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ISSN 0144-3671

ComputerA ge

NOVEMBER 1980

•Technology
and society

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Editorial

Supersalesman

IbImT C«&^ Contents °""""^

^____^H Vi)^ issue 12

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS REGINALD W. REVANS

A scathing indictment of the Complacent Society.

. . . BUT VERY ABLE STEVE SHIRLEY

MICRO VOICES JOHN SANDEH5

. . . AND POLES APART BRIAN REFFIN SMITH

AND WHO WILL DRINK AT

THE CREDITORS' WAKE? MARTIN BANKS

LETTER FROM AMERICA PETER KRASS

How a Beautiful machine was placed in the wrong market.

ATTRACTING INVESTMENT CA SPECIAL

SUMS M R.G. MORGAN

SLAVES WITH SOME DECREES OF FREEDOM BOB COOKE

PASCAL -* MARTIN BEER

IVERSON'S LANGUAGE ALAN PEARMAN

The concluding article of the APL series.

ASSEMBLER GIL FILBEY

BRAND NEWS MICROSPY and ANTHONY ESGATE

A special edition that includes a preview ol Ihe Which Computer? Show.

ADDRESS BUS

WRITING AN ASSEMBLER M. KING

DATA BASE PRINCIPLES & TECHNIQUES CLYDE HOLSAPPLE

APPLICATIONS OF TESTROLOGIC FRANK GEORGE
CHECKING ERROR RATES WILLIAM COLLINS
ROBOTS AND THE FACTORY OF THE FUTURE B.I.M.

HANDLING DATA DARREL INCE

DESIGNED TO DEVELOP BORIS SEDACCA

THE FUTURE OF LAW AND LAWYERS FRANK A. SHARMAN

Will data Bases Bring easiet access lo justice?
THE PREMIUM ON PROGRESS SUSAN CURRAN

THE EXTRA PAIR OF HANDS PAUL HUDSON

Technology And Society

Reginald W. Revans

Questions

&
Answers

old be cleaned

a V thai the decline of Bri- for the cottage floor and it

■v .111 eduction.. I imb.il- to r rudu,,. loLyuvo ,in,l .

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HB COMPUTERS

Posing the propel

The foundation a!

ing Ihes

.■r'lhi?

was framed and useful answers found to
it, there are those ready to dismiss it as

those who put its counterpart in later
ages have needed to be persons of high

intelligence and imn character. Trying to
break through the concrete of established
human practice and lo do something in'ie
with the resources at one's disposal is
among the most unrewarding of all hu-

Britain, it is not Retting any easier.

I he reason is so simple that must of Lis

and-such a practice has acquired a repu-
" "s very hard '

.epub

cfhflt

i;oing from the primitive fir

■ siu-plus-devrlupmi; ,ccoti.

salislactorilv posing and a

Radical and marginal

Until about 1940 the

ingenuity had been brought to
lore economically the question:
make faster propellers and more
wings?" and any aeronautical

But then a fresh question altogether
was posed: "May it not he possible to
achieve whatever il is we are after in our
conquest of the air by fiirv.'/iirn,' about
propellers - perhaps even about wings as

rtr.it't developed by marginal
nts upon the original luch-
after 1940, it has grown by

Essay

introduced in the i

; "Over and above

c I'm.) i-

S Of Y

'. But the

it was not the answer to the old questions
"How to make belter propellers" How tc
build better wings?" that was being mors
and more relentlessly pursued. It was ir
the posing ol fresh questions altogether
"Can we free ourselves from propeller;
and wings?" "If so, how do we do it?'
In theory, this is no advance on Abelanc
Cain: "What use can we find for all Ihi;
surplus meat and vegetables?"

The history of Europe tells us that in-
novators have a rough time. Christophci

o/it;

" Etc, e

The benefits ol stupidity

pid idiol ii"r think ol it. in which c.isl
mosl stupid idiot has an ,id\ .image .
the expert. This may tie deplorable.

ideas and the laws I
down to us by our forefathers - particu-
larly if those ideas were brilliant and con-
structive when they were first thought of;
or when, as if by divine revelation, they
sudd e til v broke through the baffling
" ition, Our mythology

ivith e

mples.

spider; New-
ton and the apple; Watt and the kettle,
Keynes and the hole in the ground;
Thatcher and the banknote. All of these,
just like the aircraft in 1940, are supposed
to mark a turning point; the old remedies
are seen no longer to work, and there is
no future in streamlining or fine-tuning
the traditional model. Something MrircirJ
as distinct from more of the ingeniously
marginal has to be done, perhaps ur-
gently. . . . But how are they going to
take it who live simplv bv (he traditional 1
. . . Not even by trying to make il mar-
ginally better? The fate of Christopher
Columbus will tell us, and he was not

It s

I the

rofesi

was brought horn.
poverty; he was tormented by detractors
and was able to silence those who said
he had made no discoveries solely by
producing three Red Indians, the like of
which had never been seen before, from
behind a screen at a Roval reception.
When he was Ihcu disparaged with the
comment: "So what? Any fool can get

stopped by the land. . . . What's the fuss
about?", he invited his detractors to
stand an egg on end; after trying for an
hour around the Roval table they were
unanimous that it could nol lie done. Col-
umbus took the same egg, gave it a sharp
tap to flatten the end, and stood it up.

Exactly, precisely, absolutely like any
bunch of experts in Britain lodav sudden-
ly confronted with the limitations of their
own vision - especially of their own ex-

Ert or professional vision - the company .
out a great roar: "Well, naturally, o'f
course! It's obvious. All you need to do

the cud so that it will stand on end. IVhal
is so clever about that? Don'l vou think
lhat even the most stupid idiot can think

status quo and the greater the risk ol i
troducing anvllune new 1 ; every accou
tant knows that there are intelligent mi
who attribute Britain's decline to the w.

claiming to be an intelligent man ai

sioii base yet given a satisfactory reply

fueed . . . even if deliberately.

iv purpose in this ess

the

o get a.

ques

:onomically or socially necps»?n
ion one's time ought lo be Ir in
- seeking to pose fresh question!

urld seems
to "have its problems, but I am iu.i all that
sure what they are. How ought 1, steeped
in ignorance, risk and confusion as much
as anybody else 1 know, to spot what are
the important questions to ask about to-
morrow - as well as to keep up with the
demands of mv profession be passing I In 1
next series of certificated examinations?"

The terror of the expert

,; Christopher Columbus
i his detractors but there
nisations of experts, with
assessors and moderators

rank, from companion lo fellow lo as-
sociate to ordinary to student, as well as
press officers, social stewards, honorary
treasurers, organisers of ladies' events,
and others iar too miscellaneous to clas-
sify, to make his innovatory approach .ill
lhat difficult.

He would have had a rough time facing
the Royal Geographical Society had he
come back from Watling Island for the
first time this week; in addition to the
sarcasm and disparagement of those who
had not thought of the expedition them-
selves, he would be up against all the
experts demonstrating it impossible: like
those who had proved from first princi-
ples lhat human flight was impossible:
and lhat all who tried it, from Icarus on-
wards, were wasting their time and risk-
ing their lives ; until somebody last year
cycled by air across the English Channel.

What is a breakthrough?

orating his abode with a few forced itself
upon his attention, so the director of the
London art gallery, finding a lot of bricks
over from the extension of his premises,
decided to put some of them on show in
geiimelric.il arrays suggesting the shape
of the bricks themselves.

But such inspiration is rare, simply be-
cause o/ the weight of our tradition; the
interest of the professions in keeping
things exactly as they are means that few
-boggling geniuses get the chance off-
ered to the art gallery man. Thus it is that
the lapanese, unhindered by any inti-
mate knowledge of what So-and-So said
yesterday or of what the Such-and Such
Society resolved in 1930, are able to
choose from our failure and stagnation
what is probably worth haying a go at,
and then of giving it a fair trial. Our
greatest need is to encourage those in
charge of our wealth-creating Industrie-

but not fully aware that his very system

of classification is more than something

merely alpha-numerical, but is .1 power-

ful determinant of the use to which the

child from straying off the classifications!

path-, laid down bv the parent.

Thirdly, there is the idolisation of the

past as such, whereby one particular

patriarch may have references in the

books (files, databanks, museums, librar-

ies! far in excess of what, judged bv oth-

ers, he or she deserves; bringing the

encyclopaedia up to date is a terrifying

business, like trying lo clear the duller

out of Westminster Abbey - for, the more

obscure the commemorated the greater

the hullabaloo in trying to transfer his

appropriate.

Fourthly, [here is Ihe sedimentary role

caught ol
- ■ influc

le of the

Our examples so far - Ihe weaving of the

hi iurge-1 an auoui masmg marg
prove men is to existing methods

surplus wool into Ihe ornamental tap-

estry, the mission across the Atlantic, the

let aircraft and Ihe cvcling aviator - may

all be classified as break throughs. And

once they have been classified thev may-
be jus! as readily dismissed. "Only a

Databanks as mausoleums

break Ihrough; nothing more. High time

But the central question for tho

we had it, too. Been expecting it for

years. Sole surprise is that we had to wait

try, the data-processing profes

so long." Bui there is now no question

whatever else it might wish to

history, filling the bowels of Cleo with a
diet of lead; one emendation must spark
off still others, and, before one knows
what is happening, Ibe whole labyrinth
of reference is alive with the cockroaches
of dmibt. , . . Thus it may be that the
knowledge workers are not, as is so gen-
erally supposed.

n Ihe age-

d the

change, bosti
world around

e shou

a leaf out i
our own book and, instead of self-sati

fiedly congratulating ourselves upon tr
answer (outcome! offered bv Ihe info
mation revolution - thai over half I
those employed are now 'knowledg
workers' and thaf

e shou

.!.|l.,„(

i. 'When

.11 Ik-

more important lo this country than lo
understand the nature of the break-
through, unless it is to be able lo take the
next step and to bring a few of them
about. Our productivity is slagnating for
the simple reason that 'we have, as a na-
tion, rested so long upon our oars; we
have been fixated so long and so intently
upon Ihe achievements of our tremen-
dous past lhat we have lost Ihe ability to
look at ourselves in the prescnl and to
ask what questions we ought to be think-

11 would be wrong to suggest lhat. giv
en the need to do so, we are incapable o
thinking of something novel; just as
when Abel had more fleeces than hi
knew what to do with the idea of dec

e gumg I.

nthis

meets Ihe eye Firstly, there is Ihe role of
the archivist, the keeper of the records,
the guardian of the tradition, the librarian
watching over the dead and over the

past, valuing what he has got not only as
a scholar but as an antique dealer, know-
ing that whal is in his files may have

uniqueness.

Secondly, there i- the role of Ihe tav-
onomisf, the student of classification, the
filing officer proud lo be able to retrieve
anv piece of information (data) called for
by the administration within 20 minutes,
or 2(1 micro-seconds, as (he need may he;

ing applied?

provcmenls in the human condition is it
all directed? When there are twice 13

farmworkers, coalminers, nurses and

ro.ld sweepers, how is Iheir product,
more knowledge, lo be applied? To make
the work of the humble labourer more
effective?" ... We would hope so , . .
But what, in fact, is happening' Produc-
tivity is falling, goods are becoming
scarce and thus expensive; apples have
disappeared; and on children's feet,
shoes fall to bits at the end of a week,
employers complain that their recruits
from school cannol add up and cannot

There is no evidence, then, lhat the

knowledge industry does much to help
wealth creation. Ihe explanation must he

useful production, il is inflating Ihe ranks
of bureaucracy: more civil servants, more
local government officers, more organis-

terceplors and controllers, more officials

more, of Ihe overheads thai are not only
a charge adding to the costs of wealth
creation, but also of those who manipu-
late the levers of power when, at a time
of retrenchment and economy, it has to
be asked "Who is to suffer the cuts 1

heads themselves who cheerfully, like

of self-sacrifice? Will they not rather be
meeting, in expensive hotels by the sea-
side, to discuss Ihe safeguards of their

I- lor Ihe

try is no! to be turned solely to the ad-
vantage of those who enter it?

The nemesis ol early brilliance

1 MdlL.il M

vanting to handle one wi

dbyll

ourselves into believing that more and
more expert teaching, whether on com-
puters, silicon chips or industrial leader-
ship, is going to supply us with
them. . , . But this should not disturb us

.. be.:oni.

mat they are using it, ir
io master. There is no particular reason
to think that those at present building
such marvels as the fi-ffi generation ma-
chines are going to know quite what to
do with them. It would be interesting to
hear them debating among themselves
why :t i^ tli.it Ihe two g.-trat pioneers of
the knowledge revolution. Britain .in.:

u'n-' i-l mcnstru! productivity 'A

would b
the specific i

i then

!i,HiH-ys.

ven if il ii.
>nde to be

Yonder

we insist upon asking are now quite use-
less (however much we may regret it,
bearing in mind our devotion to the past),
then all we need to do is simple. We lake
a handful of person- who genuinely want
hi know whdl fn-h qui—lioi-- they ought
io be asking themselves (be;.iuse they
deep trouble if

!.!«■■:

»). ■

t then

n in the verv conditions of ignoranc
ar.d confusion which [hey need to
out. As soon as they have had long
igh to draw 'he hr>i irr-.vrfecl map
rrr matnlilv to do anything -even to

from the first industrial revolution to
show how fixed may become our funda-
mental percep ti on of the world and vei

him ingenious our constant adaptation
rtrurarf it. All the major processes of ihe
cotton trade - now virtually extinct in inc

country of its birth - sprang into existence
wilhin a few short years of each other,

'before one knows what is
happening, the whole
labyrinth of reference is

alive with the
cockroaches of doubt

The critical question and how (o pose it

■There is, and can be, no general answer
Io this question, because there is, and can
be, no general theory of search, if one
does nol know what one is looking for,
there can be no general guidance aboul
finding ii. And it is no good merely say-
ing thai one is looking for something

delail what are Ihe criteria of suitability.
Indeed, the experts are always in dan-
ger of seeking for the more suilable in

Each

it then

i stopping the m
eessary Insight, each helps the
an apprentice David, to und
iw ihe imaginations ol all rend

iwn the familiar grooves of Ir
eless past; the sel learn wilh an

ofheii

e theii

This is not the place to go ii
Ihis approach, now known as
lire (although nol to David o
of Samuel).' For all thai, il wil
thing, if every expert - even I

.. suggest that
.ion ot nper.i
ht.',;lv h.'lpc!
and its allies,

uch less than

?d by the tre-

uli.ilh .lble Ii' i.i mv ,i he.v.iei spe.ir.
.nee Ihev kne^ c.i'lull'. ue.s I.H-cording
i Parkhursl} about 9'fj" tail, anv fellow
lunirvman of 10' or over would have

,:ong ..:

r in the .

top of their prof

ssion

s, is lobe found an

intelligent persi

new questions v

haring with others

his ignorance

of his colleague

possibly, rekindle

a desire to think

> trying to answer what
is by now the wrong question. Faced with
ignorance, risk and confusion Ihe need is
to pose a fresh question; this is not
"Where do we find our 10' man?" but
"Given that there is no such a man, how
do we get rid of Goliath?" The answer is
well known; it demanded the vision of
the non-expert David to see, firstly, thai

Applications

The Disabled

Steve Shirley

. . . BUT VERY ABLE

One of the hallmarks of a profes:
side the immediate needs of its
current members, to wider issues. The
BCS (British Computer Society) has al-
ways done a great deal ior students.
Since 1975, it has also had a very active
Committee ior the Disabled. This has
groups centred on Manchester and
London; with other subgroups develop-
ing. The aims are dual: to further the
application of computing techniques to
meet the needs of the disabled; and to
utilise (he skills of the disabled within the
industry.

omplnver is paid t3t> a
Registered disabled person
nvment. Tin- (rial period.
eks was then extended In
'\en that can be unrealinti

ended

The Microcomputer

is improved, and particularly as infant
ortality has dropped, more and more
.■i.iple ^rviiT. and live longci. uho
ive severe physical disabilities I dislin-
jish between phv^iea] ,ii-..i bill tie-, men
1 illness and mental handicaps Those
ho are doubly disadvati lacked tend to be
pe-L-asl by their physical disabilities.

itioned on the l.lp. and builds them illli
sentences which appear on an ordinal
TV screen which is linked to the unit b'
the aerial socket. The connection betweei
the wordhuard and the processor bo» i
an invisible inlra-red link; this dispense
with loose, trailing wires.

Letters on the wurdboard make it poss

y disa

people i

through us-
ing the aids available and a stubborn per-
sonality plus some helping hands.

Everyone sunn accumulates a home full
ol gadgetry. each item being used to
solve a particular prohlem. It is being able

to solve many pmWi'ws with era- box that
makes microcomputers such a valuable
aid.

There are two ways of using microcom-
puter technology for the disabled. Avail-
able microcomputer based equipment can
be adapted to soil a particular disability:

alternatively, purpose-built systems can
be produced. Each approach lias a differ-
ent application and market. Neither ap-

so it is still often difficult for the quality

■ to be ir

roved fi

The blind telephonist is nowadays al-
most a stereotype. Similarly, the technol-
ogy exists to allow a suitably (mined
receplionisl !•■ be l.'lalh deal and wl do
the job perl eel] v ucll. Microcomputer

signal-, '.he ,

any w

t the

duced by the Queen's Atv.ird-Wmniiig
firm, Medelec, in Old Woking, Surrey.

National Health. Dr. Hamilton, the in-
ventor, has said. 'Since wheelchairs are
provided on the NHS, the right to talk
should be as fundamental as the right to

See no Evil

The Optacon, the Optical Tactile Con-
Incorporated HSU. by-passes braille and
can be used to 'read' printed ten( includ-

papei or YOU. With an estra adaptive

and c

1 typist

The Right lo Talk

Combining the words 'speech and
'link', Splink is the name of a new elec-
tronic system designed to bridge the
communication gap between the Speech-
handicapped, the deal or those mi fie ring
from both disabilities, and their families
and friends.

Activated be a microprocessor, it con-
sists of a small wordboard alphabeticallv
printed with 950 of the most commonly

and is fully portable; a few have beet
funded by the Department of Employ

Catch 22

The employer r
me seeing rhrtmg
ositive skills the a

te unemployed.
Similarly, there
i £5,000 to pay fo

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' WordStar will line-up The decimals

iv) to be executed, with automatic return to W

■«l i i-:iMwertul file merging
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ila where enables are specified, ever in m
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Utiple copy printing': allows the same file to

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The Disabled

I, „ their persist, ■„,-,. .„!,] their employ
perspicacity.
The Queer Elizabeth'-; 1 raining Q

"fbein R juundhi anJ ri]rl H .. lri)v Sl|] K . llu , v|[li . The Queen Elizabeth's 1rai.ii.ie. C

bettered w
ence lor many hundreds of d
women and voime. people

MATE, Memory Assisted Terminal
wiln Hi ill .bi-,1 I H-! ri il k,v k„l,iii>: Mr

:ems. supplcmci
•omputersvsterr
5. enou S h to lifl

The whole package can be produced lor whirl

uri.l-.-i-, ' '

The Chip

d It is on
r a short

i.ihk

the

ever — the guide dog for the blind

o^ IrX

^Another

rtiw

Educating a Nose and some Toes

-'■lill'r,™L

h,''pnm

rv di

shlme'lic'

equ

ready; the abilitv In write is slowly ocini;
replaced in our modem world by the
ability to type or, as we tend to say now-

m,ike friends,

import;
LK-t .in m

upS \y.lW
lnpl,-.l 1.

There is a very lightweight and simple
typing devke which requires (he use of
only one hand. Others have learnt to kev
using a stick held in the mouth or fas-
tened to the forehead. One of the most

do'; to be abl

this is more
takes a loop li

poss.hl
Sard toe
H-.-i-i-.iT

,e and their end
he computer w
t. Over 131) to!
rently employee
UK. The figure

the Disabled i:
: both (he Rovs
,e Blind (RNIB

r, Geoff Busby, who always types T fjps for Disabled

Initialed bv (he BCS'a Cor

(he Disabled. Hire,. fOPS (Training Op- ]

control is bis "right foot, has learnt to pommities Scheme) programming counv de:

speak using a computer. es for the severely disabled are being run ed

He uses his to.il to .'per.it,- ; i-i.u'nn, tin- v.-.i- .,1 tjn.-rr I '.-.■-.. ,-ii- - i ■:■ im, I,"

■.: Inch makes audible sounds. I he control College in 1 v.ilherhead.

Blind (BCAB).

The Talking Typewriter

hanisn

,— nil,

has BO different positions. Some

repre- v

edon in Essex -

all students eventually

sent words and numbers but m

st arc f

und employmi

-it which, in view ol the

Cwilicte

British Computer Society

Disabled Living Form da linn

InternatlunriJ business M.iohin,

(IBM)

i (ICL)

01788.7273

Medeler. Limited

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lelesor.sr.ry Systems Ins". (TSI)

09905 - (*Srt

also nive spoken status infor

w = '"' n """ "'""""'

The Disabled

1" employee-, iii .ill hui Ihi' smallest

Ceilre lor Computerised Aids

IM.'*. •,.,n,pl„,,l,lc-„ M „„ D

™ loca

piviTnmcil are exempt but both
,m .'Mi'll.Til record i>l employing 1 1n ■

pier items such as thick-handled spoons
for those with a weak grip.

an example of someone doing it would

entirety

People's reaction lo labels varies with

age. The elderly, in particular, overreact

with age. 1 seem io spend mv time shout-

but reiamres considerable refinement and

continual updating. Because there was

saying 'But [ don't need a hearing aid. I

such a shortage nl people able to even

drama bcallv. Soi

uiuiorstaiid t lie lechnologv lei alone be-

There are same times simple solutions.

industrv will accept Mimewf with two

Mv mother-in-law is BB and now rcallv

for instance - an.

heads if cither is intellectually able. Com-

puting work uses a lot of thinking com-

one? Oh no, that would be terrible. But

populace. Other i

pared wilh the amount oi reading and

an emptv shopping basket on wheels is

"Tiling required I here is lillle emphasis

perfectly acceptable lo her and she now

retraining periods

uses this consistently as her walking aid.

to most computer jobs whether the chair

someone sils on has four legs or two

real, tangible, benefit. 1 can park on a

the quality of life

Labels

Many people would never register as

typed or type-cast by labels. Can we

Registration is very occasion ally an actual

fe«S 1,5.8 » Ufl,

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Consumer Microelectronics

Speech

John Sanders

MICRO
VOICES

refits

i. However, the advent of LSI
(Large Scale Integration) circuits specifi-
rallv designed for them nmins that voice-
interactive products can now be made

ncabulary in l!ni;li-li fAme

areign language.

Although somewhat limited, ih

will have a go at translating, f

phrase keyed in English i

c,i leu la lor- si zed j;ddj;.'N u-huli talk Fairly spe

clearly. I say fjirly. hi'iause their First hui

product. Speal iim/ ;>;«■!,'. is nut word per- gan

feet monosvlLiblcs hki' IV A 1 K cm Mnind displav-re
to insensitive ears like WOK The mere
recent translation 'calculator' with plug-

further examples el predi
neworsoonloiheAmerk.il
sometime later, to British hi

How does voice generation wo
company, Votra.x, is about to n
speech synthesiser, a 22-pin CrV

(eJrnv e.ich nhonem...
is CAT, (K-AE-T), requii
I memory. By aimp,irisi

Speech

recognise.

At Ihe forefront oi voice development
is a computer adaptation produced by
Ohio Scientific which both 'talks' and
hears'. T spoke to Bill Bordy, Ohio's chief
engineer, who put the computer through

duced by ITT- in addition to th
cassette recorder with a taped :
inviting the caller to leave a message,
the signal, this machines pives .1 sign
five 'beeps'. The owner can phone h
and, by a pre-set code, interrupt
beeps with his voice (Ihe miichine i
ren ionise the voice or the won]-., jus
sound and Ihe intervals): the mac
will then regurgitate the nicssap.'-..
More complex are evperinrnl.il
and TV controllers product- J l>v the
shiba Company. Here two people

. He

its paces tor me. Bill eipl.iuicd th
two years now Ohio have been
oping a 'talking computer usurp tl
trax 'phoneme' system. In fact
computer was rather under-emp
offering i]ui/./es and m.uhs |»..hl,
passcrs-hv at Ihe exhibition. So I
him to get it to speak my nam.

.,..., - L | 1", -*'. 'I ;> :■: :-'■■ ■' I'M" 11 -"

said 'Sanders' in a remarkablv clear hu-
man-like voice. He was lucky that m>
name is spelled phonetically. The com
puler also has a vocabulary of severa:
thousand words and in Ihe hands of ar
experienced operator ii produced re
markablv clear responses. The mosl in-
terestinR adaptation of the computer

to recognise Hid words .11 command frorr
each of twelve operators. So, Bill gave 1

IMMI'L MR: Hive Student quiz. To

indetstand. So, for instance, they can

"""" '<"»""»" »-»

A NEW SPEECH CHIP

tasks tor the speech chip to exhaust the

The TMSS200 has a single- ended ouiput

drive, allowing simplicity in the ouiput

Solid Slate Speech'" Chios. Designated

TTL-comoalible. Interlace, logic on me

the TMSS200, Ihe speech chip allows

TMS52Q0 chip permits microprocessor

access to non-speech dala stored In the

microprocessor- Based systems.

TMS6100 ROM.

The new MPU-compatible speech chip

specially designed lor easy inierface to a

is oflered in a ZB-pln plastic dual-in-line

package which Is 0.6 inches wide with pin

computer speech synthesiser peripheral

art) is ■Jest'y si; 'fori lor a wide' variety ot

Indusinai eec comi-e tia; applications

(PMOEl. also .!■■ ■■■■■■■■ ■■

announced TMS51O0 speech criip. Like

the TMS51D0. speech encoding on the

Linear Predictive Coding (LPC). As the

toP 5 ^

model ol Ihe human vocal tract and an

w*^

anility la predict a speech sample based

Linear Predictive Coding is a technique

speech By determining Horn original

oul (FIFO) butler The FIFO Butler allows

random inputs. An on-chip 8-Bit D.'A

convener translorms digital Information

processed through the lilier into synihetic

(PROMs), erasable PROMs, random-

speech.

Samples ol the TMSS200 will be

available In Ihe lourth quadei ol 19S0 with

processing unit (CPU) 10 lend to olher

A Texas Instruments news re/ease.

COMri.TH.R: Fin' I lul I-. i.irnv;. iJuc-tiiT

by Iwo equals. Your answt

please,
BILL; Six.

COMPUTER: Three on.' .,.,(,-,;'.■■, ■!ur; Hit '<

Question number li.n.r. rnulti

not belung? a- green, b. snow

pie Yutl answer please.

COMPUTER; b„ good job. Question numbe

COMPUTER: One [msiiuerprtHn$ Ihe 1
sjinriFr). The answer is lour

fOMPUTl H: V.mr.inswer please.

BILL; Three

COMPL'TEK: three Very Rood. (Jiu.-i.1ii>

reel spelling for forty Your ar
swer please.

COMPUTER; False. Very good. (Jueslio

COMPUIT.R: .'. IKO.'O i.bj. Question inimbei

COMPUTER: False. That
COMPUTER: (fattrnijiefflj

[■ill explained thai seven nut of r
ivss not milypk.il ill ,i v,,us[iii!ion r,
.illuum.c. lor II-,,. noisv ^.urroonJi,^..
i.li'.il ii'ridilMiii tin' ivmpuler li.is .1

of 'averaging' tn i K n,,rr minor diffcron.v.

COmpLll.Tj ivill flL'llLT.lllv

nthow

phr

ses and sen-

l.iu.j.r.l ■

1 'J™* H

cept complex

Kllllur 11

, anolh

mbling block

seems likely

to be the di

kultv „f tho

v other Hi. in

lli.' f -nii;i.im

Recognising words

...nirleM.1.

likely to ,,.,■

our lock

and

. K hl switches

It'L-tninifiillv-

speiikicis k

torn, ...rllrii

compu

ers.

nifice equip-

With US

lanufacti

rers

selling voice-

nils lor

;i S2III! IL.-iSj

.ind v,,i,-,- K ,

era lion

hips

or .lboul ^2

-.vuihiimi solid ■-,,„ (i« iiilllfLlliii^ I m'l.'.Jr li'.ir. ,-irr,7r,i ,i;i ,j iiiym-nii-i-lik,- :,-
hwfif. .'.'i.virvVr .1-1 ,'.l ;<■..! s/iv m;,i;i,>;„i : ,,,;,■,.,.. ,„■;<■ ,',iW,.. P/„„,,|f, >-iT-is.-']«/io-i is
li.i.'Ji ini'w.'.'.m.'Vv .i.'/ii iimilnil.-oillu ,1'iii ilu- ilma ,(-, ! if :^ii,i ](,■,( ,-u ,'/«■ sii.s/t'w'-
.n-uwi;i,ri,-uji,'i; ii.'.v (Nfnirr. 17], ■ susfiW ;■= „i„!l,iN,.- r,.ii ,i )Lv,.-,f •,-,■ M (.inlm-.r,
'.Ura,t.\" SC-OJ dup.

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Computers and Art

Discourse

Brian Reffin Smith

...AND POLES APART

v irustv RML 3HUZ w
use a tot o£ little di
iupplies. displays ;

thr&

v flouting the law),
perhaps surprisingly, work v
I got, 1 suppose, an average
lours sleep a right, for 22 davE
i; and drank much vodka. ' I

11 IdlUve

However, with the kind help of Centra] sm

«ilhil'.'ii,-h ',h.i- r P ,., ^n ,-,.,-i|U.-vi (he ' r '' 1L wurk.hop, on aspects of art, de-

PC1211. Ten hours before I was due to 51 S" n »d mu *"' ""B"i|; from the psy-

depait lor Warsaw.. I settled down to read ihnlogy „| perception through |i.iyn,i

the eicellent - though at times uninlen- ae '~ "'"

tionallv hilarious - manuals, 1 did not ln B

then need to take them with me as the on drinking straws,

BASIC" and operating -Went, though al Alld ' l,scl1 ""■' 1,lll,J M, '"T machine

limes idiosyncratic, were quite sensible. Irequenlh . It served ,i, a -fr.nc.hl cv.implr

'or taking the Sharp '■' , rl ^"" m P" ,l, r- »' 1 ' 111 ™ "Iked about

nd that if I was random numbers, ran programs on hin-

■ r whatever here or rh y ,hr rn-.. played games: and tr.insl.ited

.1^-. muster ,n i cal aim pit- word- and phr.i-.os Horn Ptili-.li to

nv awkward ques- tnglish. (Once you write the program,

PC1211 might be >' l ' u |'«n™ibcr the words anyway. The

|Cn ' Though its liquid crystal display covers

y sign of the j^,,, d '"^ ^^ ^^oXe^

rt things with ESP. You

paler. 'Guaranteed to break the ice at

patties'. .1- Montv Pvlhon savs.

uiscourse

Americans, thev were nearlv all 'good

Obviously this is not a review of the

quotation marks, were 'our neighbours

than others, All I can sav is that I found

But they, knowing themselves to be in

can use it innovativelv, where larger ma-

cited about language and art, makini; and

but thcv were, as well, wise in the way

off, and still retains the program intact!)

that we might be wise if the North Sea

still were Poles, and ' Socialists, good

things

peimarket - 'SuperSam - always had

there was'little chtfc^We had meal' ev-

'Indeed, the PC 1211 might

en dav in thi- student canteen, even roast

be advertised as the one

seed that makes U all come true, that

that can reach parts other

There were Levi and Wrangler jeans in

computers cannot reach.

(good). I doubt it, but 1 hope so. Mo mat-

and pieces of Socialism mixed in with
Pepsi Cola, Polski Fiats and Marlboro.

Thev knew computers, art and English
visitors for what thev were. I think.

- it's been, what, nearlv a year?) - no
matter what - in Poland, anyway - I am
a reformist. 1 salute reform, In my work
and art I shall try to make great claims

at the local cinemas. Then, too, there

though - mv colleagues confirm it - that
we all fell in love with each other, literally

long as we're told. Frequent indifference

and metaphorically. 1 was crving like a
loony on the cold grev morning we left

And for writing, here in Computer Age,

but meaning so much more

a.m. to see us off, jumped up to hit the

apology at all, ■

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The Micrascene

Viewpoint

Martin Banks

,15 no great, surprise la me
king in bed and opening the
g mail, I came upon a copy

might say something thai profound or
coherent early on a Thursday morning.

Upon opening said trade paper, how-
ever, I saw enshrined in pride of place
on ihe fronl page word of the demise of
lsherwoods, a Pel-oriented dealer oper-
ation in Lulon. Like a growing number
of companies before ii, Tsherwoods had
financially succumbed, and joined the
noted ranks of such companies as fhe
SSUl- Sin.'p chain, and Cumpelec. Though

no definite new-,, then- .ire -.uggestiuns
that lsherwoods will join the Bvte Shop
and Compclec in being rescued, bought
oui. taken over and revitalised, etc etc.

Now, this piece isn't about I.sher woods
as such, but it could be considered as
being about [slier woods in general - the
hundreds of local computer dealers out

have writ before, there are going to be
, joining byti

AND
WHO WILL DRINK

AT THE
CREDITORS' WAKE?

USA. It takes little e

ling bigg"-
product thai tend

any prisoners, especi.illv amongst
dealer fraternity.

That goes equally as well for Com.
* II the other supplier

risherwood, and s.

i. Other:

,, dunh!

onlv per
'.lack.

scnal computer business is fun. Full of
pi'irplf '..iin l j 1 1 - kuhk"- ,uid idiosyncrasies
thii: peupk e.nrv uith them. They can

assorted collections of liggers. weirdoes.
an' ver Kii-w.il inlcrlectewals hang out

new, maybe 'ev.-n do a little htnanew,.
These are the people that, by and large,

in this country; and from my own point

Elbow.

fun from the pc

BUSINESS. '

'etha

, . The 1
supplier,
re there

:r the I

the

e of

ought of being downright nasty to

what are the dealers to do if they

diser", or the wrath of a well-pro-

Those who know me well will, at this

-fiii.K I.

rtpon-

$150

Take Apple, for example (in mam

ways the best example of the Apple Tan-
dy Pet triumvirate that rules the world ir
personal computers, because its business
has been built solely on that produc
group). In just a handful of years, this

a garage, to a manufacturing operator

with estimated sales this yi

Markulla, is revealing. He trips out
growth rate figures like other people talk
golf scores. "Oh, we're looking at around
70% per annum, out to 1985", he'll sav
matter-of-factlv. Next vear, just to be dif-
ferent, the plan is to double this vear's
sales. A cool $300 million is Ihe aim; and

shouldn't get there.

But to get to that growth rate from a

high starting paint is an entirely different

starling. In common with the ulher lead-

nonth ) should make any exception:

re goes.

;t Flic Cmi s ••(•,■ .Vim: --. :jfj, crti,i imi:-

sess where growth r
monthly rather than
igures that British Ste,
porate right arm to rt

That factor is margin, the difference
between the buy price and the sell price.
It would appear that the average margin

where in the 25 to 3096 ballpark, ft would
also appear, through admittedly limited

network adds a thumping great margin
before passing a product on. Mark-ups
no! a million miles from 100% are often
muttered darkly.
Given that these suggestions are tol-

dmolog\ products .is p'
juts, lh.it, ne in fad not s

m.mv ponplf ihuughi :.

t and suppor

Viewpoint

wth r

5 heavily into what

dealer margins of only 25-30%

How about the CRA

doubl be that lliev need large juppnrl
and administrative organisations, so ihal
they can support the dealer. That is why

The personal computer
business is fun. '

Leaving behind lor now the thought Ol
Tim Keen and Colin Stanley .■pL'ialin ( ; .if
fvins pickets, there is one last point I

Amhiif, a Mackintosh put

Does your microcomputer

suffer from

hiccups?

vicinity of your miciacarneuler (Ircr

f Cetronic Limited

,-:l Bern i ■.■.-.! i P' McdelConslanlVc

News

Letter from America

Peter Krass

Vie Tl 99/4 - a m™f'r-Mirm'M?ii/ beautiful

Tolal combined memory is 72K bvtes -

MriteMte'tBllrfiMlhMi*.

They

26K bytes of internal ROM, IfaK bytes of
random access memory (RAM) and up to

Mhc word this month is "big". The

•r

30K bvtes of ROM 'in each software

J A J.T. 1 ~> ^_

module.

« ductors, Tesas Instruments (TI). is

no T.hiiio<h

The 99/4 also has an optional 13-inch

Irving to make a big splash in the big

UU UllXllgiS

colour monitor, which sells (or $450. Al-

riot-su-big machine, the 99/4. And the

V£«C

eouipped" with a radio b r. (RFJ

■L-oiupjny spent bit; money trying In build

Die

modulator, which allow- m, , m to hook

w*h

There are five optional peripherals, as

flop.

The 99/4. introduced in ]gne 1979, is
TI's only entry these days in the micro-

in Texas

well: a thermal printer (S400), o speech

module (il5t.ll. a Ry-2.12 interlace ($225)
and a disk tonlrollcr and drive [S300 and

computer game. Il came with all the

5500).

flourish e>pecred whenever the wraps

Some other features include five oc-

are pulled ofl a new product. But no mat-

ter how loudly Tl heals its drums, micro-

video display and Tl BASIC. This is a

computer dealer?, users and industry

-i^T^S^fep^P

version of Ihe popular programming

language. And according to TI, it is fully

not the machine they've been waiting far.

* \M mm

compatible with both ASCII and the BAS-

The technology behind the 99/4 is in-

IC specifications of Ihe American Nation-

novative; it just doesn't seem to be what

al Standards institute (ANSI).

customers want. Unlike nearly all the

But TI's marketing strategy for the 99/

other micro vendors in the U.S., Tl is

pushing the 99/J as a computer strictly

dition to distributing the micro to com-

for the home. These Jays, most vendors

puter retailers, TI has sent the 99/4 to

would have us believe that their mighty

several department stores, hoping to

micros are as useful af the office as they

reach a wider group of customers. And

I^SlSrChjXlr^^lS!

■1-1 C-nyulii ,rn,T ri.Uv nuwitor.

A recent visit to New York's presti-

gious Bloomingdale's department store,

es. And TI apparently though! it could

To thaf end, TI's engineers designed

pany. f.nu pieiuv in. run 10 mane bim-
ware for the Tl 994, you need substantial
cash- about $50,001 i « ,-d

this comment out, The machine was boll-
e'd onto a counter and was surrounded
by its peripherals, which were no! in

hardware and solln _irelh.it thev believed
could be understood by anyone. One fea-

Info

tha
par

>paper, agrees and explains, ■[ ihink
s what pul Apple where it is: third-

one in the store seemed to know what to
do about it.

These modules contain the 99/4's ap-

is?ia?£?, a 5 w York ' s Super

The machine's lackadaisical sales have

plication salt ware plus some read-on.lv

also prompted TI to offer rebates and dis-

memory (ROM) - up to 3UK bytes. Ac-

counts on the 99/4. And back in April,

cording to the company, putting ROM

Ihe company lowered the price by un-

into the software pack allows them to

bundling the machine - the computer

keep the size of the computer's ROM

l"VhTn'^ l Vp,,;;,n",'-,.,M; : i :

together for SI, 150. Now, on top of Ihe

vsun. :■■ .- 1. .'■■ ' !■■■( users And

unbundling and the rebales, some deal-

room in the machine's RAM ior user

sr£

ers are adding their own discounts. And

The modules are a little smaller than a

ope

rating sw.e-n bu-uu---. They il,.nl
11. (here'- pleilli ot good programs

machine for as little as S599.

rigari'Ue pack and cost between S.K1 and

When things look darkest, there's al-

470 each Applications, solely for home

ways a corporation's view of things. A Tl

use, include 'Home Financial Decision-, '

h money.- CrimalJiV shop seem, to
be seen, and Apples by (he bushel

'Personal Record Keeping,' 'Video
Games' and Household Budget

'■

judge the machine, despite the fact that
it hasn't sold well. 'People compare our

Management.'

micro to other companies' products. But

not caught on. Simply stated, it is
ensive In manufacture these mod-
al onlv Tl is making them. 1
v, with Apple micros, for example,
s a vasl wealth of software made 4

There has also been word that

iiie '"

The TI sourc

99/4 are now 'i

problem.'
e adds thai
oling and

fins' Trot.

is company'
larki'ting lb

of small companies beside Apple b

■\ll voii need t„ make Apple soft- p
- an Apple computer and a tape 1

roducl, and at (950, not badlv
s central processing unit (CPU)
ed bv TI's TMS99I10 16-bit mi

decen
priced

tng,' he says.

ter is by a.

concentrating

■

sngement wilh

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Program

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in doubt, consult your BASIC m

i t Jiny™'>_l'.T(:i"'i:'»

, and CS; for 1CL H

Some or all of these changes could extend
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the secondary school, preferably with the
use of more adult terminology arid style

changes of this type over the years to
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development.

Another route lor development of 'h.
program would be Ihc- incorporation ■■' ■'

taken depends

upon the capa-

thVpatterTSf

long with the

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errors and diffi-

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risking the loss of pupils' confidence once
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their interactions with the computer ivere
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mam advantages of using a program such

development, and more important his

iwiwn the machine .in J himself. For these
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ly be advantageous to e

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Overview

Bob Cooke

Slaves

with some degrees

of freedom

n a precisely located workpiecc. They
ill perform Ihis action whether or not

le workpiece is there, 11 is arguable
iiether this tvp,> of machine is ,1 robot.
b) 'Pick and place' robots which move
about modem These are the meal common. Almost the gripper at the end of the robot arm to

irocessor-based, robots (, W niv 7iliH!i ,hv oi ihis v, lr iety. ■".■.■'. .ird p'.aco n ,,V -

■ with valve * 4 Tllev can be mobile for

; t^usistors. applications.

- logic and, .. .. .

1. ROBOT AXES

.K.nnple.m
although not

"form of rudimentary >ie,hl. Much effort
Is being directed at this problem and
some prototype Ml Hm.' image pmf«-
ing systems have been developed. (5).

Tactile sensing is by no means perfect-
ed and much research is being carried oul
10 produce cheap and efficient tactile sen-
sors. Static robot design seems to be ev-

Ovetview

ions. The most imp.

ion or 'plug in' soml

level. For example, before he- „p,, r , ll( , r overriding this for the mor
particular tf.sk it must compute complex operations.

nun.' ih„iplv Ih.in Hie pure robot dc
iigned to do" the same job. In addition
vorkcrs would be retrained, not made

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urrent'robo^pplkalJonsT Granted tl

A possible future robot then could in- be ™P°«™

log Z8IX10 or the Motorola 68000. log

ther

is enough motive pol-
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ins. there could

lertts- The domestic robot ever-
ts away, and although single-

.,',,' Why use robots al all?

ased robots. G Distil it

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Language

Review

Martin Beer

PASCAL 2

Nut only do Ithac;

.ascal-Z has been developed bv Ith-
'aca Intersvstems. as a high-level
language for use on their ZSO based
computer system, the DPS-1 This
n, which is based around their 5-

: inpi

idefheC.F.U.,
iutp'ut in-

rv.ir.iHcl interface card and a double-den-
sitv disketlc controller, there are a num-
ber of other interesting ones available.
These include a 10-bit analog-lo-digital
end digilal-to-analog converter (which
gives eight channels of each>, an EPROM

gramming nol only the currently popular

27lWaiid27lfi. hut also the larger capacity
2732 and 2764, for when Ihey become

Spim"''i™S«'o P ll

i drive panel, so that a turn-key system can be
-alions installed. The program can be loaded in
scover directly from diskette, or stored in read-

to '■« n m

»..„,

«««

( """ I

I J

(

MAIN SRC

L.„_(

«_«

\ '(

,. „ .... . i

(

LIB REL

prog COM

/ J

™,»

/„,„...,„,/

v -\

Si.

eluding O.C.S.D. Pascal], Pas<
lerates code which can be run dir

is makes it much easier to use Pa
lo develop applications which
!ntuaHy be run on small dedicatee

liable,

scal-Z are currently

Intersvstems' own operating system,
IPOS, and the other to run on Iheindus-
try standard, Digital Research CP/M and
MP/M. The version reviewed runs under
CP/M, and my comments will be con-

this is the one of interests
The initial output of the I

n the form of ma-
assembled, using
Assembler-Z, pro-

vided. Once the code )

mcrocomputers, only those rou lines
which are actually called are included in
he final code file. This can save ronsider-
ible memory space, particularly when
)nly a few routines out of a large library

The code is then ready to run. There is
i Linker option which automatically.
oads and executes the program, as soon
is linking is completed, or the code file
ran be executed directly, as with anvolh-
•t CP/M .COM file. All this can be done
directly, under the control of the pro-

Review

PASCAL User Manual and Report. This
is a good point, since it means that Ihe
system manual does not have to cover
normal programming in PASCAL but just
those areas which differ from the stan-
dard language and the running of the
compiler. For Ihe newcomer to PASCAL,

copping program] and STAT (ihe file sta-
tus program), and our standard text edi-

part of ihe package, so vou must either
use F.D (the edilor provided as part of the
CP.'M package), or buy one of the more

e Ihe o:

■that

rif

it then

which rr

1 M-"-'

o byte

used by CP/M), and another with an c:
pan.dcd -^ mool I able, which re
(plus CP/M). Once the progra
piled it will, of course, run □
far smaller than this, unless

The Package

the standard for distributing CP/M sof-

tems, whereas there are a multitude' of
different formats for double-density dis-
kettes. Both are very full The first con-
tains the compiler, assembler and linker,
together with then associated files, and
several demonstration programs. There
are also text files which describe how la
use the system, in simple terms; and a
list of documentation changes, which
have not vet been included in the man-
uals. Both were found to be very useful
The other diskette contains the assem-
bler source of all the routines in the sys-

main Mined or modified, as necessary, by
the user. Most users will probably only
use this diskette for occasional reference
purposes, but it is very thoughtful of Ith-
aca to provide the information. The Link-
er also acts as a Library Addition, and
Update program, so that everything

Installing Ihe Compiler

The first job when Installing the com-

. piler is to make copies of both system

diskettes, and put the originals away

safely. Once this has been done it is then

o build up a Pascal system dis-

e which includes OVM. useful CP/M

utilities, and those files from the system

your own (in PASCAL '

The files required to i

cute a program (see Tal

kette. I chose to use the version of the
compiler with the extended space for the
symbol table and so copied the files
PAS2254 and PASCAL54. COM on the
system diskette to PAS2 and
PASCAL.COM respectively on the CP/M

diskett

s of the

fully

m,-H-rod,'linih..n til-. MALVhliC pr
ed. Only MAIN.SRC need be co
since the others arc required for s|
purposes. One, CMA1N.SRC is a
commented version of the main macro

lion purposes only, since if it was used

to assemble the compiler output, the pro-

when using the uncommented version.
The other version, called EMAIN.SRC is
used when assembling procedures and
functions which are to be linked to other
Pascal programs.

The COMPILE Macro provided runs
the Compiler, Assembler and Linker in
order from the boot diskette, but allows

these files. This allows me lo
tween diskettes holding diffe;
grams without the need

files lit is, however, advisable lo
copy of the file transfer program
the beginning of every diskette, s

stored in normal CP/M executable forma!
(in a file .suffixed .COM). [I a compilation
listing is requested (by selecting Lhf ap-
propriate rompiler opiion] "

Review

' , * ■■ ' '■ ■ . ' pr,.,ed<m-s \[W. MARK and RELEASE.

* ' , ' , , ".',',' rallu-r ill. in MAY ,m J DISPOSE, .IS do-

Ipiii Jrlkl 1 ,1 or. 1 II:- ., j . ., „ . . ^ k ' .

; , . i scrilvd iii the Ki-p.>r( \part from these,

i'l !■■■ ^'lliu'-T iniv"'^ ''"' r '' lvils "" ' 1,l ' 1 '" ltv m running stan-

prneedure RESET; and ,i new file is en
afed for output by using REWRITE, i
the same way as sequential text files ai

debugging code wh

iguage i

(Ran

m'i'r.' aWn' ii^'l'unrr, '■-.ink' ivaliing Other extensions include the STRING

both memory space and machine lime. data '>["'■ which supports strings of yar-

any error me—age-, generated are milv 'able length. ,nul .in e\ceptinn clause in

going to confuse the new user. the CASE statement. An APPEND pro-

An interesting option is the ability to cedure has been added to the language

compile CASE statements .is a series of '« assist in their manipulation. Several

_ " r. The first other routines (i.e. to find the lenglh of

11 I 1 ""'

nig: lo lu-d
-iabie (

tringv

The Compiler allows the programmer to
choose the most -riil.lble method (,.r each
CASE statement. If no option is specified,
however, all CASE statements are com-
piled as a sequence of conditions, since

Language Extensions and Restrictions

The PASCAL language supported by the

n Library, but
must be declared as EXTERNAL within
the user's program. The exception clause
in the CASE statement is a most useful
addition. It is implemented in the form
of an ELSE clause, wh '

than the

r'-.rr.-.nt-l

with -

. This it

it following the CASE. Since the
'■ an error condition

ned,thePASCAL-

lackot ihe full file han-
f Pascal. The first is a
n which applies also to

d the second is probably
interlace ol the system
A.
itation Is ample, and

eeded h

actly h

n the

■s> the BOOT diskette tu
compile programs. The inclusion of a file
to explain how to use the compiler in
simple terms on this diskette was a good
idea. II proved very useful. It does as-
sume that the new user e. already familiar
with the operation ol CP/M, and does not
describe how to use the COMPILE ma-

it the

-humid \-

their system mainly
ther specialists who
irk this out for them-

"need to provide this sort of information
yet. Another indication of this is that they

piler, Assembler and Linker manuals
bound together If programs are to be
written only in PASCAL, only the Com-
piler manual is really necessary, with the
other two kept for occasional reference.
If, however, programs are required to in-

length of one
tofar " '

Ihe procedures in Assembler;
case, all of the facilities otthes,
win be required. If, on the ol

own right. This is bee
ol the far ilities often
PASCAL programme
writing programs in
veloping your own
that all the features l

■5 PUT Random- Wo

mill CPM. eersion 2.C1.

jened for reading using the standard

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Language APL Series Alan Pearman

IVERSON'S
LANGUAGE

Starting with functions

■(ructions and is a powerful adjunct to we are left with fust two statements ' a function

APL. Our aim is lo get you started with

functions rather than give a comprehen- S + t X I. Opcnin B and

rie^dttoutcUethe R*-Bl\ /S cos.ng e te^n^

available APL literature, which is now e»- mode. Vou s

tensive, For further information on Which is reasonably ramprehensible closing del.

functions. APL. Tfie first statement ravels X just in a <• s P cdil

IMPORTANT: (working from right '.■■ left) flrjl S ets the lion5

if you an not ufmg APL'VSt). mu1 the maximum reduction of S - ie. selects the 2 ' [U^™ Thelunctior

fnces between St.uukui AFi an,/ ■!;>[..■ smaller of this and II (which we have ini- ihcvrvmbol

VW Hmmrtls the end of this part, tiallyset to 100). , ht . ..* <a

The following is an example of an APL to "run" it. Tins is dune as follows

:.' IVfii'Ll hi A

VR-HI X;S
[10] $«-,*
[20] fc-BLl/S

SI 10 50 120 60

which is dnnebv typing (he function name
die primitive), 1 is returned. Note that

APL Series

R*-BI X;S;Ll:L2\LZiL^;LS;LB

«*«»

v <function header>

Dummy

A dummy variable is a ipe-

Wl-j Xiti.'

nd APL responds with the first

Tiber

indicative of its meaning. If

[W] *B/0

[10]

filing you to type in the first line.

lineM. Th

"S™" 1 ?™"?," ™"puh7mm

LARCE replace R.

r "branch".

Global

The rules for brand

Anything that is not local.

:-!''-'\;udCSiB"iwn

* branch ,D '

normally in immediate ~~* D ' 5 a 5 f* di ' 1 instruction which -. a „d AH. responds with the next aval-
mode. However, as men- means "exit the function." able line number (which will ncvcrbe line
Honed above, any variable 3.~<nuIlveclor>mcansdnnotbranth: CKfl). In our example, we type
defined or referenced with- execute the ne<t statement

in a function is global if it is UPLUS

Ual m the'tuncifw h'ad " These rules aredifficult tograsp initially [»]

1 l we suggest th.ii you simply accept them at

MORE ON THE FUNCTION HEADER ^Recafnhal B is if X and Y are conform- APL responds this

The function headeris, ignoring locals, a b| e and 1

. ,„ Atthisstag

eader. and APL will respond
with'lineCllU, which means thai you have

you may have typed
WWG

[101

APL responds this

Ft*BI X

1/0

the arfrument HI? The answer is that the

0/0

(mill vector)

syntax, or rules, of a defined function is

this is unfamiliar).
Then, line £40]:

the same as for a pnmitive: a monadic de-
fined function has its argument to the right
ol (he function name.

What would vou deduce from a header
such as

-►3/0

L*-X PLUS Y '

ruIe(2labove)ifXandYareno
able, execute the next line othe

There are a number of ways

as primitives. Indeed, no-argument (mla-

in general form is

■ sil(;p«>l -VPLUS"

DISPLAYING THE FUNCTION

We assume that vou have opened PLUS

■ <condition>/<line number:- and APLhasretumedCZQj.Thenertstep

is to display the function. This is of course

here conditi on > reduces to 1 or fj. If the " o1 necessary, bul prudenl. To achieve

You may wish lo satisfy yourself that B
returns if X and Y are the same length or
' ■ and 1 otherwise Now

> add Lnes foil. The-

OPEN THF. FUNCTION
;r the following fu

APL: ■*- p monadic v -> V APL:

ASCII: - shape & - G ASCII :-

APL: y p monadic g v APL: 5 Q *■ AH*: v * pmonadic ; □ p dyadic

ASCII: G shape L & ASCII: c L _ ASCII: G_ shape % L reshape

by typing the next a<
the closing del typed

een Ihe header (line CM) and

line Clio.
This is achieved as toll

from the above cvam pic.

1SH PLUS i
[10] B+X+I
t»J -LAST LINE 1
[30] [6] SMlp.Jtl'p.J -
130] [71 Ml
130] [9] B/'X AND X HO

[30] [a] -B/a

mthebracketsanddi

■X-XfCh'iABLi:'

-J6C«

njvb.'ihos

uiynur

APL Series

■ Also, some of the funcoo
above are given alternative

- intmduo

tedasdefinm

Line deletion, type Type A line

functions In the ASCII set.

£lPneKretum>.

Ljadic

EXERCISE

r ™iiu»

1. Enter

: sL-

VR+MEAN X

APL will respond with "[ID] ".

When used in conjunct

n with redu

2. Now enter as follows (APL types

L-t, the single

ch.ara.cler representation <\

revious pag

MUST BE USED.

[10] N+p.X

There are a large numbe

iffru-d lur

[20] R++/.X

tons. The complete list folic

[30] fl--ffiAf

Remaining APL prim Hives

nd symbols,

3 Display the function bv entering

and the ASCII repress
APL Sjlftol ASCII

tation.

CD]

Monadic

Dyadic

5. Enterlhefollowingexamplts

<a\ MKAM 1 5 3

I ;

„L

(a) MEAN 1 2 3

lb) r*?sopioo

SPUfS

no] [o]

VB+X plus y
[10] fl*-((p.J) = P 1 J , ) v (l=p,J)*l=e.r
[2!] ft-11

[30] B/'S: dOT Jf jVCT COSFCBMABLE'
[40] -fl/Q

[so] jf**+y

L-ASCri CONVERSIONS USED;
t is not feasible to have a direct conv
It from APL to ASCII character si
s is mainly due to the existence of ov

we see that the function has been renum-
bered. APL always renumber? a function

We may delete lincC60] by typing

[60] <retum>

write, eg. typing

[10] R*-' ERROR'

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STANDARD
APL AND APLfVSO
In function definition mode there are It will be seen that, whilst most of tl
een APL7VB0 symbols are reasonable- and sometii
identical - a few are a little unnah

QUAD SYSTEM FUNCTIONS AND
VARIABLES

APL allows various actions to be pi

standard APL, nar
APL/VBO

Then

Programming

FORTH Series

Gil Filbey

FORTH. Thffin.i,trtid,-,i,itOHIII,i !

I intend this article to be useful to
anyone who has little or no ac-
quaintance with assembly language
rogrammiri);. ll would be .in advaii(.i>;i'.

ASSEMBLER

,1li FOKTH and lOjl U 1

?£s?£ Instructions
iS± and Data

id to he pro-

notion is the address FDED (a si<!een-hil

you've (

ine i-odl
land if y

What does
,.d a -hyU'-i

IH^^rS

7 The .

Welik

- The accumulator, 1 should add. is used

ZfEdl

ouflhe^^alVT^ga^'ll^sim

snd ™ J., 8 ? 1 ™!'

within that

mpul.itinj; them Had the sequence been
AS 20 20 ED FD

were™

Dmething which looks remarka

Then the first 20 would have been
changed lo the address 20 in the memory,

The p
off; on o

to a plural noun a

ve^Tu^

with the mrtoil- ol addrew. 20 la Vern
page' or one-byte address), and the a L -

(gates) a

n be represented by 00, 01. 10

cumulator would then runs been loaded

with the contents of (hat address. Chans
ins from A9 to A5 did that |ust al the

can be s.

word 'they' converted 'flies' lo a plural

tore. We

SEE

dollar sign to indie

AD 20 20 ED FD ?

Everything is now changed, because AD

5.ivs"kud the .Kvomul.itivr with the con-

tents of the address 20 20" In other

The adv

anlages of the binary numbe

words it has changed the role ol Mh 20's.

represen

d binary logic operations. Fur

umbers fed

Then what about ED TO? Well, ED is
the command to subtract from the accu-
mulator the contents ol the follpivine,
two-byle address which is 11 F D. Had

thermor

these five numbers represented a short

such gate patterns into binar

A9 20 2D ED FD

sMiid-alone profit a mine then U I) mifiht

point on a graph.

■e. The first

However, .had it been a subroutine

Whils

nber. The 'A9' in front

machine

it is bad for people. Too man

of it forces this, s

ice A9 is

,in operator

6 would have followed FD written, of

:tidental AD in-

FORTH Series

the contents of 60 FD fr

frrfirvlii ;-;.m ;!,',■,■( hi fiiprf.'.vl

starling address in n

5 follows

9 20 ZO £D FD

The explain lion oft

CUDb SCREEN DATA IDA, SYMBOL

-allu all- th LIJUI 3LKEEIN UftlA I.IJfl,

- ™ UB Jp ,nL JSR, NEXT IMF, END -CODE

to interpret any number as a symbol, and
write it on the screen, we rename Ihe
programme SCREEN. DATA is treated as
an address 20 (decimal) and SYMBOL as
anolher. Whatever I put in the address
'DATA' will be interpreted as an ASCI!

Now

n the i

i! hi K h I,

NEXT is the
FORTH, of an add
into FORTH when
run. END-CODE is

dress FDED in I'
subroutine will ir
heldintheaccum

t doesn't flash. It is
his is because Iher.
ciing this located at

m,ifi.iziiie
is ECHO,

ODE SC RI-.!-:.\ DATA I. DA, SYMBOL

: PUT DATA ! SCREEN ;

All appears roughly the same a
new PUT would wo'rk just like th<
There is a difference, though, r
partly by dumping out SCREEN -

' SCREEN CFA 2 + » DUMP

D 4E 7E :0 ED FD . , . . etc.
Notice AD and -ml A5. This is because
rawWr is essentially a 2-Byte address;
id bo LDA. has to be the two-byte form

.'ext month we will explore son

lays of addressing and even pi
:e a useful programme.

J. \l:V[|.Yil', END CODE.

531) to have the name SYMBOL; l

We were ready to buy a computer."

I'd realized the potential of [he n

technology lor a longtime, Myc

Which Computer? TIil- more 1 learned

about computers and word processors

the less sure 1 wji ofm.ikmgarjiion.il

decision.

The Wlritb Computer? Show

Then I learned nfthc philosophy
behind ,1 new computer exhibition to
be held in November, the
Which Computer? Show.

Obvbuslv, this show was jiiitth

DataanA Word Processing
Problems

A little Liter, the subject of

with business friends. It became
apparent we jII laced the same
dilemma. We accepted the teehn

best possible wa\

[explained to th.

Wlik-ht

would b

The show tojjuidc
decision -making

of the Which Computer! Show,

Mv friend- md o illci^ius mm
all leel the same way. We have all made

November.

Of course. I will he spending a

The Winch Computer? Show.

November zs • & at NEC,
Birmingham

An unparalleled opportunity t<

present and future ol computers and
word processing.

Act now. and clip the coupon li

ouroption-.sceworkingcoi
talk about -..tt« ate. inu-Mie

Which Computer? Show, 232 ActonLane,Lon4on Wf-sDL Telephone 01-74.? jrji Telex^ozS

~h Computer? Show, ji; Acton Lane. London W+ <DL
.. business card or letterhead to this coupon for more
in and your executive registration card.
; people visiting from my company.

end details of exhibiting at the Which Computer- Show [J

BRAND NEW

Lsrf-

ft compiled by Microspy
with Anthony Esgate

kJ.

This middle section may either be pulled out ot photocopied
then filed for reference. It will be comprehensive and range
over the whole field of products, services, events and courses
PU stands for Personal User SB stands for small base - that is.
small budget or small business. MB - medium base, medium budget or
medium business. BB - big base, bio budget or big business Addresses
are to be found at the end of Brand Hews.

The

BirmLiijihai

S.25-28 November;

Show

re as at 181 Septembar 1980 followed b;

3 BUSINESS COMPUTERS FOR OVER f

B COMBINING WP Al

Information For The Visitor

BMG

500

NEWISH. All-Bntisl m

rocompu-

a BUSINESS COMPUTERS U

QFR CI SOTO

Bytron*

S^Sr^™

All-Briiish

S3U?,

:;e:

Dacoli

Democrat

NEW. Novel Scottish n

ultiple-mi-

ACT

600

■/deocon-

Da ' aGeneral

Nova EC lips

Established best-sell in

" ADDS

MdBvWw

\! t, V :

Dgico

M28 C

additions.

sbs?-

Ruler range fealunng

■:-3iv .;..

Sord

Japanese videocomp

jler P with

Turnkey

■:i J. SH

Honeywell

Level S

Ealb™ed nd rrtrteom S '

utei 1 °l,r,r

■

01 -LITE NEB-Oacked US-di

^fei

$m@@&&£

BRANDS

" DlgiCO SPfllNGBOA
□RG Cado

D NEWISH line of business^ pro-
model is well below C15.O0D all
■ ftware - easily expanded

! BUSINESS COMPUTERS OVER illMOO

■-,«=,: nih.rjuo-s "--li hi,=;--e=s s V ste-™ a- a turnkey price normally

above Ihe E'SuDu nul .'.'v:!- \W; car rr.P.v, a rv, ,= <■

pandable system wih an a ■. : :rce <ange irom ccow [3X0 ro
over £60000

Ego 1000,2000

ftXss

Exlelgh Sord

General Oanlel Sysle
Computer

" interset IS20O0
Kesho Durango

weMhough. '

trom a NEWISH affiliate ol an es-

MEW in Ihe Hamilton catalogue is

the D-gita L-ucmcnl Co PC"-

150

NEWISH British micro line with

tc ms

Computer

BlUdCMp

Britannia

CBS

Alpha Micro

Equinox 300
Data General

PDP-11
D<6

Business packages on DEC mm-

• LSI Computers M-ONE

Well-established and well- 1 iked
with RECENT additions to its

Walling and DDC120

Generalised business software on
-3 German -r.rro but w ;h a pa-

Data

Micrasrar

b u lfmfc™mTu"ef^dTh™g S h

■■ Mascom CS50
Micrologic Apple II

Data General minis, starting al
Dai a General CS50 model

DCC
■■ Digico

DftG

SPRING BOAR
Cado

Business systems on this
puter family. ^ ^ ^

Petalect Commodore

Estab s-a; suppie* ol systems

DATAPACT

□ ■COM ZB9

SOM Intertec
Software MCZ

Consultants Graphic
— Siar Auditor

NEW ..- 0. nn-.-MMiurr.

Systems "based on this US micro

Specialised In accounting sol-

spec.llc programs. NEW is twin-
vfji... ii.oiior Model 50.
-.'anrlarrl applications available

MAI

Qantel
Level 6

POP-1 1
Basic Four

Data General

NEWISH British microcompute'

"" s v s,em B0 ° 800

commercial 800 to he launched

Established all-British NEB-
backed ql amour company * th ih;
s-ngin-user model
Established vendor of business

3000 and now BOOO. Also NEW-
ISH MjinP.-l dr-v c.» alio*;, sev-

Nexus.

Level 6

Systime 700
" Taylor-Wilson Commodore

PMSL

SOLUS

Business packages to be demon-

Telecomputing TECS 4500

Sih™ilSHre. a I.

Software

Consultants

32 SJ2™ 1

Viasak Apple

"" Taylor-Wilson

MultiPET

SlrioiTomX^to'X™

- Wang LVP

L0*-p™c'edTgh-pe V rtarm O a , ncevi-

-Wilco*

K:e< will- NEW system, deuelop-
launched a" Show.

:::z

Tate

Sepr(£?riSpu1e;

£tn*

BUREAUX

■ : ■ ■ .'■'. :
engtbs in Imancia

WUl.lUM

feL~

„"""-—■"« ""•

ass-ta

use en "" SWTP AUTOIEXT
accounting and SyEtlme WORD-11

A ":,- ■■ ■ ^llj

CM ml lech,- ^V'-WNso. WORDCRAFT

a^'^TVe'^Cc^dore

enlure^alween Ventek Dalapoint

Mul I i- function word and data pro-

^minster ai Wafla 0>S - VS
,roup with many

VS is a business computer wiln
:■■■: r ^ i ii. OIS is a word

raThae dwavi ' y ,EWDflTA AND THE BUSINESS USER

e , s y 5y^ em t nc "" s un aern0115 " a ' e a v.awdate capability an (heir

vices [SSing Barlc

his bureau ,s a major Information

TSB Computer Services
5 WORD PROCESSORS

•" Q-CDM
Telecomputing

lion m 0*tc

', COMBINING WP AND DP (Word -Process™ and Data

,"'.'. '.■'■;. '"■''

:.r:.,-l,u ,:.-.,,. ;,r,fj iiy -<;.: e,-;.:i no production ot form letters

.':'■"■' i-v ■ ■■. ■!,■

ADD WORD

Microword

SAGA

WORD-11 new 'liirii-

AI DATAWRITE NEW wi

ailing and 00C 120 Word"pi

vtasak Floppy disc dnues tor Apple (US)

' ? VSTEMS F ? R PARTICULAR BUSINESS AREAS

f"SL SOLUS

(Jpzzlcil

tiki BRAND NEWs

SDM 11 HELP, ADVICE. INFORMATION

55-5! -re ■■'■* i-'ser one way or another

Safe Computing Alias Computer

Mascom Constants

MPL

SDM flusrass CcmpuPnq

Magazine

SWTP CMG

mapTcomrJuleStogra'up 6 ' 1 ""^ '

Nexus Comouter Adb

CBS Compute. Knowledge

. -parr.., l.-.cri lee consul-

Commodore

MAI 181

!mplemeniaion r suppo n rt fl subE8que ' 11

MPL F ln,ernBll0nal

'■'. ■■ ■

Commodore lCFC

i:,-,-','-l,.,ii-v.. md naming oflihcot Qi

SWTP ° re institute of Data Pracess-

.'iiOO -ember -'Pieioianal body

motor (actors

f:2[ mo Management

MPL MSifl ftjw Oiwr Business

Magazine

plant maintenance

Software Architects MP| _

: . ■ ' ■ '.'■ ..: "'\'' "

wholesalers

SDM /tte^nl« TSB Compute, Services

Sancy'dpe-ation associated with

Ji&rtP

SET

Universal \^-^,:^/ 12 REGIONAL INTEREST

ascompuerseeo o

PMSL act Computers

Bum.ngham

War rent Point adds

N,™ Mai;;--. • : -.:-i.-.- and Manchester

ADP

aceoumno

/,'■'..',',;,; ,.,. ■ ;:.:

Woking. Surrey

Wolverhampton

■C LIVING WITH A

COMPUTER Atlas Computer

I-. ■..;■;■ ,i ■:!:■■■ ., ■ II. i ■■-' ■■■ ■ ■■■!■ -■ ,>,■■,. ,; , -

no-moe- rapp

Baric Computing Services

Ri ■ham Head oiler; tml many local of-

Major suppl-' 'I '■• " J'-'*')sys BGam GMioo E-..ii:irniiii

Swindon, Wilts

BCS Specialist Gro

p lo- Tns \3* J-- ■■■ ■ ' - : ■ <•-. B':anri,i"':"r,i':''[..jl t -

Dudley

lunol oryiic.i' , 1 ill- :■'"■" T ''-: BMiif

Business Computing Magazine

sub-group ot the British Computer So- Specialist Group tor [tie

capped people In the computer Bytronl* Microcomputers

Farnham. Surrey

Birmingham

computing work can be dene r,r, y :■■»■ c H a Consul l,ir : i

Cetrome

the disabled Centre- Me
Mams voltage condHioners to even oul

l.:i-..:l:.n mead nll.r_e ::-.:■ -r..irv I'.ii al ol-
1 ces ™na the country)

Hiccups in eleci-c '■-■ -.-Jpt-v bidden Cetronlc

Ware . ferito'dshire

havoc w ; lh elechr-nin instruments r. ,-. :a Cc.mr'.w Systems
- a~,oi-s Irj- i>(. .l I.M..I ■■■■■■■: ii. i; '■■ ircor ,'mi- Cl-i rioter Manage

An- ■!>.... -,L,gh. Norfolk

Coy-dor ii' .:.i.i olltc civ subsidiaries

sales and cahircin; irrJurHnrj nuns -err Group

is Specialised lease Imaricing tor small commodore Business

egulpmenl Compulel

B'a.:kne.i Berkshire

Or- ci ■!■ -i- ,.:,..i'|mi. ■ ''-I- .:.-.i

Sale. Cheshire

Bury St. Edmunds, Suitlolk

':";';; ^T-^rj;;r.-.:,h , ;i l , , M';-iu.r'' : ' ^;;; :!

Bsihg Scotland

'' ' ,"'" .:. ., ,, Datasaab

Marvelim

Buffacea i ■ ■ ■ ■'■ ;■;■ . : -; l: .'; :: ca " D DC International

Twickenham Mmdlese.-

Disc packs and cartridges plus a line ol rj Lfl

VDU and disc accessories D RG Ui.snrr.r, h'-nc; nes

Wr«, inn "j.. per -Mare, Avon

Tliree Counties

tVaiu' -upp i- "1 '■■ai'XX", ■ ir ■ J .!>■■.-■■ r.WB

Mi-oi- ...f,.-...: B...-.-.i-i-jhamshiie

DP/WP consumables Ego Computer Systems

Warlay West Midlands

Vlasa* Electronics

Several computer ;*-■.: SSSO'V inn'-. Hbll Dala Systems
plies Another ol the main itslM ■■ jrdei Enterprise Computers

Answer. Derbyshire

ables ol all types Systems

BRAND NEW,

Exleigh Business Penzance, Cornwa

Systems 0mpUle, London (and sever

- ,v1 ' ! - :■■■[■■. Irtj Shetf.eu

Perl F mar Dal a System

w . ..... ■■,,,.

Pn.T.r- ::: mpij|Bfs
O-Com Electronics

5 Srough. Ber
Woking. Sur

Halifax. Yor*

(Inco-

Lercester.

other

Sauna Office Machines
SOM Co-u.ii.- :>,,■.,■,■■-,
.'!.,: BCr-| .,1,-1 ,■: in

Edinburgh
Bebington. rv

™«™ Update

AMENDMENTS S DELETIONS TO EXHIBITORS 1 1

memory for 9H35B is 22918 flylss F

r fir/-: vivs yn ■.. .. , :■....

on all 470 processo-s BB(AMDAHL IBM).
HEWLETT-PACKARD

H!z\\:r.::-FACK'\Rr- '*u n, M uersmns of

tyzztd 3RAND

Opzzial

REDLAND AUTOMATION

'itmlOl lor SGS-ATES NANOCOMPU-

IDAUTOMATIOHMiP.fi li-EVi.mer-

HHRP
HHHH

HBBO

KB B B

WLLBANK COMPUTERS LTD

IK COMPUTERS LTD. SYSTEM 1(

s. OHers CP-'M i.jrd-a.i,: ,-■

Mach

Engim

in irwratlwpprnijiam'ri.na. =,■,■■;

D^Qf^^t^mduflMaEEla^

^'.'■'

recently wan a £5000 prue in
Microprocessor Competition

upgradable Bidirectional RS232

owle both li e «.bilily anu high

/WO SYSTEMS LTD MICRO 8

at.ng ana Air Conditioning Con-

"•

i. :,.....

and response

ikmM

^Dzztal

BRAND NEWs

s !■-"!?!» saisraffl

;;iij'ialirLia...A--.|Mdi..i __-.: -■.., 1 ,-:■■, ■

available In addition BUILDERS
MERCHANTS

ming ol components Production

IC--.S 01 tacit lirii, !..i:,..-. ■ -.'.:; ;:■■ u' :■■.-■.■■

determined by software package supplied
with each system System comprises LED

■ . . ■!■■ . ■ !,..■ ; :■■ . . ;

Common equipment is connected radially
to operators by sinulv Svv,-.y cabo MO-
BILE RADIO

□ ICQLL DATA SYSTEMS

DICOLL DATA SYSIEMSP-CCOE coir.pal ■

SENTINEL

SENTINEL 'first company lo ofter a 16-bit
microcomputer implememat.on o( Bus.ness

language DBL Senr.neis -mge ol 16-W

Applications

ANAGRAM SYSTEMS

*MG«M SVSTOVtSSALES LEDGER AND
INVOICE PRINTING PACKAGE (or Com-
modore PET Written almosl ertirely in 350:

tar program which dyrrarrt

application programs Irom diskette (appro-
JO nan Mon.'cr conla.nss.mpie database

ace stor ng an types ol record on one phys-
ical t.le Also marrams record ot cu-enl
activity on a control tile, prcy.des lul screen

DEC LSI '■ LU.rpjtc'.. l'Jl. MB(UCSD-

IAN0SLER SOFTWARE

LANDSLER SOFTWMflEPAYROLL 'PLUS:
plain paper payroll system. Designed lo In-

ZILOG

ZHOGMCZ-1 lloppy disk microcomputer?
are to become available with CP/M corn-
pat ble hardware Systems will run CP/M

d an en E very sc reen d i so ay has assoc i ated
operator neip lac ,ty Ps-j,ig.- r, jpocls jo
to 500 customer; on a rs-etle Dela.ls :■!

data; analysis etc MB(PET)

LIVEPORT

LIVEPORT Word Processing Pac to disk
iCPM.I linke.s irco'porat.ng routines to.

:™«.,cp», '

Processors,
Memory boards etc

APPLIEO COMPUTING AND SOFTWARE
LTD.

APR. IFF, COMPUTING AND S0FTWAR5
LTOSPIC 1 mini-computer production plan-

:■ r.'copolisdisk. CompnsesCP'
M 1 d2;3 lor Sorwrur pus, .HI slanrinroCP
M i.i. ii.cs. Microdot; BASIC .rterpretet ■•«■■

sFr r " ' : ' '-

P U. SB. MB( SORCERER. CP M SYSTEMS)

Acknowledge (AACK) signal. BKbytes
PROW/POM. Addresses up to 1Mb ol mem-

...-.,. ,,.,,, H , v "/;■■■'■;"■; .■■

operators. Complete harawarcand software
paciaye costs 'rem i:.".mr> sol'ware or v

SGOPfl i.-. poos ana documents con-

MULTIBUS eompalible Available Irom ME-
MEC Systems Ltd OEMS

ANDERSON -J ACOBSON

PRODUCTION CONTROL IHONEYWELL)
COMPUTER AUTOMATION

i ;:i:i:, MB.BB(ICL)

enc^pn^"^ SoM^'latnnll-

SEMAPHORE COMPUTING SYSTEMS

accomodate most European handsels
SB.MB.BB

.;,?sH

computers Allows O'Jer entry apuliuiil tins
to run in interactive mooe wh, si system con-
tlnues to run basic Invoicing and account-
ing Range ol Vital app rrrons so'Iw-tc

AYDIN CONTROLS VECTOR U.K.

AYDIN CONTROLS/VECTOR U K PDF. 106

S^maiat BRAND NEWs Zfzmkd

■■■..■■■ .,:.!■] terns Designers (Zaooo) debug ZBO programs wnh readout (

nal 1/0 card permits 20mA or R5232C

pre-programmea EPROMs lor assem-
debug program or 8ASIC Also
ible SPECTRONICS CORP range of

iipie.rj' modules Lac-. -fLiiplexo' has 37- Memory B
pn cor-rec'c-r providing up lo 32 analogue 69KEy!es
tMarirrrif. or «j b-lo.-.: jares PBCM .. ovjs (or system

CAMBRIDGE MICRO COMPUTERS LTD. temgwit tefaphona lyMmt pant of- saw

CXMSWDGE MCI'."' CCtfPii'ERS i TO systems wad processors mcropfocesso

dueing development costs lor ZBOOa based pose microprocessor systems OEMs

ZB000 Development Module wild cross ab

:■■-■» I- :■::■:....::■ ..!■ ■ ■.,, CHrPTECH LTD.

minis such as DEC PDP-11 range or Dala CHIPTECH LTD PKW5O0 pn'lnhir FPBCft

General NOVA Boara i.; ■j.-e, 2S0IM 16 Programmer based on 280 m„-.opr,-. C ps

r. 32Koyles 01 dynamic sor. Built-in power supply Capab'e o' o-o

ASSOCIATES

■V-,r,y::.i7.-SSMAR-ll fully
j:iihln comhTiea buflei 32K

tpzcizd

BRAND NEWs

tipaatal

DIGITAL DEVICES LTD.

ptUSVAT PU(Nascom}

Ml CONDUCTOR

Of highlcmo'
■ ro.ij.ru ,:y..v.

■!■:■■! SH.MlUftlJ

The Kingston NETKIT i

voltage tefeience cir- Mi. BASIC cts

INTERFACE COMPONENTS LTD.

INTERFACE COMPONENTS LIU LPHut-.'

PHHIU*

a Him:

er-gin OEMs. Systems

NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR

MJOMi sf.w.'CONDUcron ns-

r memory board tor DEC 5 3?-bil ■

-oviding 512 IrtiylBS a
at DEC'S M8210 mami

MICROSYSTEM SERVICES

-rr.r, Ji'Sns cycto wis during a
it OEMs.MB{DEC>

NEW BEAR COMPUTING STORE LTD.

NEW BEAR COMPUTING STORE LTD
F'ROPFRP'.f.APRfJM^c.grammer. Can be

,'i< SERVICES 10 PORT MUL-

1 1 7 and System 19 uni- m,nal uia V34 RS23SC or

; lo ^.icrocoTiputer de- Cas$etle Interface and

:S. St kill ilk -lllil [.HilillLV

Applications

ineeiiiti* in Mimjivrmein

Suppliers of VHCTOR GRAPHIC
Computer Systems

From single user to distributed

Phoenix Computing Services

75 Hemingford Road. Cambridge

CB1 3BY

(0223)212392/211307

FREELANCE WORK

SOFTWARE AND SYSTEMS

PROFESSIONALS

Please ring John Corner
or Shirley Parsons on
I 2049 or 4555

fori

lated ec

MANCHESTER

Computer Age can seL

your product best

Phone

Vanessa Blackburn Kldc

01928 6394
for full advertising detal

BRAND NEWs

^z/azlcd

PROGRAMMERS

i PROM EPROM S-J ENGINEERING

PENNY & GILES DATA RECORDERS

PENNY S. GILES DATA
DIGITRONICS PROM F
rialed UPP-801 Camp

PROGRAMMERS

la 6flO0 chip 1 , RCS 680O Sene

OEMs. Systems Dea loners, Engineers

STAG ELECTRONIC OESIGNS LTD

STAB ELECTRONIC DESIGNS LTD Pkig-.n
Personals Mocu.e Pt/Gn capalA-- -i pre
gramminguptoBEPROM^!..". I

< EPROM Eight slave
PROM.EPROM

WELWYN ELECTRONIC LTD.

WELWYN ELECTRONIC LTD MICROPRO-
CESSOR TUTOR, MPT Developed wild -he

BnrMnx, Consultancies,
Services, Shops

RESEARCH RESOURCES LTD

PlHE'irtCH RESOURCES LTD A,
:c-D.fjil 3 i iA.Tj) and D;A converters

BRAND NEWs

TATE AGENTS

an: PHE5TEL

CHESS COMPUTERS (UK) LTD.

5 SURVEYORS. ES-

Exhibitions, Courses,
Events

BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY

BRITISH COMPIJILH SOCIETY WCflC
PH'."-R:,'.lriG SPECIALIST GROUP,
"WOflD PROCESSING AND OFFICE AU-
TOMATION IN THE USA 1980" - an ad-
dress by Phil Dom ol Computer Cnr'su-anls

Bl 5.30 p.

ING FOR TEACHERS" i

l, E.C.I , "WORD PROCESS-

US, H

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYS-
TEMS DESIGNERS

!ii,WAC,F'.ll-r-iT wnmATION SYSTEMS
DESIGNERS One-Day Seminar an Manage-
mil-! Cy!:S'lHn -■ Kv Iri-rmal (.r :,;-,i OS
Managers Mjnaat'nism Research Man-

I9SD Fee C30 pi

CMS 9JJ Mnnagart
MICROSYSTEMS
SERVICES

MICROSYSTEMS EDUCATIONAL SER-
."CFSco.^osl.-lDL^-iNDINt., MICRO
COMPUTERS and PROGRAMMING
MICROCOMPUTERS IN BASIC, ai
London. Brighton and No I' ingi-i an

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FINANCIAL MANAG-E-
ir,-F"(MI : Jl.-l 1 1_ DAS.iJ SB.M

EDUCATIONAL

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Project

Assembler

M. King

WRITING AN

ASSEMBLER

FOR THE 32K PET

iii-,"r., ■,;)■:,. ,m„' Jiwlft .■■■■.'..... iv.iiI.iWl'. but li.|v,m>iu,,r,',i-;,>ris I decided At this piiinl. two .ii lie IV 111 HlfUHhl

WnAriiypursfinwOafwniiiT.in to write one myself. I! was a challenge, came together hi give me the basis of th

and had the advantage that during the design. The first was the result of [imkin;

process [ would of necessity need to at the way a BASIC program is held in tffc

ure the budget in l°79, [ de- understand each of the 6502's machine PET. Vou can basically filter any uld ga

dded that, if I was going to buv a code instructions, which would prove bage and it will be stored. Only "at e\ec

■ i was the time. So I very beneficial later. Hon fime will the BASIC Interpreter™]!

JUMP ROUND ASSEMBLER SOURCE CODE!!

I : SCRLF STO C

ASSEMBLER

SOURCE
STATEMENTS

Fi K .ls,„ > w-.1h...|,-u
\i>le tfi.lt. in tile 1iri.il

E PRESENT END OF ASM CODE II

ASSEMBLER PROGRAM ITSELF

Assembler

■ ■ OB ■:.,) ■"■— ™*H ■-":- -V ::. M .,.,„,...

«.1J-"i«l«td - -I «cr> [,^.N. «.- -,,:■„, ,,n in* „„ s ,„ „,.,,,.„,,,, ..p,.,.

p VN ' ' " ■ ■' •'"'■' ''"*■'' "l'l'-"»™'elv a«> l»«». Ol Jllvl , ..„.„. „, „, .„.„,.,..

P""" 1 '""■'■' ...s.-i- :-!.-. -un. I 'I.,. .,..,„l,l„- „ .„„:!,. n v l,„ |r r,„ U Uh,(bn-( mW ;

the attual .tea*n fdWmi a*m.-i P" | ' ' ™e ' ■ ' ' hegenei .; j: ,, jS .| ,,. funiAIWHK where

lUarodhourrhcclttng WRK is a data b>T*

»n,',l I...,-. ■ .1 ■

Only at execution time will the

BASIC Interpreter realize that

it is garbage'

■

ri.-.i. .n, ^.i, k(M MBI-R MJrO

<■:,;

rtuinb«iftj|, APPBJD, TRACT .■!. As

1,1,

the -am,' i.-.t,-.- n-. .,- xv.H ..

,-.

aDUMPfadllty and am described

1,] know and :nvi- .m ■* available :.■

li - activated b) an Avs.-n.hl..

...id .-t:..U|. -III. ..:.-.. ..-
BASIC

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if bi'ij rRFCIKAl 1 mi. n-,-,

it— hud ..it.,,!,..!,.. „l th.. 1.,-C V\ :,.,■■. ■
Bsaitdlowaddivssbyieflof ADUiin Renprafe jr jdJ.n.>.wl |sK i.< :l
■ .■■ * ...I n .. . i.-.l.ii..- i, ,:v -... n.u':r-f j: i.i.t .i.-.n.-ln -,

bWfess ol where AL>n ] mi-k in which rom -.. I.itv-. h, :.1

lhf effect ..I ih.. ,. thai
UthttpMudo-«j*r d r-.i<nimpio'ii'i':< *-*"™b ed ...d.- i- .-waited jn
|..|-.... ..(.. -.,. idadditiim, '"'" »■"■ '■ '"■'■" '■•■■ ■■■'

IheTRAi F ml ... „.N ,.,.,..■ :l
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Data Base

Management Systems

Clyde Holsapple

DATA BASE

PRINCIPLES

AND TECHNIQUES

PartH The Seven Steps

Pro

'ssor Holsapple is

on Ihe Business

nlstralion faculty 01

!ne university of

s ai Urbana. His m

"is*

Tateman-

agement and decision

1 systems.

wbHshed research

appears in

journals as Declsio

Knp

Systems.

Computer Journ

nil

5s Foundations ol Decis

t>ys

:i'il- ..-V.-irterm'c Pres

*). U

Holsapple

Is vice president of Micrc

Data

Base Sys-

lie 7-Stcp Procedure 1

rSrt

m Efcsfen;

Step

feUMUd^tan

type

Stepl [fthereisal-to-1

relal

mship (or

nearly so) betwe^

,l.l(.l iU'lll

types, then aggn

gate

them into

represent this relationship. I
gin bv considering those rcc(
lypesthal are not owners of ft

consid

-red reciird types.

Micro Data
range of proc
their UK di

Sase Systems' con
ucts is available th

plete

flu-.

Ltd. Impiem
able are Z-K

8080, B035, 6502

SI 'So

and Z-8O00.

with a choice ol

host

sic, Cobot, Fortran

Pas-

.11 iv

he MP/M and FAMOS

i>per,iting sv
Systems P

Park. \Wl.i

us arc at Glen^iirmk^
vnabbey, BT3t> 7RE, Tel

Find alt 1-1 relat

""""

nd aggregate

data item type.

for any

naggregated

NiMse

ass

,„1NM

—■*«■

teacher office no. - TONO
name of activity - ANAME
description of activity - ADES
cuiirsc litle-CTLE
course number - CNO
section number - SNO
course subject - 5UBJECT

• Do SNAMF. and 5ADD have a I

BOdated with it mid does a studei
dress typically have only one sl
name associated with it?) YES, so ;
gate SNAME and SADD into same i
type and refer to it as STUDENT:

STUDENT

SNAME

SADD

• Are SSN and SNAME nearly 1-1? A
social security number has Dsiy one stu-
dent name associated with it and a stu-
dent name typically has tmly one social

Thus asRfesate SSN into the same record
type as SNAME giving

DBMS

a student may be taught hv many (N)
ot yet in a teachers. (This N-ln-M relations!'" '
eco'rd type dealt with in Step 7).

SNAME

SADD

SECTION
| SNO [

SUBJECT
[SUBJECT |

has no relationship to SUBJECT,
COURSE. SECTION or 7
does nol have a 1
STUDENT.

• Arc TNAME arid SNAME nearly I

TNAME is not incnrpur.ilud n
STUDENT.

• Do STUDENT and TEACHER have a
1-N relationship? In at least one sense
they do: A teacher can advise many (N)

TEACHER STUDENT

~| AI>VISI : S . ISNAME I
SADD

i Are there anv unattached record

ypes?

fes (ACTIVITY).

■ Which ol [he other record Ivpes seems
nost closc-lv related to ACTIVITY in a
■onceptual sense? STUDENT.

* Student is more closely related to ac-

work schema by means ol an N:M PAR-
TICIP (participation) giving:
fne Dl

STUDENT is arbitrarily the owr
PARTICIP. So each STUDENT occur-
rence can own many ACTIVITY o
ronces via Ihe PARTICIP set Conversely,
each ACTIVITY occurrence can be a
bv manv STUDENT occurrence
PARTICIP.

Sicp 7:

Ikmships that liavv nut been incorporated

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Decision-making

Testrolog

Frank George

seined jmhIIu I'u Hie Viiiiinciiil Times and the
Ntttumul Kesiineli unit DiTeiofnnciit Council
(NRDO.

Parti

[mini; dei it l'>) are derived from Dccisit
Tables, so lei me giic thi> simple*! po-

APPLICATIONS

of
TESTROLOGIC

« redrawn ,15 .1 Teslroloe, jw-
I // for no, / for ves and X for
■ N, and we do not care wfifch.

] lie program 1- drawn .■•..iillv ,
i. with lint's Iii colour, and it
nto Explorer whirh contains i

der the middle

Applications
Theapplicafloi

d" first divide them

1 with the filters
n red. The other

II tlu' answers to all votir qi

re. If Ihev were all
.v all the tillers to I

TOuld si

nd ll

e of colour rathcj filters then

and the red would be obscured. In prac-
tice, We would expect some of the an-
swers to yield V and some N, so we gel
the dark iine composed of red on green,
gre.ii or red ..:. : tv.uk which look the

Tlu* rr.eai.- 'i . ;■. '1. . 1 'I .

1.1 1 h .1

Testrolog

JlgUOL

f [he

■ne albeit) in an '■■.ill our aitack on the

ing, problem- solving
and argan'~"~-

mlmg is .1 mailer .il interpretation. In (he Any remaining sem

mure complicated examples reference would be shown up by tesling il on

(cl. sub-rou tines), since the matte* is too finally, ne should add that the Te

comple* for any one program. tiolog tan be used interactively; a que

Choice of a holiday could be an exam- J'™ ans wered in a particular way Cf_

pie, where some factors arc common lo leild '" ''-''■'in.il check io.R. looking up a nin

^nvyi-ihlelh.lidaviHownuichcanyou r^" 1 ' 1 "' hook, or the- brier handbook and _^_

where von ..in go. .in J ihi vill lead lo ,k! '' '""' , ! send you to a the proven

Stf'^^ZenT Ihtl'mlu'ln ^M^ll'^y'fHlNm^ucrl^Jte tnTie^^^en^g^a^^ge
■■■■>"«■■■ -ii-.d ■■■■■1 ■■.. ■ .louotk- -i,,,,!, there is dso the range of off-the-shelf ari.

" ""* P 1 "* ■ | cod Particular Applications off-the-cuff activities referred to above

no brochure which have mostly been already tried oi

imong the more abstract of the importance or' Fesiiolot; in two range ol activities actuallv referred li

■ solved (and therefore de- special kind- of applications. iho fir:.! is above, and also those implied (e.g. game

information that no

heir method- .

with by off-lhe- and the seconc

Dperational Re- important (pro

twork Analysis. In the first ,

rurtstic versions planning dena,

applic;

the'

■. risk. inab, i,

The:

.i "hole range ol applications I here are mam people concerned with

and acquisition a, part of a cor- Foundos P ro lessor Ceo rj>e and Mr I-..A

levelopineni plan We would taviruiii ireccnth or Hie MarionaJ ['In—
he marketplace for dem '

place eoold itself he influenced by adve

supply back-up teams for a wh
of such applications.

In Conclusion

Let us simply say that with Ti

able, leed-baek and feedforward (adapt-
ing lo experience and anticipating events

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Modem Tester

William Collins

CHECKING
ERROR BATES

5 l's, in a fully random
<*"<>- "iMn,tlv 1 .tl 1 ,.r

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ROBOTS AND THE FACTORY
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The Second industrial Revolution Th ' 5 ' he 5a,d ' '

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mn R

ndusti

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A Robot can be taught by Liking it most difficult problems that we face in US National science Foundation said re-

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Data Processing

Series

Darrel Ince

HANDLING
DATA

Part W Towards Database

iv.iv 01 ori^nisinj; .1 till' when records ir
that file pre tu be processed in order. Ji
is impMi.lii.,il tu use this form of organ
isation when records are to be prates:

terprises that utilise.

■ssed

rased, en- In order to illi

lumber of cullies were, cor
ind more cial example of a

Programming
this computer
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A range of Ixisiness computers yen
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cub.u^.h^rnv,,,,;,;,;,,!-/,',!.,^, H* cn*^

Series

flee

Thus a typical tapiml of the tilt mighl aratt . f,| t ., r X ] m{ , ,. .„„,.„, „„,„. Ideally this amendment in the bonus payment svs-

conlain (Figure 1). dala should only be held once. This du- tern which requires .1 r.ik-ul.iiinn nased

plication can lead to a large waste ol not only on sales this month but on salos

of records ol empk>vees. Ilu' lurm.il „| M k?s ''■l ti J 1 1 "ht-u: ' i"l v.'-' cl lip I iJ-'m ■ '1 1'.' M -''.-,ni ■ vW lieki in the h-nus file. All the pro-

these records is: /see Figure A) tain a large number of .h.ir.uters, as in grams which use this file would then

the address field. There is also .1 degree have to be modified. In an enterprise

The enterprise also hasra fmanrtoesdwiw of duplication in the salary file and the with a

i-essing these file

■r this scheme a file

highlight the disadvan-

at riifftwFtr fim,-.. The salan
amended on Monday, the personnel file
on Tuesdav and "the bonus file on
Wednesday. Between Monday and
Wednesday the data describing an
employee's address will be inconsistent;

follow e<

Series

IS are constructed
s cf articles in the

of files. This duplica

.■rti.'Mn

by having a st'paratt' ,-r-i of rirun/j with the
format: f see Figure B)
Each employee would be represented

■ 'cation of

The eli mill.-. Hun or duplicate data is

DBMS. This article has pointed out the Hotsappte's DBMS ■

vantages of multi-file organisations cf Mathematics, The Open

e that

i.plovee

salary file: typically, this field w

Similarly the personnel pointer' odd v
mint to (he cniplovec's personnel recc
and the bonus pointer Held will iviii!
the employee's bonus record. The d
yam i Figure 2j shows fragments of t
three file- .1 no -he enrrespt iodine, nan

unnhor .i.ioii-

number — the multiple i

:r.ie.i!ieiil ur the personnel
.llre.idv had its name, idi
and address fields Udure
shown in Figure 3.

In order to eliminate this fo
plication a series of records, on
department, is created. The

i' after Professor
University. Milton

and indicated on

step along the path tc

i^m.

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i:,-tu l\, ,■'.',11,. vi,',, 1 Hit ppni'P i..",O lr "i< , --^r,' ,',l
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f|i„-

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The first artide looks at milestones in

the development ol word processing, and

The second article ei

,::licl.

The
exKpairldf hands

typing everything again. I

ig - espe-
cially when A. B Dick, Philips and Rank
Xerox also produced machines which
used map cards. Bui technology was
moving on. The floppy disk appeared. A
floppy can store perhaps 30 - ISO pages

„et bogged down in history.
mply going to pick out four mtlc-

g which have significantly
need the composition of today's
;t. They are:
magnetic card,

The magnetic card

ick of 90 cards.

During the seventies, M1M established
their magnetic card typewriters io offices
thro j ghoul the world. They improved

productivity because thev separated ty-
ping [rum printing, Udiling was simple
the typist typed only the changes, and
ic machine- integrated the change* with
io unaffected text to produce a clean
final copy. At least that was the theory
' " ■■ '.f the changes affected otilv
icpage. But inserting tour
' ing of a

iet s'.niiig to h:- am- mope precise I
- we cm argue about page si/c^ till
cows come home; but. in practice,

:r page mi one magnetic card. Then

The h"h70 Information Distributor is a

er printer and photocopier which can ac-
cept data over the phone from a
computer, reformat it, print on both sides
of the paper using more than one type-
face, number and collate the pages - and
it also uses mag cards It's rather like
lining a starting handle on Concord - bul
it looks as it the mag card mav be around
for a while yet.

n the I

that wasn't so easy in practice, as many
a typist found when she was juggling a
slack of cards to gel lite page endings
right.

Neverthejess, it was much better than

Word Processing

get lost

zhanged (

'((iiir mlo memory. The typist i

The

pill a

y viewing it en the
screen, and on any word processor wor-
thy of the name she can print something
else on the printer a! the same time So
not only are typing and printing separate

scheduling, both screen and printer can
be kept busv and productivity boom!..
("With careful scheduling" is "the most
important part of that sentence; I'll ex-
pand this point in the third article).

You may be surprised to know that Un-
developed as ions agn as 1969 bv Lexi-

types
ferenl

(■hich embody very dif-

There arc single-line displays ("thin
windows", in the jargon.) We can hardly

usually a whole line, jus! 15 or 20 char-
acters perhaps, They do separate typing
from printing; and, when she's editing,
the typist can see a few words at a lime
instead of working blind. But while thev
give a glimpse of the possibilities of
screen-based editing, they're very re-
stricting. You're not reading this article
20 characters at a lime. You're aware of
paragraphs and the page format. Each
word makes sense in the contest of Ihe
whole. A thin window is OK for correct-
ing you move sentences and paragraphs
around. Vou need to see Ihe contest.
The most common screen size displays

which simulate a typescript by showing

the cursor based on Ihe typing line, this
idea attempts to copy the typewriter's
method of text entry on to a screen. Pre-
sumably the idea is to ease the transition
from typewriter to word processor. But
whv? An electronic screen is not a piece
of paper Why should it Iry to look like

One final point about screens. They're

designed to make lily easier lor the typist.
She shouldn't have to worry about line
endings as she does on paper. Practically
all screen -based si stems have word wrap-
around: if the typist types a word near
the right margin and it ; s loo long to tit on
the line, the software automatically
moves Ihe whole word to the beginning
ol the next line. Believe it or not, there

The price of electronic typewriters -
liltle as HI, 200 is a good indication
where they are in Ihe market. It's belt
to think of them as electric typewrite
with more flexible facilities, rather th;
scaled-down word processors. Super
dally thev may look very attractive. B
like word pnves-uus with thin window
their limitations can be frustrating. Or
company was wry keen to use a woi
processor, but less enthusiastic at tl
£8,000 price-tag. They bought an ele
Ironic typewriter instead. After tw
s they were grumbling that its men

ory w
The

m then lint Ihe

The electronic typewriter

typewriter. II is what its name implies -
a typewriter that works electronically, not
mechanically. Don't confuse it with a
word processor. A £30 cassette plaver
and a £4,000 hi-fi both reproduce music,
but you wouldn't consider them equally
useful alternatives. The electronic type-
writer has a few facilities; basically, to
help tot entry. Its internal memory mav
hold as few as ien lines of le*t. So it's
useful for simple error correction and the
storage of simple formats such as the first

through a communication
optical character reader, and you'll have
the besl of both worlds - simple text entry
and error correction on Ihe electronic
typewriter, and powerful editing and
manipulation of stored text on Ihe word
processor. You now have a glimpse of a
practical iotegialcd office system.

The software package

i.irh,,.,'- w,|l
icivd oniric-

AES WORDPLEX LAUNCHES A NETWORK
OF WORDPROCESSING BUREAUX

and the instant print shop comes the

cXX^s W |otkio^fo, a mor ^ eTn 1 e, e

logical extension, the Wo rdp recessing

prised™ wort VS. £m££

wider public.

The first of the kind sited in

launced by AES Wordplex of 32
Fitzroy Square, London.

I'NR

wor^rocessToc, ~ms m° Western

i.iF 81

AES Wordplex is planning a network

iA=i

Wordplex Word processing Bureau*

1 1L ta

independently financed and operated,
but with equipment, training.

supplied by AES Wordplex. The first
franchisee. Lorraine Everett, had

AES Wordplex saw in it the blue

1 % JI

LORRAINE EVERETT: flrB Wordplex

no surprise. tVord processing i- mil si
ply another compute. application; if'
j.illihin.ili.'ii ,11 people, pnii L'Jurr-. ,1
equipment. Concentration on the sc
ware at the expense of the other fach
is unlikely to produce a salisfacU

isolation of .in air-conditioned fortress.

puling ;"" ('vu'Wt'Mi'i'. While each typing
|nb may differ, they all share two char-
acteristics: they're wanted yesterday, and
mine's more important than yours. The
software must be able to cope with these
erratic human demands, and it must be
easy to use: we don't want gibberish like
'syntax error' or 'return without gosub'.

Other

Word Processing

processor is a computer designs.
dand

I -'--m.'.

Youm

ng package I

Dedicated word processors come in a]]
shapes and sizes. Some of the cheaper

don't share the logic) so that ai
ponent which breaks down doesi
the rest of the system

You may like the idea of data
ing and word processing on tl
machine, but beware! Words ar

.Mil. n,

■i' than el

typewriters. Others
components from whin; yuu
system which makes the best
component. A typical da

build a
of each

lies fas-
is she's

other

i and d:

i proo

t.in.l.ir.l I.

"and ir

mam packages, i
nunc, lor a typist.
Hardware is important too. Clear

boards with clear function keys - they all
make life easier for the typist. So, do treat
word processing packages with caution.
You'll be lucky to get a decent word pro-
cessor for less than t7,0O0, so you
shouldn't expect much from a ODD

What's available now?

ter than a typist
printing large volt
thc printer will be
So it makes sense to have two or three
screens sharing a printer, but that may
mean they also share a floppy disk, and
that's Far less flexible than each screen
using its own floppy or all sharing a large
disk. So it vuu order a multi-screen svs-
' ' ' facil-

and data process!
u-iih all program- '.haiing the same li
i- rn.it r.i-.v. I Ihic .,!,.■ IL'iJu.nr n ,■:■!,
too - do vou have a kevhnard "ill
niir:ifi;i ;\id .III,: '-.nld proiC-sim; hi
linn kevs; do the keys carry several
.oriptions; do vou have to change the
tops for each application?

If you're considering a package, ex;
ine it carefully. It may he simply .1 i

u nnJ .'i

are shared, and
endence each screen has.
e that 'shared facility' and 'shared

text with n

not even display le

at the tops of the '1

You could try us
popping up all ovi
quality varies. A sc
swaps its typewrite

and adiirt"-sc.. It :i

Com!

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