and gedit Copyright 20062009 Stewart Weiss About UNIX editors There are two types of text editors in UNIX: those that run in terminal windows, called text mode editors, and those that are graphical, with menus and mouse pointers. The latter require a windowing system, usually X Windows, to run. If you are remotely logged into UNIX, say through SSH, then you should use a text mode editor. It is possible to use a graphical editor, but it will be much slower to use. I will explain more about that later. 2 CSci 132 Practical UNIX with Perl Text mode editors The three text mode editors of choice in UNIX are vi, emacs, and pico (really nano, to be explained later.) vi is the original editor; it is very fast, easy to use, and available on virtually every UNIX system. The vi commands are the same as those of the sed filter as well as several other common UNIX tools. emacs is a very powerful editor, but it takes more effort to learn how to use it. pico is the easiest editor to learn, and the least powerful. pico was part of the Pine email client; nano is a clone of pico. 3 CSci 132 Practical UNIX with Perl What these slides contain These slides concentrate on vi because it is very fast and always available. Although the set of commands is very cryptic, by learning a small subset of the commands, you can edit text very quickly. What follows is an outline of the basic concepts that define vi.
    [Show full text]
  • Hamurabi Wikipedia Article
    Hamurabi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 1/17/12 3:18 PM Hamurabi From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hamurabi is a text-based game of land and resource management and is one of the earliest computer games. Its name is a shortening of Hammurabi, reduced to fit an eight-character limit. Contents 1 History 2 Gameplay 3 Influence 4 References 5 External links History Doug Dyment wrote The Sumer Game in 1968 as a demonstration program for the FOCAL programming language, programming it on a DEC PDP-8. The game has often been inaccurately attributed to Richard Merrill, the designer of FOCAL. Once a version of BASIC was released for the PDP-8, David H. Ahl ported it to BASIC. The game spread beyond mainframes when Ahl published an expanded version of it in BASIC Computer Games, the first best-selling computer book.[1] The expanded version was renamed Hamurabi [sic] and added an end-of-game performance appraisal.[2] This version was then ported to many different microcomputers. Gameplay Like many BASIC games of the time, Hamurabi was mainly a game of numeric input. As the ruler, the player could buy and sell land, purchase grain and decide how much grain to release to his kingdom. Scott Rosenberg, in Dreaming in Code, wrote of his encounter with the game:[3] I was fifteen years old and in love with a game called Sumer, which put me in charge of an ancient city-state in the Fertile Crescent. Today's computer gamers might snicker at its crudity: its progress consisted of all-capital type pecked out line by line on a paper scroll.
    [Show full text]