These along with the Compute and Compute Gazette were my standards
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Yup. I had both of those! Had to do a bit of conversion to get anything from them to run on my TS1000, though.
Out of print, it seems.
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… there’s always Bourne shell scripting 
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im not 100% sure. the level of abstraction and the vastness of the command set - i’m not sure if you can really learn how to program that way.
at some level it probably doesn’t matter, because you can do amazing stuff without having to understand how it works.
but i do think our generation ( for whatever that term means ) was particularly lucky because complexity increased as we aged. now, complexity is the starting point, and getting underneath all of that cruft is probably hard
on the other hand, we did have to type programs out of the backs of books to get ascii text to pretend that it was graphics. win some lose some maybe
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it was kickstarted ages ago and the first copies went out just a month or two ago. i suspect he only printed enough to cover the pre orders. i’m currently on the last chapter of the ebook version and have really liked it. ( the epub layout isn’t great for some of the coding samples and graphics - but it’s not a big deal imo )
there’s not many things that cover gaming history like it. though shareware heroes is also recent and also great
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Re-read post.
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yeah, i saw the mistype. i assumed you were still talking about the actual book. it’s good.
( eta: for texas games, apogee, id, and origin would only keep you busy for about 30 years. )
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This post and the comments reminded me of the Micro Adventure series, which combined my love of reading with my burgeoning interest in computers.
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This is why I love certain modern programming books like Land of Lisp and Realm of Racket (written by the same author IIRC). They really help users learn how to program in LISP but also give users something to figure out how to make games. Most are just console based with a couple graphical ones, but it’s still interesting.
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Y’ever really want to love a project, but just can’t because the main driver behind it is a complete douchenozzle?
From the second-amendment-audits to the destroying-equipment-on-loan-without-permission, and everything in between (and there’s so much in between) I just can’t do it any more with this guy.
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I didn’t know any of these - any quick links you can share?
I have a horrible feeling I’m about to be disappointed in another YouTuber.
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Oh, no. I was afraid of this. I just got that vibe off of him, but couldn’t put my finger on anything in particular. Too bad, because his content has been really good.
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Oh boy. I had these books and used them to program games on a Terak 8510.
I had a TRS-80 MC-10 that I similarly entered programs by hand in basic. It was laborious, time-consuming, and frustrating - I loved it.
All programming since then has felt less personal, less “wrought-from-my-own-sweat-and-tears” kind of disembodied busy work. Sure, it could do a hell of a lot more, but it never gave me the real satisfaction of really cutting my own code.
Meh. Probably just Extreme Nostalgia Syndrome.
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“… is that a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?”
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I realize there’s room for disagreement on firearms; I’m not interested in wading in there.
Destroying rare equipment that didn’t belong to him was far more annoying. Even that’s not really where I turned away.
What really pissed me off was how he treats other people.
He solicits donations of vintage equipment from subscribers, and then when he got around to an unboxing video he’d do things like make fun of their names, poorly hide their home address, or straight up be a dick: “An Apple IIGS? I don’t know what I’ll do with this. It takes up a lot of room. Thanks, I guess?”
Or when he was having his studio outbuilding constructed, he’d just follow tradespeople around with the camera and say shitty things about their work. He filmed his electrician at one point and then out of earshot he’d talk about how that kind of work was easy and he could just do it himself.
He’s a deeply off-putting individual and I think he has difficulty identifying or empathizing with others. Certainly has no ability to imagine any perspective other than his own, and he has an incredibly inflated sense of his own abilities. Perhaps that’s a personal challenge for him and an opportunity for growth, but I don’t see any reason for me to subject myself to content that makes me feel poorly for the people that thanklessly help him create it.
There are far better creators than him that are genuinely appreciative and acknowledging of the efforts of those that assist them. I also appreciate people that are experts in the subject matter and don’t smash their way through a repair. YouTube is as much instruction as it is entertainment, and someone who doesn’t understand what they’re doing can cause a lot of damage to people that are hoping to learn how this equipment works and can be repaired.
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More general purpose magazines like Compute, etc would usually just have a “generic BASIC” program listing with a little list of changes needed for the various BASIC variants afterwards.
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Thanks - oh dear.
