Reply to: Syntax Era

[Platypus]

Standard practice used to test compilers.

Indeed, but this was a 15 year old boy in 1978, a time when BASIC compilers were rare. I still think that's an impressive achievement.

[sasguru]

You guys would enjoy "Soul of a New machine" by Tracy Kidder.
Reads like a thriller.

[Churchill]

We had two or three of these which replaced our Data General Nova and teletypes.

Some of the stuff my friends did on the 380Z was damn impressive, e.g. one kid (he was 15 IIRC) wrote a BASIC compiler in interpreted BASIC. Then he compiled his compiler using his compiler!

Standard practice used to test compilers.

[Platypus]

RML 380 Z

We had two or three of these which replaced our Data General Nova and teletypes.

Some of the stuff my friends did on the 380Z was damn impressive, e.g. one kid (he was 15 IIRC) wrote a BASIC compiler in interpreted BASIC. Then he compiled his compiler using his compiler!

[Churchill]

Crikey, I'd forgotten about the 130XE. Pretty much the same spec as the 800XL but with the newer Atari ST styling.

And 128k of RAM!

Did it ever run anything again after that?

Cheeky f**ker!

[voodooflux]

Our school had one trs-80 and that was used to run the school lesson time table once a year.

Until Churchill got his grubby little mits on it when he was 11...

Did it ever run anything again after that?

[Churchill]

DDT! That most excellent game and copy-protection reverse engineering tool!



Many was the happy hour I spent working out how to get around saved-game encryption algorithms or program-startup security routines.

Meanwhile my mates were out wasting their time drinking, clubbing, building & racing bikes & cars and shagging. What losers.

Yup, losers, eh?

[voodooflux]

Ocean presented me with a gold painted 130XE as a leaving present.

Crikey, I'd forgotten about the 130XE. Pretty much the same spec as the 800XL but with the newer (at the time) Atari ST styling.

[RichardCranium]

DDT

DDT! That most excellent game and copy-protection reverse engineering tool!



Many was the happy hour I spent working out how to get around saved-game encryption algorithms or program-startup security routines.

Meanwhile my mates were out wasting their time drinking, clubbing, building & racing bikes & cars and shagging. What losers.

[Churchill]

I dread to think where that left us Atari 800XL owners

Ocean presented me with a gold painted 130XE as a leaving present.

I loved that machine. Especially with the Tatung Einstein as a cross assembler. That and the MAC/65 cartridge with DDT!

[Churchill]

RML 380 Z
TRaSh-80
A handful of bought-in mail-order DIY PCs from USA
A teletype terminal to, I think, Hatfield Poly's big box.

That'll be a C-of-E school.

Our school had one trs-80 and that was used to run the school lesson time table once a year.

Until Churchill got his grubby little mits on it when he was 11...

[voodooflux]

<pop sociology>

What I loved about the Sinclair vs BBC B thing was how it reflected the British class system.

BBC B - upper class, posh kids at school

Commodore - middle class (I guess)

ZX Spectrum - working class


</pop sociology>

I dread to think where that left us Atari 800XL owners

[RichardCranium]

RML 380 Z
TRaSh-80
A handful of bought-in mail-order DIY PCs from USA
A teletype terminal to, I think, Hatfield Poly's big box.

That'll be a C-of-E school.

[Churchill]

<pop sociology>

What I loved about the Sinclair vs BBC B thing was how it reflected the British class system.

BBC B - upper class, posh kids at school

Commodore - middle class (I guess)

ZX Spectrum - working class


</pop sociology>

It went a bit deeper than that, it was the 6502 v Z80 thing with the geeks.

[bobhope]

<pop sociology>

What I loved about the Sinclair vs BBC B thing was how it reflected the British class system.

BBC B - upper class, posh kids at school

Commodore - middle class (I guess)

ZX Spectrum - working class


</pop sociology>