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TRS-80 COMPLETE SYSTEMS & "A Publication That Is a Must for Everyone in APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE the Hobbyist World of Computers

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TRS-80 COMPLETE SYSTEMS & • $1-50 '"N '"N o VOL 6NO 5 MARCH -APR I L 1978 "'U"' .. o'" <J>.-""W - '" '"Z«U,.; >­ '"Z :r;Z~ :r; U::>~ U ..,"' .., "'>.. EPIC '" u""~ _ '"o '" ""'­ '" >-"'- COMPUTER '" '""'''' GAMES fREE SOFTWARE REVIEWS TRS-80 COMPLETE SYSTEMS & "A publication that is a must for everyone in APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE the hobbyist world of computers. Don't REVIEW User documentation, internal specifications. miss it," annotated source code. In the two years of 'Newsleller' publication. DDJ has carried a large variety of The Digilal Group interpreters, editors, debuggers, monitors, graphics games software, floating point "THE software source for microcomputers. routines and software design articles. Highly recommended." The Dala Bus' Philadelphia Area Computer Sociery MICROS INDEPENDENT CONSUMER for the EVALUA nONS "It looks as ifit's going to be THE forum of public domain hobbyist software develop­ HANDICAPPED PRODUCT REV IEWS ment. Rating 11 "" * *" & CONSUMER COMMENTS TRACE' Dr. Dobb 3 Journal publishes independent Toronlo Region Association 0/ evaluations-good or bad-of products being Computer £nchusiosl$ marketed to hobbyists. It is a subscriber­ supported journal. Dr. Dobb s carries no paid advertising; it is responsible only to its "The best source for Tiny BASIC and other readers. It regularly publishes joyful praise good things. Should be on your shelf." and raging complaints about vendors' The Computer Hobbyist' products and services. North Texas (DaIlOJ) Newsletter Dr. Dobb's Journal is published 10 times a year by People's Computer Company, a non-profit educational corporation. For a one-year subscription, send $) 2 to Dr. Dobb's Jormlol, Dept 57, 1263 EI Camino Real, Box E, Menlo Park, CA 94025 or send in the postage-free order card at the center of this magazine. • • VOL 6 NO 5 SUBMITTING ITEMS FOR PUB LICATION SUBSCRIPTIONS MAR·APR 1978 LABEL everything please, your name, address and the date; U. S. Subscriptions sa/yr. (6 issues) o STAFF CONTENTS TYPE text if at all possible, double-spaced, on 8Y:. x 11 inch o 515/2 yrs. (12 issues) o Retaining subscription @$25 white paper. EDITOR ($17 tax deductible) SPECIAL STUFF Phyllis Cole DRAWINGS should be as clear and neat as possible in black o Sustaining subscription@$100+ ASSISTANT EDITOR ink on white paper. ($92+ tax deductible) 10 TRS·80: A CONSUMER'S COMPUTER? Tom Williams Tom Williams has doubts ART DIRECTOR LISTINGS are hard to reproduce clearly, so please note: Foreign Surface Mail . Meredith Ittner 16 EPIC COMPUTER GAMES • Use a new ribbon on plain white paper when making a o add S4 /yr. for Canada PRODUCTION Denn is Allison and Lee Hoevel consider Adventure·like games listing; we prefer roll paper or fan-fold paper. o add S5/yr. elsewhere Donna Lee Wood • Send copies of one or more RUNs of your program, to 34 MICROCOMPUTER COMMUNICATION FOR THE HANDICAPPED ARTISTS verify that it runs and to provide a sense of how things Foreign AIR MAIL T im Scully's programs help a cerebral palsy patient Maria Kent work - and to motivate more of us to read the code. o add S8/yr. for Canada Ann Miya RUNs should illustrate the main purpose and operation of o add SI 1/yr. for Europe ARTICLES Judith Wasserman your program as clearly as possible. Bells, whistles and o add S14/yr. elsewhere TYPISTS special features should just be described in the documen­ Payment must be in U.S. dollars Barbara Rymsza 8 MICROCOMPUTERS IN 1978 tation unless they're particularly relevant. drawn on a U.s. bank. Sara Werry Adam Osborne looks ahead • Make sure your code is well documented - use a separate BOOKSTORE sheet of paper. Refer to portions of code by line number or These back issues are available at SI.50each: 26 BUCKETS Dan Rosset label or address please, not by page number. When writing Vol 5, No 6 Mac Oglesby's bucket brigade pours it on PROMOTION documentation, keep in mind that readers will include Vol 6, Nos 1, 2, 3, 4 Dwight McCabe 28 BYTE INDUSTRIES beginners and people who may be relatively inexperienced Andrea Nasher Chuck Bradley interviews Nels Wink less about recent changes. with the language you're using. Helpful documentationl CIRCULATION 44 PRAYER WHEEL PROGRAM annotation can make your code useful to more people. Foreign Distributors of People's Computers Bill Bruneau Documentation should discuss just which cases are covered Edrid uses his disc as a Tibetan prayer wheel BULK SALES and which aren't. Vincent Coen Home Computer Club 45 COMPUTER CONTAGION Christine 80telho I • If you send us a program to publish, we reserve the right to LP Enterprises 1070-57 Yamaguchi DRAGON EMER ITUS Howie DiBlasi and his students are hooked annotate it (don't worry, we won't publish it if we don't 313 Kingston Road Tokorozawa, Saitama, Bob Albrecht 48 MEASURING TIME ON THE PET AND OTHER MICROCOMPUTERS like it). IIford IGl lPJ JAPAN Larry Tesler discusses timing intervals from one microsecond on up • Last but not least, please try to limit the width of your Essex, UK RETAINING SUBSCRIBERS listings: 50-60 characters is ideal. Narrow widths mean less Kougakusha Publ. Co., Ltd 52 THE PATTER OF LITTLE FEET reduction, better readability and better use of space. Rudi Hoess Haneda Biru 403, 5-1 More from Robert Rossum on cheap approaches to the mechanics of robotics David R Dick 2-Chome, Yoyogi Electron ic Concepts PTY Ltd Mark Elgin 59 FROG RACE LETTERS are always welcome; we assume it's OK to publish Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo 151 Ground Floor Cambridge House John B Fried 8 Erickson keeps 'em jumping them unless you ask us not to. Upon request we will withhold 52·58 Clarence St JAPAN Scott Guthery, Computer Recreations your name from a published letter, but we will not publish 60 IBM 370 MODEL 69: Features and Devices Sydney NSW 2000 W A Kelley correspondence sent to us anonymously. We reserve the right Computer Age Co., Ltd A Nonymous provides the latest info John C Lilly to edi t letters for purposes of clarity and brevity. ASC II Publishing Kasumigaseki Building Frank Otsuka 305 HI TORIO 3-2-5 Kasumigaseki REGULAR STUFF Bernice Pantell 5-6-7 Minami Aoyama Chiyoda·Ku, Tokyo 100 Larry Press Minato-Ku, Tokyo 107 JAPAN Shelter Institute 4 EDITOR'S NOTES JAPAN Cover illunration Ellery McKnight 4 LETTERS SUSTAINING SUBSCR IBERS 14151 325·9883 14 REVIEWS Algorithmics Inc, Bruce Cichowfas 32 FORTRAN MAN Lee Schneider and Todd Voros embark on a new adventure People's Computers is published bimonthly by People's Computer Company, 1263 EI Camino Real, Box E, Menlo Park, CA 94025. Don L Behm People's Computer Company is a tax -exempt, independent, non-profit corporation, and donations are tax-deductible. BYTE Publications, Carl Helmers, 55 SPOT: The Society of PET Owners and Trainers Second class postage paid at Menlo Park, California, and additional entry points. Virginia Peschke, Manfred Peschke Programs, prai$8, peeves, and ponderings are proffered Copyright © 1978 by People's Computer Company, Menlo Park, California Paul, Lori and Tom Calhoun 8ill Godbout Electronics 61 ANNOUNCEMENTS Dick Heiser, The Computer Store 2 PEOPLE'S COMPUTERS MAR-APR 3 , assumption the young programmer has ience. This printer is a real showstopperin the amount of computer experience a e"ed. If he really does have a very long looks, and I really hope that there is some person has and the kinds of games he/she running algorithm (unlikely for a begin­ way we can use it in our computer center, plays. Keith, who knows five or six pro­ ner), we can easily add a command to to give us the output capability we des­ gramming languages likes to play LETTERS disable the check or the number of perately need. COMBAT; Bill likes LIFE (he has been pseudo-instructions executed between programming for quite a while); I like iI/put and output operations. InCidentally, the computer center in this STAR TRADER. Everyone (wen, almost EDITOR'S NOTES school has been supported through everyone) likes STAR TREK. However, Jim Day has not addressed the issue of Those of us who do not consider people Todd Voros student fund raiSing, and will be available the non-computer people tend to go for 'The Computer as Art Critic' (Vol 6, to be wann-blooded machines cannot Milwaukee, WI to every student in the school who has a different kind of game. I think the need for such a device. I believe it to be favorite game for non-computer people t • •• REWARD for in/ormation No 3) at all, but only described a use sec in this the same quality of Art as we leading to the arrest and conviction of the Computer as Counting Machine. see in Rembrandt or da Vinci. the only student-purchased computer (at least around here) is OREGON. of anyone reproducing Ollr so/nvare But besides this rather obvious fault, his center of its type for miles around! Evidently someone explained the ENTER in ANY way without our written remarks display two somewhat more sig­ The computer will only become an ade­ statement to them for it is fun to watch permission . ..• nificant errors. quate art critic when the people making Please help us if you can. Many people them type 'Bang' as fast as they can. I the evaluation become themselves will be grateful for any assistance you guess that perhaps a personal challenge The above quote is NOT a para­ The first of these deals with the nature of computers. can give. is needed by al l game players and the phrase from a Vllol/led poster lor An. It is of little consequence whether possibility of pseudo-death gives the rnsrlen- ir's part 0/ an ad currently people like three green blobs beller than Tom Pittman W.J.
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