Full text of "Creative Computing Magazine (September 1980) Volume 06 Number 09"

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**and Features

Isaac Asimov:
"Point of View"

How to Heapsort

New Consumer
Electronic Products

Columns:

•Atari "Apple

•PET »TRS-80

•Intelligent Games

Effective Writing

Puzzles • Reviews

TRS-80* Model I Computer Owners

Store More Data

on a 5 -Disk

Than on an 8 -Disk

KFOCM

The Doubler™: Pcrcom's new
proprietary double-density
adapter for the TRS-80* com-
puter

Plug the DOUBLER™ into the
disk controller chip socket
of your Expansion Interface
and . . .

Store up to 354 Kbytes of formatted data on five-inch disks.

• Increase formatted storage
capacity of your minidiskettes from
V/2 to almost 4 times.

• Use with standard 5-inch drives
rated for double-density operation.

• The DOUBLER™ reads, writes
and formats either single- or double-
density disks.

• Proprietary design allows you to
continue to run TRSDOS*, NEW-
DOS t, Percom OS-80'" or other
single-density software without
making any changes to software or
hardware.

Mini-Disk Systems
More storage ca-
pacity, higher re-
liability — from Per-
com, the industry
leader. One-, two-
and three-drive configurations in
either 40- or 77-track format, start-
ing at only $399.

PRICES AND SPECIFICATIONS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

CIRCLE 177 ON READER SERVICE

• Includes DBLDOS,™ a
TRSDOS* compatible double-
density disk operating system.

• CONVERT utility, on DBLDOS™
minidiskette, converts files and pro-
grams from single- to double-density
or double- to single-density.

• Plug-in installation: No strap-
ping. No trace cutting. Restore your
Expansion Interface disk controller
to original configuration by simply
removing the DOUBLER™ and re-
installing the original disk controller
chip.

I "»

PERCOM DISCOUNT COUPON |

worth $20

toward

The Purchase of a

DOUBLER "

Coupon No. C10102

Expires December 30. 1980

Void where prohibited by law.

I
I
I

I
J

• The DOUBLER™
circuit card includes
high-performance
data separator, write
precompensation cir-
cuits for reliable disk read operations
— even on 77-track drives.

Introductory price, including
DBLDOS™ and format conversion
utility on minidiskette, only $219.95.
Use the coupon for even greater
savings.

Call toll-free, 1-800-527-1592,
for the address of your nearest
dealer, or to order direct from Per-
com.

tPercom TFD 200™ *lv«. OS 80D"

PERCOM DATA COMPANY. INC

211 N KIRBY GARLANO. TEXAS 75042

(214) 272-3421

trademark of Petcom Data Company. Inc. ^^ «-—— .

trademark ol Tandy Radio Shack Corporation «*Hch has no ratattaraMp to P«n:om Dau Company
' of Apparat Company, Inc

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I Pa„ac:

Management Information Display

Ultrasonic heart sector scan

High-resolution display with alphanumeric}

Get the professional color

display that has
BASIC/FORTRAN simplicity

LOW-PRICED, TOO

Here's a color display that has
everything: professional-level resolution,
enormous color range, easy software,
NTSC conformance, and low price.

Basically, this new Cromemco Model
SDI* is a two-board interface that plugs
into any Cromemco computer.

The SDI then maps computer display
memory content onto a convenient color
monitor to give high-quality, high-
resolution displays (756 H x 482 V pixels).

When we say the SDI results in a high-
quality professional display, we mean you
can't get higher resolution than this
system offers in an NTSC-conforming
display.

The resolution surpasses that of a color
TV picture.

BASIC/FORTRAN programming

Besides its high resolution and low
price, the new SDI lets you control with
optional Cromemco software packages
that use simple BASIC- and FORTRAN-
like commands.

Pick any of 16 colors (from a
4096-color palette) with instructions like
DEFCLR (c, R, G, B). Or obtain a circle of
specified size, location, and color with
XCIRC (x, y, r, c).

•U.S. Pat. No. 4121283

Model SDI High-Resolution Color
Graphics Interface

HIGH RESOLUTION

The SDI's high resolution gives a
professional-quality display that strictly
meets NTSC requirements. You get 756
pixels on every visible line of the NTSC
standard display of 482 image lines. Ver-
tical line spacing is 1 pixel.

To achieve the high-quality display, a
separate output signal is produced for
each of the three component colors (red,
green, blue). This yields a sharper image
than is possible using an NTSC-composite
video signal and color TV set. Full image
quality is readily realized with our high-
quality RGB Monitor or any conventional
red/green/blue monitor common in TV
work.

Model SDI plugs into Z-2H 11 -megabyte

hard disk computer or any Cromemco

computer

DISPLAY MEMORY

Along with the SDI we also offer an
optional fast and novel two-port memory
that gives independent high-speed access
to the computer memory. The two-port
memory stores one full display, permit-
ting fast computer operation even during
display.

CONTACT YOUR REP NOW

The Model SDI has been used in scien-
tific work, engineering, business, TV,
color graphics, and other areas. It's a
good example of how Cromemco keeps
computers in the field up to date, since it
turns any Cromemco computer into an
up-to-date color display computer.

The SDI has still more features that
you should be informed about. So contact
your Cromemco representative now and
see all that the SDI will do for you.

a Cromemco
Incorporated
280 BERNARDO AVE., MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA 94O40

Tomorrow's computers today

CIRCLE 130 ON READER SERVICE CARD

■■

J ^

Here's to your health! Six Vitafacts
programs lor you and your family.

Being healthy and happy is so very important. And now you
can use your Apple" PET/CBM " or TRS-80 '" computer to
help stay that way.

Introducing six new Personal Software" Vitafacts Series
programs for your health: Growing Up, Heart Attacks, Talking
About Sex, Drinking & Drugs, Birth Control, and Your Blood
Pressure.

Using a Vitafacts program is like getting advice from your
family doctor. Accurate, up-to-date medical information about
physical and mental health, presented in a friendly, straight-
forward way. You'll feel even more confident knowing that
each program is approved and endorsed by The College of
Family Physicians in Canada, where the Vitafacts Series is
created by The Richmond Software Group and Medifacts Ltd.

Each program includes a manual with diagrams and glossary,
a computer cassette, and an audio
cassette. The audio tape uses short
dramas and straight talk to tell the
story. Then the computer exercises
verify your new knowledge. And
because you use your knowledge
right away, you remember more. It's
fun! And a great way to learn.

Growing Up helps families cope
with the teenage years. Teenagers
learn more about their physical and
emotional changes, and parents learn
more about helping their children
through it all.

Heart Attacks describes what one
is, how to recognize it, what to do

TM-ViUfoctsisj trademark of Mrd if ict» Ltd.;
Applnwtrjdemjrkof AppleComputer. Int , PET
is j tridemjtrk of Commodore Business Machines,
lnc:TRS-80 is a trademark of the Radio Shack Div
ofTandyCorp.

•5.

when someone is experiencing one, and— most important-
how to help prevent one.

Talking About Sex, presented by two of Canada's fore-
most sex counselors, offers to adults the proper information
and appropriate attitude for a satisfying sex life.

Drinking & Drugs. No lecturing or talking down. Just
straight facts about the very real dangers of alcohol and
drugs. Prepared for teenagers, but good for adults.

Birth Control explains clearly and completely conception,
birth and prevention of unwanted pregnancies. Important
information for teenagers, and helpful for adults.

Your Blood Pressure. No one is immune to the risks of
high blood pressure. Knowledge is your best defense, and
this program has the information.

"Vita" means "Life" in Latin. We hope these programs
make your life healthier and happier.
Retail price is just $19.95.
Ask your Personal Software
dealer for a demonstration, and for
our new catalog. Call or write to find
your nearest dealer. (408) 745-7841.
Personal Software Inc., 1330
Bordeaux Dr., Sunnyvale, C A 94086.

p?*!8$

$Or

CIRCLE 170 ON READER SERVICE CARD

In This Issue

articles

38 Bally, Interact and Video Brain Ahl

Where are they now?

40 The World Inside the Computer D'lgnazio

The story behind Katie and the computer

46 Computers At An Altar native School Stone

The Kids teach themselves and each other

48 A School Computer, Yours for tha Asking McCabe

Computers have a valuable place in middle schools

75 Stocks and Listed Options Adler

Portfolio Records and Value

82 A New Look at tha Creative Process Raudsepp

92 Computer Literacy Bibliography Friel & Roberts

98 Computer Countdown Hansen

PETs in a Maine middle school

104 Why Don't Thay Adopt Us? Martellaro

Classroom computers and innovation theory

196 A Visit to California Computer Systems Ahl

fiction & foolishness

80 Point of View Asimov

evaluations 6 profiles

54 Buyer's Guide to Apple II Software Lubar

8 packages for your consideration

56 Milliken Math Sequences Bejar

Excellent in some regards, weak in others

58 High Technology Cham Lab Simulations Carpenter

60 Exatron Stringy Floppy Blechman

"Poor man's floppy disk system"

64 Educational Software Lubar

New packages from 7 vendors

78 Little Computers— Saa How They Run Lubar

EDS videotapes about computers and more

100 Smart Programs, Dumb Programs Potts

A shopping list for schools for the TRS-80

September 1980 Volumes, Number 9

Critttw Computing magaiine it published monthly by Creative Computing. P.O.
Bo»789-M Mornstown. NJ 07960 (Editorial of1.ee St Oumont Placa. Mornstown, NJ
07960 Phono (201 ) 5*0-0445 )

Oomntic Subscriptions 12 issues SI 5 24 issues »28 36 issues S40 Send subscription
orders or change ot address (P O Form 3575) to Creaiive computing. P O Boi 789-M
Mornstown. N J 07*60 Call 800-631 -8112 toll-tree (in New Jersey call 201 -540-0445) to
order a subscription (to be charged only to a bank card)

Controlled circulation paid at Concord, NH 03301 .

prohibited. Printed In USA.

SEPTEMBER 1980

applications - games

108 Word Problems Made Painless Noddings

For elementary schools

116 Integrating CAI and Videotape Schwartz

120 Language Arts CAI Development Allee & Williams

The Computer can be superior to the textbook

1 26 How to Solve It— With tha Computer Piele

134 Win A Computer System Ahl

136 How Not To Be Out of Sorts Nijenhuis

Part II : Heapsort

1 40 Complements & Supplements Carlson

144 The Mechanical Mouse Tyborski

An exercise in problem analysis and flowcharting

146 Grading Made Easy Barnett

A program that gives students a break

150 Budget Maintenance Program Webster

For department heads

departments

6 Input/Output Readers

14 Etcetera Etal

■ic Random Ramblings Ahl

Summer Consumer Electronics Show

164 Puzzles* Problems Townsend

168 Effective Writing Weiss

Showing off

1 70 Intelligent Computer Games Levy

Checkers and learning

174 Apple Cart Carpenter

Softcard, Disk-o-Tape, Applesoft

180 Outpost: Atari Blank

Educational software, real time clock, more

184 TRS-80 Strings Gray

Good programming practices, software reviews

1 90 P*rsonal Electronic Transactions Yob

Stringy floppy and product reviews

197 Retail Roster

1 98 Compleat Computer Catalogue Staples

Hundreds of new products and software

220 Book Reviews Gray

224 Advertiser Index

I >ttc_ M M kt K 111 1 MSi M Si kt

The cover is a painting by Stan Gilliam. See story on page 40.

Publisher; Editor-in-chief

David H. Ahl

Editor

Managing Editor
Associate Editor
Contributing Editors

Production Manager
Art Department

Typesetter
Editorial Assistant

Secretary

Ted Nelson

Burchenal Green

David Lubar

George Blank

Frederick Chesson

Charles Carpenter

Margot Critchlleld

Thomas W. Dwyer

Stephen B. Gray

Richard Kaapke

Stephen Klmmel

Harold Novlck

Peter Payack

Alvln Totfler

C. Barry Townsend

Gregory Yob

Karl Zlnn

A.J. Slclliano

Diana Negri

Chris DeMllla

Patricia Ballnskl

Debbie Barbagallo

Paulette Duval
Peter Fee

Elizabeth Magln

Advertising Sales

Renee Fox Christman

Nancy Wood

Carol Vita

Marketing Coordinators

Barbara Garris
Sheryl Kennedy

Software Development Laura McLaughlin

Chris Vogell

Peter Berlrand

Suzanne Menzel

Systems Analyst David Qewlrtz

Data Processing CoordinatorKelth Franklin

Software Production Debra Linton

Business Manager
Financial Coordinator
Bookkeeper
Retail Marketing

Circulation

Customer Service
Office Assistants

Order Processing

Book Service
Supervisors

Book Service

Betsy Staples

William L. Baumann

Patricia Kennelly

Jennifer Bun-
Laura Gibbons

Suzanne Guppy

Frances Mlskovlch

Molra Fenton

Jill Elsgrau

Rosemary Bender

Linda McCatham

Maria Petrakls

Sue Vita

Jim Zecchln

Dorothy Staples

Qail Harris

Alan Kelly

Dorian Snipes

Ronald Antonaccio
William Rogalskl

Scott McLeod

Nick Nlnnl

Mark Archambault

Mike G ribbon

Advertising Sales

Advertising Coordinator
Renee Christman
Creative Computing
P.O. Box 789-M
Morristown, NJ 07960
(201)540-9168

Western State, Texas
Jules E. Thompson, Inc.
1 290 Howard Ave. , Suite 303
Burlingame, CA 94010
(415)348-8222

Southern California

Jules E. Thompson, Inc.
2560 Via Tejon

Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90247
(21 3)378-8361

M Id-Atlantic. Northeast
CEL Associates, Inc.
36 Sohler Street
Cohasset, MA 02025
(617)383-6136

Midwest

Ted Rickard
435 Locust Rd.
Wilmette. IL 60091
(312)251-2541

New York Metropolitan Are*
Nelson & Miller Associates, Inc.
55 Scenic Dr.

Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706
(91 4)478-0491

Southeast

Paul McGinnisCo.
60 East 42nd St.
New York, NY 10017
(212)490-1021

Responsibility

Creative Computing will not be respon-
sible for the return of unsolicited manu-
scripts, cassettes, floppy disks, program
listings, etc. not submitted with a self-
addressed, stamped envelope.

OK to Reprint

Material in Creative Computing may be
reprinted without permission by school
and college publications, personal
computing club newsletters, and non-
profit publications. Only original material
may be reprinted; that Is, you may not
reprint a reprint. Also, each reprint muat
carry the following notice on the first
page of the reprint in 7-point or larger
type (you may cut out and use this notice
if you wish):

Copyright © 1980 by Creative Computing
51 Dumont Place, Morristown, NJ 07960.
Sample Issue $2.50, 12-lssue subscription
$15.

Pleaae send us two copies of any
publication that carries reprinted material.
Send to attention : David Ahl.

Microform

Creative Computing Is available on
permanent record microfilm. For complete
information contact University Microfilms
International, Dept. F.A., 300 North Zeeb
Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 or 18 Bedford
Road, London WC1 R 4EJ, England.

Foreign Customers

Foreign subscribers In countries listed be-
low may elect to subscribe with our locel
•gents using locsl currency. Of course, sub-
scriptions may also be entered directly to
Creative Computing (USA) In U.S. dollars,
(bsnk drsft or American Express csrd). All
foreign subscriptions must be prepeld.

Many foreign sgents stock Creetlve Com-
puting magazines, books, and software How-
ever, please Inquire directly to the agent be-
fore placing an order. Agsln. sll Creative
Computing products may be ordered direct
from the USA — be sure to sllow for foreign
shipping and handling.

CANADA •ertsee Air

1-year C 828 n/e

2-year 54

3-year 71

Micron Dlatrlb.
409 Queen St. W
Toronto. OT MSV 2A5. Canada
ENGLAND t C

1-year 13 22

2-year 2S 43

3-year 3S 63

CREATIVE COMPUTING
Attn: Hazel Gordon
27 Andrew Close

Stoke Goldlng, Nuneaton CV13 6EL
England

FRANCE F F

t-year 98 183

2-year 188 358

3-year 273 530

SYBEX EUROPE
14/18 Rue Planchat
75020 Paris. France

SWEDEN

Iff

1 year

100

188

2-yeer

1*3

308

3-year

280

544

HOBBY DATA

Attn: Jan Nilsson

Fack

s -200 12 Malmo 2, Sweden

GERMANY

1-yesr

2-year

152

3-year

116

228

HOFACKER-VERLAG

Ing. W. Hofscker

6 Munchen 75

Postfach 437. West Germany

HOLLAND, BELGIUM

1 -year

108

2-year

210

3-year

300

2XF COMPU TERCOLLECTIEF

Attn: F. de Vreeze

Amstel 31 2 A

1 017 AP AMSTERDAM, Holland

AUSTRALIA

1-yesr

130

, LT0.

5.700

10,700

10.900

21.000

15.900

31,000

2-yeer

3-yeer

ELECTRONIC CONCEPTS PTY.,

Attn: Rudl Hoess

Ground Floor 55 Clsrence St.

Sydney, NSW 2000. Australia

JAPAN

1-year

2-year

3-year

ASCII PUBLISHING

Aoyema Building 5F

5-18-1 Mlnaml Aoyama, Mlnato-Ku

Tokyo 107, Japan

HONO KONG * HK

1-year 118

2-year 227

3-year 330

COMPUTER PUBLICATIONS. LTD.

22 Wyndham St.. 7th Floor

Hong Kong

PHILIPPINES P P

1-year 178 330

2-year 338 850

3-yesr 490 086

INTEGRATED COMPUTER SYSTEMS. INC.

Suite 205. Llmketksl Bldg., Ortlges Ave.

Oreenhllls P.O. Box 483. San Juan

Metro Msnlls 3113, Philippines

OTHER COUNTRIES

1-year 824 $45

2-year 48 88

3-year 07 130

JHK
222
438

840

CREATIVE COMPUTING.

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Terminals and Printers!

TELEVIDEO TVI-912C

SOROC

TI-810

iiintf iiiiiiiiii

y.tt !!!■■{{ mnm

Upper and lower case, 15 baud rates: 75 to
19,000 baud, dual intensity, 24 x 80 character
display, 12 x 10 resolution. Numeric pad. Pro-
grammable reversfble video, auxiliary port,
self-test mode, protect mode, block mode,
tabbing, addressable cursor. Microprocessor
controlled, programmable underline, line and
character insert/delete. "C" version features
typewriter-style keyboard. List $950

OUR PRICE $789

920C (with 1 1 function keys, 6 edit keys and
2 transmission mode keys, List $1030

ONLY $849

Intertec

EMULATOR

Software compatible with a Soroc IQ 120,
Hazeltine 1500, ADM 3 A or DEC VT-52. Fea-
tures block mode transmission and printer port;
12" anti-glare screen; 18-key numeric keypad;
full cursor control. List $895 Jk"^0/>

OUR PRICE $729

.ntertec ||\|TERTUBE II

List $995 ONLY $799
12" display, 24 x 80 format, 18-key numeric
keypad, 128 upper/lower case ASCII charac-
ters. Reverse video, blinking, complete cursor
addressing and control. Special user-defined
control function keys, protected and unpro-
tected fields. Line insert/delete and character
insert/delete editing, eleven special line draw-
ing symbols.

IQ-120

List $995

SPECIAL

$729

IQ-140 List $1495
SPECIAL $1149

HAZELTINE

1500
ONLY

$879

Tl 810 Basic Unit, $1«*> . ONLY $1695
TI-810 w/full ASCII (Lower case), vertical

forms control, and compressed print . $1895
Tl 745 Complete printing terminal
with acoustic coupler, List $1695 .... $1399

PAPER TIGER

i ■

IDS 440 Paper Tiger, List $995 $895
w/graphics option, incl. buffer, $1194 . . $989
TRS 80 cable 45

NEC SPIIMWRITER

1410 w/numeric keypad, List $900 $749

1420 w/lower case and numeric pad 849

1510. List $1395 1089

1520, List $1650 1389

BANTAM 550

From Perkin-Elmer

ONLY

$799

with
anti-glare

CRT
ONLY $829

Terminal /Keyboard as well as

RO Printer Only models available.

CALL FOR PRICES.'

OKIDATA Microline80 ^ M

List $949 $649

Tractor Feed Option $109

Serial interface $ 99

AXIOM IMP I $699

COMPRINT 912 w/parallel interf. $559
912 w/serial interface. List $699 $589

MICROTEK, List $750 $675

ANADEX 80 Col. Dot Matrix $849

Above prices reflect a 2% cash discount (order prepaid prior to shipment). Add 2% to prices for credit
card orders, C.O.D.'s, etc. Prices are f .o.b. shipping point. Prices are subject to change and offers
subject to withdrawal without notice. WRITE FOR FREE CATALOG.

CENTRONICS

PRINTERS

NEW 730, parallel, friction, tractor . . . $679

NEW 737 parallel, friction, tractor $849

779-2 w/tractor (same as TRS-80 Line

Printer II, List $1350 1049

702 120 cps, bi-direct.. tractor, VFU 1995

703 185 cps, bi-direct., tractor, VFU 2395

704 RS232 serial version of 703, $2350 . . $1996

MiniMicroMart, Inc.

1618 James Street, Syracuse NY 13203 (315) 422-4467 TWX 710 541 0431

CIRCLE 1S7 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Old Fashioned Service!

Dear Editor:

I firmly believe that Support will turn out to be the "name
of the game" in microcomputers and peripherals. With so
many products on the market it is hard for a purchaser to tell
in advance what will happen when an expensive piece of
equipment needs service. I read "On Buying Printers and
Other Fun" in the June, 1980 issue and it greatly contributed
to the queasy feeling I got when the printhead of my printer
was damaged in a recent accident. The good news is the
prompt response I got from the manufacturer, Anadex.

My printhead was damaged on a Saturday morning.
Since I did not relish the thought of packing up a heavy printer
and shipping it back to the company, I immediately wrote a
letter asking if it would be possible for me to replace the
printhead myself. Early Monday morning I received a phone
call from Mr. Mike Murphy of Anadex who gave me
instructions on how to remove the printhead and send it back
for a reconditioned replacement. I packed up the printhead,
enclosing my check for $40, and sent it by first class mail to
Anadex. The postal clerk assured me it would arrive the next
day! When I had not heard from Anadex by the next Monday,
I called them to find that the printhead had not arrived. The
next morning, Anadex called to report that the printhead had
still not been received, but they were willing to send me a
replacement C.O.D. (hoping that the one I returned would
eventually appear). As it turns out, my printhead was received
later that day (Tuesday). On Thursday morning, I received the
new printhead and my printer is up and running again.

I bought my Anadex printer because I liked the quality of
the print. The 9 x7 dot matrix produces clean crisp listings
which can be used for reproduction. It was nice to discover
that the printer is backed up by old-fashioned service. The
people at Anadex went out of their way to give prompt service.
(1 can't say the same for the U.S. Post Office!) The company
seems to understand those of us who have become addicted to
our printers and suffer withdrawal symptoms when they are
down. They really have made my day . . . and the least I can do
is pass the word on.

John J. Wavrik

Satisfied Anadex Customer

545 Ford Avenue

Solana Beach, CA 92075

We get a lot of letters complaining about vendor
treatment, but for obvious reasons — like verification — have
to go easy on printing them. So it's really nice to get a Class A
Happy Customer tale. —ED

Serial vs. Parallel Interface

Dear Editor:

There are whispers around that someone is about to hit
the market with a cassette recorder for under $250 that has 8
track Parallel input. I assume that this means that it is much
like a tape reader, only Much, Much faster. Best of all it will
offer approximately 8 times the storage capacity, per tape, as a
standard cassette recorder.

It seems to me that the electronics for parallel I/O is a lot
simpler than serial I/O, and therefore cheaper to build. But
who makes a cheap 8 track head? Do any of your readers
know who is about to put this recorder on the market? If so,
would they share this information with me?

S. B. Wahlberg

P.O. Box 502

Silverado, CA 92676

input/

Output

There are currently cassette recorders on the market that
work with eight track parallel I/O that can interface with the
eight bit 1 1 O ports of a microprocessor. These devices are
quite a bit faster than other cassette recorders employing serial
I/O circuitry. None of the manufacturers that I have spoken to
recently know of any device on the market in the $250 range,
however. Most cassette recorders supporting parallel I/O cost
about three to five times as much. Perhaps someone reading
this knows of parallel cassette recorders in this price range.

In most cases a parallel interface circuit is more
straightforward to design than a serial circuit because of the
way information is handled in the microprocessor. Most
common microprocessors represent information in the formal
of eight-bit bytes coming off the external data bus. In order to
send this information over one or two wires as a serial
transmission, each byte must first go through a conversion
process which receives the information one byte at a time and
sends it out one hit at a time. However, for every eight-bit byte
coming in, eight bits do not come back out. There will always
be more bits coming out of the serial transmitter because extra
bits are needed to define the beginning and end of each byte, as
well as the beginning and end of each transmission. This
makes data transmission slower. Serial transmission also
requires a parallel-to-serial converter at the sending end. and a
serial-to-parallel converter at the receiving end. These devices
are commonly implemented in three or four chip circuits.

The advantages of serial communication are cost and ease
of installation. For every parallel line to a printer or keyboard
there are usually at least nine wires, sometimes as many as
thirty-four to fifty wires in a ribbon cable. This cable is quite
expensive, and it is usually much cheaper to implement a serial
data line. If the computer system is to be used in an office
environment it would be very difficult to have ribbons of cable
stretching all over, whereas a few serial lines can be hidden
under a strap on the floor or ceiling. —David A. Gewirt:

Atari Speaks Out

Dear Editor:

We enjoyed Ted Nelson's article in the June issue, as well
as the "Outpost: Atari" column. However, for your own
information (and Ted's): Atari is working on providing as
complete documentation for its personal computer systems as
possible. It is not our intent to keep information on our system
"secret" from the general public, and we are providing
preliminary documentation for those commercial software
developers who have a serious need for it. We just don't want
to release manuals and documentation to the general public
which haven't been thoroughly reviewed and refined here first.
(Consider what it would be like if we had to handle 100 calls a
day asking "How do I program my own "Star Raiders™"

game?")

Ted M. Kahn

Education Consultant

Personal Computers

Atari

1265 Borregas Avenue

Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Dear Editor:

I read with great interest, and some amusement, Ted
Nelson's recent review of The Atari Machine in your June
issue. I appreciated his incisive analysis of the graphics

CREATIVE COMPUTING

capability of the Atari 800 Personal Computer and the Star
Raiders" cartridge. While his analysis of a variety of
Machiavellian schemes on Atari's part to withhold informa-
tion dealing with the custom graphics chips in the machine
were amusing, I feel I owe it to your readers, and to current
and future owners of Atari Personal Computer Systems, to
clarify our position with regard to the release of technical
information.

It is Atari's intention to provide a technical reference
manual for retail sale by the Fourth Quarter of 1980. This
manual will document all of the features of both the Atari 400
and Atari 800 Personal Computer Systems, including custom
chips which, among other things, allow for the exceptional
color graphics and sound capabilities of the Atari Personal
Computers.

We are proud of the power and sophistication that have
been designed into the custom circuitry of Atari Personal
Computers, and we wish to make the full power of the
machine available to any interested individuals. However, to
get this documentation in readable form has required a
considerable amount of editing and testing prior to its release
for publication. It is for this reason that, up to now, we have
not permitted independent software developers to disclose
technical details of the Atari Personal Computer until we have
had an opportunity to test and verify the accuracy of the
documentation. It has been a long standing policy of ours to
encourage independent software developers to produce high
quality software for the Atari Personal Computers. We will
continue to do this for the foreseeable future, and I encourage
you and your readers to look for our new technical reference
manual toward the end of 1980.

Peter N. Rosenthal

Director of Marketing

Personal Computer Systems

Atari

1265 Borregas Avenue

Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Dear Humans, Start At Line 10

S REM II xou »> • * hunan. «un »' lint 10, tin
7 GOTO 290

io dear cc.

20 i

30 I MAHY READERS OF CC SEEM TO BE CONSCIOUS OF THE SHORT-

40 COMINGS OF BASIC IN THE AREA OF CONTROL STRUCTURES APPROPRI-

S0 ATE TO THE PRACTICE OF STRUCTURED PROGRAMMIHG. ONE SMALL

60 BUT ANNOYING PROBLEM IS THE ELIMINATION OF LEADING BLANKS BY

70 THE POPULAR MICROSOFT BASIC. WHEH A PROGRAM LINE IS INPUT BY

80 THE PROGRAMMER. ONE WAY TO AUOID THIS COLLAPSING OF YOUR

90 LOUELY INDENTATION IS TO BEGIN AN INDENTED LINE WITH A ■ i " .

100 i

110 i SINCE BASIC RECOGNIZES THE COLON AS A SIGNIFICANT.

120 THOUGH NULL LINE. THE FOLLOWING SPACES ARE NOT SUPPRESSED.

130 THE UERY SMALL ADDITIONAL TIME REQUIRED TO PROCESS THE

140 NULL LINES AND BLANK CHARACTERS MAY WELL BE AN ACCEPTABLE PA

Y-

130 MENT FOR THE INCREASE IN READABILITY.

160 :

170 i SINCE THIS LETTER IS WRITTEN ON AN EXIDY SORCERER, THE

180 SUGGESTED TECHNIQUE CLEARLY WORKS IN AT LEAST ONE ENUIRON-

190 MENT' THERE IS NO REASON I CAN THINK OF WHY IT SHOULD NT

200 PAN OUT ON TRS-80-S, PET'S AND APPLE'S, TOO. BY THE WAY,

210 YOU NOTICE IT IS A GOOD WAY TO PRODUCE (NEARLY) BLANK

220 LIHES IH A PROGRAM LISTING.

230 i

240 I THE FOLLOWING SHORT PROGRAM ILLUSTRATES THE METHOD I

2S0 I

260 I

290 PRINT CHR«<27>;ChR«17>iREM INITIALIZE PRINTER

300 FOR I- 1 TO 3

310 i FOR J- TO 4

320 i PRINT 1*3.

330 i NEXT 3

340 i PRINT

330 NEXT I

READY

RUN

12 3 4 3

2 3 4 3 6

3 4 3 6 7

4 3 6 7 B
3 6 7 8 9

REmTY

Ben Cushing

1928 Julie Avenue

Fullerton. CA 92633

P.S. A disadvantage is that lower case letters are apparently
converted to upper case in a non-REM program line — I
wrote the letter using lower case.

SEPTEMBER 1980

ideas

for small computers
(and big ones too!)

The CONDUIT Library CONDUIT has over 80
units for all types of computers, and still grow-
ing. Our materials cover topics in biology,
chemistry, economics, education, geography,
humanities, management science, mathe-
matics, physics, political science, psychology,
sociology, and statistics.

Reviewed and Tested. Our materials are thor-
oughly reviewed by educators to Judge their
faithful representation of the concepts and
their potential for improving instruction.
These reviews include actual use in the class-
room.

Satisfaction Guaranteed. We provide continu-
ing support for our materials to help you solve
any transfer problems and will Inform you
of any corrections or enhancements to the
programs. If you order materials and find
them unsuitable, you may return them. Our
return rate is less than 2%

CONDUIT has an international reputation as
one of the best sources of computer-based
instructional materials. Write for our catalog
and Judge for yourself.

® CONDUIT.

CONDUrrVP O Boi 388/Iow« Of/low. 52244
319-353-5789

CIRCLE 137 ON REAOER SERVICE CARD

Illi

= a a ■ ■ h n"=

Z2OT22^RI1 CXB53 JSS

<sc!> iii i

~ c< ■»■»-«

ATARI©«

BASIC

COMPUTING
i AMr.i lAr.F

ATARI: PERSONAL COMPUTER

START WITH A BETTER
COMPUTER.

Atari personal computers have
built-in capabilities you can't even
add on to many other personal
computers. Three programming
formats (slip-in ROM cartridges, disk
and cassette). A 57-key upper/lower
case ASCII keyboard with 29
keystroke graphics. 128 colors

and hues. Four separate sound
channels and a built-in speaker.
Four game and graphics controller
ports. A built-in RF modulator. FCC
approval for connection to any TV.
Plus, nationwide Atari Authorized
Service Centers. And more.

ADD MEMORY.
The ATARI 800™ comes with 16K.
of memory. Expand up to a full 48K
of memory with 8K or 16K RAM
Memory Modules'" you install
yourself. In less than a minute. The
ATARI 400" is supplied with
8K. of RAM which can be
expanded to 16K at
Authorized Service
Centers. Both models
may be expanded to
26K. of ROM with slip-in
ROM cartridge programs.
ADD PERIPHERALS.
Atari peripherals are specifically

O A Warner Communications Company

Atari reserves the right to make changes to products
or programs without notice

designed to complement your system.
Add the ATARI 410" Audio-digital
Program Recorder. Add disk drives
(single or dual double-density*). The
ATARI 800 individually accesses up to
four drives. Add the ATARI 850'" RS232
Interface Module. Add high-speed 40
or 80-column dot-matrix printers, or,
a 40-column thermal printer. Add an
acoustic modem for remote data access.
Add a light pen* And there are more
Atari peripherals on the way.

ADD PROGRAMS.

Atari's rapidly expanding software
library includes some of the most
useful, enlightening and entertaining
programs available. (Some programs
may require more than 16K RAM.)
• Personal Finance and Record
Keeping. Sophisticated investment
analysis programs, including bond
analysis, stock analysis, stock chart-
ing and mortgage and loan analysis.

•Available Fall. 1980

rii^j<ri

SKr

y\/V^

1CZ>K-

oji

at M

SYSTEMS THAT GROW WITH YOU

• Personal Interest and
Development. Conversational lan-
guages* Music composition. Touch
typing. Biorhythm. And more.

• Professional Applications.

Graphics, statistics and programmable
calculator programs. Plus VisiCalc? the
"what if" problem solving program.

• Education. ATARI Talk & Teach'"
programs offer instruction from
primary through college level.
Plus, instructive games for all ages.

• Information & Communication.

Turn your Atari into an interactive
terminal. Access stock quotations,
news services and other useful data
banks. Transmit and receive data over
regular phone lines. And more.

• Entertainment. Colorful, exciting
programs include Star Raiders'"
Chess, Blackjack .. .and many more.

'Trademark Personal Software. Inc

CIRCLE 107 ON READER SERVICE CARO

• Programming
Languages. An
ATARI BASIC
cartridge is
included. An
Assembler/
Editor Cartridge
is available for the
advanced programmer.
PILOT, extended BASIC and
Pascal will be available
in 1981.

• Small Business Accounting.
General Ledger. Accounts
Receivable. Accounts Payable.
Inventory Control. Order Entry.

ADD IT UP FOR YOURSELF

Compare the Atari to any personal
computer in its price range. Compare
built-in features. Compare expand
ability. Compare peripherals and
accessories. Compare program-
ming and formats (ROM

pare 1

you run a
business, ask your Atari
retailer about the Atari Accountant,'"
the complete, computerized account-
ing system for small businesses.
At Atari we're building computer

ATARI systems you won't outgrow.

PERSONAL COMPUTERS

1265 Borrcgas Avenue, Sunnyvale. CA 94086

Call toll-free (800) 558-8547 (Except Alaska and Hawaii)

(In California: $00)07: 14*4) for the name of your nearest Atari retailer.

I/O, cont'd...

The Guiding Guide

Dear Editor:

I read your Author's Guide carefully and found it so
useful I am using it for other writing projects unrelated to
computers. Incidentally, I am one of the "jaded professionals"
you refer to and found your outlook on computers to be very
refreshing indeed.

Robert M. Bennett

SR 1418

Chugiak, AK 99567

Thanks. — Ed.

MIC

3«C

SOC

3*tC

30C

DOC

Waiting for Atari

Dear Editor:

Your June issue was most entertaining. I especially found
the articles dealing with the use of polar coordinates to be of
immense value. I have just purchased an Atari 800 and
converted a program to plot functions, as follows. As I have
yet to receive the Basic reference manual, my only source of
information was the Basic self-teaching guide. Thus many
enhancements will be possible as more Atari information
becomes available.

GRAPHING POLAR FUNCTIONS

180
190

10 REM
20 REM
30 REM »♦»***»*»»*•»*»»»»**»»»»*»**

90 DIM A$(1.)

100 W=0

110 PRINT"[CLR1"

120 PRINT'STEP"

130 INPUT A

140 PRINT "SCALE"

150 INPUT S

160 PRINT "DO YOU WANT TO SEE"

170 PRINT "THE X-Y AXES (Y/N)"

INPUT A$

IF A$="Y" THEN W=l
200 GRAPHICS 7
210 COLOR 1
220 IF W 1 THEN 280
230 SETC0L0R 0,11.10
2^0 PLOT 0,4-0
250 D3AWT0 157,^0
260 PLOT 79.0
270 DRAWT0 79,79
280 SETC0L0R 1,1^,10

FOR 1=0 TO 360 STEP A

T=l/57-3

Y=COSC+*T)*SIN(T)

X=C0S(4»T)»C0S(T)

Y=INT(Y*S) :X=INT(X»S)
3^0 IF 1=0 THEN PLOT 79+X>0-Y
350 DRAWTO 79=X,lK)-Y
360 NEXT I
370 END

Notes

Line 1 10 — to clear screen type PRINT", hit the escape key.

press shift, hit clear key, and type "
Line 310 — enter the function you want to plot

(say, COS(4*T))
Line 320 — follow same procedure

Gary Douchant

1 1 Kensington Hts Dr. Apt-E

Belleville, IL 62223

290
300
310
320
330

More On PET Printer

Dear Editor,

In reference to the article by Larry Watkins in the May
issue of Creative about the Commodore 2022 Tractor Feed
Printer:

I don't know if Mr. Watkins' printer is different, but I
don't have to open mine at all to insert paper — the tractor
assembly tilts forward, the paper is fed in behind the tractors
and it comes up in the front. Move the tractors back and
secure the paper. That's all!

Two other problems that were not mentioned in the
article have since been cured by a ROM upgrade. The first is
the way the printer skipped lines. Now, instead of actually
"printing" a whole blank line, the paper just advances one line.
(This really speeds up doing a form feed!) The second problem
was not being able to list programs in upper and lower case
instead of upper case and graphics. The solution here is a
newly implemented secondary device address that, when
ordered, shifts the 2022 to lower case mode before listing a
program. The upgrade ROM is available FREE from
Commodore to anyone whose printer was built before the end
of 1979. More details are in the ninth issue of the PET Users
Club Newsletter.

Otherwise my experience with the 2022 has been about
the same as Mr. Watkins': The 2022 is rugged, reasonably fast,
noisy as sin and it's been working fine since I took it out of the
box in December. One more thing — the $995 price tag is now
down to $795. Oh, well!

Steve Leth

L-8 Jamestown Square

Blackwood, NJ 08012

Watch Those Typos , Folks!

Dear Editor:

I have received many letters saying there are bugs in Bill
Smith's "Grandapple Clock" (Jan '80 p. 104), and have spent
many hours finding typing errors in people's listings (usually
the data statements have a number or two added, missing, or
incorrect).

If typed as it appeared in Creative Computing, the
program works. The code may be imperfect, but it works.

Although most people asked me to do syntax checks,
some people did write to say they enjoyed Mr. Smith's first
program. I was particularly impressed with two writers: Larry
Fitzpatrick and John McKillan. These two gentlemen
obviously took the time to read what was being typed and
came up with reasonable suggestions for improvement. These
changes follow.

A lot of the stylistic weaknesses have been improved by
Gary Little (president of "Apples British Columbia," #101-
2044 West Third Ave., Vancouver, B.C., V6J IL5).

In conclusion. I would like to thank those who took the
time to type in the program and even improve it. As for those
who swore there were bugs (probably put in on purpose as
Wine Yellow would say), I can only note that Microsoft has a
fine typing tutor . . .

Larry Fitzpatrick's changes: 1629 Elizabeth Street,
Melbourne, FL 32901:

a. omit line 1 19

b. change line 286 to read: 286 Flag=0:IF R=0 Then GOTO 90

John McKillan's changes: 817 Lavonne Dr., Santa
Monica. CA 93454:

a. In Line 695, replace XPM% with OPM%

b. Change line 795 to read: 795 Goto 600

c. The alarm will not go off if "SET" in line 735 is greater
than 1200. To fix this problem:

1. Change line 736 to 737, i.e., delete 736, add: 737 Goto 770

2. Add: 736 IF Set > 1200 then Set = Set - 1200

Christopher Howerton

13572 92 Avenue

Surrey, B.C.

Canada V3V 1H7

CREATIVE COMPUTING

you've broken the

pole vault record,see if you can
outsmart the killer dwarves.

two incredible games
from Microsoft.

There are plenty of com-
puter games around. But
most of them probably
won't hold your interest for
more than a few hours.

That's what makes these
two releases from Micro-
soft so remarkable. They'll
keep challenging you in
new ways every time you

Play-
Olympic Decathlon —
a real workout!

There s never been a
program that tests your reflexes and coordination like
Olympic Decathlon. Just like the real one, Microsoft s
has 10 events, including shot put, pole vault, long
jump, javelin throw, and six more. Win-
ning takes a combination of strategy,
timing, coordination, and physical
endurance (really!). /

When you jump or throw, the pro-
gram calculates the actual trajec-
tory, and shows you what's happen-
ing with exciting animated
graphics. After each event, the
scores of all competitors (up to
8) are displayed. It's the ulti-
mate party game to show off L
your computer! /

Disk-based Decathlon
runs on a 32k TRS-80. The
cassette version requires a 16k
Level I or Level II system.

Apph

Versions for the Apple II
available soon.

Adventure — the
classic mind game.

If you've ever been lucky
enough to play Adventure
on a big computer, you
know how addictive it is.
Fantasy, deduction, and
magic all come into play as
you explore the chambers
of Colossal Cave, collect-
ing treasure while avoiding
pitfalls and hostile crea-
tures. There are surprises
around every corner, and
even veteran players keep discovering new things and
improving their scores.

Microsoft has the complete microcomputer version
of the original FORTRAN Adventure that runs on large
timesharing systems. It runs on TRS-80 and Apple II
systems with at least 32k memory and one disk.
Microsoft — a name worth trusting.
/ As the world s most experienced producer
,/ of microcomputer software, Microsoft s pol-
./ icy is to offer only the best, most rewarding
/programs in existence.
/ After playing Adventure and Olympic
/ Decathlon, we think you II agree.
/ Visit your computer retailer soon for a real
'/ challenge. Or ten.

VHICftpSOfT

CONSUMER PRODUCTS

4l*l '

rtlXU

CIHCll IBB ON HI All! M SI IIVIl! CARD

9K RAM (8K user available),
14K BASIC interpreter
operating system ROM.

User-programmable, in
both BASIC and MC6800
machine language.

Built-in RF
modulator.

Built-in sound
synthesizer.

Microphone jack
enables you to
add audio to
program tapes.

Keyword shift plate

Full, standard, 53-key
typewriter keyboard.

High resolution picture
on your TV screen, in
8 colors.

256 x 192 graphics mode.

CREATIVE COMPUTING

All that computer for $599.

The Imagination Machine,
the personal computer from APF

Ihe Imagination Machine is more
personal computer than you'd expect
at $599.

The Imagination Machine is a
superbly designed, expandable, user-
programmable computer system . . .at
$599.

No other personal computer on the
market can touch it, at that price.

Read what it brings you:

First ot all, The Imagination Machine
has 9K RAM and 14K BASIC-IN-ROM.
A full 53-key professional, typewriter
keyboard. A high-resolution picture on
your TV set, in eight colors. Fast
loading (1500+ baud rate), built-in
dual-track cassette deck, for APF's
digitally recorded tape programs.
Built-in sound synthesizer. And. even a
built-in RF modulator, which is a $40
option on other computer systems.

All that, plus user-programmability.
We know sophisticated users aren't
going to be satisfied forever using
preprogrammed software. (Even
though we offer a large library of
educational, entertainment, home
and business management pro-
grams.) So, we made The Imagination
Machine user programmable, in both
BASIC and MC6800 machine lan-
guage. To simplify matters, we've just
developed the first and only BASIC
TUTOR course on cassette. With it, you
can learn to program The Imagination
Machine in BASIC, with hands-on
training, right at the computer.

Some exceptional features.

The Imagination Machine has several
unique features that can help you
use your time at the computer more
effectively.

For example, it stores programs and
data on the same cassette tape. (With
other computers, you have to read
programs from one tape into the
computer, remove the tape, put in
another tape and store your data on
the new tape.)

Another special feature is The
Imagination Machine's unique
keyword system, which simplifies

SEPTEMBER 1080

BASIC programming. The machine
has 24 different programs statements
and commands printed at the top of
the keyboard. You can enter these 24
into your program without retyping
them every time you use them. Instead
of typing out "PRINT" for example, you
just press two keys and the word
appears on the screen. The system
helps prevent typing errors and can
speed up entering programs.

A third feature is Timed Response
Monitoring, which automatically
adjusts the computer's pace and
level to your own. It makes "tutoring
programs!' for instance, easier and
more interesting to follow.

And then there are The Imagination
Machine's three graphic display
modes: 1. Alpha numerics, mixed with
low-resolution graphics in as many as
eight colors. 2. High resolution — up
to eight colors — 128 x 192 display.
3. High resolution graphics — up to
four colors — with 256 x 192 display.

And expandability.

A personal computer that can't grow
along with your growing requirements
soon becomes obsolete. So, we
designed The Imagination Machine to
be expandable. By adding APF's
optional "Expansion Box" and inter-
face cartridges, you can hook up any
compatible floppy disk or printer, or an
additional 8K RAM memory cartridge.

Full mini-floppy system

$995.

For small business and professional
use, you may require a full mini-floppy

CIRCLE 241 ON READER SERVICE CARD

system. In that case, order APF's
System II. It includes The Imagination
Machine, the "Expansion Box!' floppy
disk interface and 72K-byte. mini-
floppy disk drive. All for just $995! No
one can come close to that price.

You can't beat our prices
or our guarantee.

If you can find a better personal
computer system for the money, let us
know. In the meantime, we stand by
our statement: There is no other per-
sonal computer on the market that
offers so much for so little. And if you
order now. we'll even include our
$19.95 APF Technical Reference
Manual, with complete schematics,
absolutely free.

Order The Imagination Machine
directly from APF Electronics, with the
assurance that if you are not com-
pletely satisfied, you can return it within
30 days of purchase for a complete
refund. To order, or to learn the name
of the dealer nearest you, call TOLL
FREE 1-800-223-1264. New York
residents call 212-869-1960. Master-
Card and VISA accepted.

Price list:

System 1,

The Imagination Machine.

$599.

System II, Mini-floppy System
(Includes The Imagination
Machine. BB-2. and Mini-
floppy Disk Drive).

$995.

BB-1 Expansion Box with
RS232 cartridge.

$199.95

BB-2. Expansion Box with
floppy disk interface
cartridge.

$199.95

8K RAM memory cartridge.

$ 99.95

RS232 cartridge.

$ 99.95

Floppy-disk interface
cartridge.

$149.95

Mini-floppy Disk Drive.

$399.95

$599. Manufacturer's suggested retail price.

relectronics inc.

1501 Broadway New York. NY 10036

ot crc^tc^ri*

Jt*i.U/:iiru,U.Ht:U

Mid-Atlantic Computer Shows

The Mid-Atlantic Computer Show will be
held at the D.C. Armory/ Starplex, Washing-
ton, D.C., September 18-21, 1980. Show hours
are: Thursday-Saturday, II A.M. to 9 P.M.,
Sunday II A.M. to 6 P.M. General adult
admission S5. An end-user public exposition
featuring small and medium-sized business
systems, scientific, engineering computers, and
micro-computers. Produced by National
Computer Shows, 824 Boylston Street, Chest-
nut Hill, MA 02167. Tel: (617) 739-2000.

T ▼ T

A A

Mid-West Computer Show

The Mid-West Business A Home Com-
puter Show will be held at McCormick Place,
Chicago. IL. October 16-19, 1980. Show hours
are: Thursday-Saturday. II A.M. to 9 P.M.,
Sunday 1 1 A.M. to 6 P.M. General adult
admission $5. An end-user public exposition
featuring small and medium-sized business
systems, scientific and engineering computers,
micro-computers and electro-technology, pro-
duced by National Computer Shows, P.O. Box
678, Brookline. MA 02147. Tel: (617) 524-4547.

T A T A T

APL Conference

An APL User's Meeting will be held
October 6-8 at the Hotel Toronto, Toronto.
Canada. Registration fee is $180. Canadian,
$155. U.S For further information contact:
Rosanne Wild. Conference Coordinator, I. P.
Sharp A iatef Limited. 145 King Street
Toronto, Ontario. Canada M5H IJ8.
Phone: (416) 364-5361.

Correction

▼ ▼ i

▲ A

In "The Electric Company" (July "80) on
Page 99, Line 540. the end of the line should
read: RT=R.

Catalog of Apple Software

The Department of Natural Science at
Eastern Kentucky University has recently
completed a search for educational courseware
written for small computers. They are now in the
process of compiling a catalog of educational
software for the Apple. Schools may obtain a
copy of this catalog by writing to John
Wernegreen, Eastern Kentucky University.
Department of Natural Science, 220 Memorial
Science, Richmond, KY 40475.

Assistance for

Teachers of Programming

A new newsletter, "Teaching Computer
Programming," is available for teachers' use in
programming courses. The first issue is yours
upon request. The subscription rate is $8. for 12
issues. Contact Craig Nansen, 1112 Glacial
Drive, Minot.ND 58701.

T A T A T

Political Support For Computers

A bill concerning computers and educa-
tion, H.R. 7549, has been introduced into the
House of Representatives. This amendment to
Title III of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 asks for the establish-
ment of one or more National Centers for
Personal Computers in Education. Among
other functions, these centers would: develop
courseware materials for use in areas where
available courseware materials are inadequate,
develop methods for enabling handicapped
individuals to use computers for communica-
tion and educational purposes, and establish a
demonstration laboratory to exhibit examples
of personal computer systems and courseware
materials to enable educators to personally
observe the operation of such computers and
courseware materials.

You can support this bill by writing to your
representative and encouraging others to do so.

Western Educational
Computing Conference

The theme of a seminar/ exhibit to be held
November 20-21 in San Diego, CA, is "Educa-
tional Computing in the '80V and will feature
papers and seminars on the use of computing in
higher education for instruction, administra-
tion, and research. Luncheon speakers will be
Capt. Grace Hopper, USN, and Bernard
Luscombe, President, Coastline College.

For further information contact Ron
I angles. Director, Computer Center, Califor-
nia State University, Long Beach, 1250
Bellflower Boulevard. Long Beach. CA 90840.
Phone (213) 498-5459.

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Heath ^

won't leave you

out in the cold

You can buy a computer from just about anybody these days. And
that's all you'll get. A computer. When you buy a Heath computer,
you get total support. Every Heath product is backed in six ways:

1 . Integrated Hardware - from a single source. No more shopping all
over town-or all over the country. Whatever hardware you need, you'll
find it at Heath. And when you buy from Heath, you get a balanced, har-
monious computer system. Heath components are designed to work
together.

2. Educational Courses -general courses that help businessmen, stu-
dents and hobbyists understand what computers can do for them. Pro-
gramming language courses that enable you to use the full versatility of
your computer.

3. Excellent documentation - all Heath hardware and software is thor-
oughly documented, so no matter what your skill level . you can learn to use
the product to its full potential. All documentation is clearly written and
organized.

4 . Software for almost every need - Choose from one of the most com-
plete selections of software, including complete operating systems soft-
ware, applications software, programming languages and professional
software like word processing and accounting. Heath Users' Group offers
more than 500 exciting programs.

5. Expert advice - as close as your telephone or mailbox. Technical con-
sultants can answer your Heath hardware and software questions, by
phone or by letter. Who else offers you such convenient technical advice?

6. Service support - available at 55 convenient locations nationwide
If you should ever need service, you'll find it at retail stores in the U.S..
Canada and overseas, as well as at the Heath factory.

Don't be left out in the cold. Get your
copy of our latest catalog and warm
up to the world of Heath computers.
Just write to the address below, or
pick one up at the Heathkit Electronic
Center* nearest you.

Heath®

Write to: Heath Company. Dept. 355-694,

Benton Harbor. Ml 49022

In Canada contact: Heath Company,

1480 Dundas St. E. , Mississauga, Ontario L4X2R7

(' Heathkit Electronic Centers are located throughout
the U.S. and Canada. See the white pages ol your
phone book lor the location nearest you. In the U.S. ,
Heathkit Electronic Centers are units of Veritechnology
Electronics Corporation.)

ra-^_ cp-190

CIRCLE 146

The Consumer
Electronics Show

Faithful readers of this column will
recall that last year ( 1 979) the summer CES
(Consumer Electronics Show) overlapped
NCC (National Computer Conference).
Consequently we were somewhat rushed in
covering the CES because we had to rush
back from Chicago to New York to get to
the opening of the Personal Computer
Festival part of NCC. This year the conflict
didn't exist so we decided to splurge a bit
and stay in the more posh Ascot Hotel in
Chicago which was one step above the
Avenue Motel (the absolute pits).

At best we were not at all pleased to
learn when we arrived at the Ascot, on
Saturday night June 14, that our reser-
vation had been botched up and there were
no rooms to be had. However, the desk
clerk at the Ascot phoned the Avenue and
indeed found that there were several
rooms, as well there might be. The beds
were lumps of Play Doh molded into
something that resembled a mattress, but
in actuality had to be taken off the bed and
stacked against the wall. We wound up
sleeping on the inner springs with the air
conditioner putting out a minimal amount
of coolish air. Noise from the street and
adjacent room rivaled the loudest sound
systems to be heard at CES and it was not
until downing a bottle of wine and
watching Burt Lancaster in "The Bird Man
of Alcatraz" on the late, late show that 1
finally dozed off into a fitful sleep.

The following day was reminiscent of
February and gave no hint that summer
was just six days away. As we waited for
over a half hour for a bus to transport us to
the McCormick Place Convention Center
we wondered whether we had made a wise
decision in electing to stay three days in

"5-

- g ,^tfcA.WM • * • * *a j

-j*-*i^

r+ .

Overall view of CES on June 15. 1980 opening day.

Chicago for the "summer" CES. However,
upon arriving at the show we were
overwhelmed, as usual, with the incredible
hustle-bustle of visitors waiting to shove
and push their way into the exhibits. What
follows is just an overview of some of the
many, many new products that were
shown to the world for the first time at the
show.

Electronic Games
and Craziness

Atari announced four new home
video games for their video computer
system at CES: Maze Craze, Video
Checkers, Dodge 'Em and a new
Championship Soccer Game.

The soccer game is the first home
game we've seen that features the new
"scrolling" playing field. This feature gives
players the impression that they are
hovering above the playing area, following
the ball and the teams as they travel up and

down the field. The game was designed by
a soccer coach for maximum realism in
running, passing, shooting and team work
and has 54 variations including choices of
goal sizes and team speeds.

Maze Craze is a multi-faceted game
that basically challenges two players to
race through a maze, each chasing or
avoiding "computer foes" which are also
traveling through the maze. There are
many variations including a version which
allows one player to set up "false walls" to
confuse his opponent and another version
which features an invisible maze.

Dodge 'Em is a driver's game. The
player/ driver tries to avoid colliding with
an oncoming computer car while gaining
points for completing laps. However, with
each successful lap the game gets harder
with the addition of "smarter" and more
numerous, aggressive computer cars. One
or two drivers may play at a time.

Atari also announced the national
Space Invaders Competition, with the

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Announcing Texas Instruments

Author Incentive Program...

win up to $3,000.

s s s s s

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I ENTER NOVC

Texas Instruments is looking for unique home computer

programs. If you have some, we can help you turn them

into profit makers.To begin with --you could win up to $3,000.

\biTll still own the programs... we may help you sell them.

One of the most exciting things about the
home computer revolution is discovering
the many ways a computer can be used.

If you've been working with small com-
puters for a while, chances are you've de-
veloped some innovative application
programs. This is your chance to put
them to work — for a profit.

Texas Instruments is looking for qual-
ity programs. We've created an Author
Incentive Program to make it worth your
while. The award for the top program
will be $3,000. And there are five $1,000
awards, plus twenty $500 awards. All
winners will be recognized with national
publicity. Even if you don't receive one of
these monetary awards, we may see
enough market potential for your pro-

gram to help you develop it and sell it.

We want programs that offer real util-
ity and lasting value. Programs that are
self-teaching, that communicate on hu-
man terms. After all, the TI Home Com-
puter was designed to be the first home
computer the whole family can use.

TI is interested in education, personal
finance and technical or managerial pro-
grams for professionals. Home manage-
ment programs, hobby and simulation
programs. We prefer that your submis-
sions exclude entertainment packages.

Your entry can be a program you've
created for use on the Tl-99/4 or other
microcomputers — in any high-level lan-
guage, from Pascal and BASIC to FOR-
TRAN or COBOL — or even assembly

language. All the way up to 48K RAM.
Keep in mind that programs for the TI
Home Computer can incorporate high-
quality color graphics, music and sound
effects, and TI's remarkably-human syn-
thesized speech.

To submit an entry, call the toll-free
number below or use the reader ser-
vice card in this magazine. We'll send you
an entry submission form plus full
details. Please don't send
anything until you nci in-
and fill out this entry
form.

Programs must be in by
November 15, 1980 — so
get your entry form soon.

Flftyjfears
Innovation

For an entry form, call 1-800-858-4565.

Call between 8 a.m.-U:30 p.m. CDT, Mon-Fri. In Texas call 1-800-692-U279.

Texas Instruments

OlMOTa

Met von) wfwrc proMrled by law

Author Incentive Program not open lo TI employees.

TI consultants and contractors or ttieir families

SEPTEMBER 1980

INCORPORATED

CIRCLE 245 ON READER SERVICE CARD

221065

■■

Aerial view of the upstairs pari of CES.

finals being held in late fall in San
Francisco, with finalists from five regional
championships competing for the national
crown. Space Invaders was introduced in
1978 in Japan by Taito Inc. Within one
year there were over 100,000 Space
Invaders coin operated games which
pulled in over $600 million. The Bank of
Japan had to triple its production of 100
yen pieces to meet the demand of Space
Invaders players. When the coin-op game
was placed in American arcades by Bally,
the game's popularity was confirmed.
Earlier this year. Atari purchased exclusive
rights to market the home video version of
Space Invaders in the US. The game
immediately became the fastest selling of
Atari's thirty-six games, surpassing even
the perennial favorite. Break Out. As
readers know. Creative Computing Soft-
ware markets Space Invaders under the
name "Super Invasion" for the Apple
computer and it is their top seller.

At the press reception Sunday night
after Alvin Toffler's presentation, mem-
bers of the press were invited to compete —

Atari will be sponsoring a Space Invaders competition
later this fall.

one time only — in a Space Invaders
competition. The top scorer would receive
a free video computer system. Around the
office here at Creative Computing we are
used to seeing scores in the 10,000 range
and up. However, I briefly held the lead in
the competition with a score of just 842.
Eventually I was passed by several other
members of the press; however, the winner
walked off with his video computer system
scoring a measly 3240.

Activision of Sunnyvale, California,
also announced four cartridges for the
Atari video computer system. Atari has
sued Activision for stealing trade secrets.
However, it seems likely that a settlement

will be reached and that we will see
cartridges from both manufacturers on
dealer shelves in the fall. You will see a
review of both the Atari and Activision
cartridges in the October or November
issue of Creative Computing. Keep tuned.

Chess and
Backgammon Games

A spectacular introduction in this
area belongs to Applied Concepts, Inc.,
makers of the "Boris" computer chess
game. A new version of Boris was
introduced called the "BorisHandRoid."
This automated game is complete with a
robot-type arm and hand reminiscent of
the three pronged Swedish sugar tongs,
which extends out from the back of the
unit moving pieces to the square that they
are to occupy. Not only that, but the
BorisHandRoid can remove his oppo-
nents' pieces when he captures them,
perform the moves called for in the chess or
checker game, even shake hands in
congratulations at the end of the game if
someone is lucky enough to beat him. This
unit is obviously not for everyone at the
price (which was not being quoted).
However, there were several other versions
of Boris which looked quite adequate for
the average chess player. In addition to the
"Boris 2.5 Microcomputer Chess Cham-
pion" unit. Applied Concepts also an-
nounced an electronic checkers playing set
and a black jack game.

A BorisHandRoid would shake hands with you if you
were able to beat it in a game of chess.

Fidelity Electronics Ltd., not to be
outdone, announced "Voice Sensory
Chess Challenger." Unlike other chess
games on the market, this one has no
display window, rather each square
automatically illuminates to indicate your
from-and-to moves. Also, it has no
keyboard, each move is automatically
entered in the "brain" unit when a piece is
moved from one square to another. The
display instead is a standard chess clock
and it shows the time remaining for each
player or tells the elapsed time of the game.
In addition, it has a repertoire of 64 of the
world's greatest games, including games
like Morphy, Capablanca, Spassky and
Fischer. You can test your own playing
ability by replaying these great games and
in them be either the champ or the

CREATIVE COMPUTING

DON'T LET YOUR
COMPUTER
TALK DOWN -
TO YOU. .■

The more you know about
microprocessors, the better you can
communicate with your microcomputer. Sams
has the latest books on understanding,
programming and interfacing the most
commonly-used microprocessors like the Z-80,
6502, 6800, 6801 and 8085A.

THESE BOOKS WILL HELP YOU GET MORE RESPECT
FROM YOUR COMPUTER.
6502

D PROGRAMMING AND INTERFACING THE 6502. WITH EXPERIMENTS NO. 21651
By De Jong. $13.95
□ 6502 SOFTWARE DESIGN. NO. 21656. By Scanlon. $10.50

6800 ft 6801

D HOW TO PROGRAM & INTERFACE THE 6800. No. 21684. By Staugaard. $13.95

□ 6801. 68071 and 6803 MICROCOMPUTER PROGRAMMING AND INTERFACING.
NO. 21726. By Staugaard. $12.95

80SSA

□ 8085A COOKBOOK. NO. 21697. By Titus ft Titus. $12.95

Z-80

□ TRS-80 INTERFACING. BOOK 1. NO. 21633. By Titus. $8.95

□ TRS-80 INTERFACING, BOOK 2. NO. 21739. By Titus. $9.95

□ TRS-80 BOOKS 1 8r. 2. 2-VOLUME SET. NO. 21765. $17.50

□ Z-80 MICROCOMPUTER DESIGN PROJECTS. NO. 21682. By Barden. $12.95

□ Z-80 MICROPROCESSOR PROGRAMMING 6V INTERFACING, BOOK 1.
NO. 21609. By Nichols, Nichols & Rony. $10.95

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NO. 21610. By Nichols. Nichols ft Rony. $12.95

D Z-80 MICROPROCESSOR PROGRAMMING & INTERFACING, BOOKS 1 & 2.
2-VOLUME SET NO. 21611. $21.95

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CIRCLE 197 ON READER SERVICE CARO

Ramblings, cont'd...

Fidelity Electronic'* Voice Sensory Chess Challenger.

CHESS
CHALLENGER

901 H2-H4

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B8-C6

A portion of the

y - ♦ | | # — f printout tape from
*iV* Fidelity's Chen
j. j. Challenger Printer.

LJLJliltiuJLJ LJ ~

challenger. The voice part of the system
tells you each of the moves of the unit itself
and repeats all of your moves; it also calls
out every capture and repeats each board
position on demand. The unit, like Chess
Challenger 10, has 9 levels of play plus an
infinite level. The voice programming is
available in English, German, French or
Spanish.

Fidelity also announced a Standard
Voice Chess Challenger without the
sensory option, a Sensory Chess
Challenger without the voice option, a
check game and a bridge game. Their latest
product, shown only in prototype form,
was a small printer which hooked on to the
Chess Challenger units which would print
out a record of each move and, on demand,
a representation of the entire board.

Tryon Inc., not to be outdone,
announced a chess product, "Chess
Traveler." This is the first battery operated
chess game with a retail price under $100.
It has seven levels of play, from beginner to
expert, plus a problem solving mode. In

Addresses of companies cited in this round-up.

Atari, 1265 Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Applied Concepts Inc., 207 North Kirby, Garland, TX 75042

Fidelity Electronics Ltd., 8800 NW 36th St., Miami, FL 33178

Tryon Inc.. 23500 Mercantile Rd.. Cleveland, OH 44122

Timco Engineering Inc., 12150 SW 114 PI., Miami. FL 33176

Casio, 15 Gardner Rd., Fairfield, NJ 07006

Nixdorf Computer Personal Systems Inc., 168 Middlesex Tpk.. Burlington, MAOI803

Lexicon Corp., 8355 Executive Cntr. Dr., Miami. FL 33166

Panasonic. 1 Panasonic Way, Secaucus, NJ 07094

Quasar, 9401 W Grant Ave., Franklin Park, IL 60131

Sinclar Research Ltd., 50 Staniford St., Boston, MA 021 14

Ohio Scientific. 1333 Chillicothe Rd.. Aurora, OH 44202

Mattel Electronics. 5150 Rosecrans Ave., Hawthorne, CA 90250

Activision Inc., 759 E Evelyn Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Hewlett Packard, 1000 NE Circle Blvd. Corvallis, OH 97330

Bally, S-W Distributors Inc., 5300 B McDermott Dr., Berkeley, !L 60163

Texas Instruments, Consumer Relations. PO Box 53. Lubbock, TX 75222

Personal Software Inc.. 1330 Bordeaux Dr.. Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Compucolor Corp.. 5965 Peachtree Corners E. Norcross. GA 30071

APF Electronics Inc.. 444 Madison Ave . NY, NY 10022

Radofin Electronics (USA) Ltd.. I0B Engelhardt Ave., Avenel. NJ 07001

addition, Tryon announced a "Chess
Champion Supersystem III" which utilizes
a LCD display for the chess board and an
electronic printer. It, like the top-of-the-
line Fidelity system, has an unlimited level
of play system built-in.

Tryon, of course, is best known for its
Omar Electronic Backgammon games. In
addition, Tryon recently produced the
"Charles Goren Bridge Master" game
which can be played as partner, opponent
or teacher.

Language Translators

Sharp's IQ-.HO0 Language Translator.

Sharp introduced a new electronic
translator, the IQ-3100 which is fluent in
English, French, German and Spanish.
Japanese language modules are available
in either roman or traditional Kana
characters. Each language module trans-
lates 2,000 words and 152 basic sentences
which travelers use frequently. Two
language modules can be snapped into the
translator at one time so that one could
theoretically carry on a conversation with
a person from Japan and one from France
at opposite sides of the table with no one
speaking anybody else's language.

Timco Engineering of Hong Kong,
with US offices in Miami, also introduced
a new language translator with a four
function calculator and metric conversion
program built-in. Cartridges are available
in 1 3 different languages, more than any
other system offers at this point. In

gSSggSgggg*

Timco Language Translator.

addition, a word game, bartender guide,
and nutrition guide cartridges are avail-
able. Furthermore, to help you learn to
speak those strange foreign words and
phrases, a phonetic pronunciation capsule
and display will show you the correct
pronunciation of each word and phrase.
(We'll be running an update of last year's
review of language translators in an issue
this fall. If you can wait till then you're
probably better off than rushing out to buy
one today.)

Electronic MemoWriter

Sharp Electronics new E 1.-7000
MemoWriter was selected as "one of the
most innovative consumer electronic
products of 1980" and placed in the CES
design and development exhibition. The
calculator is described as "letting you put
your office in your pocket" and combines
the functions of a calculator with those of a
miniature typewriter. It prints out mes-

Sharp's ELS7200 Memowritcr.

CREATIVE COMPUTING

PROBLEM.

NT(X NX SIN(X 2),X)

Surprised? You should
be. Because until now, no
software could solve any-
thing but the most basic
arithmetic problems without
a series of complicated
steps.

A big disadvantage? If
you use a microcomputer for
scientific, educational or en-
gineering applications, you
bet it is. That's why Microsoft
has come up with a solution
of its own. muMath.

muMath is a symbolic
math package you'll recog-
nize immediately as a major
advance in microcomputer
software.

muMath lets you effi-
ciently and accurately per-
form the most complex
mathematical operations:
Exact, infinite precision ra-
tional arithmetic. Unbound
variables. Complex expres-
sions (even equations may
be included). Exact solution
of algebraic equations. Plus
logarithmic, exponential and
trigonometric simplifications
and transformations.

That's right. It does in an
instant what took you years

to learn at school. Rational
arithmetic. Algebra. Trigo-
nometry. Transcendental
functions. Symbolic differen-
tiation (including ordinary
and partial derivatives.)
Symbolic integration of in-
definite and definite integrals.
Matrix arithmetic and
algebra.

Trigonometric simplifica-
tion? But of course. Just type :

?SIN(2*Y)*(4*COS(X)*3

-COS(3*X) + SIN(Y)*COS

(X + Y+#P1)-COS(X-Y));

Then instantly muMath

returns:

@4*SIN( Y) * COS(X) *COS( Y).

Adding fractions? Need
you ask?

?1/3+5/6+2/5+3/7;
@419/210.

muMath is written in
muSIMP, which is included in
the muMath package.

10800 NE Eighth

Suite 819

Bellevue.WA 98004

206-455-8080

Telex 328945

We set the standard.

CIRCLE 1S8 ON READER SERVICE CARD

muSIMP is an applicative,
recursive language, ideal for
describing complex mathe-
matical concepts.

Because of its highly
interactive nature and hier-
archical structure, muMATH
is an excellent math teaching
device, from simple arith-
metic to calculus.

muMATH is currently
available for the CP/M
operating system.

The complete system,
including muMATH and
muSIMP on disk and docu-
mentation is $250. Runs
under CP/M.

Just what you need? We
thought so. Shoot some
questions at us about
muMATH. We have all the
answers.

Also new from Micro-
soft: the muLISP interpreter
for CP/M. An efficient and
reliable LISP system fully
capable of supporting ser-
ious artificial intelligence
efforts. $200.

CP/M is a registered trademark of
Digital Research.

Ramblings, cont'd...

sages, memos, bills or estimates and is "a
perfect companion for businessmen,
salesmen, media people, architects and
engineers." The EL-7000 is a pocket size
calculator with a 10-digit LCD display and
15 character per line impact printer. The
typewriter has 8 memories which can hold
seven letters and ten numerals or fifteen
letters per memory. The printer will
automatically switch over to a second
memory when the previous one is full.

Things That Sing

Casio introduced the "CasioTone
M- 10" a new musical keyboard instrument
capable of reproducing the tones of a
piano, organ, flute and violin. It has a two
and one-half octave range and can sound
up to eight tones at onetime. The M- 10 has
its own built-in speaker and will list for
$149.95. It is kind of a kids electronic
organ all grown up.

Casio model M-10 electronic keyboard instrument.

Casio also introduced the MI. -90. an
eight digit calculator that plays 12
melodies. You can set it to play Happy
Birthday on your birthday, the Wedding
March on your anniversary or Jingle Bells
for Christmas. It also has a clock that
shows the time down to the second, a
calendar, two alarms and two date
memories; in addition it has a stop watch
that can be used for normal, net and lap
timings. All this craziness costs only
$49.95.

Very Small Computers

Nixdorf Computer

Nixdorf announced several commu-
nication peripherals to transform their
LK-3000 portable, personal computer into
a portable data terminal. The LK-3000 was
originally introduced as a language
translator, however, with the addition of a
RS-232C interface and an acoustic modem
the computer can now transmit at 1 10 or
300 bits per second over a standard
telephone line. The RS-232 interface
provides the capability to communicate
with peripherals like printers, plotters and
other microprocessors or equipment.

If you will recall when we checked out
the language translation capabilities of the
LK-3000 ( December 1 979 page 20) we were
not particularly impressed. However, with
the additional interface modules the
LK-3000 looks like a quite capable system
at a very reasonable price. The LK-3000

The Nixdorf LK-3000 Keyboard and display unit with
RS-232 module and LK-4040 acoustic modem
telephone coupler.

lists at $140, the RS-232 interface at $195
and the acoustic modem at $ 190. It appears
to be aimed at mainly the portable terminal
market and should easily replace many of
the briefcase size terminals which are much
more cumbersome than this unit.

Lexicon Corporation

In a somewhat strange move Lexicon
sold marketing rights to the LK-3000
language translator to Nixdorf about a
year ago. However, now this year. Lexicon
turns around and announces the LEX- 1 1
modem for use with the LK-3000 language
translator. This incidentally is not the same
modem which is being marketed by

Lexicon LEX-I I acoustic coupler.

Nixdorf; it has the same capabilities but is
being positioned as a modem for use with
both the LK-3000 as well as any other
personal or larger scale computer. The
LEX-I 1 may be operated on batteries and
has the capability to communicate with
Bell System I03A models as well as other
LEX-I I modems; in other words the
modem may be set in either originate or
answer mode.

Quasar and Panasonic

Quasar and Panasonic are both
divisions of Matsushita Electric Corpor-
ation and so both of them have simulta-
neously introduced pretty much the same
computer-in-a-briefcase, although the
model number and logo is slightly
different. Quasar terms their system the
"Micro-Information System." The main
unit is a hand held computer ( H HC) which
is intended to be compatible with other
computers. It uses a 6502 microprocessor
chip and a very clever bank switching
technique for memory access. Using bank
selection, the HHC can be configured to
utilize up to 160 bits of ROM and 73K bits
of RAM. In order to achieve modularity,
the HHC bus structur: provides extended

A growing
line of tools to
expand the Apple.

7440A PrograMMM* Interrupt Timer Module.

Time events in four operating modes— continu-
ous, single shot, frequency comparison, and
pulse width comparison. Includes three 16-bit
interval timers, plus flexible patch area for
external interface. Programmable interrupts,
on -board ROM, and much more.

7720A Parallel Interface. Two bi-directional 8-bit
I/O ports will connect your Apple to a variety of
parallel devices, including printers, paper tape
equipment, current relays, external on/bff
devices. Full featured, pnigrammable inter-
rupts, supports DMA daisy chaining.

781 IB Arithmetic Processor. Interfaces with
Applesoft, so you just plug in and run. Based
on the AM 9511 device, provides full 16/32-bit
arithmetic, floating point, trigonometric, loga-
rithmic, exponential functions. Programmed I/O
data transfer, much, much more.

771 0A Asynchronous Serial Interface. Conform-
ing to RS-232C A thru E 1978 standard, this
card will drive a variety of serial devices such as
CRT terminals, printers, paper tape devices, or
communicate with any standard RS-232 device,
including other computers. Full hand-shaking,
and fully compatible with Apple PASCAL!

7470A 3\ BCD A/D Converter. Converts a DC
voltage to a HCI ) number for computerized
monitoring and analysis. Typical inputs include
DC inputs from temperature or pressure
transducers. Single channel A/D, 400 ms
per conversion.

7490A GPIB IEEE 488 Intertoce. A true imple-
mentation of the IEEE 488 standard —the
standard protocol for instrumentation and test
devices. Control and monitor test instruments
such as digital voltmeters, plotters, function

arm, or any other device using the
IEEE 488.

7114A PROM Module. Permits the addition to or
replacement of Apple II firmware without
removing the Apple II ROMs. Available with
onboard enable/disable toggle switch.

7900 A Wire Wrap Board, F< >r prototyping your
own designs.

7510A Solder Board.

7590A Extender Board.

70I6A 16K Dynamic Memory Add-On.

Watch this space for new CCS products for
the Apple. We've got some real surprises in the
works. To find out more about the CCS product

line, visit your local compute! retailer. The CCS

product line is available at over 250 locations
nationally, including most that carry the Apple.
Or circle the reader service number on this ad.

Apple II. Apple II I'lus, and Applesoft are trademarks
of the Apple Corporation.

CCS makes the difference.

CREATIVE COMPUTING

We see the Apple
a little differently.

Apple has built a great computer. We at CCS have
built a great line of peripherals and components to expand
the Apple. To do almost anything you want to get done
with a computer.

If you want to do business with an Apple, we've got
tools to connect the Apple to standard business printers and
terminals. Or to modems, for communications over tele-
phone lines, with other computers, even with other Apples.

If you want to apply your Apple to engineering, scien-
tific, or graphic projects, we've got tools for high-powered,

high-speed math functions, and fast, high resolution graph-
ics. And tools to connect the Apple to lab test equipment
like function generators or plotters.

And we have tools to connect the Apple to the outside
world, including A/D converters and interval timers with
external interface.

We make components for the S-100 bus, the PET, and
the TRS-80, too. We built our products to deliver hard-
nosed value to the OEM, and to the inventor who knows the
best, at prices that are unbeaten.

To find out how much computer your Apple D can be,
see things our way. Because for serious users with serious
uses for the Apple, we've got the tools.

California Computer Systems

250 Caribbean Sunnyvale. CA 94086 (408)734-5811

CIRCLE 114 ON READER SERVICE CARD

it and the Apple.

If you could talk to Thomas Edison,
he'd tell you what it was like to turn the
lights on in 1879. You could tell him about
some bright ideas of the 20th century. .
particularly, a technological phenomenon
that can handle everything from solar heat
control to lighting your home via voice
command. The Apple personal computer.

Expand your own
inventiveness with the
always-expandable Apple.

Take a look inside your local computer
store. There's a range of Apple systems
for you . . . whether you want expansion
capabilities of four or eight accessory
slots. ..or memory expandable to 64K
bytes or 128K bytes. With this kind of flexi-
bility, the possibilities for creating your
own computer system are endless.

Want to add an A to D conversion
board? Apple makes it happen. Want to
plug into time sharing, news and elec-

Witb Apple. Edison could 've written a
program to determine why some filaments
burned longer than others.

tronic mail services? Apple does it all.
Because Apple is the most popular per-
sonal computer with the least complicated
interface, over 100 companies supply
peripherals for the Apple family. . . includ-
ing an IEEE 488 bus for instant control.

Disk drives, a tool kit
and creativity in color.

Apple was one of the first to use
disk drives for increased performance
and application versatility. Today, our S \ "
disk drive offers high density (143K hues),

CIRCLE 103 ON READER SERVICE CARD

high speed and low cost. No
wonder this drive is the most
popular on the market.

But now Apple goes one
better with the DOS Tool Kit.
A series of utility programs,
it gives you the freedom to
easily design 280hxl92v
graphic displays in a palette
of living color . . . depending
on your choice of Apple
system.

Edison was first with the
movie camera and projector.
Now, with Apple's DOS Tool
Kit, you can be first to work
wonders with colorful
creative animation.

Imagine the
broadest line
of software
programs ever.

Apple's broad line of
peripherals is equalled only
by the most extensive line of software
you'll find in the personal computing
world. Since more than 170 companies
offer software for the Apple family, you
can have one of the most impressive
program libraries ever.

When you write your own programs,
your Apple speaks creatively in BASIC,

Edison had the first movie
camera. . . and Apple has
the DOS TbolKit that takes
you into the colorful world
of animation.

Pascal, FORTRAN, PILOT and
6502 assembly language.
Use these languages to score
a sonata. Apple will play
back your musical master-
piece on its built-in speaker.

Edison listened to his
voice on a revolutionary
phonograph in the 1800s...
now you can listen to the
sounds of today with Apple's
inventive family of personal
computers.

Where to find even
more illuminating
Apple experiences.

There's always something
new being invented at Apple to
set your imagination soaring.
And there's always an expert
to tell you all about it in
detail. Your Apple dealer. If you
already own an Apple, there's

a whole future ahead to

challenge man, mind and machine.

If you're considering a personal com-
puter, stop by the computer store and
compare. Apple's reliability, proven perfor-
mance and recognized technological leader-
ship will help you see the light. Don't
let history pass you by. Visit your nearest
Apple dealer, or call 800-538-9696.
In California, 800-662-9238.

cippkz computer

1^>

Ramblings, cont'd...

A Quasar Panasonic ■■

hand-held computer.

addressing and thus virtually unlimited
expandability and interchangeability of
peripheral devices. The HHC peripherals
are able to work together in any combina-
tion and from any I/O slot. A basic HHC
unit utilizes a continuous dot LCD panel
that facilitates graphics, foreign character
alphabets as well as full upper and lower
case ASCII. In addition, the unit is able,
with an optional peripheral, to drive a
display on a standard TV set; other plug-in
modules include expandable RAM,
expandable ROM, and an expansion unit
for up to four additional capsules, a
cassette interface, printer, acoustic coupler
and I/O driver. The entire expanded unit
fits in a briefcase. Pricing was not firmly
announced; however, Panasonic allowed
that the HHC module would run around
$400 and with the interface and time
sharing module an additional $700.

Sinclair Research Ltd.

Sinclair formally introduced to the
American market the ZX-80 computer
which was introduced in Britain several
months ago. This unit is in an amazingly
small, almost flat, 9" x 7" case; the whole
thing weighs a mere twelve ounces. Yet it
has a full keyboard with graphics symbols
and a keyword entry system, which means
that entire words can be entered with a

single keystroke. The ZX-80 is program-
mable in the Basic language and has a
unique error detection system that scans
statements as they are being put in. It can
also be programmed in machine language
and will support a full range of peripherals
such as printers, disks and, of course, extra
memory. The ZX-80 uses a Z-80 micro-
processor running at 3.25 MHZ, about
twice the speed of a TRS-80. Best of all the
list price of the ZX-80 is $199.95, including
AC adapter and everything needed to
connect the ZX-80 to any black and white
or color TV set and to a standard cassette
recorder. (We'll have a complete review of
the ZX-80 in a forthcoming issue.)

The Sinclair ZX80 measures only 6x9 inches
and weighs 12 ounces.

Larger Computers

Ohio Scientific

Ohio Scientific introduced the CIP
Series 2, an enhanced version of the
popular CIP/Superboard. The new Series
2 CIP offers sound, music and voice
output capability via a digital-to-analog
converter. It also offers twice the packing
density of characters on screen thus
overcoming one of the principal limita-
tions in the original CIP; it also has a

handsome plastic cabinet, replacing the
wood and metal cabinet of the CIP. We
don't know if this is a move in the right
direction, but the styling is certainly a
big improvement. The basic unit has an 8K
work space which should be more than
sufficient for any cassette based program.
Retail price is $479.

A mini-floppy version, the CIP MF
Scries 2, comes complete with a disk
operating system which allows the use of
OS-65E, Ohio Scientific's business and
development oriented system. In addition,
OS-MDMS, a small data base manage-
ment system, is available for use on the
M F. This system allows the user to store
collections of information on diskette
for instant recall and analysis all without
requiring any programming knowledge.
The C1P-MF Series 2 lists at $1279.

Both the CIP Series 2 computers
may be expanded via the new 630/10
expander which provides color, dual joy
stick operation, dual remote 10 keypad
operation, AC remote control interface,
programmable sound generator, program
selectable modem in high speed quartz,
and a home security interface. This
expander lists for $229.

A Quasar Panasonic microinformation system fits completely into a brief case. Numbered items are:
I - Hand-held computer. 2 - Memory. J- I/O driver. 4 - Expandable ROM for additional capsules.
5 - Cassette interface. 6 - Printers, 7 - Acoustic coupler, 8 - AC adapter.

Ohio Scientific CIP MF Series 2 computer
incorporates new housing and floppy disk.

Ohio Scientific also introduced the
CHP HD computer system. This system is
aimed at applications such as remotely
controlling lights and appliances in a home
without any wiring and monitoring
security and activity in rooms via ultra-
sound detectors and door/ window con-
tacts. It may also be used with Ohio
Scientific's universal telephone interface
to originate and answer telephone calls
utilizing its built-in voice I/O capability.
This capability allows the CHP HD to
understand and generate touch-tone
signals or communicate with other
computers via a built-in answer/ originate
modem. The system also utilizes a voice
output system which stores 3500 common
short words on the built-in hard disk. It
then references an algorithm for phonetic
generation of longer words by rules.
This system of using "look up" for short
words and a rule system for longer words
allows the system to pronounce any word
in the English language in relatively real
time from conventional English spelling.

The system also incorporates voice
recognition capability and can recognize
up to 100 distinct words simultaneously.

CREATIVE COMPUTING

"THE CREATOR®"

By Complete Business Systems, inc.

Software Division

High level language program generator develops
complete programs in "Basic".

Enables ANYONE to write complete, running, debugged
BASIC LANCUACE Programs in 35 to 40 minutes with NO

PRIOR PROGRAMMING KNOWLEDGE OR ABILITY.

Now available for trs-80®, TRS-80 Model ll®, Apple ll®,
Tandy 10®, Adds System 70 or 75*.

IF you are one of the many who bought a micro-
computer in the belief that with just a little studying
you could write your own programs, you now know
that you can't.

IF you, as a businessman, thought you could have
stock software modified at a reasonable cost with
reasonable results, you know that's not possible either.

IF you are a hobbyist getting tired of the untold
hours it takes to write a program, only to find it takes
more hours to debug than to write . . .

IF you are a skilled programmer you don't have to be
reminded of the repetitious time spent on each new
application.

IF you have left your micro-computer sitting some-
where gathering dust . . . meet "THE CREATOR®".

"THE creator-" is not just another data base
generator!

"THE creator - ", at your direction, makes complete
running programs that are thoroughly documented,
easy to modify at any time by YOU!

"THE CREATOR®" cuts programming time up to 90%
for a skilled programmer.

"THE CREATOR®" will make anyone a skilled pro-
grammer in 30 to 35 minutes!

"THE creator®" does the' work! You answer the
simple direct questions and "THE CREATOR®" CREATES
. . . AND ALL IN BASIC LANGUAGE.

After "THE CREATOR*'
It be modified?

has produced a program, can

A. Yes, the resulting program is modular, fully documented
and readily accessible for alterations or deletions.

0. Does the program created use so much disc space
that there Is very little space left for record storage?

A. No, the code produced is extremely compact despite com-
plete documentation. If requested "THE creator •" will
even "pack" or compress information, you may even delete
the "remarks" making it even more space efficient.

Must I be expert or even conversant with Basic
Language?

A. No, all questions to and answers from the operator require
no computer language knowledge, simple every day English
will do.

0. What about math ability?

A. if you can count your fingers and toes, you'll have no
problems.

0. Will the programs which I produce with "THE
CREATOR*" be bulky, slow or amateurish?

A. No, the resulting programs will be sophisticated and ex-
tremely fast operating For example, should you create a
mailing list or inventory program, the time for any record
to be retrieved and displayed from a full disc would take a
maximum of 1 second.

0. Must the programs produced conform to a pre-
determined format and file length?

A. No, you determine format and file size to fit your require-
ments, you may have as many as 22 fields or as few as 1.

0- can I develop my own business programs?

A. For the most part, yes.

0. What are the limitations? What programs can I pro-
duce with "THE CREATOR*"?

A. Your own ingenuity and hardware limitations.

0. Will future versions of "THE CREATOR*" make my
present copy obsolete?

A. The purchase price includes your original diskette and user
instructions. Your program is registered in your name. For
a period of one year from the date of purchase you will be
entitled to receive FREE any improvements or modifica-
tions. The only expense to you will be a new diskette charge
(if applicable), packaging and mailing

TECHNICAL ASPECTS

• Record access by a hashing algorithm guaranteeing
fast record retrieval.

• Duplicate keys permitted.

• Record deletion automatically supported.

• Record access and file maintenance is user trans-
parent.

• Minimal disc overhead since there is no special
assembly language routine called. No "Basic." overhead.

• Programs produced can be transported between
6800, 6502, 8080, Z80, 8085, 8086 and Z8000 based
systems.

• Can be used with Micro-Soft Basic and CP/M systems.

• On trs-80 has automatic blocking for maximum
number of records per disc.

• Complete file maintenance including up-date of any
record in any field, delete and add new records even
with duplicate key.

We are seeking qualified dealers and distributors to
handle our growing software lines. Address inquiries,
on your company letterhead, to complete Business
Systems, inc., Software Division, 9420 w. Foster Ave.,
Chicago, Illinois 60656.

Enclosed is my check (or money order) in the amount of $250 00
Please send me my serial numbered, registered copy of "THE
CREATOR" as soon as my check clears (No wait for Certified
checks, bank checks or money orders.) Sorry, no credit cards
accepted.

(Please print)

Full name

Artrfres*

Apt.*

Cltw

State

ZlD

Computer make

Model

SEPTEMBER 1980

CIRCLE 153 ON READER SERVICE CARD

No.16:

lake a byte:

All Lifeboat programs require CP M,
unless otherwise stated.

Soft* ■ >poiai 808GV780

computet disk sysit

WH»I /

«w ' Mm

CP/M* FLOPPV DISK OPERATING SYS-
TEM— Ogtlal Research s operating system
contoured for many popular micro compuler s

■nd Ml systems

I \ System
'_/ Micro

Version Pnce
2 k 350 25

SMAL 80 Structured Macro Assembler
• Language — Package ol powerful general
purpose text macro processor and SMAL
structured language compiler SMAL is an as-
sembler language with IF-THEN-ELSE
LOOPREPEAT-VVHILE. DO END BEGIN
END constructs $75/$15

PHOENIX SOFTWARE ASSOCIATES

PASM' — Z80 macro assembler Intel TDL
iK>n»cs Generates Intel hex formal or re-
L,i) Jocatabie code in either TDL Obtect Module

2«

170/2S P

?»

170/25 '

170'2S

1 4

145 '25

1 4

170/25 •

1 4

170/25'

145/25

1 4

145/25 >

145/25 "

250/25

2«

300/25

?«

300/25

2»

200/25

1 4

145/25 "

?«

170 25

2«

250 25 1

2*
2x
2x

2 »

145 25
145/25
145 25
170/25
145 25 ■
145/25 •

250 25
250 25
250 25
200 25

,m. ,!-,]■ A,ih/H(»

Microsoft BASIC version 5

with high resolution

graphics
North Star Single Density 1 4
North Star Double D<
North Star Single Density
North Star Double Quad
Duranqo F 85
■COM Micro-Disk 2411
.COM 3712
■COM 38 1 2
Mils 3202 AU.nr 8800
Heath H8 ■ H 1 7
Heath H89

Heath H89 by Magnolia
He.ith H8<* by Magnoil
OnyxCaoOl
Ohio Scientific C3
TRS-80 Model I
T RS-BO Model II
TRS 80 Model II • Corvus

Pioi Mm r* hnofogy
Haiti ii II

Cromemco System 3

Intel MDS Single Density

MJCTOpOil M(Ml I

Micropobs Mod II

The following configurations are scheduled lor

release soon

North Star Double/ Quad

• Corvus
North Star Horizon HD-1
Ohio Scientific C3-C
Micropohs Mod II
Moslek MDX STD

Bus System 2 x 350 25 "

ICOM3812 2x 225/25*

COM 451 1 Pertec 03000 2 x 375/25 ■

Software consists of the operating system. fe«f
editor assembler, debugger ana other utilities
for tile management am] system maintenance
Complete set ot Digital Research s doc omen
ranon and additional implementation notes in-
cluded Systems marked * and " include firm-
ware on 2708 and 27 16 Systems marked • in-
clude 5440 media charge Systems marked
•) require the special • versions of soft-
ware in this catalog Systems marked
minor variants available to suit console inter-
face of system CaH o* wnte fot full kst ot op-
tions includes hardware addition to allow our
standard versions of software to run under it

Z80 DEVELOPMENT PACKAGE Consists
M of ( t ) disk Me line editor with global inter and
bne facilities, (2) 280 relocating assem-
bler. Zilog Mostefc mnemonics, conditional as-
sembly and cross reference table capabilities
(3) linking loader producing absolute Intel hex
disk Me $95 $20

ZDT - Z80 Monitor Debugger to break and
» examine registers with standard ZMog
t Mostek mnemonic disassembly displays $35
when ordered with Z80 Development
Package $50 $10

AVOCET SYSTEMS

XASM-68— Non-macro cross-assembler with
nested conditionals and tuH range o* pseudo
optjfReona Aev«mblM fcom rtandard Mo* ■<■ la

MC6800 mnemonics to Intel hex $200 $25
X ASM -65 - As X ASM 68 for MOS Technology
MCS-6500 series mnemonics $200 $25

X ASM-40 - As XASM-68 for Intel MCS 48 and
UPI -41 families $200 $25

XASM-18-As XASM 68 for RCA 1802

$200 $25

DISTEL- Osfc based disassembler to Intel
8080 or TDL.Xit.in Z80 source code bsdng and
cross reference Mes Inlet or TDL Xitan pseudo
ops Optional Runs on 8080 $65 $10

DISILOG As 0ISTEL to Z. log Mostek
M mnemonic Mes $65 $10

lormat or PSA Relocatable Binary Module for

\\s mal Supports text insertion conditional

branching within macros, recursive macro calls

and parameter passing $129 $25

EDIT -Character oriented text die editor ln-

14525 * ' ; eludes macro definition capabilities Handles

145/25 i |/iiijL' nsert,on deletion, searching, block move, etc

for Mes of any length Does not require a

CRT $129 $25

PUNK* - Two pass dlsk-lo-disk linkage edi-
I tor/loader which can produce re-entrant.
ROMable code Can link programs thai are
'larger than available memory for execution
targeted on another machine Full library
capabilities Input can be PSA Relocatable Bi-
nary Module TDL Object Module or Microsoft
REL tiles Output can be a COM Me. Intel hex
Me TDL Object Module or PSA Relocatable
file $129 $25

11/ 1<

BUG" and *iBUG*-Z80 interactive machine
% level debugging tools tor program develop-
ment BUG has tuH symbokc trace and interac-
tive assembly (mnemonics compatible with
PASM) Dynamic breakpoints and conditional
traps while tracing (even through ROM') n BUG
is a subset of BUG and is used m memory
hmited situations $129 $25

DIGITAL RESEARCH
MP M - Installed lor single density MDS-800
Multi-processing derivative of the CP/M op-
erating system Manual includes CP/M2
documentation $300 $50

MAC 8080— Macro assembler Full Intel
I macro definitions Pseudo Ops include RPC.
IRP REPT TITLE PAGE and MAC LIB Pro
duces absolute hex output plus symbol table hie
for use by SID and ZSID (see below) $120 $15

SID 8080— Symbolic debugger Fu

I pass count and breakpoint program testing

Has backtrace and histogram utilities When

used with MAC , provides t ui symbokc display of

S105 $15

ZSID Z80- Symbolic debugger with all tea
I turesofSID $130 $15

■
TEX — Text output formatter to create paginal

■ ed [Mfje numtuMril am! ius!'fi>'!| [i. Output

can be directed to printer or disk $105 $15

DESPOOL— Utility program to permit simulta

> neous printing from text files while executing

other program'. $80 $10

FORTRAN-80-ANSI 66 (except lor COM
v PLEX) plus many extensions Includes rekxat-
u able object compiler, linking loader, fctn

manager Also includes MACRO 80 (see
MO**) $425 $25

COBOL-80- Level 1 ANSI 74 standard
[ COBOL plus most of Level 2 FuM sequential.
re and indexed Me support with variable
filenames STRING UNSTRING COMPUTE
VARYING UNTIL EXTEND CALL COPY
SEARCH, 3 dimensional arrays, compound
and abbreviated conditions nested IF Powerful
interactive screen-handling extensions In-
cludes compatible assembler, linking loader,
and relocatable library manager as described
under MACRO 80 $700 $25

MACRO-80 8080 780 Macro Assembler

a able linkable output Loader. Library Manager
and Cross Reference List utilities
included $149 $15

muSIMP/muMATH-muSIMP is a high level

I programming language suitable lor symbokc
I semi -numerical processing Implemented

'using a fast and efficient interpreter requiring
only 7K bytes of machine code muMATH is a
package of programs written in muSIMP The
package performs sophisticated mathematical
functions Keeps track of up to 61 1 digits Per-
forms matrix operations on arrays transpose.
multiply divide, inverse and other integer pow-
ers Logarithmic exponential, trigonometric
simplification and transformation symbokc dif-
ferentiation with partial derivatives symbokc m-

Mrasoti ot dnnlM and indefinite Inn

Requires 40K CP/M

muLISP-79 — Microcomputer implementation
of LISP The interpreter resides in only 7K bytes
of memory yet includes 83 LISP functions Has
infinite precision integer arithmetic expressed
any radix from 2 to 36 muLISP-79 includes
complete trace taahly and a library of useful
functions and entertaining sample
programs $200 $15

XMACRO-86-8086 cross assembler All

"i Macro and utility features of MACRO-80 pack
age Mnemonics saghtty modified from Intel
ASM86 Compatibility data sheet
available $275/$25

EDTT-tO— Very last random access text editor

i tor text with or without kne numbers Global and
intra line commands supported File compare
utility included $89$15

• integrals
$250 $20

PASCAL/M" -Compiles enhanced Standard
■ Pascal to compressed efficient Pcode Totally
CP/M compatible Random access files Both
16 and 32-bit Integers Runtime error recovery
Convenient STRINGS OTHERWISE clause on
CASE Comprehensive manual (90 pp inde-
xed) SEGMENT provides overlay structure
INPORT OUTPORT and untyped files for art*
trary I O Requires 56K CP/M Specify 1) 8080
CP/M. 2) Z80 CP/M, or 3) Cromemco
CDOS $175/$20

PASCAL/Z-Z80 native code PASCAL com-
• oiler Produces optimized, ROMable re-entrant
i code All interfacing to CP/M is through the
support library The package includes compiler.
relocating assembler and knker. and source
for all horary modules Variant records, strings
and direct I/O are supported Requires 56K
CP/M $395 $25

PASCAL/MT- Subset of Standard PASCAL
« Generates ROMable 8080 machine code
SI Symbokc debugger included Supports inter-
rupt procedures. CP/M file I/O and assembly
language interface Real variables can be BCD
software floating point, or AMD 951 1 hardware
floating point Includes strings enumerations
and record data types Manual explains BASIC
to PASCAL conversion Requires 32K $250/
130

APL/V80 — Concise and powerful language for
'V application software development Complex
1 programming problems are reduced to simple

t l) expressions in APL Features include up to 27K
$105 $50 KjU^acttve workspace, shared variables arrays of

V?Z

tiny C— Interactive interpretive system for

teaching structured programming techniques

Manual mctudes full source listings $105/$5C

BOS C COMPILER -Supports mosl features |V ^"P ,0 8 dimensions Osk workspace and copy

of language including Structures. Arrays, object hbrary The system also supports auxrf

iary processors tor interfacing I/O ports Re-
quires 48K CP/M and serial APL printing termi-
nal or CRT $500 $30
ALGOL-60- Powerful block -structured tan-
' guage compiler featuring economical run -time
dynamic allocation of memory Very compact
(24K total RAM) system implementing almost

all Aiqoi 00 report features plus many powerful

extensions including string handling direct disk
address I/O etc $199 $20

CBASIC-2 Disk Extended BASIC -Non
live BASIC with pseudo-code compilet
and run-time interpreter Supports full Me con-
trol chaining integer and extended precision
vanabtes. etc $120 $15

language including Structures Arrays
• Pointers, recursive function evaluation, over-
lays Includes linking loader, abrary manager
and library containing general purpose, file I O
and Moating poinl functions Lacks initializers
statics, floats and longs Documentation in-
cludes The C PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
by Kermghan and Ritchie $145 $25

WHITESMITHS C COMPILER The ultimate
^ m systems software tools Produces faster
1 code than a pseudo-code Pascal with more
extensive facilities Conforms to the tuH UNIX'
Version 7 C language, described by Kermghan
and Ritchie and makes available over 75 func-
tions tor performing I/O, string manipulation
and storage allocation Linkable to Microsoft
REL tiles Requires 60K CP/M $630 $30

MICROSOFT

BASIC-BO- Disk Extended BASIC. ANSI
i compatible with long variable names.
a WHILE WEND chaining, variable length tile
records $325 $25

BASIC COMPILER — Language compatible
[ with BASIC-80 and 3-10 times faster execution
m Produces standard Microsoft relocatable bi-
nary output Includes MACRO-80 Also linkable
10 FORTRAN 80 or COBOL 80 code
modules $350 $25

MICRO FOCUS

STANDARD CIS COBOL -ANSI 74 COBOL
l standard compiler fully vakdated by U S Navy
tests to ANSI level 1 Supports many features to
level 2 including dynamic loading of COBOL
modules and a full ISAM file facility Also, pro-
gram segmentation, interactive debug and
powerful namcttva aj&atwtgnt lo ■uppori pro

lected and unprotected CRT screen formatting
from COBOL programs used with any dumb
terminal $850 $50

FORMS 2 -CRT screen editor Output is
COBOL data descriptions tor copying into CIS
COBOL programs Automatically creates a
query and update program of indexed files
using CRT protected and unprotected sdreen
formats No programming experience needed
Output program directly compiled by STAN

- "is cor~

DARD CIS COBOL

$200 $20

EIDOS SYSTEMS

KISS - Keyed Index Sequential Search Offers
i complete Multi-Keyed Index Sequential and Di-
rect Access Me management Includes built in
utility functions lor 16 or 32 bit arithmetic
string/integer conversion and string compare
Delivered M | HlOCMetllB W ujMj mOduM ' r '
Microsoft format lor use with FORTRAN 80 or
COBOL 80 etc $335 $23

K BASIC Microsoft Disk Extended BASIC
( version 4 51 integrated by implementation of
mne additional commands in language Pack-
age includes KISS REL as described above.
and a sample mail kst program $585 $45

To licensed users of Microsoft BASIC-80
(MBASfC) $435 $45

XYBASIC Interactive Process Control
BASIC — FuH disk BASIC features plus umque
commands to hanoJe byte rotate and shift and
to lest and set bits Available in several ver-
sions

Integer ROM squared $350 $25

Integer CP/M $350 $25

Extended ROM squared $450 $25

Extended CP/M $450 $25

Extended Disk CP/M $550 $25

Integer CP/M Run Time Compiler $350 $25
Extended CP/M Run Time Compiler $450 $25

RECLAIM- A utility to vakdato media under
CPM Program tests a diskette or hard disk
surface for errors, reserving the imperfections
in invisible files and permitting continued
usage of (he remainder Essential for any hard
disk Requires CP/M version 2 $80 $5

BASIC UTILITY DISK - Consists of Hi
m CRUNCH- 14- Compacting utility to reduce
the size and increase the speed of programs m
Microsoft BASIC 4 51 BASIC-80 and TRS-80
BASIC (2) DPFUN- Double precision subrou
tines tor computing nineteen transcendental
functions including square root, natural log. log
base 10. swte. arc sme. hyperbokc sine, hyper-
bote arc sine, etc Furnished in source on dis-
kette and documentation $50 $35

STRING/80 — Character string handling plus
routines for direct CP/M BOOS calls from
FORTRAN and other compatible Microsoft lan-
guages The utiMy kbrary contains routines that
enable programs to chain lo a COM tile, retrieve
command hne parameters and search file daec -
tones with fuM wild card facilities Supplied as
linkable modules m Microsoft format $95 $20

STRING/80 source code available
separately— $295 N A

THE STRING BIT- FORTRAN character

m string handling Routines to find. fill. pack,
move, separate, concatenate and compare
character strings This package completely
eliminates the problems associated with
Character string handling in FORTRAN
Supplied with source $65 $15

VSORT — Versatile sort/merge system for fixed

u length records with fixed or variable length
fields VSORT can be used as a stand-alone
package or loaded and called as a subroutine
from CBASIC-2 When used as a subroutine.
VSORT maximizes the use ol buffer space by
saving the TPA on disk and restoring it on com-
pletion of sorting Records may be up to 255
bytes long with a maximum of 5 fields Upper
lower case translation and numeric fields
Supported $175 $20

CPM/374X — Has full range of functions to cre-
ate or re-name an IBM 3741 volume display
directory information and edit the data set con-
tents Provides full file transfer faakties be-
tween 3741 volume data sets and CP/M
hies $195 $10

CMMs- (J

S»*y*~s

MASTER TAX — Professional lax preparation
program Prepares schedules A. B. ODE. F
t G R/RP SE TC ES and forms 2106 2119.
2210. 3468 3903 2441 4625 4726. 4797,
4972. 5695 and 6521 Printing can be on readily
available, preprinted continuous forms, on
overlays, or on computer generated. IRS ap-
proved forms Maintains efcent history tiles and
is interactive with CPAhJs GENERAL LEDGER
II (see below) $995 $30

STANDARD TAX- As above for schedules A.
f B.C.O. EG R/RP SETC and forms 2106 and
2441 Also, does not maintain client history
files $495 $30

GENERAL LEDGER U- Designed for CPAs

t Stores complete 12 month detailed history of

transactions Generates financial statements

depreciation, loan amortizations, journals trial

balances statements Of tflfirtOW '" InancMI
position, and compilation letters Includes
payroll system with automatic posting to gen-
eral ledger Prints payroll register. W2 s and

pfjyiOl I Mi kl

Lifeboat Associates, 1651 ihird Avenue, N Y., NY 10028(212) 860-0300 '0501

Neu inderSchweii Lifeboat Associates GmbH, 35 6340 B: Telefon 042/31 2931

'-.■.:./.

i.- ... / *

AMMING LANGUAGE -By

1 Ritchie Tlw standard teittxx*

ui new loot (or preparing
management reports with tabular data Makes
financial modeling projects easy Do you want a
weekly profitability report? Set up the table and
compute Just change the sates figures for next
week and compute You have a new report*
T MAKER includes a full screen editor tor
setting up tables which pages left, right, up
and down Compute includes standard arith-
metic percents exponents, common tran-
scendental functions, averages maxima,
minima protections etc Requires 48K CP M
and CBASIC-2 $275 $25

BSTAM — Utility to link one computer to another
« also equipped with BSTAM Allows file transfers
at full data speed (no conversion to hex) with
CRC block control check lor very reliable error
detection and automatic retry We use it' Its
great* Full wildcard expansion to send • COM
etc 9600 baud with wire 300 baud with phone
connection Both ends need one Standard and
ons can talk to one another $150 $10

WHATSIT?* — Interactive data-base system
using associative tags to retrieve information by
subject Hashmq .trx] random Ml Mf uMd FOl
fast response Requires CBASIC-2 $175 $25
SELECTOR Hl-C2-Data Base Processor to
t create and maintain multi-key data bases
a Prints lormatted sorted reports with numerical
summaries or mailing labels Comes with sam-
ple applications, including Sales Activity Inven-
tory. Payables. Receivables. Check Register,
and Chentv Patient Appointments, etc Requires
CBASIC-2 Suppked m source $295 $20

GLECTOR — General Ledger option to
SELECTOR IIIC2 Interactive system provides
tor customised COA Unique chart of transac-
tion types insure proper double entry book-
keeping Generates balance sheets P&L
statements and journals Two year record al-
lows tor statement of changes m financial posi-
tion report Supplied in source Requires
SELECTOR III-C2 CBASIC-2 and 56K
system $350 $25

CBS — Configurable Business System is a
comprehensive set of programs for defining
custom data files and application systems with
out using a programming language such as
BASIC. FORTRAN etc Multiple key fields lor
each data file are supported Setup program
customizes system to user s CRT and pnnter
Provides fast and easy interactive data entry
and retrieval with transaction processing
Report generator program does complex calcu-
lations with stored and denved data record
selection with multiple criteria and custom for-
mats Sample inventory and mailing kst sys
terns included No support language
required $295 $40

WORD-STAR - Menu dnven visual word pro-
Text formatting performed on screen Facilities
lor text paginate, page number, justify center
and underscore User can print one document
while simultaneously editing a second Edit
facilities include global search and replace.
Read/Write lo other text files, block move, etc
Requires CRT terminal with addressable cursor
positioning $445 $40

WORD-STAR-MAIL MERGE- As above with
i option for production mailing of personalized
documents with mail lists from DATASTAR or
NAO $575 $40

WORD-STAR Customization Notes- For
sophisticated users who do not have one of the
many standard terminal or pnnter configura-
tions in the distribution version of WORD-
STAR SNA $95
WORD-MASTER Text Editor -In one mode
I has superset of CP M s EO commands includ-
ing global searching and replacing, forwards
and backwards in file in video mode, provides
full screen editor for users with senal address-
able-cursor terminal $145 $25

TEXTWRITER IN - Text formatter to justify ana
tit paginate letters and other documents Special
features include insertion of text during execu-
tion from other disk files or console, permitting
reape documents to be created from tanked
fragments on olher files Has facilities tor sorted
index . table of contents and footnote mser t ions
Ideal for contracts, manuals, etc Nowcompati
ble with Electric Penal* and Word-Star pre-
pared fries $l25/$20

PIE AC HTHEE SOFTWARE

I General accounting software lor small busi-
6 nesses Each product can be used alone or with
t automatic posting to the general ledger
Supplied in source lor Microsoft BASIC 4 51
GENERAL LEDGER $530 $40

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE $530/$40

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE S530/S40

PAYROLL $530 $40

INVENTORY S660/S40

ALSO

MAILING ADDRESS $530/$40

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT $925/$40

GRAHAM DORIAN SOFTWARE
SYSTEMS

Comprehensive accounting software written m
1 CBASIC-2 and supplied in source code Each
H software package can be used as a stand-alone
t system or integrated with the General Ledger
lor automatic posting lo ledger accounts Re-
quires CBASIC 2

GENERAL LEDGER $805 $40

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE SS05/S40

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE SE05/S40

INVENTORY SYSTEM $555/$40

JOB COSTING $805 $40

APARTMENT MANAGEMENT $S05/$40

CASH REGISTER $305 $40

S- Micro Data Base System Full network _ "

data base with all features of HDBS plus multi- POSTMASTER - A comprehensive package

level readwnteprolection tor FILE SET REC- * ,0 * ma '' ,,sl maintenance thai is completely
ORD and ITEM Explicit representation of one »# c ^ ,menu *"*" Features include keyed record
to one one to many many to many and many to Ctr Wactwn and label production A form letter
one SET relationships Supports multiple ' program is included which provides neat letters

HDBS -Hierarchical Data Base System
CODASYL oriented with FILES SETs REC-
ORDS and ITEMs which are all user defined
ADD DELETE. UPDATE SEARCH and
TRAVERSE commands supported SET order-
ing is sorted. FIFO. LIFO next or poor One to
many set relationship supported Read write
protection at the FILE level Support
wtuch extend over multiple floppy or hard disk
devil m

owner and multiple record types within SETs
HDBS files are fuly compatible
HDBS-280 veision

»250/$4O" j
MDBS-280 version $750 $40"

8080 version available at $75 extra
When ordering, specify one of the language
interfaces hsled below Additional language in-
terfaces available al time of purchase lor $100
or $125 it purchased later
"The single manual covering HDBS and
MDBS when purchased alone comes without
specific language interface manual Manuals
are available for the following Microsoft Ian-
guagee

1) MBASIC 4 51 2) BASIC 80 5 3) Compiled
BASIC or FORTRAN 80 4) COBOL 80 5)
MACRO-BO SNA 510

MICROPRO

SUPER-SORT I - Sort merge, extract utility as
absolute executable program or linkable mod-
ule in Microsoft format Sorts fixed or variable
records with data m binary BCD Packed Deci-
mal EBCDIC ASCII floating & fixed point, ex
ponenti ..triable

number of fields per record* $225/$25

SUPER-SORT ll Above .w.i.iabte as abso-
lute program only $1 75 $25
SUPER-SORT III -As tl without SI
EXCLUDE $125 $25
DATASTAR— Professional forms control entry
and display system for key to disk data cap-
ture Menu driven with buill-in learning aids
Input field verification by length mask attribute
(i e upper case, lower case numeric, aulo-dup.
■
n slant and denved values Visual feed-
back tor ease of forms design Files compatible
with CP M-MP M supported languages Re-
quires 32K CP M $350 $35

on single sheet or continuous forms includes

NAD Me translator Requires CBASIC 2

$150. $20

STRUCTURED SYSTEMS GROUP

Complete interactive accounting software tor
' business Each product can be used stand-
alone or with automatic posting lo the general
ledger Each product is thoroughly tested and

yam wej dUCuntfUad t -nil imxtuU ttqUlnM

CBASIC-2

GENERAL LEDGER $«20/$*0

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE $»20v*40

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE $*20/$40

PAYROLL *B20 »40

INVENTORY CONTROL $820 $40

NEW! NEWSLETTER.
FROM LIFEBOAT

Latest Version
Numbers List
of Software

Update on

CPM Users Group

• The Great 20SO Speaks
Out from Behind the Scenes

S16 pod for 12 issues (U S . Canada
Mexico) Elsewhere $40.
Send Check to Lifelines 1651 Third Avenue,
New York N Y 10028 or use your VISA or
^arge — call (212) 722 1700

ANALYST— Customized data entry and report-
t ing system User specifies up to 75 data items
per record interactive data entry, retrieval.
and update facility makes information
management easy Sophisticated report
generator provides customized reports using
selected records with multiple level break-
points for summarization Requires a disk sort
utility such as OSORT SUPER SORT or
VSORT and CBASIC-2 $250 $15

LETTERKSHT- Program to create edit and
type letters or other documents Has facilities to
enter, display, delete and move text, with good
video screen presentation Designed to inte-
grate with NAD for form letter mailings Re-
quires CBASIC-2 $200 $25
NAD Name and Address selection system —
Interactive mail kst creation and maintenance
program with output as M reports with refer-
ence data or restricted information lor mail
labels Transfer system for extraction and trans-
fer of selected records to create new files Re-
quires CBASIC-2 $100 $20
OSORT — Fast sort merge program tor files
with fixed record length, variable held length
information Up to five ascending or descend-
ing keys Fun back-up of input files created
$100 $20

• ••••••

CONDIMENTS

• •••*••

HEAD CLEANING DISKETTE- Cleans the
drive Read/Write head m 30 seconds Diskette
absorbs loose oxide particles fingerprints and
other foreign particles that might hinder the per-
formance of the drive head Lasts at least 3
months with daily use Specify 5' or 8
Single sided $20 each $55 for 3

Double sided $25 each $65 for 3

FLIPPY DISK KIT— Template and instructions
to modify single sided 6*4 diskettes for use of
second side in single sided drives $12.50

FLOPPY SAVER - Protection for center holes
for 5 and 8 floppy disks Only 1 needed per
diskette Kit contains centering post, pressure
tool and tough 7 mil mylar reinforcing rings for
25 diskettes

5 Kit $14.95

5 Rings onry $7.96

8 Kit $16 95

8 Rings only $8 95

PASCAL USER MANUAL AND REPORT -
By Jensen and VVirth The standard textbook on
the language Recommended for use by
Pascal Z Pascai/M and Pascal/MT users S12

Recommended for use
■fid Vv n i te smiths C users

,',2

STRUCTURED MICROPROCESSOR PRO-
GRAMMING - By the authors ot SMAL/80
Covers structured programming the 8080/
8065 instruction set and the SMAL/80 Ian-
$20

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE 4 ACCOUNTS
RECEIVABLE-CBASIC-By Osborne'
McG- i $20

GENERAL LEDGER-CBASIC- By

Osborne-'McGraw-Hill $20

PAYROLL WITH COST ACCOUNTING-

CBASlC-byOsborne'McGra* Hill $20

LIFEBOAT DISK COPYING SERVICE
Transfer data or programs Irom one media for-
mat to another at a moderate cost from $25

• ••••••

Hearty Appetite.

• ••••••

■CPM and MP/M are trademarks of Digital Re
■aaroti

280 is a trademark ol Zilog Inc
UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories
WHATSIT? is a trademark of Computer Head-
ware

Electric Pencil is a trademark of Michael
Shrayer Software

TRS-80 is a trademark of Tandy Corp
Pascal M is a trademark of Sorcim
SoftCard is a trademark of Microsoft
Apple is a trademark of Apple Computer
PASM PLINK BUG andM BUG are trademarks
of Phoenix Software Associates Lid
CPAids is a trademark of Computer Tax Ser-
vice. Inc

t Recommended system configuration consists
of 48K C P/M. 2 fuH size disk drives . 24 x 80 C RT
and 132 column pnnter

it Modified version available lor use with CP/M as
implemented on Heath and TRS-80 Model I
computers

1 User -cense agreement tor this product must
be signed and relumed to Lifeboat Associates
before shipment may be made

I This product Includes excludes the language
■ manual recommended m Condiments

I Serial number of CP/M system must be
suppked with orders

I Requires Z80 CPU

Ordering Information

MEDIA FORMAT ORDERING COOES

When ordering, please specify format code.

LIFEBOAT ASSOCIATES MEDIA FORMATS LIST

Diskette, cartridge disk and cartridge tape format codes lo be

specified when ordering software for listed computer or disk

systems All software products have specific requirements in

terms of hardware or software support, such as MPU type

memory size, support operating system or language

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spftevin- p.nk.ig.- mnveys .1

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■ The Software Supermarket is a trademark ot Lifeboat Associates

Overhead view of the upstairs part of CES. the total exhibit area is roughly four times that shown in this
photograph.

We saw this being demonstrated in
perhaps less than ideal circumstances in a
hospitality suite and the computer was
having some trouble distinguishing be-
tween yes and no. Obviously this could
lead to major problems in utilizing the
system. However, in a quieter, stress-free
environment the system may well prove to
be more reliable. List price is in the S 10,000
range.

Atari Inc.

Atari introduced a new piece of
software, the Atari Accountant and three
new peripherals. They also showed three
peripherals which we hadn't seen before.

The Atari Accountant was "created
to give the small businessman the benefit of
computerization without special training
or the time required to learn computer
programming." It seems to be aimed at the
businessman who does his own book-
keeping or who has a part time book-
keeper. The Atari Accountant consists of a
general ledger master module, with
accounts receivable and payable available
as independent add-on modules. Atari
promises an inventory control and order
entry module at a later date. The
Atari Accountant requires a dual disk
configuration, 80 column printer and
RS232 interface module. We'll reserve
judgement on this system until we see
it in operation.

The Atari CX70 Light Pen is a new
controller that enables users to paint
multicolored screens on the scene, pick
items from a menu, play games, direct
geometric calculations, and do I/O opera-
tions in Basic programs simply by pressing
the pen to the television screen. The Light
Pen reads the coordinates of the TV
electron beam as the beam passes by.

This is a somewhat different approach
than used by some other light pens which
operate simply on light and dark. The
Light Pen plugs into one of the four
controller jacks. List price is $74.95.

The Atari 8IS is a dual disk drive
with double density on 40 tracks per
diskette. Using this storage system each
diskette stores over 163,000 bits of data.
The dual drive has a built-in micro-
processor for control and includes
DOS/ FMS (double density disk operating
system/ file management system). List
price for the 815 is $1499.95.

The third new peripheral is the
Atari 822 Thermal Printer. This prints
out programs and information on white
thermal paper at a rate of 37 characters per
second. It is compact and light weight (less
than 6 pounds) and prints bidirectionally.
This forty column printer carrys a list price
of $449.95.

Three previously announced peri-
pherals include the Atari 825 Dot Matrix
printer. This printer has three different

spacings, 10, Nor 1 6.7 characters per inch;
with these different spacings the printer
can print from 80 to 132 characters per
line. Normal print speed is 79 to 83 char-
acters per second. The printer also has the
capability of double width characters.
It requires the Atari 850 interface module
to connect the printer to the computer.
This interface module has four serial
interface ports for use with a 830 Acoustic
modem and other RS 232C peripherals. It
also has a parallel output in interface port
which supports the Atari 825 printer.
Programmable baud rates are available
on any port from 75 to 9600 bits per
second. The Atari 830 modem is a stand-
alone acoustically coupled telephone
modem. It has full and half duplex
operation and answer/ originate and test
modes. It also requires an interface module
to connect it to the computer. Prices of
these products are $999.95 for the 825
printer, $199.95 for the 830 acoustic
modem and $219.95 for the interface
module.

Mattel Electronics

In a virtual repeat of the 1979
Consumer Electronic Show, Mattel was
showing their INTELLIVISION with lots
of cartridge games available for it. Once
again they announced the keyboard unit
for test marketing in the fall and delivery
next year, i.e., the spring of 1981.

itire Atari array. Clockwise from lower right
ic modem. 800 microcomputer. 822 thermal •
printer. 8S0 RS-232 interface module. 410 program
recorder. 823 80 column dot matrix printer. 8 1 5 dual
disk drive and 810 single disk drive.

Mattel's INTELLIVISION showing the keyboard
unit promised for delivery in early 1981.

Meantime six new cartridges were
announced for the master unit: Soccer,
Golf, Skiing, Boxing, Tennis and Sea
Battle. We commented on the unique
hand held controllers last year. Each
controller has twelve touch sensitive
buttons, four play action keys on the
side and a 16 direction control disk for
precise movement of screen objects.
Custom overlays for each hand held
controller comes with each cartridge
and fit directly over the controller
completely integrating each program
with the controller. This design is con-
siderably more user-oriented than many of
the other controllers on the market. The
16-bit microprocessor in the master unit
delivers a full range of simulated sound
effects, three part harmony and excep-
tional color reproduction with its high
resolution graphics. The master com-
ponent and controllers are well designed
and impressive, however we still await the
keyboard component before passing full
evaluation on the Mattel INTELLI-
VISION.

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Introducing
ty print at matrix

For only $1295!

speed

Until now, word processing output
was a slow, expensive proposition. Vbu
could pay thousands for a slow, letter-
quality character printer. Or give up
print quality for matrix speed and price.

But that was before Paper Tiger'" 460
offered you a better choice.

The new Paper Tiger 460 is the first
matrix printer with high-density dot
matrix characters plus high speed. At a
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The secret? A unique nine-wire, stag-
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vertical planes. The result Is
dense, high-quality characters
you'll be proud to show off.

What's more, Paper Tiger 460
gives you a combination of fea-
tures simply not available on any
other printer, at any price. Like
bi-directional, logic-seeking print-
ing at speeds in excess of 1 50
characters per second. Micro-
processor electronics, with built-in diag-
nostics and self-test. Proportional spacing
Automatic text justification. DotPlof" high

Integral D*t* Systems stands reJ
performance printers ideally sv
printer, the IDS 460, offers feat

Automatic proportional spacing,
prooesslng systems, plus the cap
resolution of 84 by 84 dots per ,

Paper Tiger 460 Print Sample

resolution graphics option. RS232 and paral-
lel interfaces. And more.

But its most important feature is high relia-
bility. Paper Tiger 460 is designed to be
tough and dependable. It has rugged,
stepper-motor head and paper drives.
A new 300-million-character ballistic-

type print head. And its simple, chassis

mounted cartridge ribbon lasts up to

four times longer than cassette or spool

ribbons.
Paper Tiger 460 is the one printer
that gives your Apple/ TRS-80,* or
other small business computer both
data processing and word process-
ing output. At a price you can afford.
Get your paws on Paper
Tiger 460, and join the tens of
thousands of satisfied Integral
Data Systems users. For the
name of the Paper Tiger dealer
nearest you, call us toll-free:
800-343-6412 (in Massachu-
setts, Alaska, and Hawaii: (61 7)
237-7610). Or, write for com-
plete specifications. Integral
Data Systems, 14 Tech Circle,
Natick, Massachusetts 01 760

Tiger

Integral Data Syslems, Inc.

•Suggested single-unit U S retail price

t Apple is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc

$TRS 80 is a trademark of Radio Shack, a division of Tandy Corp

CIRCLE 246 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Ramblings, cont'd...

Hewlett Packard

HP was showing off its new HP-85
computer and several peripherals. One
rather impressive one was a plotter which
had the ability to plot four colors. This is
not the simultaneous color plotter but one
which allows you to change the pen after it
is finished drawing a line or a portion of a
diagram. The HP-85 is a very impressive
computer; while the screen size is relatively
small, measuring about 4 inches across, it

HP 85 with plotter

78 YR. *58.8O0 MORTGAGE
APR 8 or 12V.

TOTAL * TO
♦ INTEREST
o PRINCIPAL

* 148. 888
*128.888

*ioe. eee

* 88.888

* 68.888

* 48.888

* 28.888

YEARS 3
A portion of printout tape from the HP 85.

has extremely high resolution one color
graphics. These graphics may be repro-
duced on the built-in dot matrix thermal
printer. We've come to expect excellent
design and very high reliability from HP
products and this computer looks like no
exception (watch Creative Computing for
a complete review of it in the near future).

Bally

As noted elsewhere in this issue. Bally
has sprung back into life and resurrected
their computer which they originally called
the Video Arcade now renamed the Bally
Computer System. The price is a modest
$300. Thirteen plug-in ROM modules,
mostly games, are available for the system
at this time. In addition a plug-in module
containing Basic is available and an audio
interface to store programs on a cassette
recorder.

New Software Packages

Texas Instruments

TI announced seven new solid state
software command modules along with six
new software packages on floppy disk or
cassette. The command modules include a
Tax Investment/ Record Keeping pro-
gram. This module automatically totals
assets, liabilities, income and expense
transactions by category and subcategory
for both month and year to date totals. List
price $69.95. The Personal Real Estate
module is designed to give the user
quantitative tools for evaluating personal
real estate investments and provide him
with a better understanding of possible
alternative investments. Areas addressed
include projected income, cash flow,
various types of Financing and depreci-
ation, rate of return and tax calculations.
Price is $69.95.

The third package. "Weight Control
and Nutrition," was developed in con-
junction with Better Homes and Gardens
and provides the user with a healthful
weight control program. It is designed for
homemakers seeking to plan balanced
meals for the entire family. Dietary
guidelines are incorporated to create
menus based on each user's preferences,
nutrient requirements and target calorie
intake. List price is $59.95.

The Music Maker command module
allows the user to arrange notes on a staff
and hear the results played instantly. (We'll
reserve judgement on this one until we've
had it here to evaluate.) List price is $39.95.
Three other game modules are also
available: Soccer, Mind Challengers (yet
another version of Simon and Concentra-
tion) and Hunt the Wumpus (ripped off
from PCC and/or Creative Computing.
Perhaps we should feel honored to be
ripped by the big guys. Radio Shack and
Atari both sell my Hammurabi program
without a single line changed for their
computers and now TI is selling Gregory
Yob's Hunt the Wumpus Program for the
99/4. Why don't we sue? Because it would
take far more resources and money to
institute a suit than we could possibly
expect in a settlement, although one of
these days somebody is going to cross over
that line and we are going to take some
action).

Floppy disk and cassette based
software for the 99/4 includes a mailing list
program which helps alphabetize, or-
ganize, index, retrieve, install all sorts of
information from names, addresses and
phone numbers to club rosters, Christmas
card lists and more. Available on disk only,
the price for this program is $69.95.

TI W 4 with new floppy disk and printer.

TI-trek is another version of Star
Trek, again first published as Super Star
Trek in Creative Computing some four
years ago. Price for. this disk is $14.95.
Other tapes and disks include personal
finance aids, programming aids and a
math programming library.

Personal Software

Although we had seen the Atari
version just a few weeks before, we had a
little more time to observe "VisiCalc,"
Personal Software's highly respected
package that turns a personal computer

,^SF&n j

VisiCalc shown running on a Pet and Atari 800.

display into an interactive electronic
workshop. Shown here at CES were
versions that run on the Commodore PET
and Atari 800 (for a complete review, see
the August 1980 issue of Creative Com-
puting).

Compucolor

Compucolor introduced a family of
software packages, "Execugraph" for the
Compucolor III (32K model only). These
programs are designed to provide color
graphic displays of data in addition to the
usual tabular printout that is normally
associated with management information.
This system can be used to conduct
analyses of sales, inventory, production,
expenses and a variety of other data-
intensive functions. The Execugraph
programs allow the creation of bar charts,
line charts, scatter graphs and filled line or
area graphs utilizing the information
already existing in the user's data files. The
scaling of graphs is completely automatic
while rescaling and color changes are
facilitated by simple user commands.

Execugraph also includes statistical
, tools for forecasting and data analysis.
These tools include trend line forecasting,
exponential smoothing, simple linear
regressions, moving averages, compound
growth calculations and six other analyses.

CREATIVE COMPUTING

1183-308 p — Trouble-
shooting Microprocessors

and Digits) Logic ($12 95)

An Extraordinary Offer to introduce you to the benefits of Membership in

ELECTRONICS BOOK CLUB

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DICTIOMARY ,
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utters ($19 95)

MASTER TUBE; O*^
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^=^

Facts About Club Membership

• lhe 6 introductory books ot your choice carry publishers retail
prices ot up to $105 70. They are yours tor only 12 95 tor all 6
(plus po'.taje/hanOiinj) mith your Trial Membership

• You anil teceive the Club Km. describmj the current Selec-
tions Alternates and other books every 4 weeks (I3i a yea')

• II you want the Selection do nothinj it will be sent to you
automatically II you do not wish to receive the Selection, or if you
want to order one ot the many Alternates ottered, you simply give
instructions on the reply form (and in the envelope) provided,
and return it to us by the date specified This date allows you at
least 10 days in which to return the form If. because ot late mail
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receive an unwanted Selection, you may return it at Club ei
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To complete your Trial Membership you need buy only lour
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asss. --t j egg*

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of Magnetic Recording ($15 95)

May we send you your choice ot 6 ol these practical
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usual offer of a Trial Membership ui Klei trunks Book
Club?

Here are quality hardbound volumes, each espe-
cially designed to help you nu lease your know-how.
earning power, and enjoy merit of electronics. What-
ever your interest in electronics, you'll find Klec-
trollies Book Club offers practical, quality books that
you can put to immediate use and benefit.

This extraordinary offer is intended to prove to
you through your own experience, that these very
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In start your Membership on these attractive
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ELECTRONICS BOOK CLUB. Blue Ridge Summit. Pa 17214 ■
CIRCLE 191 ON READER SERVICE CARD

ELECTRONICS BOOK CLUB

Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. 17214

Please open my Trial Membership in ELECTRONICS
BOOK CLUB and send me the 6 books circled below. I
understand the cost of the books I have selected is
only $2.95 tor all 6. plus a small shipping charge. If
not delighted. I may return the books within 1 days
and owe nothing, and have my Trial Membership
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Gamblings, cont'd...

APF Electronics

APF released a Basic tutor program
at CES. This cassette is a self-paced step-
by-step hands-on technique for learning
how to program in Basic. The program
provides instant feedback with its input
monitoring system that tells the user when
a mistake was made and why. The program
guides new users in developing personal
programs, learning the language and
expanding their knowledge of key words.
The Basic tutor has an accompanying text
with six chapters containing twenty-two
lessons which instruct in computer
language, art and music. Lessons guide the
user by example and illustrate a working
usable program. List price is $49.95.

Like almost everyone else, APF also
showed a Space Invaders type of game,
"Space Destroyer" for the Imagination
Machine.

APF Imagination Machine playing Space Destroyer.

In addition, APF showed several
prototype add-on modules for the
Imagination Machine. The first, the
"Building Block," provides both serial and
parallel ports to other peripherals. A 40
column thermal printer is able to be
plugged into the Building Block and prints
two lines per second. A dual minifloppy
disk provides up to 72,000 bits of storage
capacity per disk. The Building Block
includes a cartridge with a standard
RS-232 port that can be used to drive a
printer or modem. It has 8 baud rates
selectable from 1 10 to 9600. The Building
Block also has a way of adding additional
memory (in 8K increments) to the
Imagination Machine. Total price of the
Imagination Machine, expansion box and
floppy disk will run around $1000. The last
peripheral, a modem, allows the Imagina-
tion Machine to talk to other computers or
access other data bases.

Marty Lipper of APF indicated that
they would be bringing out some business
oriented packages for the Imagination
Machine. I questioned him about this
strategy since with the Imagination
Machine largely positioned as a game
playing entertainment system, it seemed

incongruous to bring out inventory,
payroll and other business packages.
Marty countered by saying that for many
small businessmen the cost of $2000 on up
for a computer system was prohibitive and
that a machine with floppy disk for a $1000
would be more attractive and could do
some business functions. Given APPs
position in the business calculator market,
they may be able to pull this off.
Personally, I have my doubts.

Video Products

As long time readers of Creative
Computing know, we are quite excited
about the advent of the video disk and
its tremendous potential for storing
large data bases and making them
available at very low prices. We've been
leaning toward the Phillips/ MCA
Optical Disk System. Since it stores its
information in a binary format, it seems
more suitable for storing computer
software. Now two companies, Magnavox
and Pioneer, are both selling versions of
the Phillips-developed optical disk player.
Apparently the Atlanta and Seattle test
markets were quite successful, so Magna-
vox is now rolling the model DH8000
Video Disk player out in some 18 addi-
tional markets. In addition, Pioneer is
scheduled to deliver its version of the
optical system in four more markets.
Phillips is also supported by such
corporate behemoths as IBM, which
together with MCA has formed Disco
Vision Associates, a software production
venture set up to support optical player
marketing. So far no computer software
has been released but clearly with IBM in
the venture, that can't be far behind. The
Magnavox player lists for $775 and the
Pioneer for $749.

What we are not at all pleased about is
seeing yet a third disk format introduced at
CES by Matsushita. What this is leading to
is a titanic three way battle that will almost
surely see at least one format dropped or
brought into compatibility with another.
So far the contenders are: the Phillips
system (being marketed by Magnavox and
Pioneer); the RCA system, which provides
actual physical contact between the stylus
and rapidly rotating disk but promises a
lower player price in the $500 range; and
Matsushita, with its DHD system which

will be marketed in the US by Panasonic
and Quasar. No matter how you cut it, this
means that entire market will develop
somewhat more slowly than if all the
manufacturers had agreed early upon
a single standard.

Radofin of London and Hong Kong
was showing an operational Viewdata
decoder which was connected by an
overseas telephone circuit to the data
bank in England. This system is essentially
a multi-purpose controller which allows
the recovery of data from a video signal
broadcast over standard or cable broad-

Radofin Viewdata decoder unit.

cast waves, storage of it in a cassette
recorder, floppy disk or processing of it by
microprocessor with input from a key-
board or modem and output to other
subsystems, a display printer or telephone
modem.

Sanyo was showing a prototype
electronic color picture processor. This
device premits handwriting in sixteen
colors on a large CRT screen using a light
pen in combination with a TV and
microcomputer. The system had sixteen

Sanyo** prototype electronic color picture processor.

color selections, resolution of 512 points
horizontally and 192 vertically. Three
different paint brushes varying from 2
pixels in width to 32 pixels in width are
possible. The microprocessor is an 8085
with 384K bits of video memory. The
display was a 26 inch color TV set. The
entire unit responded at a considerably
much higher rate of speed than we are used
to seeing on this type of device. Virtually as
fast as you could draw the figure, be it
intricate or simple, it appeared on the TV
screen. Sanyo is not marketing this device
at present and it looks to be one to two
years away from the commercial market. C

CREATIVE COMPUTING

\C ox S

^fcs^JI

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.--•" r ^

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What do you need?

Program listings . . . inventory listings . . .
custom logos and letters . . . mailing labels in a
multitude of sizes . . . custom forms and the data
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graphs . . . digitized images from video or bit
pads . . . multi-part forms . . . preprinted forms
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How do we do it?

High speed bi-directional full logic printing; two
standard character sets, upper/lower case
with descenders; high speed font at 165 cps;
letter quality font at 90 cps; expanded
characters, solid underlining; programmable
character sets; complete dot control graphics;
adjustable tractor feed 3"-16": user adjustable
platen; programmable tabs, forms length and
line spacing; out of paper signal; self-test;
interface options — RS-232C, Centronics
parallel, Apple, S-100; and the list goes on . . .

The Malibu Model 165

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a subsidiary of DBtametrlcs C LMpuf Uon

SEPTEMBER 1980

CIRCLE 147 ON READER SERVICE CARD
35

Another View...

Consumer Electronics Show

Betsy Staples

Talking computers, pocket com-
puters, pocket stereo, mini components,
macro radios and Alvin Toffler were some
of the memorable elements of the Con-
sumer Electronics Show in June.

As usual, the sights and sounds of the
exhibits on the show floor were over-
whelming. As we made our way syste-
matically through the booths — up one
aisle and down the next — we took note of
the several new products of interest to
personal computing enthusiasts from
APFs disk drives for the Imagination
Machine to the Panasonic pocket com-
puter and the modem which turns the
Lexicon LK-3000 language translator into
a terminal to the tiny Sinclair computer
from England.

Atari Presents Toffler

Sunday evening we were guests of
Atari at a lovely reception in the Drake
Hotel. Following a presentation describing
the Atari line of computers, video games
and software, the hosts for the evening
announced that there would be a Space
Invaders tournament held after the
presentation. They promised prizes for
both the high and low scorers.

The winner was a video game buff
who achieved a moderately impressive
score somewhere in the 1600's. The low
scorer was none other than a representa-
tive from Creative Computing. My 12 was
completely legitimate, and I'm still waiting
for my roll of quarters to be delivered.

The high point of the evening,
however, was an address by Alvin Toffler.
He spoke for over an hour, reiterating the
points from his latest book. The Third
Wave, which he felt were of greatest
interest to those involved with personal
computing.

He first explained his concept of
"demassification." The Industrial Revolu-
tion, he says, produced "the second great
wave of change" by creating a society
based on mass production — mass
consumption, mass education, mass
entertainment and mass communication.
"Today we are seeing a fantastic change of
direction away from the mass society
produced by the second wave of change to
a demassified society created by a third
great wave of historic change." He
provided several supporting examples,
including the decline of the nuclear family

and the coming in its place of "new family
systems in which there are childless
couples, people living solo, single parent
types and a whole wide variety of other
structures."

Toffler views television, video games
and home computers as the "beginning of a
shift toward an active involvement with the
screen rather than a passive involvement;
and all of this is but a step toward the
emergence of an 'electronic cottage.' The
future convergence of video, computing
and telecommunications will lead not
merely to entertainment, but directly into
work. We will see an increasing shift of
work into the home."

The fact that most people in the
American work force today are involved in
manipulating symbols rather than pro-
ducing physical goods, and the high cost of
gasoline, Toffler feels, will combine to
create "strong economic pressures to move
a certain amount of work out of the
factory/ office and into the home." He
believes "we will see homes in which
husbands and wives work together —
homes in which children may be drawn
into the work process," in which old people
could contribute to the productivity of
society.

Toffler suggests that the country set a
goal for 1990 to see 20% of all jobs in the
home and a reduction by 20% simultane-
ously "of all the pollution, waste, misery
and energy use built into the old and no
longer viable system — a small and
realizable goal with, in fact, revolutionary
potential for this society. Such a change,"
he promises, "would help us humanize
America as we go into the third wave of
civilization."

Take a Computer to Atlantic City

Our second evening's entertainment
was provided not by a famous author, but
by an almost equally loquacious computer.
Ohio Scientific invited us to meet the new
C8P HD home and personal computer
system. In addition to its ability to control
lights and appliances in the home, monitor
security and detect fire, smoke and water in
the basement, the C8P HD can play
Blackjack and edit letters via spoken
commands.

Using a hard disk to store the phonetic
representations of 3500 common short
English words, the system can also

Alvin Toffler.

reference an algorithm first developed by
the U.S. Naval Labs for the phonetic
generation of longer words by rules. Thus,
it can pronounce any word in the English
language in real time from its conventional
spelling. Being from Ohio, however, it
tends to favor midwestern pronunciations.

The computer can also recognize
words spoken by the user. It must first be
trained using a method similar to the
popular audio-lingual method of foreign
language teaching: the user repeats into the
microphone, a minimum of three times,
the word he or she wants the computer to
recognize. The machine can be trained to
recognize up to 100 distinct words in this
manner.

In the Blackjack program, the player
may place a bet by speaking into the
microphone, then, after examining his
cards, tell the computer/ dealer that he
wants to "stay," or be dealt another card —
"hit." At the end of the hand, the C8P HD
announces the score and asks if the player
wants to try again.

Small is Smarter

In one of the most important non-
computer-related products represented at
CES, there appeared to be two contra-
dictory trends evolving. Almost all of the
manufacturers of stereo equipment were
showing "mini" or "micro" components —
some just miniatures for inconspicuous
home use, others complete, portable
systems that were no bigger than a
breadbox, including speakers.

On the other hand, there were also
many new, larger amplifiers and speakers
capable of handling upwards of 100 watts
per channel. "Whatever for?" we won-
dered. "More noise pollution," we decided.

In keeping with the trend toward
tinyness, were several pocket-sized radios
attached to tiny, lightweight stereo
headphones. Would that more people
would take advantage of this opportunity
to protect their own privacy and that of
others rather than derive their entertain-
ment from the monstrous "portable"
radios (also on display in profusion) that
have begun to appear everywhere to
assault the ears of even the most enthusi-
astic music lover. □

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Reaching Towards Tomorrow

Tales of the Marvelous Machine:

35 Stories of Computing

A robor friend. A computer God. Artificiol intelligence challenging human intelligence in a life
and death struggle. A detective solving a computer murder. Computers tricking people or
people tricking people with computers. A computer with o soul. Or power. A lonely computer.
Or one in love with its operator.

In thirty-five wonderful stories about computers, authors such as Frederick Pohl, Charles
Mosmonn, M.V. Mathews, Carol Cail, and George Chesbro depict a life in which computers affect
the way people live, think, and relate to each other. Interested in what the effect of computer
saturation might be? Only fiction con so wonderously dramatize future life.

The book is fun, and will provide wonderful hours of entertainment. For the reoder interested
in a structured approach to understanding the potential roles of the computer, or wanting quickly
to locate stories that support or challenge his viewpoint, o multiple table of contents is
provided. This lists the stories in fourteen different categories.

For example, a list of stories in which the computer takes on the attributes of a human
separates them from those in which the computer is only on intelligent machine. The stories are
categorized by whether they clarify, improve, or worsen the human lot. Stories in which the
computers have capabilities available today ore separated from those in which the capabilities
could be available in the future. There is a listing of the wildly whimsical stories ond those in
which the computer is utilized in a unique fashion.

Can criminals be caught by computer? Does computer aime pay? Do computers foil in love?
Are we all port of a larger organic computer? Here are 35 tantalizing tales that will open your
eyes to a new perspective of computers.

Skillfully drawn illustrations ougment the stories, giving glimpses of scenes as envisioned
by 20 talented artists. This artwork odds another dimension to the text.

ydL Tales of the Marvelous Machine: 35 Stories of Computing, edited by Robert Taylor and
SbP^^v Durchenol Green, is o beouriful big 8V2" * 1 1 " sofrbound anthology of 272 pages.

Ie^V It is available for $7.95 plus $2.00 shipping ond handling per order from
^HffV Creative Computing, PO; Box 789-M, Morrisrown, NJ 07960. NJ residents add
^L \ 5% sales tax. Visa, MasterCard and American Express orders are welcome.
^^ For foster service, call in your bank card order roll free to 600-631 -61 1 2
m\ ( in NJ coll 201 -540-0445). Or use the handy order form bound into this magazine.

WL CIRCLE 350 ON READER SERVICE CARD ^^^A

^^fl^ creative computing press

Where are they now?

Bally, Interact and VideoBrain

Three computers were introduced in
late 1977 that were truly aimed at the
consumer market, the Bally Arcade,
Interact Models I to 4 and VideoBrain. All
were capable little machines but none quite
made it in the marketplace. The reasons
are many — distribution, dealer training,
advertising, limited software, etc.

Today, however, we continue to get
letters from owners of these systems
looking for documentation, software,
other users and help in general. Here's
what we know. It isn't everything. We'd be
happy to have some of the missing pieces
filled in by readers.

Bally

The Bally Arcade, renamed later the
Bally Computer, was originally sold by
JS&A. It was plagued at the beginning
with severe delivery delays and lack of
support. Eventually Bally got their act
together and started delivering reliable
machines.

Unfortunately, about this same time
Bally was hit with some major cash
requirements for construction of their
casino in Atlantic City among other things.
As a result. Bally decided to sell the
computer division to Fidelity Electronics
(makers of Chess Challenger and other
high-end electronic games). Many Bally
distributors and dealers were opposed
because Fidelity had a reputation for
dealing direct instead of using distributors

David H. Ahl

and dealers. Consequently, a group of
distributors got together and made a
counter offer.

The net result was that neither deal
was consummated and Bally decided to re-
activate the computer division themselves.
At the 1980 Summer CES, Bally was
showing the basic computer with several
new -ROM cartridges of games. The old
cassette interface never worked reliably —
we had three and never were able to read
programs from other systems. It is to be
hoped that the current model has the bugs
out. Without it, of course, there is no way
to exchange programs except by means of
typed or handwritten listings.

A Bally club was active for about a
year, but is not active now as far as we can
determine.

We are glad to see Bally back in the
market since they produce a very nice
machine with lots of graphics and sound
goodies at a very attractive price (S299.9S).
For more information, contact S-W
Distributors, Inc., 5300 B McDermott
Drive, Berkeley, IL60163.(3I2)449-5000.

Interact

A few short months after going into
production with three new models,
Interact bit the dust. We found the Interact
to be a capable machine with 16K memory,
cassette drive, color graphics and sound
built-in. We understand that many dealers
are selling systems today with deep
discounts from the $549 (and up) list price.

There is an active Interact owners
group with a regular newsletter. Member-
ship is $10.00. For a sample newsletter
send a 15c stamp to INTERACTION,
Detroit Interact Group, 15356 Prevost,
Detroit. Ml 48227.

VideoBrain

Perhaps the most innovative of the
three machines with its API. S language,
VideoBrain failed the most decisively.
VideoBrain computers are currently being
remaindered at $150 and less. For the
hardware, this is a real bargain; however,
virtually no technical documentation is
available as far as we can determine. Nor
are there any active clubs which focus on
VideoBrain.

VideoBrain had perhaps the finest
joysticks in the industry. These are being
sold today under the name VideoStik for
around $40 a pair.

If anyone has any further information
about these or other similar companies,
we'd be happy to hear from you. □

CREATIVE COMPUTING

The biggest and best computer show ever to be in the
Chicago area is ready to take place. Make sure you
take it in.
Over $50 million worth of software and hardware for
business, government, home and personal use will
be featured at the new Mid-West Computer
Show in October. Computers from $150 to
$250,000, mini and micro computers, data-
and word-processing equipment, tele-
communications, office machines, periph-
eral equipment and services will all be on
display and for sale right on the spot.
All the major names like IBM, Xerox,
Radio Shack and Apple will be there. There
will be conferences on business uses of
small to medium sized computers, and how
to make purchasing evaluations.
Plus, robots, computerized video games,
computer art and computer music will enter-
tain and educate kids, spouses and people
who don't know a program from a memory disk.

It's going to be a great show for everyone.
Admission for adults is only $5. The public is
invited, and no pre-registration is necessary.
Don't miss the coming of the computers. Show up for the show.

CHICAGO

Mccormick place, thursday-sunday, October 16-19

11 A.M. TO 9 P.M. THURS.-SAT, 11 A.M. TO 5 P.M. SUN.

m mm —

Produced by National Computer Shows. 824 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill. MA 02167. Telephone (617) 739-2000

SEPTEMBER 1980

The World Inside
The Computer

S. Frederick D'lgnazio

. . . if you can program your computer,
here is a liny universe in which you can
be God. Within the realms of expres-
sion that the computer can provide, you
can build a world, define its laws, and
watch the universe unfold. As your
whim dictates, you can intervene at any
time and. if you desire, the history of
your universe can be changed or
rewritten at will. Such a paper this isf*

Kids use personal computers to play
games. What are these games? Often, they
are simulations or models. In creating
computer games, kids are learning to build
miniature replicas of the universe —
models of the real world and worlds of
fantasy woven from the threads of pure
imagination. As personal-computer tech-
nology evolves, and as the child becomes a
more knowledgeable and sophisticated
model-builder, his or her models will
become increasingly lifelife. dramatic and
enchanting. Volcanoes will roar, thunder
and belch black plumes of ash and smoke.
Fire-breathing dragons will appear un-
expectedly along dark and slimy, maze-
like corridors. Heroes and heroines will
arrive on the scene, accompanied by the
child's personally composed epic music.

Consider for a moment, the youngest
children — the preschoolers and the
primary-school kids. These children are to
be envied. Their inquisitive minds, their
natural inventiveness, and their unbridled
imaginations are perfectly suited for the
personal-computer devices — "the mind
tools" — that lie just around the corner.

•Gregory Yob. "The Computer as a Gun: Personal
Computers and Personal Autonomy." NCC 79
Personal Computing Proceedings. New York:
American Federation of Information Processing
Societies (AFIPS). p.9. 1979.

S. Frederick D'lgruwio, 730 Williams Circle. Chapel

Hill. NC 27514.

Stan Gilliam (left) and Fred D'lgna/m (right) watch Fred's four-year-old
daughter. Catic. type messages to Ged. the family's home computer. (Photo by
Harold Moore. Durham Morning Herald.)

The question arises: "How should we
introduce the computer to these kids?"
Certainly we should abandon the ap-
proach followed in the past. At that time
computers were often pictured as rows of
boxes connected by skinny lines and
arrows. To the young child the computer

As the child becomes a
more knowledgeable and
sophisticated model-
builder, his or her models
will become increasingly
lifelike, dramatic and
enchanting.

was a curious hodgepodge of memory
boxes, processor boxes, input boxes, and
output boxes.

Then, with theory out of the way, the
child was shown pictures of a real
computer: stark, black-and-white photo-
graphs of hulking, whooshing tape drives,
squat card readers laden with stacks of
punch cards, and huge switchboard panels
teeming with tiny blinking lights. And who
did the child see working with these
machines? Solemn, silent people servicing
the machines, feeding them and communi-
cating with them. Everyone was well-

dressed. It was a lot like church.

Obviously, a new approach is needed
to introduce the new, personal computers
to the youngest children. Of course, within
only a few years, this will cease to be an
issue at all. Then, home computers will be
so common, that even the youngest child
will first learn about computers by
watching his or her mom and dad or older
brother or sister. Shortly after, she, too,
will be talking and listening to the
computer, making it play musical tones,
and painting pretty pictures on the
computer screen with her light "brush."

But for now, an alternative approach
is needed. One method has been recently
tried and been proven effective, and I'd like
to briefly describe it to you. This method
consists of introducing computers to
young children using my picturebook,
Katie and the Computer. The book is a
fantasy adventure story, but one with an
important twist: each episode in the story
parallels the functions of a real computer
as it processes a real program. The
program itself isn't an "adult" program,
producing business-like and adult results.
Instead it is a FLOWER program that
produces something interesting for the
child: a pretty picture and an attention-
grabbing sound.

Introducing computers to children via
an adventure story accomplishes many
objectives. First, it captures children's

CREATIVE COMPUTING

interest. And, in becoming interested, the
children identify with and become per-
sonally involved with the adventures of the
heroine in the story as she journeys
through the computer. Second, it estab-
lishes an important connection between
computers and drama, color, imagination,
action and excitement. And last, unob-
trusively, yet deeply and effectively, the
adventure story familiarizes the child with
the key words associated with computer
components and with the major processes
occurring within a computer. The com-
ponents are metaphorically realized as
landmarks in Cybernia. the world inside
the computer. The processes appear as
episodes in the story.

Kids, Meet Katie And The Computer!

Katie's father was waiting for her
when she got out of school. He was very
excited. "Katie." he said, "our com-
puter came!"

"Oh, boy!" said Katie. "Can I play
with it?"

"Sure. " said her father, and they
rushed home.

Katie and her dad arrive home. Her
dad types the word, "PARROT," on the
computer, and a bright green parrot
appears on the screen and says,
"SQUAWWK!"

Katie wants to make something, too.
Her father has her type the word,
"FLOWER," to make a picture of a flower.

As Katie typed "flower." she
leaned closer and closer and closer to
the picture screen. Then she lost her
balance and fell forward. But instead of
bumping her nose on the glass, she went
right through it and began spinning and
falling, just as if she'd tumbled off the
top of a tall mountain.

So begins Katie's adventure with her
magical computer. On her whirlwind trip
through the world of Cybernia inside the
computer, Katie bobsleds down the
vertical face of a mountain, parachutes
from an airplane, slides down a slippery
brass pole, gets fired from a cannon, and

Fred tells the story of Katie and the Computer to
children at the Estes Elementary School in Chapel Hill,
North Carolina. Here he plays the part of the software
Colonel as he. Katie and the Flower Bytes bobsled
down a snow-covered mountain inside the computer.
"Let's go now!" hollers the Colonel. "We're overdue at
the CPU!" (Photo: Danny Moore. Chapel Hill
Newspaper.)

The Origin Of Katie & The Computer

Catie's nose banged into the computer picture screen. "WAAHHH!" she howled.

I leaned forward, grabbed her under the arms, and took her into the kitchen to her
mother. "She's done it again," I complained. "Bounced forward on my lap, right into the
computer. She keeps this up, and she's going to break her nose on the screen."

"Or maybe go right through," my wife mused.

"Go right through!? And get tangled up in wires or get a blast from a hot cathode?"

"Not at all," Janet said, smiling. She wiped away our daughter's tears. "Catie
wouldn't find wires or cathodes. She'd find adventure and zany characters, just like
Alice did when she fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Only this wouldn't just be
a "land," it would be a whole world, a world inside the computer."

Janet loves children's books. It was just like her, taking something complicated and
technical, like a computer, and turning it into a fairy tale. "But once Catie fell into the
computer, how would she get out?" I asked.

"You're so anxious to write a children's book," Janet said. "Here's your chance.
Write about Catie's adventures in the world inside the computer, and use those
adventures to teach little kids how a computer really works."

"But I still don't know how she gets out," I said. 1 imagined a bizarre scene in which
Janet and I used cranes and pulleys to rescue two-year-old Catie from the electronic
bowels of the computer.

"You'll think of something." she said.

And she was right. We were on the interstate just outside South Hill, Virginia, in
the middle of a long trip back from Pennsylvania. Caught between the monotonous
boredom of the road and hyped up on coffee, I began seeing an animated cartoon of
"Catie and the Computer" right inside my head.

I pulled off the road and drove up to a Pizza Hut. "I'm starving," I said. "And,
besides, I've got to write this down."

Without explaining, I hopped out of the car and dashed into the restaurant. When
Janet and Catie walked in, a moment later, 1 had already accumulated a stack of paper
napkins, and I was busily scribbling — blotting blue marker and tearing the paper, but
capturing the story as it flowed from my brain.

When we left the restaurant, I carried my precious napkins with me in a tight little
wad. We finished our drive back home to Chapel Hill. The next day I called my friend
Stan Gilliam, a local artist. Stan and I had gotten together several times trying to figure
out a kid's picturebook we might collaborate on. "I think I've got an idea," I told Stan. I
rushed out to his place, a tiny log cabin, nestled against a forested hillside south of town.

When I got to Stan's I began telling him the story. I stood up, paced around the
room, and gestured wildly as I talked. We both became excited. Stan reached for his
drawing pad. Swiftly, nimbly, he began sketching scenes from the book as I described
them. "Here's the Colonel," he said, "and Catie, and the mean and awful Bug."

I had never worked with an artist before. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was like
magic. My words were being turned into pictures, even as I talked. This is going to work,
I thought. We've got ourselves a book!

Well, not quite. First. I had to write the words down. (Up until then, all I had were
scribbled notes on an untidy stack of Pizza Hut napkins.) Second, Stan and I began
endlessly revising the pictures and the words, to get them to work together
harmoniously and dramatically.

We attended an evening course on children's literature and presented our story to
the class on its final meeting. I told the story in spite of a bad case of laryngitis. And a
sudden downpour threatened to wash away Stan's watercolor illustrations as he pulled
them out of the trunk of his car and made a frantic dash to our instructor's front porch.

While we revised our words and pictures and attended our course, Stan and I
conducted a literature search for other children's picturebooks about computers. After
an exhaustive search, we only managed to turn up two titles in over ten years, and both
books were completely different from ours.

We began sending our proposals: to ten publishers, twenty, forty, eighty, a
hundred. Finally, almost a year after the fateful visit to the South Hill Pizza Hut, and
after three false starts with other publishers, we sold our book to Creative Computing.

Now the real work began. Stan started turning out page after nage of original, full-
color illustrations. Meanwhile, with guidance and help from Burchenal Green, our
editor at Creative. I revised my manuscript another dozen times. I cut out the story's
voluminous descriptive passages and relied on Stan's pictures to visually convey each
scene. I had to throw out most of my big words in order to make it possible for a second
or third grader to read the book herself. And there was the balance to strike between the
book's two main goals: entertainment and education. I had to walk a swaying tightrope
and make the episodes metaphorically parallel the functions of a real computer yet keep
them action-oriented, dramatic and exciting.

SEPTEMBER 1980

World, cont'd.

comes face to face with a monster robot
spider.

She also meets a variety of characters
in Cybernia. There's a fiery Colonel, "a
curious-looking man in a fancy soldier's
uniform." There are the Flower Bytes, each
with a letter from "flower" painted on his
or her uniform. There is the Table
Manager, "a frail, frazzled looking man
with fists full of paper scraps." There are
the Flower Painters "who grab buckets of
gleaming paint" and who "move like
whirlwinds." And there is the "mean and
tricky" program Bug. perhaps the most
memorable character of them all.

What does Katie do inside the
computer? She tries to get the computer to
paint a picture of a flower. Is she
successful? Does the flower get painted?
Does Katie escape from Cybernia and
return to the real world?

Over four thousand children have
"met" Katie and the computer, and have
heard me tell the story through to its
climactic conslusion. The kids' ages range
from 3 to II. I've told the story at a day
care and at a dozen elementary schools.
Over time I've developed three different
approaches to telling the story, depending
upon the age or grade-level of the children.

Inside The Computer It Was Snowing

With the youngest kids (the kids at the
day care and the five- and six-year-olds), I
concentrate on the story as an adventure
rather than as a technological metaphor. I

Who did the child see
working with these ma-
chines? Solemn, silent
people servicing them. It
was a lot like church.

tell the story on my feet, acting out the
pans and adopting voices for each of the
characters. For example, when the Table
Manager talks, he has a quivering, squeaky
falsetto. But when the huge and horrible
Bug appears, my voice deepens into a
gravelly, threatening roar.

As I talk, I pace back and forth in
front of the kids, waving my arms, leaning
from side to side. I try todramatizeeachof
the story's major episodes. In one episode,
the Colonel smacks the Table Manager
with the flat part of his sword to get the
Table Manager's attention. In expressive
pantomime, my arm and my imaginary
sword arc high in the air, then swoop
down. My hand loudly slaps the back
cover of the book, giving the Table
Manager a resounding "SMACK!" on the
bottom.

Later in the story, Katie and the
Flower Painters hop aboard a Cybernian

Finally, the story and illustrations were ready. At the last minute, we changed the
name of our herone from "Catie" to "Katie," to avoid mispronunciation. We persuaded
our editor, Ms. Green, to retain the story's villain, the Bug, who we felt, though scary
and evil, was a dramatic highpoint of the book, and still (on many occasions)
metaphorically accurate. We suffered through endless delays with the book's printer
and binder. But the book was finally ready. On December 20. 1979, on Catie's fourth
birthday, she and I drove up to New York City and jointly autographed the first copy of
Katie and the Computer.

Stan and Krcd reading their picturebook. Kaiit- ami the Computer, to children
at the R V Harris I U.-mcnUr> School in Durham, \orlh Carolina When they
appear together. Krcd usually tells the stor\ and talks about computers, while
Stan describes some of the techniques he used lo create the book's lively, full-color
illustrations. (Photo couriet) ol the Durham Sun.)

Bus and leave RAM Tower, the Flower
Painters' home. Just as the bus begins
rolling, the Colonel arrives and makes a
giant leap onto the bus' tail end. Playing
the part of the Colonel, I back up, then run
forward and jump high into the air. I close
my eyes and make believe I'm Mikhail
Baryshnikov hurtling gracefully across an
opera stage. But like the Colonel landing
on the bus, I come crashing down onto the
schoolroom floor, puff noisily and holler,
"Head to the CPU, then on to the Tube for
some fireworks!"

As I'm telling the story. I punctuate it
with numerous sound effects, just like
those in the book. Katie lands
"FLUMPFF!!" in a bank of feathery
snow. The Flower Bytes' bobsled pulls up
in front of the CPU with a
"SHHHUUUUPPP!" And the cannons
roar "BOOOM!! BAROOOM!!
BOOOM!!" as they "belch colorful
clouds of fire and smoke into the night-
time sky."

Also, I try to get the children to
participate in the story as much as possible.
For example, I point to illustrations in the
book, and have the kids call out:
"R-O-M!!" "C-P-U!!" and "R-A-M!!"
As Katie races through her adventures, I
have the kids constantly spelling out
"flower." And when I reach the part of the

story where the Flower Bytes line up in the
CPU and call out their letters to the Table
Manager. I get six eager volunteers to
stand up. stick out their chests, hold their
heads high, and yell out their letters:
"I-T '"I !" "O!" "W!" "E!" "R!"

At the end of the story (which takes
around twenty minutes to tell), I pop out of
the fantasy and remind the children that
Katie's computer wasn't real, it was magic.
But I make it clear that real computers are
almost magic. I tell the kids about
integrated circuits that keep getting
smaller and smaller. I talk about whole
computers that fit inside a paper clip,
million-byte bubble memories smaller
than a kid's thumbnail. I talk about the
computer's amazing speed — how it can do
thousands, millions and someday billions
of things in a single second. Then I answer
the kids' questions and make sure to get the
kids talking about what computers mean
to them.

The parts of the book that I use with
this youngest group are the story itself, of
course, and the magnified image of the
computer chip that appears at the end of
the book. Also, I tell the kids that a real
computer doesn't have little people
running about; that, instead, the computer
is powered by tiny bursts of electricity
zipping about at a fantastic speed. I show

CREATIVE COMPUTING

the kids the page that says, "MEET THE
FLOWER BYTES." Pointing to the
Flower Bytes, I tell the kids that each byte
is made up of charges of electricity,
whizzing single file along the computer's
wires. I remind the kids how the bytes
themselves, all in a row, bobsledded down
the mountain to the CPU.

Half Magic

The next group of kids are the seven-
and eight-year-olds, kids who are in the
second and third grade. From experience,
I've learned that the book's fact and
fantasy mix together just right for these
kids. They're at the tail end of the
picturebook age, and they still have a great
appreciation for magic and fantasy. Yet
they are old enough to understand the
computer concepts introduced in the book.

I enjoy telling this group about some
of the applications for small computers,
including robots, computer music and
computer "paintbrushes." We talk about
such things as computer animations,
movies and cartoons. I ask the kids what
kinds of movies and cartoons they might
create, what kinds of sound effects they
might use. We talk about composing
theme music and creating computer
graphics for computer games, and about
animating characters on the video "stage."
On occasion. Stan has appeared and
enriched this discussion with the ideas and
techniques he used to illustrate Katie and
the Computer.

With this group, too, 1 begin by telling
the story, complete with characters' voices.

Fred telling the story of Katie ami the Computer to kids
at the Victory Village Day Care in Chapel Hill. North
Carolina. Katie, the Colonel and the Flower Bytes
have just entered the CPU and are trying to locate the
address of the Flower Painters who live in RAM
Tower. Playing the part of the Colonel. Fred smacks
the address Table Manager on the bottom with the flat
part of the sword to get his attention. (Photo by Chip
Hoover.)

bounds, leaps and frantic arm waving.
Also, I often bring along a small computer,
like a PET or an Apple II. After I tell the
story, I open the computer up to show the
kids the electronics inside. But there is a
problem. The element of fantasy becomes
so real for these kids, that when they crowd
around the computer, they want to know
where the characters from the story are —
especially the Bug! "Let's see the robot
spider!" they cry. "Where does he live?"

So I've developed a response, a way to
make a clean break between the real and
fantasy sides of the book. Now, as soon as
I've read the story, I walk over to a table
and grab a chair. "You have just heard a
story about Katie's magic computer," I
begin. "If you want to see a real computer,
go to a shopping mall and visit a Radio
Shack. Radio Shack stores have a
computer known as the TRS-80.

"Let's pretend that I'm in a Radio
Shack right now." I point to an empty spot
right in front of the chair. "Let's say I've
just entered a Radio Shack and walked
over to a TRS-80 computer sitting in front
of this chair. Say I've read the story of
Katie and the Computer, and I want to be

One of the most popular
parts of the presentation
deals with computer-
controlled robots. Kids
love them!

like Katie and somehow get into
Cybernia. the magic world inside the
computer.

"I look all around. I want to be sure no
one is watching. Good. The coast is clear.
Real quietly. I step up onto the chair.
Then, before anyone can stop me, I fold my
hands together, and. like the Table
Manager in the book. 1 dive like an eagle —
right into the TRS-80 computer!"

In the classroom or library, with the
kids' mouths wide open and the teachers
looking amused or perplexed, I crouch
down low on the chair, then spring high
into the air, and come crashing to the floor
with a loud "THUMMPP!!"

I run over to the kids, eyes squinting, a
serious look on my face, and ask, "If I
really did dive into a computer, would I
r-e-a-1-l-y fall inside, just like Katie?"

Usually, I've looked so absurd and
ridiculous that the kids' sense of realism
takes over, and they all cry, "Noooooo!"
"What would really happen?" I ask.
"You'd crash into the glass!"
"You'd break the computer!"
"You'd get all tangled up in the wires!"
One third grader, blessed with a vivid
imagination, had a more elaborate answer:
"You'd fall into the computer, but you'd
blow up and be splattered all over and be
all around. And then you'd be electro-
cuted!"

■v^m

Fred tells Katie's story again at Victory Village. He
plays the part of the Colonel, and the kids pretend to be
Rower Bytes. (Photo by Chip Hoover.)

After that one, I had little worry about
some gullible kid trying to mimic Katie and
jump inside a real computer. At least I
knew I'd never try it.

Binary Numbers, Adventure Games
and Robots

When I tell the story, the most
charming kids are the ones in the first two
groups. They get thoroughly wrapped up
in the fantasy, yet, with a little prompting,
they easily make the leap back to the world
of real computers.

When I talk to the third group, the
kids nine years old and older, things are
different. These kids are past the picture-
book age. and they look at picturebooksas
babyish and beneath them. Also, they're
more skeptical than the younger kids and
more likely to resist the strong element of
fantasy in the story.

The real pleasure I get with the older
kids comes after the story is finished. Then
I can use the entire book as it is meant to be
used: as a teaching aid. I use the factual
section at the end of the book to teach the
kids about computer hardware and
software. 1 use the "Pictorial Outline" in
the front of the book to show the kids how
a real computer would process a
"FLOWER" program and display a color
image of a flower on the picture screen.
And I teach the kids about binary numbers
and computer translation with a scene
where the computer's operating system,
pictured as the blustery, imperious
Colonel, summons the Flower Bytes:

" This is where the Bytes live. " the
Colonel said. "Each Byte has a letter or
number that's all his own. " The Colonel
reached for his bugle. "I use this to
summon the Flower Bytes." he ex-
plained. "It only plays two notes, but I

SEPTEMBER 1980

I^H

i^H

World, cont'd...

can arrange them into a special song for
each Byte. Listen, and you'll see. "

"BLEEETT!" burped the bugle.
"BLAATT! BLEEETT! BLEEETT!
BLEEETT! BLA A TT! BLA A TT!
BLEEETT!"

I nip to the page called "MEET THE
FLOWER BYTES." As the book does, I
tell the kids about high and low electric
charges and how a "BLATT!" from the
Colonel's bugle means a high charge or a
one, and a "BLEEETT!! means a low
charge or a zero. I stand at attention, like
the Colonel, and begin loudly blowing my
imaginary bugle. I play a special song for
each Flower Byte. At the end of each song,
I get the kids to use the A SCI I tabic in the
book (illustrated with cartoon pictures of
each Byte), and tell me which Byte's song I
just played.

1 especially like telling the older kids
about adventure games. We get into a
discussion of model-building and simula-
tion — of real worlds and worlds of
fantasy. When I have time, I mix com-
puters and creative writing. First, I have
each child write up the script for a simple
adventure game. Second, we read the
scripts out loud. Last, we discuss how the
games might be implemented on the
computer, and we try to come up with
enhancements to make the games more
exciting.

One of the most popular parts of my
presentation deals with computer-con-
trolled robots. Kids love them! A lot of
articles have recently appeared in kids'
periodicals about young inventors who are
building robots in their folks' basement
workshops, in their bedrooms, even in
their apartment-house kitchens.

At the beginning of the discussion, I

Instead of little people
running about, the com-
puter is powered by tiny
bursts of electricity zip-
ping about at a fantastic
speed.

make up an imaginary robot whom I call
Humphrey. Humphrey looks like a cross
between a lawn mower and a garbage
disposal, but he's a lot smarter: he can beat
me at backgammon and chess, he's great at
bluffing, and he has an endless repertoire
of wisecracks and one-liners.

What's more, he's pretty silly. And
using Humphrey's silliness to lighten the
discussion, I introduce several basic
computer concepts and techniques, in-
cluding programs, bugs, loops and
recursion. For example, I turn to the page
in the book where the Bug lassoes Katie

and the Colonel's yellow airplane with his
sticky bubblegum rope. Katie and the
Colonel hang on for dear life as the
monster swings their little plane round and
round in a loop, "like a merry-go-round
gone crazy."

I tell the kids about bugs and loops in
real computer programs, then I describe a
short LOGO Turtle program:*

TO LOOP :SIDE :ANGLE

10 FORWARD :SIDE

20 RIGHT :ANGLE

30 LOOP :SIDE :ANGLE

END

Together, the kids and I work through
the program and "discover" that it makes
Humphrey go around in a circle (or loop).
We talk about how the program works and
about loops and recursion. Then I play the
part of Humphrey executing the program
— with input values of 10 centimeters for
SIDE and 15 degrees for ANGLE. I goose-
step swiftly through one loop, then
another, and another, and another. After
awhile I become so dizzy and uncoordi-

Again at Victory Village Day Care. Here Katie and the
Colonel fly a little yellow airplane to RAM Tower to
meet the Flower Painters. Unknown to either one. the
mean and tricky program Bug lurks around the corner.
(Photo by Chip Hoover.)

nated that I collapse in a heap in front of
the giggling teachers and kids.

In talking about programming, 1 like
to touch on the computer's literal-
mindedness: How a computer only does
what you tell it — nothing more and
nothing less. How you may not know
exactly what you told it. And how this
produces results that are sometimes
humorous, sometimes alarming, but

•This example was inspired by Turtle robot "Micro-
World" programs. The programs, written in LOGO,
were found in Ellen C. Hildreth. "The Creation of
Design: An Exploration in Art. Mathematics, and
Creativity." Cambridge. Mass.: LOCO Project.
September 1977.

always unpredictable.

I talk about bugs and how they creep
into programs unexpectedly. I illustrate
this problem with another performance
from Humphrey. This time Humphrey's
mischievous young inventor programs him
to play a prank on his big sister. Humphrey
is to go barging through the bathroom
door, unannounced and uninvited, and
surprise the kid's big sister in the middle of
her bubble bath.

Unfortunately for the kid (and his big
sister), there is a bug in Humphrey's
program. The kid told Humphrey to do
only one thing: go FORWARD :SIDE.
But he set SIDE equal to four meters, and
it is only Vh meters to the bath tub.
Humphrey enters the bathroom. Accom-
panied by horrified shrieks from big sister,
he paces forward four meters, bangs into
the tub, and does a front flip, landing on

I had little worry about
some gullible kid trying
to mimic Katie and jump
inside a real computer.

big sister's lap and burying himself in pink
bubbles.

I'm not sure the teachers appreciate
this example, but the kids love it. It always
provokes an animated discussion about
robots, programs, bugs and big sisters in
bathtubs.

Springboard To The Future

Katie and the Computer is a picture-
book adventure that acts as a powerful aid
in introducing computers to young people
of widely varying ages. The book's color,
action and exciting story have served to
stimulate children's interest and imagina-
tion, making the factual discussion
following the story lively and productive.

Admittedly, the story is a fantasy
based on magic. But consider the remark-
able fantasies children are already spinning
on small computers. Consider, too, the
fabulous pace at which computer tech-
nology is advancing. In this light, Katie
and the Computer can be seen as a spring-
board to a real future that is waiting only
for kids and small computers to grow up —
together! J)

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for your child

Katie and the Computer

Fred D'lgnazio and Stan Gilliam have
created a delightful picture book adven-
ture that explains how a computer works
to a child. Katie "falls" into the imaginary
land of Cybernia inside her Daddy's home
computer. Her journey parallels the path
of a simple command through the stages
of processing in a computer, thus
explaining the fundamentals of computer
operation to 4 to 10 year olds. Supple-
mental explanatory information on com-
puters, bytes, hardware and software is
the front and back end

contained
papers

Thrill with yourchidren as they join the
Flower Bytes on a bobsled race to the
CPU. Share Katie's excitement as she
encounters the multi-legged and mean
Bug who lassoes her plane and spins her
into a terrifying loop. Laugh at the
madcap race she takes with the Flower
Painters by bus to the CRT.

"Towards a higher goal, the book
teaches the rewards of absorbing the
carefully-written word and anticipating
the next page with enthusiasm..."

The Leader

"Children might not suspect at first
there's a method to all this madness— a
lesson about how computers work. It
does its job well."

The Charlotte Observer

"...the book is both entertaining and
educational."

Infosystems

The book has received wide acclaim
and rave reviews. A few comments are:

"Lively cartoon characters guide read-
ers through the inner chamber of the
computer."

School Library Journal

"...an imaginative and beautifully con-
ceived children's story that introduces
two characters— the Colonel and the
Bug — who already seem to have been
classic children's story book characters
for generations."

The Chapel Hill Newspaper

Written by Fred D'lgnazio and illustrat-
ed in full color by Stan Gilliam. 42 pages,
casebound, $6.95. (12A)

A t-shlrt with the Program Bug is
available in a deep purple design on a
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Children's size S, M, L. $5.00.

To order, send a check for books plus $2 00 shipping and handling per order to Creative Computing , P.O. Box 789-M, Morrlstown, NJ 07960. NJ residents add 5%
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201-540-0445). Or use the handy order form bound Into this magazine.

Educational uses of computers often
fall into authoritarian styles of opera-
tion, but it's quite another story at a
school that may have the most com-
puters per student in the world. — TN

Photographs by Erik Nelson.

High Valley is a small private tutorial
school in rural Dutchess County, New
York, founded in the 1940s by Olga and
Julian Smyth.

High Valley is an old farm, and our
school buildings are old farm buildings.
Our students have animals to take care of
and a great deal of space (almost 1 20 acres)
to explore.

The main features of High Valley
which distinguish it from other schools are
as apparent to the eye of the casual visitor
as to those of us who know it best. It does
not look like a school. An old farmhouse is
our center, and the old barns and other
outbuildings of the farm have been
converted to form inviting classrooms.

There are only twenty students here,
almost half day students, and the rest five-
day boa rders. Someof ourstudents are here
because they have done badly in school,
some because their parents think other
schools have done badly by them. The
students range in age from eight to
eighteen.

The staff roles are extremely fluid,
especially for the four of us who live here.
We all assume disparate and shifting roles
as needed; each of us is available to be the
special friend or port in a storm to any
student, regardless of whether we are that
student's assigned teacher.

Deborah Stone. High Vallev. Clinton Corners. NY
12514.

Computers At An
Alternative School

Deborah Stone

The upper-middle-class orientation
and style of most other private schools is
lacking. Private schools tend to have a
strong emphasis on conventional stand-
ards of academic achievement, while High
Valley's group is so diverse that the focus
instead is on the development of each
pupil's potential and learning style, with
achievement for each individual meeting
his or her own idiosyncratic needs and
abilities. This is a pervasive ethic, as can be
seen in the free and understanding
personal relationships between students of
obviously different abilities on a conven-
tional scale. Thus the school introduced
the practice of mainstreaming long before
it was fashionable or indeed had a name.

The High Valley approach to teaching
is built around caring relationships and
personal attention. As a community we
hold a morning meeting, take meals
together, and do chores around the farm.
As individuals all students are given
challenging work, whether they are at an
advanced academic level or at a more
formative, foundation-building stage.
There are no grades, as these introduce
meaningless standards of comparison. Our
approach does not mean that things
degenerate into hanging around until you
find yourself. Children are less likely to
find themselves through introspection
than through finding honor in doing
something well.

Our contact with computers began
casually. One of the boys' fathers brought,
at different times, Sol and Sorcerer
computers for the kids to play with.
Response was enthusiastic. "Lunar
Lander" on the Sol was a popular
program, and one of the kids found out
how to make it harder or easier. Some were
especially interested in the graphics, and
one boy invented lovely patterns in very
much the same way he liked to noodle
around with music on the piano or guitar.
We could see in all this the kind of
independent, mischievous thinking that we
are always so glad to encourage in our
students.

Games were the first
things that the kids tried
on the computer. They
gave us an immediate
sense of the computer's
approachability.

Though getting our own computer
seemed to be the thing to do, we circled
around the decision for a long time. With
the help and advice of a few parents, and
the kids who had been most involved, we
narrowed our choices down to the Apple,
the Sorcerer and the Radio Shack TRS-80.

After mulling it over we chose the
Apple, for the completeness of its package,
its high-level facilities, and its legendary
reliability. The original purchase (in
February '79) was a I6K Apple II without
disk, to be used with cassette storage and a
black-and-white TV. Contributions from a
number of enthusiastic parents helped
make the purchase possible. Since that
time it has been upgraded to 32K, with a
disk and color TV. Our next step will be to
get the full 48 K of memory and a printer.

We have been very happy with the

CREATIVE COMPUTING

choice. One repair was needed after a yeai
and a half — we think that's pretty good.
(A friend of the school later gave us a
TRS-80. This unit is underutilized, partly
because we don't have a disk drive for it
yet. As a result, however, our two
computers give us a computer-to-student
ratio of one to ten — a rather high figure,
we understand.)

Due to the delicacy of the equipment,
we have had to exercise some caution
about access to the machine. Our com-
puter center is a lockable room (shared
with our photographic darkroom equip-
ment); some of the students have permis-
sion to go there alone and some must go in
the company of others.

One of the charms of the situation has
been that the faculty knew absolutely
nothing about the computer, and weren't
even too interested. Aside from the one
parent who got us started, who would drop
by every few weeks and ask how it was
going and give the kids pointers, teaching
about the machine has by default.been left
to the students who understood it: the kids
have been free to do it on their own. They
had no guidelines from us about what
you're supposed to do with a computer,
because we didn't know.

Many kids who don't do
well in school are secret
computer geniuses, be-
cause there nobody is
telling them what to do.

Games were the first things that the
kids tried on the computer. They loved
Breakout, which came with the original
cassette configuration. As a game, it gave
us an immediate sense of the computer's
approachability. It also provided a gradual
transition to more serious use and under-
standing of the computer. Creating
modified versions of Breakout by changes
in the program created much enthusiasm,
and provided indirect programming
insights to students who were not yet
interested in learning to program. The
"Animals" game, which is supplied with
the disk system, has also been very popular
among students at all levels.

The Animals game is a simplified
data-base system which gives considerable
insight into the nature of stored informa-
tion. The program tries to guess what
animal the player is thinking of, by asking
about the animal's traits in a "twenty
questions" yes-or-no format. If the animal
you are thinking of is not yet in the data
base, the computer asks you how to
distinguish that animal from the one it
already has stored which is most nearly like
it. Your present animal is then stored along
with all the rest, and thus joins the
computer's repertory.

The thing that's interesting about
Animals as played at High Valley is that

some kids put wrong information in it
inadvertently. Confusion has arisen over
the question "Does it give milk?" which for
some kids signifies Cows, for others
Mammals, and by others is seen as
excluding males. Thus a large and
somewhat inconsistent data base has
evolved which I suppose has educational
value even in its inaccuracies.

Some kids played Star Wars and
Breakout until they were able to knock
down all the bricks, then lost interest
entirely. But always there have been others
who are interested in working with the
computer.

They have had all kinds of different
reasons. One wanted to hang out with our
two experts. Another had an older brother
who was involved with computers. Two
other boys enjoyed learning programming.

Several of the students have written
their own programs. Two of them have
become real pros. (One boy has already
bought his own Apple computer, with his
parents' help, and has found work as a
professional computer programmer and
consultant in addition to his high school
studies.) Another student has begun saving
for an Apple.

Our computer has turned out to be
like everything else around here that we use
— it figures in our personal relationships
and our learning experience. For instance,
one boy wrote a story in which the
computer came alive and spoke to him
when he was trying to play Breakout. In
response to his story, one of our experts
programmed the computer so that the next
time the boy went to play Breakout, the
computer greeted him with exactly the
words he himself had written in the story.
He loved it.

Having the kids teach themselves and
each other has in general worked out very
well. There has been no formal attempt on
the part of the staff to use the computer in
our teaching, but our two hotshot

programmers did make some teaching
programs for fellow students who were
having trouble understanding fractions.

However, the arrangement has left
something to be desired in terms of the
amount communicated to the students
who don't put themselves out to learn
about it. For our first year and a half of
experience, however, we are very pleased.

How It Fits In

The way we work with our children is
based on a humane respect for children's
dignity and worth, and an awareness of
and readiness to meet children's emotional
needs.

I am beginning to suspect that while
having learning difficulties in regular
school may reveal weakness, vulnerability
and inadequacy, it may also betoken a kind
of integrity and strength to resist that
which is not of oneself. The cost to the
bright conformers of moving successfully
through the school years without having a
chance to develop their own ideas or work
for their own reasons is probably very high
in terms of loss of creativity, originality
and strength of inner-directedness. Many
kids who don't do well in school are secret

The computer greeted
him with exactly the
words he himself had
written in the story. He
loved it.

computer geniuses, because there nobody
is telling them what to do.

There are teachers who are not afraid
to renounce the safety, the predictability of
a method in which they are the imparters of
prescribed information to docile, unin-
volved, anonymous minds. It has been my
good fortune to work in a school where
children are allowed freedom to learn. We
hope that more people who are as truly
themselves as they can be will go into
teaching, or will start schools that will let
other people — children — learn to be
themselves also.

Computers can be a part of this. Our
experience with computers at High Valley
has been positive and enjoyable, and has
shown the adaptability of computers to the
alternative-school setting. O

'I'm sorry. He just stepped out for a

minute. "

SEPTEMBER 1980

A School Computer, Yours

For The Asking

Every year since my daughter, Kellie.
was in the third grade at Sumac Elemen-
tary School in Agoura, I have taken my
Altair computer into her classroom. We
have played games like Hangman,
Abagels, Number and Story. We have run
simulations to sell apples, sell plants, and
sell lemonade. We have studied our basic
math facts, used our new vocabulary
words, learned the state capitals, and asked
the computer to guess which animal we
were thinking of. We have had a great
time!

Each year. I took the computer to
school, one morning a week, for eight to
ten weeks. The problem with a single small
computer is that only a few children can
use it at a time. However, in a ten-week
period, everyone in a class of twenty-five to
thirty students gets several chances, both

I asked myself if I could
acquire or build a com-
puter to donate to the
school at no cost to them;
you have to start some-
where, and a dream is as
good a place to start as
any.

as part of a small group and as "the
computer operator" (typist).

This year, Kellie entered the sixth
grade at Lindero Canyon Middle School.
Now here's the rub. Instead of having the
same twenty-five to thirty students in her
class all day, every fifty minutes a bell rings
and a different group of twenty-five or
thirty new students is ushered in. How
many weeks of one-morning-a-week
sessions would it take to satisfy that gang?
It seems impossible. My boss is under-
standing, but we do have work to do.

One solution was to let the school

Jim McCabe. 5695 Mcdeabrook PI.. Agoura. CA
91301.

Photo I. Lindero Canyon Computer 01.

borrow my computer on a full-time basis. I
don't use the computer during school
hours, but I do use it in the evenings and on
weekends. Either I would have to transport
the computer to and from school each day.
or I would have to do without the
computer in the evenings and on week-
ends. I didn't like either of those alter-
natives. Also, someone at school would
have to be trained to use the computer and
to handle any problems that arose. There
were other problems with this arrange-
ment. Something might be broken or just
fail, and that might cause strained relations
between the school and me. While this
solution might be feasible for some, it was
not feasible for me.

It seemed to me that if the children at
Lindero Canyon were going to experience
computers, they would have to have their
own. That meant that they would have to
buy one or someone would have to give
them one.

Since we Californians passed our
infamous Proposition 13, which lowered
our property taxes, some school activities
have been cut back. This very year, one
elective course has been removed and the
number of class periods reduced at

Jim McCabe

Lindero Canyon. I am not personally
convinced that all this austerity was
necessitated by Proposition 13, but the
cuts in school budgets are real. This meant
that the possibility of the school buying a
small computer was so remote that I didn't
even bother to call to ask about it. I asked
myself if I could acquire or build a
computer to donate to the school at no cost
to them and at little or no cost to me. It
sounded like a dream, but you have to start
somewhere, and a dream is as good a place
to start as any.

I started by assessing my own
computer system. In 1976, I had begun
with an 8080 CPU, a cassette tape
interface, a 16x64 character video inter-
face, a keyboard, a video monitor, a tape
recorder, and four 4K memory boards.
That system had served me well for nearly
two years. As a minimum, I wanted to

I will spare you the de-
tails, but I would suggest
involving both hardware
and software experts in
such a project if possible.

duplicate that system. Also a PROM
board would be needed. For the first
couple of years, I had to key in a bootstrap
loader from the front panel switches each
time 1 turned the computer on. The PROM
board would eliminate that hassle.

So, the first goal was to produce a
I6K, cassette based. 8080 computer. The
second goal was to produce such a system,
which had cost approximately SI 600 in
1976, for no cost in 1980. It sounds like

POLY 88 main frame, power supply, and mother board

Leedex 12" video monitor

Datanetics keyboard

J C Penney tape recorder

Vector Graphic 8080 CPU board

Vector Graphic 12K PROM/RAM board

Vector Graphic 16K RAN board

Vector Graphic Flashwriter II video interface board

Cassette interface board

l-ipurc I. Computer »l equipment list.

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Asking, cont'd...

magic, doesn't it?

On February 25, 1980, a 16K, cassette
based, 8080 computer was delivered to
Lindero Canyon Middle School. The total
cost of the system to the school was $ 1 50,
the cost of a 12" video monitor. The video
monitor was the only part of the computer
that I couldn't get someone to donate. On
April 7th. a second computer was de-
livered. The second one was donated
completely. It is a disk-based Z80 small
computer with 48 K of memory. We hope
to add a high resolution graphics capa-
bility soon. See Figures I and 2 for the
complete equipment lists of both systems.

How did I do it? What mystical force
persuaded people to donate components
and computers to our school? Let me
explain the simple process.

The first thing I did was to contact the
principal of Lindero Canyon, Mr. Joe
Nardo. After all. if the school wasn't
interested, I wasn't going to get very far. At
best, my efforts would be wasted and the
computer might not be used. Fortunately.
Mr. Nardo and some of his teachers were
already discussing the use of computers at
Lindero Canyon. They were delighted that
a knowledgeable parent was interested in
helping them acquire a computer. Most of

I asked if he would con-
sider donating a cassette
interface for a school
computer. He said sure.

all. the price goal I had set fit their budget!
Mr. Nardo told me the Las Virgenes Board
of Education would acknowledge all
donations by letter.

Armed with the principal's blessing
and the knowledge that donations would
be officially acknowledged, I was ready to
start soliciting. Again, my own experience
provided a starting point and a plan of
attack. I had, in upgrading my computer
system, replaced several boards which
were now stuck in a box in the closet. I
reasoned that other computer hobbyists
had done the same thing. I would use my
extra boards and call some of my hobbyist
friends to solicit their help. I had an 8080
CPU, a cassette tape interface, and a 16x64
character video interface. If 1 donated
these items to the school and received
written verification. I felt the donations
would be tax deductible. (1 should point
out that I am not a tax expert, and you
should consult one to determine the truth
of that assumption).

Photo 2. Lindero Canyon Compi

My next concern was to find a main
frame in which to put these and the other
components. This would be hard to come
by from my hobbyist friends. Not many of
them ever upgrade the main frame. I
checked with Gordon Hart, the electronics
teacher at Agoura High School. I have
been a volunteer software consultant to
Gordon for the past two and a half years.
Agoura High has several complete small
computers, and 1 was aware that they also
had pieces of others. When I told Gordon
what I had in mind, he pulled out a POLY
88 main frame, a keyboard, and a cassette
recorder. He said he would loan them to
Lindero Canyon for as long as they needed
them. Both schools are in the Las Virgenes
School- District, so this may account in
part for the willingness to share.

As welcome as the components from
Agoura High were, the most valuable thing
I got from Gordon was some advice. I told
him about the cassette interface that I was
donating to the Lindero Canyon com-
puter. It no longer worked correctly and I
lacked the technical expertise to fit it. My
idea was to contact the manufacturer of the
interface and ask if they would repair it.
free of charge, as a donation to the school.
Gordon's advice was this. First ask if they
will donate a new cassette interface to the
school. If they won't donate a new board,
then you can ask about a free repair job.

I called the manufacturer and asked to
talk to the president. Following Gordon's
advice, I asked if he would consider
donating a cassette interface for a school
computer. He said sure. That telephone
call opened my eyes, and it should open
your eyes too. The key thing that I have to
say to you is that you'll never know if
someone will donate components or
computers to your school unless you ask.

I had set out to build the school a used
computer from discarded parts. At this
point, my goals changed. Now. I wanted a
new small computer for the school at the
same cost. Incidentally. I donated the old
cassette interface board to Agoura High.
Gordon and his students fixed it and it is
now operating in one of their computers.

Vector Graphic MZ main frame, power supply, and mother board

2 Micropolis quad density disk drives

Vector Graphic disk controller

Vector Graphic "mindless" terminal

Vector Graphic 12K PROM/RAM board

Vector Graphic Plashwriter II video interface board

Vector Graphic Z80 CPU board

Vector Graphic 48K RAM board

Figure 2. Computer 02 equipment list.

Flushed with the sense of accomplish-
ment I got from the first call, and armed
with my new goal. I called a local computer
manufacturer. Vector Graphic has their
production facility in Westlake Village,
less than five miles from Lindero Canyon.
They manufacture a variety of small
computer components as well as complete
small computer systems. 1 have three of
their boards in my own system, so I am
familiar with their product line, and they
had everything I needed to complete the
system.

I asked to talk to Carole Ely, Vector
Graphic's Marketing Vice President.
Carole is a lady I met several years ago
when I was active in the Southern
California Computer Society, but she had
no reason to remember me, and I don't
think she did. The main point is that when
you call a manufacturer to ask for a
donation, make sure you talk to someone
who can make a decision.

The first two times I called. Carole
was busy in meetings. (That is a penalty
you have to pay when you insist on talking
to someone who can make a decision. They
are usually busy, making decisions.) But a
major ingredient in getting this job
accomplished is persistence. You must

Armed with the Princi-
pal's blessing and the
knowledge that dona-
tions would be officially
acknowledged, I was
ready to start soliciting.

perservere. You must also use good
judgement, however, to stay on the
favorable side of the persistence/ annoy-
ance border. Someone who is annoyed at
your constant interruptions will probably
be in no mood to help you.

On the third call, Carole was free. I
explained my project to her and told her
that all I needed to complete the system
were three boards, a PROM/ RAM board,
a 16K memory board, and a video interface
board. I still planned to use my 8080 CPU
board.

She asked me what the school was
going to do with the computer. Since I had
already discussed this with Mr. Nardo. I
was able to tell her in general terms what
they were planning to do. At the end of our
conversation. Carole said she was sure they
could find the boards to donate to us. and
assigned one of her technical people, John
Irwin, to follow up on the matter. Most of
my contacts with Vector Graphics after
this were with John and his people.

The donated boards were not to come
from the stock room. All manufacturers
occasionally have production runs from
which some components emerge cosme-
tically defective. The boards we were to
receive were to be of this category,
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Asking, cont'd...

defective. 1 had no objection to this since
the components would be inside a cabinet
anyway. The problem is that cosmetically
defective parts are not made on demand,
and if you have a good operation, they are
rarely produced. Vector Graphic has a
good operation.

The ideal trait in this phase of the
project is patience. I found it very difficult
to just sit by the phone and wait for a call
from John. I called every two weeks to
check on the status of "our" boards. That
interval is probably acceptable, but as time
passed, the interval between calls got
shorter and shorter. While I was waiting
for the rest of the hardware, I re-wrote the
PROM monitor to support the particular
hardware that the school would have. At
last. John called and said he had all three
boards.

The next phase was the most frustrat-
ing of all. Theoretically. I just had to plug
the five boards into the mother board,
hook up a few cables, turn it on, and away
we go. Any of you who have tried to
integrate components from three manu-
facturers know that it isn't always that
easy. Though, in retrospect, I must admit

That is a penalty you have
to pay when you insist on
talking to someone who
can make a decision.
They are usually busy,
making decisions.

that most of the fault in this particular
system integration stemmed from my
being a neophyte in the hardware area. 1
will spare you the details, but I would
suggest involving both hardware and
software experts in such a project if
possible.

For Lindero Canyon, my hardware
ineptness was a blessing in disguise. Finally
convinced that my Altair 8080 CPU board
was the villain (a false conclusion in
retrospect), I once again called Carole Ely
at Vector Graphic and asked if she would
bail me out by donating a Vector Graphic
CPU board. She agreed.

We had a chance to talk some more
about the use of small computers in school
and Carole amazed me by offering to
donate a second small computer. This one
was to be a complete Vector Graphic
system. She asked me to describe a system
that the school could best use. I was
unprepared for that question and my
answer was not too complete.

I later got together with the principal,
Mr. Nardo, and one of his teachers, Mark
Petrusson. We made up a wish list in
writing and gave it to John Irwin at Vector
Graphic. The list was in order by need. We
didn't know if Vector Graphic would give
us everything on the list, but we described a

Photo 3. Teacher Mark Petrusson demonstrates
cassette loading techniques to members of his 7th and
8th grade electronics class.

very complete computer system with some
extras that would be nice. Among other
things, we asked for two Micropolis disk
drives. This would make the school system
compatible with my own which would
allow me to generate programs at home for
use on the school computer.

My search for a free computer for the
children at Lindero Canyon was successful
beyond even my dreams. The reason I
wrote this article was to provide en-
couragement to other schools. Our
situation was not unique, and 1 had no
special talents of persuasion. I believe that
you can also acquire a computer for your
school.

The procedure is as I have outlined it.
First, contact the school officials to
determine if there is an interest in
computers. You would think that all
schools would be interested, but I have
encountered some who were lukewarm, at
best. You need not only interest, but
enthusiasm (preferably the wild variety)
from the school to get you over the hard
spots. Some people are going to say no.
Frustrations will arise. At those times, it's
nice to have an enthusiastic and supportive
Principal to lean on.

Discuss with the principal and
interested teachers what use could be made
of computers in the school. Dispel any
stereotypical feeling that computers just
belong in the math department. They do
belong in math classes, but they also
belong in science, English, language, and
history classes. These are general-purpose
computers and they should have general-
purpose use. The other thing that I feel
very strongly about is that the computers
should be available to the widest possible
cross section of the student population.
Computers are not just for the mentally
gifted!

Set some goals. Define a minimum

Photo 4 A regular meeting of the Lindero Canyon
"Me next" Chorus.

computer system that is useful, and define
a super system, just in case it might be
attainable. Pay particular attention to
those items that may be especially suited to
educational environments. My own
personal bias here is that graphics of any
kind, and high-resolution graphics in
particular, are excellent media through
which to present educational material.
Color graphics and voice I/O as well as
analog control devices are also useful.
Think BIG!

With the groundwork done, you are
ready to start the big scavenger hunt. I
believe the path I followed is not the only
path that will produce results. Here are
some other ideas.

The path I first started on can be
productive. Many computer hobbyists
across the country have been upgrading
their systems. Building a system with those
now unused parts is feasible, all you have
to do is find them.

This is how you find them.

Check with local computer stores.
Ask for the names and addresses of local
computer clubs. Find out about any local
computer or electronic swap meets. Ask if
you can leave a notice on their bulletin
board. While you're there, ask if they
would consider donating equipment to

Dispel any stereotypical
feeling that computers
just belong in the math
department; they also
belong in science, Eng-
lish, language, and his-
tory classes.

your school. Many computer stores are not
large enough businesses to be able to
afford hardware contributions, but per-
haps they can provide other, less costly
items. Ask about software (computer
programs), books, magazines, or just
helpful advice.

Attend local computer club meetings.
These meetings usually have a question
and answer session during which you can
get up and make an appeal for donations of
unused boards. If you need help in
hardware or software expertise, the
computer clubs can fill this need. Ask!

Go to the swap meets. I have talked to
someone who picked up a POLY 88
mainframe, just like the one Lindero
Canyon has, for S2S. If you don't know
what to look for, try to arrange to take
someone from the computer club with you.

Contact local manufacturers. Get
their catalog or brochures to familiarize
yourself with their product line. Make a list
of those products your school could use
and prioritize the list. Find out who in the
company can decide to make a donation to
your school. Call and talk to that person. If
the opportunity presents itself, suggest that
cosmetically defective parts are acceptable.

CREATIVE COMPUTING

If you or someone else on the project have
a solid hardware background and the
proper tools, you might also suggest that
you have the capability to repair elec-
trically defective boards. Each of these
suggestions can be a fallback position.
That is, first ask for a new component. If
that is not possible, suggest the cosme-
tically defective option, and as a last resort,
ask about electrically defective parts.

You might also point out the possible
tax benefits and advertising benefits.
Children who use computers in school do
develop an above-average likelihood of
buying their own computers. They might
also tend to buy a system like that with
which they are familiar.

Accept any negative decision grace-
fully. Rejection is hard to take, but
remember, it's not personal.

Next, try other local schools. I doubt

Photo 5. A band of I mdcro Canyon "Adventurers"
enjoy their latest discovery.

that you will find any school willing to part
with a complete computer, but they might
share surplus components. Another
technique might be to arrange a trade of
surplus computer components from one
school for surplus equipment of another
kind from the second school. Many high
schools and colleges now have small
computers. Even if they can't provide
hardware components, perhaps they will
tell you how they acquired their com-
puters. Maybe they will offer to share some
software with you when you do get your
own computer. They might set up Held
trips if you have a group of youngsters who
just can't wait.. Colleges might arrange to
teach some in-service courses to teachers
from your school to introduce them to the
uses of the small computer in education.
Get whatever help you can.

The emphasis on "local" computer
stores, computer clubs, manufacturers,
and schools should be obvious. People are
more interested in a school which is in the
neighborhood. They are more apt to
donate to a school that they know.
Perhaps, if you are lucky, they will have
children who either are attending or will
attend your school. So check all the
sources in your local area first. Then, if you
can't fulfill your needs from them, try areas
farther away.

Good luck in your quest. I am not able
to predict the success that each of you
might have, but I am convinced that there

are small computers out there that can be
yours for the asking. I know that some of
you will succeed. But if you don't ask,
you'll never know! Make the assumption
that the existence of donors is as real as
your needs are. lean predict the outcome if
you don't try to find these donors.

As for Lindero Canyon, we now have
our first two computers and our new goal is
to have at least four computers by the end
of the year. There are approximately 1 200

I am convinced that there
are small computers out
there that can be yours
for the asking.

students at Lindero Canyon. That is one
computer for each 300 students. (Perhaps
our goal is too low.) Another parent at
Lindero Canyon has just donated a
Micropolis disk drive and controller. This
gives us a start on the third computer, but
we will need more help in meeting our new
goals. Anyone who would like to provide
some of that help should write to us at:
Mr. Joe Nardo. Principal
Lindero Canyon Middle School
5844 North Larboard Lane
Agoura, CA 91301

Our program of computer usage at
Lindero Canyon is small now, but it is
growing, and it is going to be a good one.

□

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• A S foot cable allows positioning for operator's convenience.

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Apple II, II Plus, and Controller are trademarks of Apple Computer Inc.
VisiCalc Is a trademark of Personal Software Inc.

SEPTEMBER 1980

CIRCLE 123 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Software is the food on which
computers thrive. This article will suggest
some guidelines for selecting software,
with an eye toward avoiding junk food.

In games, a major consideration is the
length of time that the program will
interest you. Some games, though chal-
lenging at first, can be quickly mastered. If
you can get a perfect score by using a
simple technique, play will turn from fun
to drudgery and the program willend upas
nothing more than an expensive dust-
catcher.

Games which can be conquered
should not be confused with those that
favor certain strategics. Super Invasion, for
example, does favor certain techniques,
but the game is so difficult, well con-
structed, and addictive that knowing the
best strategy won't reduce the pleasure of
play.

When trying a game, ask yourself
whether you will play it more than a few
times. Is there some trick which, once
mastered, will turn the game from a
challenge into a bore'.' Are there several
skill levels and other options'.' Does the
initial set-up vary'.'

On the other hand, certain games are
played by figuring out how to master them.
Adventure would be an example of this.
You get hours of entertainment trying to
figure out what to do. But, once youVe
solved all the problems, the game is over.
You might want to try one (Adventure
International is thoughtful enough to offer
a sampler for a modest price), and then
determine whether the length of play
justifies the price. Many persons (I'm
one) believe these games are worth the
price. There are also adventures of the
dungeon type that have random events
which allow for variety and more playing
time.

Some Good One-Player Games

Apple Bowl (from Apple). This is a
well-constructed game. You get a per-
spective view, in high resolution, from the
bowler's end of the lane. Paddles control
the speed and angle of the ball. One button
will give a left hook, the othera right hook.
When released, the ball moves exactly as a

A Buyer's Guide to
Apple II Software

David Lubar

real ball would. For instance, to make the
6.7.10 split, a right handed bowler would
throw a fast hook, angling toward the
gutter so the ball could slide into the 6,10
pocket. In Apple Bowl, this technique
produces the expected results. You can
almost see the ball fighting the angle of
release as the hook takes over.

The game is for one player, but you
can change the name on the score sheet at
the end of ten frames. Since a moving
triangle marks the spot where the ball is
released, the game is not easy to master.
And, once you can consistently throw a
strike, you can always try a different speed
and angle to renew the challenge. One last
note: if you start the game when the
paddles aren't plugged in. the program
stops and asks you to insert the paddles.
This is a nice touch.

Games which can be con-
quered should not be con-
fused with those that favor
certain strategies.

Rocket Pilot (from Creative Comput-
ing's Space Games-I). A variety of
landscapes gives this lunar-lander simula-
tion lasting power. Here. too. the laws of
physics apply. An accelerating rocket
cannot be stopped dead, but must
decelerate. With a paddle each for
horizontal and vertical thrust, you must fly
over a mountain to a safe landing on the
other side. Fuel is finite and crashes
common.

Super Star Wars (from Programma
International). This is a perfect example of
a game which allows options. There are
three versions (the third requires a
joystick) and ten skill levels for each
version. Using moving cross hairs, you
have to destroy enemy ships. These ships
swoop in from the background, growing
larger as they approach. If they get past
your defenses, they'll shoot you, reducing
your energy. The easy levels allow you to
learn the game. The hard levels provide a
true challenge.

For two-player games, the big ques-

tion is: How much are you willing to spend
for the bookkeeping functions provided by
the program? To take an extreme example,
a game which merely keeps track of the
moves made by two players in tic-tac-toe
had better be priced well under a dollar.
The programs that arc really useful are
those which handle complicated rules or
tedious computations. Othello, for in-
stance, is much more enjoyable when a
computer flips the pieces.

Some Good Two-Player Games

Super Pro Football (from Aladdin).
Generally, a football game on a computer
brings to mind scrambling players tossing
a graphics ball. A game without players on
the screen might seem mundane. Not so
with Aladdin's Super Pro Football. The
two players choose from a list often plays
for offense and six for defense. The results,
derived from an NFL probability curve,
are displayed in text and by moving the
ball on a low-resolution field. The Super
Pro part conies from choosing one of the
Super Bowls to replay. I he lineup is
entered using information provided in the
booklet which comes with the cassette. The
names are used for color commentary
("Bradshaw pass to Swann complete") but
do not affect the results.

I he game is well designed, but there is
one flaw. Each player has IS seconds to
pick a play. This is the only time when the
clock is running. In real football, the
offense controls the clock. In Aladdin's
game, the defense can also control the
clock, letting time run out if it is ahead near
the end of the game. Even with this flaw,
the game is very good. Strategy is deeply
involved and, as the clock runs down, the
excitement can become very intense.

Blockade (from Muse's Side Show).
This is modeled after the arcade game
where two players try to build walls
without crashing. Control is from the
keyboard. Unfortunately, the return key is
one of the controls. If this is pressed when
the game ends, it will cause an error since
the program expects a numerical input for
the start of the next game. Still, with five
other games on the cassette, this isn't a bad
buy.

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Utility Programs

Another important type of software is
utility programs. Somehow, this is an area
where prices can really get out of control.
Programs which arc available in magazine
listings, or in inexpensive packs, are being
sold by some vendors for outrageous
sums. The obvious question is: How useful
is the utility? If you do a lot of machine-
language programming, a text editor is
almost a necessity. If you never enter the
monitor, a text editor would be a waste of
money. Ease of use is another factor to
consider. If you have to enter ten or twenty
POKEs to get a utility to work, it might not
be that utile. Does it follow standard Apple
conventions? If not. it could make more
work than it saves.

Wo: Pack (from A.P.P.L.E.) is a
good utility program. This contains eight
utilities, including a HI RES aid for Integer
Basic which functions in the same manner
as the ROM routines. Also included:
Lazarus, for reviving dead programs; Pack
& Load, for putting machine language into
Basic programs; and utilities which list
variables and referenced lines.

CIRCLE 181 ON READER SERVICE CARD

For two-player games, the
big question is: How
much are you willing to
spend for the bookeeping
functions provided by the
program?

Ihcsc programs arc all nice, but the
inclusion of a text editor. TED II. makes
Woz Pack an incredible bargain for
anyone who uses machine language. TED
II is easy to use. and it accepts Sweet- 1 6 op
codes. What more could you want?
Documentation? Here. too. Woz Puck is
superb. Besides complete listings, the book
contains a number of valuable hints, tricks,
and techniques.

Whenever possible, try software at a
dealer before you buy it. If the store won't
let you do this, find another store. Try
making errors to see whether the game or
utility traps them. If you order by mail
from a new company, try a small order
first. The most important thing is to
balance the cost of a program against the
factors mentioned in this article, and
against other factors which might be
specific to your needs. A game that will be
interesting for only a limited time might be
worth a few dollars. A game that you won't
tire of could be worth more than that.
Utilities that save time and effort can be
invaluable. But check the back issues of
your magazines: that utility you need
might be listed in one of them.

May your pockets be full and your
.computer well fed. E

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CIRCLE 182 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1980

Milliken

Math Sequences

Isaac I. Bejar

Real in-earnest CAI sequences are
hitting the market. Here's one that
starts from the proposition that hig
producers will make the best software-

Some say that one of the greatest
obstacles to the acceptance of Computer-
Assisted Instruction (CAI) is the lack of a
market incentive to produce instructional
materials. If so, then the recent appearance
of several educational software packages
by established educational publishers may
mean that CAI has come of age. The
entrance of these publishers into the
educational software market is important,
because pedagogically sound material is
most likely to originate from established,
educationally-oriented firms who have the
necessary expertise. For this very reason,
however, the quality of these pioneering
packages is all the more important. If they
are not well received they may delay a
wider implementation of CAI. On the
other hand, if they are well received, then
CAI may at least establish a firm (and ever-
increasing) foothold in the educational
scene.

Publishers seem to have concentrated
on mathematics instruction, and it is not
hard to understand why. Not only is the
mathematics curriculum well delineated
and fairly constant across schools, but (in
addition) mathematics drills are easy to
program! At least three packages have
been introduced recently for elementary
mathematics instruction. One package is
put out by The Dallas Independent School
District, another by Radio Shack. A third
package, and the object of this review, was

Isaac I. Bejar, Educational Testing Service. Princeton.
N J 08541

introduced recently by Milliken Publish-
ing Company, St. Louis, Missouri, and is
called the Math Sequences.

Description of the Package

The Math Sequences provide drill
practice in the basic mathematical skills
that are taught in grades 1-6. The package
was developed in conjunction with
WICAT of Utah, a company which
specializes in technology-based instruc-
tion. It is available for the PET, Apple and

When the student has
been judged by the pro-
gram to master a subskill,
he or she is presented
with two options: either
go on to the next level
or stop.

TRS-80 computers. The cassette- based
package sells for $200. There is also a disk-
based version for the Apple, which sells for
$300. This review is based on the TRS-80
version.

The package consists of 12 cassettes
and includes a teacher guide. The guide
outlines the broad skills contained in the
package, and gives information on how to
use the TRS-80. The instructions are also
described in a stcp-by-step fashion in a
separate card which the teacher can keep
next to the TRS-80. The instructions are
accurate and should be understandable by
anyone. The Teacher Guide also contains
the forms which the teacher may find
useful: A Student/ User Schedule, Student
Progress Chart, a Class Evaluation
Progress Chart, and an Assignment Sheet.
The rest of the Teacher Guide contains
examples of the problem-types included in
each tape.

The Math Sequences have been
programmed in Basic. I have not ex-
perienced any difficulty loading any of the
tapes at the recommended volume setting
of 6. The presentation of each problem is
very clear. Upon responding, the student is
given feedback. If the correct answer is
given, positive feedback (e.g., WOW,
flashing YES) is displayed. Otherwise the
student is told to try again. If the student
does not answer correctly on the second try
he is told what the correct answer is and
moves to the next problem.

The sequences are divided into nine
broad skills, or "strands." Each skill is
divided into subskills, or "levels." The
subskills within a strand presumably form
a hierarchy. That is, successful perform-
ance of a subskill requires mastery of all
other subskills that are further below in the
hierarchy.

The subskills for each strand appear
to be very comprehensive, at least from a
logical standpoint. For example, addition
to 9 is divided into three subskills:

Sums from I through 5

Sums from through 5

Sums from through 9
Then, within each subskill the questions
are presented in three formats:

2 + 3 = x

4 + x = 5
2

Evaluation

One obvious challenge facing the
designer of educational software is
providing sufficient flexibility so that the
software package can be tailored to the
needs of various curricula.

Milliken has made an effort to make
the package flexible by including only one
problem type in each level (except in the
review lessons). This would allow the
teacher great flexibility — provided the

CREATIVE COMPUTING

teacher had control over the branching
sequence. If the sequencing of the skills
assumed by Milliken is not compatible
with that being used by the teacher, he or
she, in principle, can skip a subskill and
return to it at a later time.

This unfortunately is not easy to do,
for the math sequences allow only one
sequence. For one thing, there is no cross-
indexing of each subskill with the major
textbooks. Therefore it would be difficult
for the teacher to plan the appropriate
sequence. Even if the teacher can plan the
sequence, it would be awkward to stick to
it. When the student has been judged by the
program to master a subskill, he or she is
presented with two options: either go on to
the next level or stop. In the latter case a

The student is moved to
the next higher level if
performance is better
than 70%. These criteria
might at first appear
reasonable, but in reality
are not totally adequate.

summary of the student's performance is
given along with a statement as to which
subskill should be attempted next; there is
no' option to go on to some other, non-
consecutive subskill except by signing on
again. In short, it would be awkward for
the teacher or parent to tailor the package
to a sequencing of skills other than the one
assumed by the developer.

Content Coverage of the Math St<

uences

Grade

No. of

Strand Level

Levels

Addition 1-5

100

Subtraction l-S

Multiplication 3-5

Division 3-6

Laws of Arithmetic 3-5

Negative Numbers 6

Fractions 4-6

Decimals 5-6

Percents 6

Table I

Another important criterion of an
instructional software package is adequacy
of subject matter coverage. The skills and
grades covered by the Math Sequences
appear in Table I.

Conspicuously absent is the topic of
measurement, which is not taught here.
This is unfortunate for two reasons. First,
by ignoring measurement, the producers
passed the opportunity to use the graphics
capability of small computers. Second, .
and perhaps more importantly, teachers
find measurement a difficult topic to
teach. By ignoring it the producers missed
a chance both to impress teachers and truly
to improve current practice.

Another important component of an

SEPTEMBER 1980

instructional package is the adequacy of
the statistical criteria — the thresholds of
correct student response — which underlie
the branching decisions. In the Math
Sequences they are as follows: If the
student misses three problems in a row, or
the proportion correct falls below 30%
after the minimum number of problems for
that level have been presented, the
student's level is reduced by one. The
student is moved to the next higher level if
performance is better than 70%. These
criteria might at first appear reasonable,
but in reality are not totally adequate. To
illustrate, consider one actual sequence of
problems I obtained by answering incor-
rectly on the first try of the problem and
then correctly on the second try:

a) I + I = x

b) 2 + I = x

c) 2 + I = x

d) I + 3 = x

e) I + 2 = x

Several problems are evident. Note
first that two of the five problems are
identical, b and c. Therefore in reality I
have been given only four problems.
Second, but more disturbing, is the fact
that a student who misses on the first try
(like the one I simulated) would be judged
equally as proficient as a student who
responds correctly on the first try. This is
not only unreasonable, but the parent or
teacher is not even alerted to the problem.
Beyond that, no evidence is given support-
ing the validity of the cut-off scores — why
not 80% or 90% success before moving into
the next level?

Summary

I have identified several broad criteria
that may be useful in the evaluation of
instructional software packages:

• Human engineering aspects: e.g., attrac-
tiveness of display, ease of operation, etc.

• Adequacy of task analysis: are all the
subskills identified?

• Completeness of subject-matter cover-
age.

• Adequacy of basis for instructional
decisions.

The Math Sequences score well on the
first two categories, but showed weakness
in the latter two. The omission of the topic
of measurement is unfortunate, as stated
above. I suspect that graphics would have
added substantial development costs and
for that reason were omitted. If so,
Milliken may have fallen under the
influence of the vicious circle described by
Anastasio (1972): given the uncertainty of
the market, the software producer does not
put out the best product. But precisely
because the software leaves something to
be desired, market reaction, too, may leave
something to be desired. □

Reference*

Anastasio. E.J. The study of factors inhibiting the use
of computers in instruction. EDUCOM-Bulletin
of the Interuniversitv Communicaliims Ctiumil.
Spring 1972. 7(1).

sSI**.'

•liwye**'

******

inert*"

^^s>*

CIRCLE 1SS ON READER SERVICE CARD

Two Apple II chemistry lab simula-
tions for introductory chemistry are
available from High Technology. Both
were developed by Dr. J. I. Gelder from
Oklahoma State University. The first deals
with acid-base titrations, the second with
gas laws and entropy. Each package
consists of a 3-ring manual (19 pages for
#1.32 pages for #2) and a diskette. There is
plenty of additional information in the
programs. As you run the simulations you
are given instructions, formulas and

An ideal gas law simula-
tion demonstrates the
kinetic-molecular theory
of a gas.

helpful prompts. With all the program
documentation and the manuals as
supplementary data. I was able to easily
perform all the simulation experiments
(and I haven't done anything with
chemistry in years).

Documentation

Both packages include the same
introduction. First is a brief description of
the programs. Next, sections on how to use
the manual and hardware requirements.
The final two entries are how to run the
simulation, and the protection of the
diskette. Since the diskette cannot be
copied, this one has special significance.

Following the introduction, each
simulation is described. Theory is dis-
cussed and plenty of diagrams and
formulas are used. There is also a section
on experiment notes. These notes include
the how-tos and supplement the instruc-
tions and prompting in the program.

Chem Lab Simulation #1

Three experiments are included in
simulation # I . First, an acid-base titration
simulating an example of the common

Chuck Carpenter. 222K Monlclair PI . Currollion. TX
VJ5006.

Chem Lab Simulations
from High Technology

Chuck Carpenter

laboratory procedure used to determine
the concentration of an unknown acid.
Second, acid-base titrations are performed
to obtain the gram-molecular weight of a
fatty acid. Then Avogadro's number is
obtained by simulating a monomolecular
layer of the fatty acid spread across a water
surface. Third, an acid-base titration is
performed giving the molar concentration
of an unknown weak acid. Then, three
partial neutralizations are performed in a
PH meter simulation for identification of
the weak acid.

High resolution graphics are used
throughout the simulations. A buret, a
beaker, the glass plate for the mono-
molecular simulation and the PH meter
are included in various graphics displays.
Think of all the lab equipment you don't
have to buy. Color is included for the
experiments but black and white works
quite well. (I use a B & \V monitor). I felt
the beaker was out of proportion to the rest
of the equipment (too small). Otherwise,
the simulations were quite effective.

Chem Lab Simulation #2

There are two experiments in simula-
tion #2. First is an ideal gas law simulation
demonstrating the kinetic-molecular
theory of a gas. A graphical demon-
stration of the behavior of a gas is possible
by varying the pressure, volume, temper-
ature and the number of moles of the gas.
The second experiment is an entropy
simulation. The display is a chamber
divided into two compartments. In one
part of the simulation two gases are
allowed to mix, while in the second part, a
gas is allowed to expand from one
compartment to the other.

Low resolution graphics are used for
these simulations. Sound is used to
simulate the impact of molecules, and the
game paddles and switches are used for
some controls during the experiment.
Other controls are defined by the key-
board. I was able to make all the controls
work but didn't get a successful experi-
ment. In a classroom environment there

would be no problem since an instructor
would be able to provide guidance. The
display was in color but was no problem on
my B & W monitor. Again, the simulations
were very effective.

What I Didn't Like

I considered the cost to be too high.
You will have to buy one package for each
computer you will be using. Although the
contents require a knowledgeable person
for development, there appears to be less
work involved than several other software
packages I have for the same money. Since
the disk can't be copied, if you damage it
you have to send to High Technology for
another.

Conclusion

I have reviewed and used other
teaching aids and found them to be
hopelessly inadequate. These two
packages are well done and provide a
useful learning experience. Others at-
tempting to write computer-assisted
instruction programs would do well to use
these as a model. Previous reviews I have
written werecritical of High Technology's
sparse documentation. No problem this
time. You can obtain Chem Lab Simula-
tions/?! and #2 for SI 00.00 each from High
Technology, Inc., P.O. Box 14665,
Oklahoma City, OK 73113, (405) 840-
9900. □

CREATIVE COMPUTINO

Economic and Ecology
Simulations

The Ecology Simulations
series are a unique educational
tool They are based on
"simulation models" developed
by the Huntington Two
Computer Project at the State
University of New York at Stony
Brook under the direction of Dr
Ludwig Braun The programs
and accompanying document-
ation are written for self-
teaching or classroom use and
include background material,
sample exercises and study
guides Graphic displays were
specially developed by Jo Ann
Comito at SUNY and Ann

Corrigan at Creative Com-
puting The Ecology Simula-
tions packages are a remarkable
educational application of
micro-computers.

Ecology Simulations-1, CS-3201 (16K)

1. Pop

The POP series of models
examines three different
methods of population
protection, including exponen-
tial. S-shaped or logistical, and
logistical with low density
effects At the same time the
programs introduce the concept
of successive refinement of a
model, since each POP model
adds more details than the
previous one

2. Sterl

STERL allows you to
investigate the effectiveness of
two different methods of pest
control— the use of pesticides
and the release of sterile males
into the fly population The
concept of a more environ-
mentally sound approach
versus traditional chemical

methods is introduced. In
addition. STERL demonstrates
the effectiveness of an
integrated approach over either
alternative by itself

3. Tag

Ecology Simulations-2, CS-3202 (16K)

TAG simulates the tagging
and recovery method that is
used by scientists to estimate
animal populations You
attempt to estimate the bass
population in a warm-water,
bass-bluegill farm pond
Tagged fish are released in the
pond and samples a-e recovered
at timed intervals By oresenting
a detailed simulation of real
sampling by "tagging and
recovery," TAG helps you to
understand this process

4. Buffalo

BUFFALO simulates tne
yearly cycle of buffalo
population growth and decline,
and allows you to investigate the
effects of different herd
management policies. Simula-
tions such as BUFFALO allow
you to explore "What if"
questions and experiment with
approaches that might be
disastrous in real life

Ordering Information

The series is designed for the 16K TRS-BO Level II and is
attractively packaged in a vinyl binder with a complete study guide.
Ecology Simulations- I disk CS-3501, cassette 3201. Ecology
Simulalions-il: disk CS-3502. cassette CS-3204. Social and
Economic Simulations: disk CS-3508, cassette CS-3204. At a
modest S24.95 each, the series is an affordable necessity.

To order, send payment plus $1 00 shipping and handling to
Creative Computing Software, Dept. ACGG. P.O. Box 789-M,
Morristown, NJ 07960. For Faster Service, call in your order toll-free
to our order hotline 800-631-81 12. In NJ call 201-540-0445.

1. Pollute

POLLUTE focuses on one
part of the water pollution
problem; the accumulation of
certain waste materials in
waterways and their effect on
dissolved oxygen levels in the
water You can use the
computer to investigate the
effects of different variables
such as the body of water,
temperature, and the rate of
dumping waste material
Various types of primary and
secondary waste treatment, as
well as the impact of scientific
and economic decisions can be
examined

2. Rats

In RATS, you play the role of a
Health Department official
devising an effective, practical
plant to control rats. The plan
may combine the use of
sanitation and slow kill and
quick kill poisons to eliminate a
rat population It is also possible
to change the initial population
size, growth rate, and whether
the simulation will take place in

an apartment
entire city

building or an

3. Malaria

With MALARIA, you are a
Health Official trying to control
a malaria epidemic while taking
into account financial con-
siderations in setting up a
program The budgeted use of
field hospitals, drugs for the ill.
three types of pesticides, and
preventative medication, must
be properly combined for an
effective control program.

4. Diet

DIET is designed to explore
the effect of four basic
substances, protein, lipids,
calories and carbohydrates, on
your diet You enter a list of the
types and amounts of food eaten
in a typical day. as well as your
age. weight, sex. health and a
physical activity factor DIET is
particularly valuable in
indicating how a diet can be
changed to raise or lower body
weights and provide proper
nutrition

Social and Economic Simulations
CS-3204 (16K)

1. Limits

LIMITS is a micro-com-
puter version of the well known
"Limits to Growth" project
done at MIT. It contains a
model of the world that is built
of five subsystems (popula-
tion, pollution, food supply,
industrial output, and resource
usage) linked together by six
variables: birth rate, death
rate, pollution generation, re-
source usage rate, industrial
output growth rate, and food
production rate.

2. Market

Market allows two or more
people to play the roles of
companies who are competing

for the market for a particular
product: in this case, bicycles.
Each player makes market-
ing decisions quarterly includ-
ing the production level, the
advertising budget, and the
unit price of the product for
his/her company.

3. USPop

USPOP allows the user to
study many aspects of the
United States' human demo-
graphy (population change)
including population growth,
age and sex distribution.
USPOP makes population pro-
jections and investigates the
consequences of many differ-
ent demographic changes.

SEPTEMBER 1980

CIRCLE 300 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Exatron's "Stringy Floppy
for the TRS-80

Fred Blechman

Even though I saw it advertised
several times and read about it in two
articles, 1 had no interest in the Stringy
Floppy until 1 got my hands on one. Now
I'm a believer! I'm not sure if the ads were
too general, or the articles too technical, or
that there's nothing like having the real
thing and using it to really know what it
can do.

Cassette Systems

Let's talk for a moment about the
difference between cassette systems and
disk systems. Cassettes are relatively slow.
The TRS-80 Level II operates at about 500
baud — that's approximately 62 characters
per second when loading a program onto a
cassette from the computer, or loading a

Exatron's Stringy Floppy
is a "poor man's disk."

program from the cassette into computer
memory. Cassette tapes are tricky to load,
with head alignment problems, speed
variations, tape variations, dropout, tape
wrinkles, oxide flaking and such. You
really have to CSAVE and verify at least
twice for reliability. External DATA
handling is too slow for most practical
purposes. Changing programs requires
making new copies, rewinding and then
verifying with CLOAD? — just too time-
consuming. However, cassette recorders
are inexpensive. The tape cassettes are
cheap (about 75e) and are really great for
"archival storage" — information you're
going to keep for a long time and you're
not going to use every day.

Disk Systems

Now look at a disk system. They're

Fred Blechman. K6UGT.
Canoga Park. CA 91307.

7217 Bernadine Ave..

fast and wonderful — great for DATA
handling, and extremely fast for loading
and saving. But they're expensive! An
Expansion Interface, with an additional
I6K memory (which you almost have to
get, since the disk operating system uses
I2K all by itself — and with a I6K
machine, that would only leave you with
4K) costs $448 from Radio Shack. The
disk drive is another $449 — for a total of
S937 (perhaps less if you have another
source or use non-Radio Shack devices).
The blank disks are about SS each. And the
disk system is also complicated, creating
new problems for those who are not willing
to spend the time and effort to learn it.

The Stringy Floppy

Now there's another alternative,
Exatron's Stringy Floppy for $250 — a
"poor man's disk."

Photo Courtcs) I natron Corp.

Let me tell you some of the advan-
tages. It's fast. (I mean fast for me. Maybe
not fast for you people from disk-land.) It
runs at 7200 baud, which is 14 times faster
than the Level II cassette. Actually, it's
14.4 times faster. That's about 900
characters per second as compared to
around 62 characters for Level II cassettes.

You don't need an Expansion Inter-
face. The Stringy Floppy plugs right into
the wall socket for AC power (no power
stolen from TRS-80). It plugs right into the
keyboard expansion slot, and has an extra
connector to share the expansion port if
you've got something already plugged into
it.

You can put up to seven Stringy
Floppies in daisy-chain fashion on one
system, address them individually, and
have them talk to each other — as
compared to the normal maximum of four
disk drives.

CREATIVE COMPUTINO

CompuServe's

information

service.

A world of
information
available.
Right now.

If you have a personal computer — or a computer
terminal — CompuServe can bring a world of
information into your home or small business.

CompuServe

CompuServe is a major computer services com-
pany that has been serving top industrial and
governmental clients for more than a decade.
Now we're also applying our extensive computing
capacity to the delivery of information services to
your personal computer.

The Information Service

This exciting service is available in more than 250
cities between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m. weekdays, all
day weekends and most holidays. Cost? Only
$5.00 per hour billed in minutes. All you need is a
300 baud modem, and our complete information
service is only a local phone call away.

Welcome to CompuServe's information service.

• News. Weather. Sports. Major regional news-
papers. Plus international news services.

• Finance. MicroQuote. Updates and historical
information on stocks, bonds and commodities.

• Entertainment. Theatre, book, movie and res-
taurant reviews. Plus opera, symphony, ballet,
dance, museums, galleries...

• Electronic Mail. Create, edit, send and receive
messages from any other CompuServe user...
nationwide.

• Home & Educational Reference Service. Any-
thing you want to know . . . from encyclopedia in-
formation to household tips.

• CompuServe User Information. In case you
need technical help . . . and information on new
services as they become available.

• MicroNET. For the computer hobbyist. Software
Exchange, line printer art gallery, challenging
games, programming languages, word proces-
sing, business & educational programs . . . and
much, much more.

And this is just the beginning. CompuServe is
continually adding to its list of available services.
The world of electronic information isn't coming
tomorrow. It's here today.

CompuServe is Available at
Radio Shack" Stores

Your local Radio Shack" Store Sells Com-
puServe's information service. There are more
than 6,000 Radio Shack" Stores and Dealers
nationwide. Check with the outlet nearest you.

Radio Shack is a division of Tandy Corporation

CompuServe

Information Service Division
5000 Arlington Centre Blvd.
Columbus, Ohio 43220
(614) 457-8600 '

SEPTEMBER 1980

CIRCLE 121 ON READER SERVICE CARD
61

Floppy, cont'd...

Automatic Keyboard Debounce

None of Exatron's literature or
advertisements even mention what I'm
about to tell you. When I discovered this I
called up Bob Howell, Sr., the President of
Exatron, long-distance to confirm it. He
said, "Oh, yes, the Stringy Floppy auto-
matically debounces the keyboard. I guess
we should mention that ..."

The Stringy Floppy requires no RA M
memory from the TRS-80! It has its own
EPROM — erasable programmable read-
only memory. While it utilizes space in
some operating system areas, it does not
interfere with normally accessible
memory.

"Oh, yes, the Stringy Flop-
py automatically de-
bounces the keyboard. I
guess we should mention
that..."

It's self-verifying on loading and
saving. When you tell the Stringy to save a
program, it puts the program on tape, then
goes back and checks every single byte. So
you don't have to make two copies of
everything, then rewind and CLOAD?
verify.

Wafers

The Stringy Floppy uses little
"wafers," $2 each, and smaller than a
business card. In fact, I store my wafers in
the jackets of plastic business card holders.
Each can hold over 48 thousand bytes. Not
bad for something this small. It's only 3/16
of an inch thick, and looking down from
the top it's 2Vt inches by I '/ 2 inches.

Inside, the wafer is a continuous loop
of 1/16 inch wide tape — so narrow it
looks like a string, hence the name "Stringy
Floppy."

The wafers come in four different
lengths: S feet, 10 feet, 20 feet and SO feet.
Just remember the numbers 4-5-6 and it's
easy. A 4K wafer — that is, it will hold 4000
bytes — is 5 feet long and runs around its
whole length in 6 seconds; 4K, 5 feet, 6
seconds. Now if you extrapolate that, 8K.
uses a 10 foot wafer and runs 12 seconds;
I6K uses a 20 foot wafer that runs 24
seconds; and 40K fits on a SO foot wafer
that runs 60 seconds. Actually, I've found
the 50 foot wafers really hold over 48K, so
either the tapes are longer than marked, or
the byte density is somewhat higher than
4K on 5 feet. (The $2 price is the same for
all lengths.) Somewhere on it there's a little
metal foil about '/? inch long, to indicate
the end-of-tape/ beginning-of-tape loca-
tion to a pickup in the tape drive.

On top of each new wafer is a small '/$
inch diameter silver paper reflective disk. If
this is removed, or covered over with black
paper, the Stringy Floppy will not record.

@NEW(n) — Verifies Ability of Tape to Hold Bits Along Entire Unused Portion,
(n) Optional.

@SAVE(n) — Writes Numbered Program and Verifies Each Byte, (n) Required.

@LOAD(n) — Loads Next (If No (n)) or Specified Program Into Memory With Parity
& Checksum Verified.

(Note: @ May Be Shifted or Unshifted)

Table I. Stringy Floppy Commands

PROGRAM

BYTES

SECONDS TO LOAD

LEVEL II STRINGY
CASSETTE FLOPPY

(500 BAUD) (7200BAUDI

TRS232 Printer Driver

1734

Telephone Toll-Charge

2853

Simplified Bookkeeping

.116.1

Telephone Dialer/Timer

5139

Distributor Records - Amway

7687

127

Order Verification - Amway

10417

171

Table II. Loading Time Comparisons

In other words, if you want to protect a
program on the wafer from being recorded
over, remove or cover the silver disk. This
wafer would then be called "write-
protected." This is like removing the
break-away tabs at the back of a cassette.

Other Things

The Stringy Floppy is fast enough to
make DATA handling practical. An
internal buffer spits out 2S6 bytes of
DATA about every second, just like that,
into your computer memory — or from the
computer to a DATA tape.

You can also load and save machine
language programs, and a monitor
program is available for machine language
geniuses. (As for me, I've got my hands
full with just Basic.) Incidentally, the
Stringy Floppy does not interfere in any
way with your regular cassette operation
— you can CSAVE and CLOAD just
exactly as you did before.

Installation

The actual unit is four inches wide, six
inches deep and only two and a half inches
high, and weighs about two pounds. The
black and gray metal and plastic cabinet is
a perfect match for the TRS-80. That's all
there is to the installation. The wafer just
pushes into the slot on the front of the unit.
There are no controls on it; just two light-
emitting diodes, one to show that the drive
motor is operating, the other to tell you
when it's writing on tape.

Using The Stringy

Use of the unit is simplicity itself.
When it's connected and the computer is

turned on, the display will show
MEMORY SIZE? If you need to reserve
memory for some other use — printer
driver or whatever — type in the number
you need in the normal fashion. When you
press ENTER you'll be in Basic with a
READY on the screen. Type in SYSTEM
and press ENTER, then type in /l 2345 and
press ENTER. The screen will now come
up with:

EXATRON STRINGY FLOPPY
VERSION 3.2
and READY. You're in Basic and your
keyboard is debounced! Check your
memory with ?MEM and you'll get the
same number you would without the
Stringy Floppy on line ( 1 5572 for 16K unit
with no memory reserved).

New Commands

You have three new commands when
you've done this (see Table I). @NE W (and
you can use an upper or lower case @!),
@SAVE and @LOAD. These commands
can be entered from the keyboard or can
actually be placed in Basic programs.

The @NEW command initializes and
verifies the wafer by turning on the drive
motor (right LED goes on) and searching
the tape for the beginning-of-tape foil.
When a sensor spots the silver foil on the
tape, the left LED goes on and the Stringy
writes on the wafer tape with a special
code. The tape is a continuous loop — it
pulls out of the center, goes past the
recording/ playback head, and then winds
around the outside of the tape pancake,
like the common 8-track music tapes you
have in your car or home. You don't ever
have to rewind — in fact, you can't. As
soon as the beginning-of-tape foil is
located, the left LED goes out, the unit

CREATIVE COMPUTING

A single PC board in the Fxatron Strings r- loppy
drive unit contains the ROM and all the necessary
electronics Photo Courtesy Exatron Corp.

continues running, reading and verifying
every non-byte on the entire tape! This
assures you that the tape has no dropouts,
snags, wrinkles or other nasty things.

Meanwhile, the screen says
"ERASING ..." (Shouldn't it say
"VERIFYING"?) When the tape has been
completely verified, the number of avail-
able bytes on the tape appears on the
screen, followed by "DONE."

Saving A Program

The @SAVE command is similar to
the cassette CSAVE command, and must
be followed with a number from I to 99.
99? Yes, you can save up to 99 numbered
programs on a single wafer. (You can do
the same sort of thing on a cassette — in
Level II, anyway — but who bothers? It
takes so long for the tape, running at
normal speed, to find the numbered
program that everyone I know uses the
tape counter and fast-forward manually.)

You must give the program a number,
starting with " I" for the first program. The
drive moves the tape forward until it finds
the next available space. If you already
have, say, two programs on that wafer, you
would command @SAVE3. Once the tape
has moved to the next available space, the
record head writes the program, then the
tape continues around and verifies with the
computer every byte of the newly-written
program before stopping.

In one operation you have accom-
plished what you usually do with a
CSAVE, rewinding and a CLOAD? using
a cassette.

Loading a Program

The @LOAD command is like the
cassette CLOAD. If you don't follow with
a number, it will load in the next program
on the wafer. Give it a number, like
(ol(HI).l. and it will seek and load that
specific program only. Give it a number
not existing on the tape and it will seek
endlessly. (This wastes time but it is not
otherwise harmful.)

The BREAK key stops the Stringy
Floppy at any time.

You verify the loading two ways. The
screen says "READING ..." during
loading and follows with "DONE" when
completed. If there's an error, a "CHECK-

SUM ERROR" or "PARITY ERROR"
will appear on the screen — rare, in my
experience, and not likely to occur if you
try again. The second verification of a
good load is to LIST the program. I've
never had a bad load when the screen said
"DONE." What a pleasure compared to
cassette loading in Level II.)

Timing Comparisons

Getting down to the nitty-gritty, I
have a chart that shows the timing
comparisons in loading several programs I
use frequently (see Table II). The Amway
Products Distributor Records program
contains over 270 DATA statements (one
for each of my distributors) and it needs to
be updated every month. This used to be a
real bother with cassettes, since every
change required making a new cassette
copy of the program, CSAVEd and
verified twice. Each CSAVE or CLOAD?
took over 4 minutes plus rewinding time.
With the Stringy Floppy it takes under 45
seconds to@SAVE and verify — and I only
have to do it once. That's over 16 minutes
for cassette, versus under 45 seconds with
the Stringy Floppy.

The Telephone Dialer Program is
another example of how speed can be
important. It offers the convenience of
dialing numbers stored in memory — but
can take several minutes to load if you have
a lot of names in memory. With 67 names
in memory it takes 86 seconds to load from
a cassette, but only 6 seconds with the
Stringy Floppy. Obviously, it gets used
more often now than before I had a
Stringy.

Data Handling

Some programs require data be stored
outside of the regular program itself.
Inventory, mailing lists, accounts receiv-
able and many other data bases are usually
handled this way. With cassettes it's a
bummer. Loading external data into a
program from a cassette, can take 30
minutes or more, since it's usually done
line-by-line.

However, a special data I/O program
is supplied for the Stringy Floppy. It lets
you operate on 256 bytes at a time, with no
serious loss of speed. The program
occupies less than IK and loads quickly
from a wafer (taking about one second to
load).

The data I/O wafer gives you four new
Basic commands (see Table III). These are

Table 111. Data I O Commands

@OPEN(n) Open Specified Data File

@PRINT — Records Data on Wafer Tape

(©INPUT - Reads Data Into Memory

@CLOSE — Closes Data File

(Note. @ May Be Shifted or Unshifted)

similar to cassette or disk file commands,
and can be directed to any of up to seven
Stringy Floppies on line. The special I/O
commands are normally imbedded in
Basic programs.

For example, I have an order
checking program I use almost daily in my
Amway business. It holds 260 DATA
statements which are loaded into a two-
dimensional, 6-column by 260-row array
with READ statements in the program.
Because the resident DATA statements
take up about 6500 bytes of my I6K
memory, I'm limited to 260 stock numbers
and prices. Once the data items are loaded
into the array by the program, the data is
just occupying memory for no purpose. I
found I could use a data cassette, but it
took almost 30 minutes to load the data
into the program. However, using the

Tape cassettes are cheap
and are really great for
"archival storage"

Stringy Floppy data I/O program, reading
the data into the array from a wafer takes
only 45 seconds and frees 6500 bytes of
memory — which allows me to put almost
500 stock numbers and prices in an array
instead of 260! Now that's what I call an
improvement.

Machine Language

You can also (SSAVE machine lan-
guage programs if you know the starting
address and byte length. An autostart
address is optional. A monitor wafer is
available for machine language debugging;
it includes a memory relocator and
separate manual. Level III Basic is also
available on a wafer.

Manual

Although I've had no experience with
disks or exotic peripherals, I followed the
user's manual easily. It's so very explicit,
with examples and explanation of error
messages. It even has a selection on
Assembly Language Operations for those
of you who understand that stuff. And for
the hardware types, a parts layout and
complete schematic are also included.

Guarantee

Exatron sells the units with a 30-day
unconditional moneyback guarantee.
Besides the TRS-80, Stringy Floppies are
available for the SS-50 and S-100 busses as
well. The cost for the TRS-80 version is
S250, with the other units comparable.

Exatron doesn't have any dealers, so
you'll have to contact them directly. Their
address is 3559 Ryder St., Santa Clara, CA
95051, and they have a hot-line toll-free
number: (800) 538-8559, except in Cali-
fornia, where the number is (408) 737-7 III.

SEPTEMBER 1980

Educational
Software

;ifl)

MMI

Part One

Almost any use of the computer can
be educational, even when instruction is
not the main intent of the program. This
tends to turn a review of educational
software into a complex task of selection
(in itself an educational experience). To
narrow the field, the following types of
programs will be considered: 1. Those
labeled "Educational" by their manu-
facturers. 2. Those which, while not
labeled "Educational," do provide the user
with new concepts, new information, or
new approaches to problem solving. With

Almost any use of the
computer can be educa-
tional, even when in-
struction is not the main
intent of the program.

these criteria established, but not inflexibly
fixed, we'll look at a variety of educational
software for home computers.

Edu-Ware

Edu-Pak 1 from Edu-Ware ($39.95) is
a disk for the 48K Apple II and Apple II-
plus, requiring Applesoft in ROM. The
disk contains five programs: "Compu-
Read," "Perception," (three programs)
and "Statistics." Each program allows for
several options and variations, thus
creating a large software library on a single
disk.

"Compu-Read," designed to improve
a reader's speed and retention, begins with
a choice of six different programs.
"Compu-Read I" places three random
letters on the screen for a brief moment.
The user must type these letters after they
have vanished. If he succeeds, the next set
of letters remains on the screen for a
shorter period of time. If he is wrong, the
time of display increases. At the end, the
time of display is shown, as well as the

number of letters per second for both the
start and end of the segment. This
information helps the user gauge his
progress.

"Compu-Read II" uses words instead
of random letters. At this stage, the skills
developed in the first program are called
into service. Skills related to recognition
are also emphasized and strengthened in
this exercise. "Compu-Read III" displays a
word on the left and four words on the
right. One of the four is either a synonym
or antonym for the word on the left. Once
again, the words do not remain on the
screen for long. The user must type the
correct synonym or antonym. This
involves both recognition of the words and
comprehension of their relationships. The
system can train a person to absorb and
analyze data in a rapid manner.

"Compu-Read IV" presents a sen-
tence, then asks the reader a question
concerning the sentence. The question is
always about either the subject or object,
thus training the user to scan quickly for
information. This technique can greatly
increase reading speed. The next two
programs are file builders which allow the
creation of new word lists for the second
and third programs. The series is well
developed and seems designed to build up
reading skill in discrete segments. There
are options to specify the number of trials
and the length of time for display.
Complete statistics are given after a round,
breaking the performance into several
factors such as percent correct, display
time of first word, display time of last word
and rate of letters per second.

Next on the disk is the "Perception"
series. These three programs, in high-
resolution graphics, test visual perception
and the ability to judge spatial relations.
"Perception I" concerns lengths of lines
and gives a choice of 5 tests. In each, a line
must be matched to a specific, illustrated
length. The line is controlled with the
paddles. The options include two vertical
lines on the floor of a room and two
crossing horizontal and vertical lines on
the rear wall of a room. Anyone who is

David Lubar

familiar with optical illusions will realize
that finding a match is not always easy.
The program responds to the user's guess
with the percentage of error in the
estimate.

"Perception II" deals with shapes.
Again, there are a large variety of options.
Basically, a shape with from three to eight
vertices (user selects this number) is shown
in sections as a window scrolls past it. The
player must pick a matching shape. In
"Perception III" the match must be made
on the basis of size. The player selects from
a choice of seeing the shape on a blank

Anyone familiar with
optical illusions will
realize that finding a
match is not always easy.

screen or against a scale which allows
comparison. He also chooses from three
ways of seeing the master and test shapes.
The number of vertices in the shape and the
time it is displayed are also controlled by
the user.

These programs develop not only
spatial perceptions but also concentra-
tion. And they are fun. With all the options
and variations, anyone could use the
"Perception" series for a long time without
tiring of it.

The last selection on the disk is
"Statistics." This contains six programs,
including "Chi Square Distribution,"
"Mean, Variance, and Standard Devi-
ation," and "T-Test."

The disk is well done. Each program is
menu driven, and comes with complete
instructions. A lot of thought went into
Edu-Pak I. It would make an excellent
addition to the software library of any
school, and could be used by students of
almost any age. The programs mentioned
above are also available individually on
cassette and disk. Edu-Ware has many

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CIRCLE 192 ON READER SERVICE CARD

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

Apple II • TRS-80

Make your math classes

mora lively!

PLOT

• An indispensable aid for any class-
room lesson or activity on graphing.

• The program graphs any function,
from y=2x to y=2 cos [2x+ir/4)] .

• Two sets of axes are standard, or
the user can specify the limits. For
comparisons, several graphs can be
plotted on the same screen. With a
color monitor (Apple only), thegraphs
alternate among four colors. There
are special provisions for graphing
simultaneous equations and conic
sections.

• Comes with a list of suggested ap-
plications, from beginning Algebra to
Calculus.

Other Programs: Addition Drill,
Alphabet, Arithmetic Drill, Computa-
Doodle, Estimation Drill, Guess the
Number, Guess the Rule, Integers,
Multiplication Drill, Number Line,
Simulated Computer, Speed Drill.

STEKETEE

EDUCATIONAL

SOFTWARE

4639 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19139

i.it.ilogue

Send me PLOT

□ for TRS-80. Also get Guess
the Rule.

□ for Apple II. Also get Speed
Drill and Number Line.

□ tape $10.95

□ diskette $15.95

□ Send me a free catalogue

Name

Street

City

State

Zip

Software, cont'd...

other educational programs (as well as
some simulation programs) on the market
and under development, and is also
working on new versions of present
programs. This process of revision insures
a dynamic product. They combine talented
programming with skilled educational
techniques; the results are good.

Steketee Educational Software

Cassette TO 3 for the 16K TRS-80
($9.95 + $ 1 .00 p&h), from Steketee's EDU-
SOFT series, contains two programs
which can be used both in the classroom
and at home, "Plot," and "Guess the Rule."
"Plot" allows the graphing of single or
simultaneous equations. Anything within

Both beginners and old
pros will be fascinated by
the internal view of a
computer in action.

the mathematical capability of the TRS-
80, from a simple Y=X+2 to a complex
Y=SIN(X)/X»SOR(X), can be used. An
equation is entered by being placed in
memory as line 400. A second equation can
be inserted as line 500 if a graph of
simultaneous equations is desired. Since
these equations become part of the
program, TRS-80 conventions for math
symbols must be followed. Once an
equation is entered, the user has a choice of
either Cartesian or Trig coordinates, as
well as a choice of any desired endpoints. If
the selected endpoints are too small, the
line won't appear on the screen. If this
happens, larger boundaries are needed.
After the function is graphed, it can be
replotted with different endpoints, saved
to be combined with the next equation, or
deleted from memory. "Plot," which gives
good visual representations of many
concepts in Algebra and Trig, could be of
value to almost any age group.

In "Guess the Rule," the computer
selects an equation, ranging in difficulty
from simple linear ones of the form Y=X+a
to quadratics such as Y=aX + bX + c. The
player is then shown two pairs of X.Y
values. Using this information, he must
determine the rule, either by guessing the
equation or by supplying a correct pair of
values for X and Y. Ten equations are
presented in each contest.

Another cassette, TO 4 (same price
and configuration as TO 3). contains
"Computa-Doodle" and "Simulated
Computer." "Computa-Doodle," as the
title suggests, is a graphics utility. The left,
right, up and down arrows control a cursor
which draws lines. An arrow followed by a
number will give a longer line. Left arrow
followed by "9," for example, will move the

line nine spaces to the left, plus one for the
move registered with the initial press of the
arrow. The "Q," "W," "A," and "S" keys
allow diagonal moves, with numbers
following to give the degree of slope. Once
a diagonal has been started, the slope can
be changed just by pressing a different
number. This allows smooth curves to be
drawn. There is also a command which
displays the numbers that represent the
graphics in memory, and a command
which moves the entire drawing on the
screen. "Computa-Doodle" is well de-
signed and easy to use.

"Simulated Computer" is an excellent
program. It turns the TRS-80 into a
microprocessor. Twenty memory loca-
tions (little boxes) are displayed on the
screen, along with boxes for input, output,
accumulator, program counter and in-
struction register. A group of three digit
commands, for such functions as "add,"
"subtract," and "skip," is used to program
this simulation of a computer. Once a
program is entered, the operation of this
"central processing unit" is graphically
displayed as the user sees memory contents
change and as input and output appear in
the boxes. There are also modes for
slowing the program, and for running in
single steps. The program is a great
introduction to the concept of a micro-
processor. Both beginners and old pros
will be fascinated by this internal view of a
computer in action. "Simulated Com-
puter" is a good first step on the way to
understanding a Z-80 or a 6502 micro-
processor.

Steketee programs come with good
documentation, including complete in-
structions and suggestions for using the
programs. The programs are well designed

One ol the man> displays available in the Perception
series from Idu-Warc. Here, the player must match the
shape he saw earlier with one of the four now shown

for ease of operation and contain many
error traps. This cassette can definitely be
used in the classroom. Individual users can
also enjoy this tape. Any of Steketee's
tapes can be ordered on disk for an
additional $5.00.

Basics and Beyond, Inc.

Microcosm I for the Level II I6K
TRS-80 ($19.95) contains thirty programs
on two cassettes. The programs range from
games and simulations to utilities and
educational aids. The games are nice.

CIRCLE 229 ON READER SERVICE CARO

CREATIVE COMPUTING

BRAIN FOOD FOR YOU and YOUR APPLE

■

By Sherwin Steffin and Steven Pederson

This extensive skill-enhancement package, designed tor users ot all
ages includes:

COMPUREAD

Four independent programs rapidly increase comprehension and reten-
tion by changing the manner in which you perceive written words. In
each, you set the initial difficulty level, and the computer adjusts it based
upon your performance. The programs Character Recognition, High-
Speed Word Recognition, Synonyms and Antonyms, and Sentence Com-
prehension are supported by two file building routines, allowing you to
use your own word lists, or those* supplied on the program diskette. A
must for those tired of lighting the paper jungle.

PERCEPTION

Three programs which challenge and improve your visual skills Each pro-
vides many levels of difficulty as you test your ability to remember and
compare high- resolution lines, shapes and sizes. (ROM Applesoft
required.)

STATISTICS

Simple, yet elegant, menu-driven routines give many of the statistical
calculations found in Fortran driven SPSS. Includes: Mean, Variance.
Standard Deviation, Pearson Correlation, Normal Distribution, Proba-
bility and Frequency, Chi-Square distribution, Chi-Square test T-Test

Coi»M-r«d

Hntplin

Statistics

48K. disk illy 24 95

48 K. disk illy 19.95

32 K. cissttte 9.95. disk 15.95

Edn-Pik I: ill tkm •• mi iciumicil diskette

39.95

'** 'I

-i

COMPUMATH

This series ot total instructional systems in Mathematics is unlike any ol the "drill
and prompt" routines available tor the personal computer, in that they are designed
to teach— not iust to test

Each two-diskette package begins with a skill-assessment pre- test and proceeds
to one or more learning modules, each ol which teaches specific skills in the area
involved Randomly generated post-tests then verify the acquisition ol the desired
skill Liberal usages ol screen graphics hold the learner's attention, while each
systems' ease of operation allows younger learners to work unassisted

FRACTIONS

By Sherwin Steffin and Steven Pedereoi

ind six learning units in fractions

DECIMALS

By Sherwin Steffin and David Munich
A pre-test and eight learning units in decimals

Available at finer computer stores everywhere. CA res. add 6% tx Add $f 00 for
shipping EDU-WARE SERVICES. INC (213) 346-6783
22035 Burbank Blvd. Suite 223 e Woodland Hills, Ca 91367

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CIRCLE 149 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Our new program
package for the

TRS-80
sounds terrific-

So does the price*

There are lots of programs with sound that
are worth about a dollar. Trouble is, they cost a
lot more.

But at Basics &. Beyond we've just developed
Microcosm III, 20 programs with sound— each
just as good as our competition's $15 and $20 pro-
grams—for $24.95. That's a 20-program package
for $24.95.

It includes "Pinball," replete with ringing
bonuses, spinners, buzzers and flippers; torpedo-
firing "Submarine" that explodes with underwater
excitement; and the right/wrong buzzer in "Long
Division" teaches step by step.

At Basics &. Beyond we underscored our
point that most other program packages are over-
priced with Microcosm I and Microcosm II, $19.95
each. Now a lot of people will start hearing about
our third package and stop listening to high prices.

You see, it's not that our program packages
for the TRS-80™ microcomputer are so cheap.
It's just that theirs are so expensive.

BASICS & BEYOND, INC.

Boa 10 • Amawalk. N.Y. 10*01 •Orcall914-962-Z3*S

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CIRCLE 176 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CIRCLE 1120N READER SERVICE CARD

Software, cont'd...

though some are reminiscent of previously
published ones. Several of the games could
be considered educational. "South Pole"
allows one or two players to try to reach
the pole and return. The players decide
how many men and dogs to bring, and how
much food and fuel to take along. Daily
reports arc given as the players pick their
routes toward the pole. Aside from a rather
long wait while data is being displayed, the
game is fun. More varied and complex is
"Atlantis." Here, the player must decide on
a course of action to save this mythical
island from impending doom. He can try
to build a dome for protection against the
volcano, work toward evacuation, or try
one of several other approaches. Many
decisions are involved, with many possible
outcomes. This is a nice simulation.

Then there are the educational
programs. "Country Guess" has the player
choose a country. The TRS-80 asks
questions until it is able to name the
country. This requires the player to know
(or learn) a fair amount of Geography;
otherwise he won't be able to answer
correctly. "Math Table Drill" allows the
user to select the number he wishes to
study. The computer than presents
problems in basic arithmetic which involve
the number. This could be a good way to
practice multiplication tables. "Spelling
Drill" flashes a word on the screen, then
waits for the user to spell the word. Any
mistake will immediately end the attempt,
but another chance will be given. "Spelling
Review" allows the user to enter his own
list of words for review. There are three
levels, each presenting the word for a
different period of time.

Microcosm I also contains data-base
type programs such as "Flowering House-
plants," "Calories-Food," and "Calories-
Ingredients," as well as programs for
balancing checkbooks and checking
memory. At this price, it is a worthwhile
purchase. Included with the cassettes is a
24 page booklet which gives detailed rules
for the games and background on the
educational programs. The tapes and
booklet are attractively packaged in a
sturdy plastic binder.

Educational Activities, Inc.

This company markets several pro-
grams for the PET and TRS-80. Apple II-
plus versions are also in the works. Missing
Fads (S29.9S) can be used by a student
with no help from a teacher: the instruc-
tions are clear and simple. As in "Math
Table Drill" (see above), problems are
presented with one missing factor —
5+7=9 — an( j the user has to supply this
missing number. After a correct answer,
the whole problem is displayed again.
When the guess is incorrect, three chances
are given before the computer provides the
answer.

Flash Spelling ($14.95) presents
words one letter at a time in large script.
The whole word remains on the screen for
an instant, then vanishes. At this point, the
user must correctly spell the word. While
there might seem to be no challenge in
spelling a word that has just been on the
screen, the benefit of this program is that it
reinforces learning. By seeing the word one
letter at a time, the student is more likely to
remember the correct spelling.

"South Pole" allows one
or two players to try to
reach the pole and return.

Scrambled Letters ($14.95) is for two
players, who take turns trying to solve
jumbled words. If a player is correct, his
opponent gets a new word; on an incorrect
guess, the other player gets a shot at the
same word. If they both miss twice, the
program shows them the word. Extra
points are given for speed in this contest.
There is only one small problem. Some
words, such as "ocean," have anagrams. A
player who responded to "aceno" with the
answer "canoe" would be told he was
wrong. Aside from this, the program is well
designed.

Introduction to Mathematics on the
Computer ($29.95) is a marvelous, wide-
ranging program. It presents the student
with math problems at a specific selected
level of difficulty. If the student does well,
the level increases. The value of the
program becomes apparent when the
student makes a mistake. After several
tries, if the answer hasn't been found, the
machine restates the question as a word
problem. Instead of using "5+3," for
example, it says, "Maybe this way would
be easier for you: If I had 3 pencils and you
gave me 5 more, how many pencils would I

Programs from Atari rep-
resent a good concept
which has produced fair
to excellent applications.

have?" The program is also extremely
patient when trying to get answers to
yes/ no questions during the inital set-up.
This is a nice touch, and shows the care
that went into the package.

Most of the EA programs make
extensive use of large-size letters. The
documentation consists of only an insert in
the cassettes, but it provides information
on changing the data bases for the spelling
games, and advice on what to do when
problems are encountered. Besides, the
programs contain everything the user
would need to know. These tapes could be
of value in the classroom, and could also be
used by students who want to learn on their

own, or who need extra help with a subject.
This is definitely a quality product line.

Image Computer Products

Now that the Atari home computer
has been on the market for a while, other
companies are beginning to produce
software for it. Image has brought out a
nice cassette. Skill Builder I ($19.95),
containing two educational programs for
younger persons. Running on either the
800 or 400, "Number Hunt" has the player
move from the center to the edges of a
three-by-three grid, trying to find the
number that matches the answer to a
problem shown at the bottom of the
screen. At first, the problems are very
simple. If the player does well, the
problems become more difficult. A single
player can use the program, or two players
can compete, trying to be the first to find
the number. In the two player version, each
player has his own grid. The control is
through joysticks.

Two plasers tr\ to find the right answers in Image's
Number Hunt. I he game adjusts for different skill
levels.

The same cassette also contains
"Bingo Duel." In this game, numbers must
be found on a five-by-five grid. Two
players can compete, each getting a
different level of problems but using the
same grid, or the game can be used by a
single player. Both games are well
explained in the booklet accompanying the
cassettes. These programs could be used by
children who are learning their numbers or
who are learning elementary addition and
subtraction. Older children might also
enjoy the competitive aspects of the games.

Atari

The Talk and Teach programs from
Atari represent a good concept which has
produced fair to excellent applications.
Using the Educational System Master
Cartridge, the machine comes on with
simple instructions for loading the
cassette. After the program is in memory,
the computer controls the tape, which
gives audio output through the television
to supplement the information on the
screen. For some applications this is a nice
idea. The Sociology set, with sixteen

CREATIVE COMPUTING

The

MAGfc WAND "„

ALMOST
PERFEC.

We've been saying it for a few months
now, and the reviewers seem to agree.

i i Until 1 saw the Magic Wand, if I were allowed to own one and
only one editor, Word Star* would have been it. . . . My personal
preference is for Pencil or Magic Wand for text creation. J J

Jerry Pournelle
On Computing, Summer 1980

i i The basic functions of the Magic Wand editor are as easy to learn
as those of Electric Pencil*. . . . Magic Wand dominates in the area
of print formatting. ) J Larry Press

On Computing, Summer 1980

4 4 Of all the word processors I have used (and that includes a dozen
or more), the Magic Wand is the most versatile. The Wand has
almost all of the features of other processors, plus many new ones of
its own. It measures up to even the word-processing software running

on the largest mainframe computers.) 9 Rod Hallen

Microcomputing, June 1980

i i The Magic Wand is one of the most flexible word processing
packages available, and should be considered by any potential word

processing purchaser. 9 J Glenn A. Hart

Creative Computing, August 1980

Available for both the CP/M ■ and OASIS operating systems

suxaW business a^icaftons, inc.

3220 Louisiana • Suite 205 • Houston, Texas 77006 • 713-528-5158

Electric Pencil is •> trademark "i Michael Shrayer Software. Inc
WordStar is .■ trademark oJ Micro Pro International, Inc
CP \l is .i registered trademark <>i Digital Research Corp

CIRCLE 194 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1980

Software, cont'd...

STATES AND CAPITALS

, -ISBIIsi-

' v\

Having guessed the stale, the player of Atari's States
and Capitols must now give the capitol.

programs on four tapes, is well done. The
first program introduces the topic,
explains what will be covered, and begins
to give a background of basic concepts. As
text is displayed on the screen, a narrator
repeats the material. Since speech can be
faster than reading, the voice is able to give
extra information.

Throughout the program, the tape
stops and a question appears on the screen,
along with two or three possible answers. If
the wrong answer is selected, there is a
buzz. When the right one is found, the tape
continues, often making a comment about
the answer.

In the same series is a set of History
tapes. These begin with the Greeks and
move chronologically forward. The
history lessons stress a cause-and-effect
approach. Obviously the tapes took the
efforts of three professionals; a program-
mer, an educator and a trained speaker.
The lessons are put together with great care
for detail, accuracy and interest. The use of
text and graphics is well done, and learning
from these tapes is a painless endeavor.

There are times when something is
used because it is available, not because it
is the best thing to use. This could be the
case with the Great Classics selection of the
Talk and Teach series. Each story is
presented in synopsis with a style reminis-
cent of Classics Illustrated. The program
pauses to ask questions, insuring that the
reader grasps the plot line, but that isn't
enough. The value of literature comes not
from the plots, which are often ancient and
borrowed, but from the way words are put
together. None of the works in this sixteen-
story collection, from Julius Caesar to A
Tale of Two Cities, can be viewed as
anything but story line. Each work is a
classic because of the style and art of the
writer. These tapes are pale images of the
classics. If they interest a student enough to
get him to read the originals, fine; but that
doesn't seem likely.

Also from Atari is States and Capitols
($14.95). A high-resolution map of the
USA is displayed. One at a time, the states
are outlined. The player has to guess the
state. If he is wrong, the program will tell
him the answer. After that, he has to guess

the capitol. Again, the correct information
is provided after each guess. The game is
nicely designed, but would be best used in a
classroom, since individuals who used it
would quickly learn the states and have no
more need of the program.

Creative Computing
(Sensational Software Division)

This review would not be complete
without mention of some of the newer
educational programs from Creative
Computing. First, for the TRS-80, is
Ecological Simulations - 2 ($14.95). This
contains four programs: "Pollute,""Rats,"
"Malaria," and "Diet." In "Rats," the
player tries to control a population of rats,
using various poisons. He can select the
length of time between reports, as well as
the length of each application and weight
of the poison. Trying different methods,
the player learns the results of combination
programs using varying amounts of
poisons.

"Malaria" is a varied and interesting
program. The player must select from
several measures designed to limit the
spread of a malaria epidemic. Attention
must be split between preventative and
curative measures. At the end of a round,
the player is given an evaluation of his

The value of literature
comes not from the plots,
which are often ancient
and borrowed, but from
the way words are put
together.

work, showing how effective each of his
measures was. Bit by bit, it is possible to
develop a strategy which makes the most
effective use of the various measures. This
game quickly becomes absorbing.

"Pollute" takes the user's selection of
water temperature, kind of waste, rate of
dumping, and treatment method, then
shows the effects on a body of water. It
contains good error traps and other aids.
In entering the amount of waste, a reply
that is way too large will result in the
comment: New York City has a rate of only
1 2 parts per million per day. The display
graphs oxygen against waste in the water.
This program, too, is a good learning tool.

The final simulation, "Diet," allows
experimentation with various weekly diets,
without the risk entailed from actual
experiment. A player can learn what a
week of milkshakes would do to him, or a
week of sprouts and other vegetables. The
output tells how much weight would be
gained or lost on this diet, as well as the
nutritional makeup of the food.

In these programs, a reply of "-I" as
input is used whenever the player needs

help in answering a question. The docu-
mentation includes detailed explanations
of all parameters and variables, as well as
exercises to get the user started and advice
for classroom activities with the program.
Also included is information on the
assumptions made in the simulation. The
manual itself can be an educational tool.

Another tape from Creative Comput-
ing. CAI-2 ($1 1.95), is for a I6K Apple II
with Integer Basic. It contains three
programs designed for computer-assisted
instruction. "European Maps" begins with
a high-resolution display of Europe. The
player is given the choice of naming either
countries and capitols or just countries, as
well as the option of just entering the first
letter of the name of the country. During
the game, a dot in the center of one of the
countries will begin to flash. The player
must name this country. If he is wrong, he
will be given the same country twice more
at other times during the game. This use of
graphics for visual learning is nice, and
should produce good results.

"Meteor Math," for beginning and
intermediate students of math, takes the
pain out of arithmetic. The player is
informed of a meteor which is falling
toward Earth. He must destroy the meteor
with his laser cannon. But he has to answer
rriath problems correctly before he can fire
the cannon. It takes a lot of shots to
destroy the meteor. If the student does
well, the level of difficulty of the problems
increases. This is a nicely-designed
package which makes good use of graphics
in presenting math problems.

The tape also contains "Music
Composing Aid," which allows the entry of
notes, the replay of the notes or of other
saved scores, and the editing of composi-
tions. The music, coming from the Apple's
own speaker, sounds like an alto recorder.
When using the system for composition,
each note is played as it is entered. Notes
are coded using a simple method. A C
below middle C is entered as C. To go an
octave higher, the composer would use
CC. There is a range C below middle C to C
three octaves above middle C. Along with
the program is a data tape containing a
Bach composition. The program encour-
ages students to learn musical notation so
they can transpose their favorite scores

A graph of waste panicles and oxygen is given in
Pollute from Creative Computing. Players can try
various means of raising the oxygen and limiting waste. .

CREATIVE COMPUTING

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MODEL 800/850 DUAL FLOPPY
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find out just how competitively priced a quality drive can be

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(805) 685-4546
Telex: 658 482

Software, cont'd...

from sheet music into computer data. This
package offers a nice variety of programs,
and would be worth the price for the music
routines alone.

Moving away from educational
software, we get to those programs that are
intended as aids for teachers. Generally,
such programs are concerned with or-
ganizing data, and with saving time. First,
two cassettes from Educational Associ-
ates; one very good, one fairly disappoint-
ing. The good cassette. Readability Index
($9.95), can be useful not just to teachers
but also to those who work in children's
literature; especially literature for the high-
interest low-readability field. Readability
gives a guideline for determining what
material can be comprehended by what
grade level. In the EA program, the user
enters three paragraphs; the first, one from
the middle, and the last. The program then
gives word count, sentence count, the
number of letters, the average length of a
word, the percentage of the words that are
on the Dale readability index, and the
readability level. The Dale long list
contains words that are in the vocabulary
of readers at certain ages. The percentage
given is an estimate; an actual check
against the list would take too much time.
Along with the printout is a chart for
finding the grade level that is appropriate
to the readability. This program is useful
and well set up for ease of operation.

Considering the overall quality of E A
software, their Grade Averager ($9.95) is a
disappointment. The program allows entry
of grades, either letter or numeric, for each
student in a class. When all the grades have
been entered for a student, an average
score and letter equivalent are given. At the
end of the program, a summary of all
names and averages is furnished. So far, no
problem. But the program does have flaws.

A player can learn what a
week of milkshakes
would do to him, or a
week of sprouts and
other vegetables.

First, once a grade is entered, it is there for
good. There is no way to edit mistakes.
Any change would entail redoing the
whole file for that student. Also, a wrong
entry that is a letter other than "A," "B,"
"C," "D," or "F" is taken as a signal that
the entries for that student are finished. It
seems that this cassette could create more
work than it saves.

The Apple II Gradebook ($24.95)
from Creative Computing is a disk-based
utility that allows teachers to set up files
containing the names of students and their
scores. The user first establishes a roster by

entering the names of the students. More
than one class can be held on a disk. Once a
roster is on file, it can be accessed to add
new scores, change scores, change existing
information, or add information.

A lot of thought seems to have been
devoted to making this program easy for

In "Rats," the player tries
to control a population
of rats, using various
poisons.

the user. After a name has been entered,
the computer shows the name on the screen
and asks if it is correct. Getting a "yes," the
name is put on file. If the name isn't
correct, the computer asks for another
entry. This method should virtually
eliminate user errors.

With names and scores on file, it is
possible to get various statistics from the
system, such as scores and averages for
each student, as well as his deviation from
the mean. Another nice touch: the names
can be entered in any order. When they are
sent to disk, they will be stored alpha-
betically. This system is very easy to use.
Anyone who can type can have the luxury
of a computer grade book. The documen-
tation covers use of the system and
recovery from any problems that might be
encountered (such as accidentally hitting
reset).

As should be obvious by now, there is
a lot of educational software out there, and
the quality seems to be getting better every
month. With careful shopping, any school
or individual should be able to fill all
software needs for a reasonable price. D

Vendor Addresses

Atari Inc.
1265 Borregas Ave.
P.O. Box 9027
Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Basics & Beyond, Inc.

Box 10

Amwalk, NY 10501

Creative Computing
P.O. Box 789-M
Morristown, NJ 07960

Educational Activities, Inc.
P.O. Box 392
Freeport. NY 11520

Edu-Ware Services, Inc.
22035 Burbank Blvd. #223
Woodland Hills, CA 91367

Image Computer Products, Inc.
615 Academy Drive
Northbrook, 1L 60062

Steketee Educational Software
4639 Spruce St.
Philadelphia. PA 19139

omnisoft

for the
EDUCATOR

REGISTRAR 7 * 650

REGISTRATION SYSTEM to automate the
conventional registration process for high
schools. It closely emulates ordinary proce-
dures making the transition from manual to
computerized registration quick and easy.
Class rolls and student schedules are auto-
matically generated. Requires 48k Apple Plus
with dual drives.

READER™ 15C

COMPUTERIZED READING program ena-
bles the Apple computer to be used as a
reader with the teacher prescribing the story
and reading speed tor each student in
advance The student then has an indi-
vidualized reading prescription READER
automatically tests comprehension and
stores the results for later retrieval at the
teacher's convenience

STORIES'" each diskette 55

TEN to twenty stories per diskette depending
on grade level Comprehension tests for each
reading Please specify reading level (K-12)

COMPETENCY MANAGER™ 550

COUNSELORS can keep timely and accurate
records of student progress with the com-
puter files available in this management pro-
gram Although there is a fairly common set of
competencies that students need to achieve,
no one set can serve all schools Each school
can define its own set with the Competency
Manager. Provision is made for automati-
cally generating letters to students or parents
containing the student's status.

APPLE FLASH'" 110

PERCEPTUAL accuracy can be practiced
and tested with an infinite variety of speeds
and combinations of letters, numbers,
shapes, and symbols Records students
progress on disk and allows teachers to set
prescriptions prior to class

FLASH DISC" each diskette 35

IK-2. 3-6. Middle School. High School, or
College. Please specify level

GHOSTWRITER'

210

WORD PROCESSING is not just for the
corporate world Educators can use the finest
package available with their Apple computer
when the students go home

ATTN: AUTHORS

OMNICO purchases quality software for
worldwide distribution. Call 404-455-8460

FOR EDUCATORS ONLY

SCOTCH DISKETTES.. 10for $35
80 COLUMN CARD (Videx). . .345

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1 6K Apple Upgrade Kit $62 95

Dealer inquiries invited.

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Computer Associates, Inc.
3300 Buckeye Rd.
Atlanta. Ga. 30341

CIRCLE 250 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Apple vs IBM

IBM/370 users have VSAM (Virtual Storage Access Method) to provide
fast, flexible keyed-access to their data. Now KRAM (Keyed Random Access
Method), from United Software of America, gives APPLE users the same
flexibility, substantially increasing the processing power of the APPLE.

Until KRAM, the only "random access" capability in the APPLE consisted

of a crude form of "relative record" processing. While this is usable for very

simple applications, it falls far short of the needs of today's business &

analytical applications. Using KRAM, records may be processed by a "key"

value, which may consist of any kind of data: numbers, letters, special

characters, etc. Even APPLE'S long-awaited DOS 3.3 doesn't have anything

like this!!

Just compare: Consider an employee file in a Payroll application:

APPLE'S

DOS 3.3

FUNCTION

RANDOM
ACCESS

KRAM

FEATURES

Retrieve by Social Sec. #

YES

Relative record is limited

to 7 digit #'s;
KRAM keys up to 48 bytes!

Retrieve by Last Name

YES

Relative record cannot
file alphabetically

Erase a record

YES

Relative record cannot
erase records

Dynamic record allocation

YES

KRAM files grow as needed

Dynamic compression

YES

KRAM recaptures space when
records are deleted

Mutliple files open

YES

KRAM can keep 5 files open
simultaneously

BEST WAY

YES

It's obvious

As you can see, KRAM

now attains levels of sophistication on the APPLE

that rival those of IBM mai
power? Power up your AP

nframes. . . So why let the IBM users have all the

PLE with KRAN

l\\

KRAM RELEASE 2.0 FUNCTIONS:

• Create/Open a dataset '

• Put record by key '

• Add & Delete records by key

• Get any record by Full or '

• Partial key in .4 sec. '

• (.2 sec. with Corvus Disk)

Supports multiple disks
Read next or previous record
Dynamic space allocation
Dynamic space reclamation
Dynamic index compression
Never needs reorganization

An 80 page manual fully documents KRAM 2.0 functions and illustrates
I with programming samples. KRAM architecture is fully explained and a sample
mailing list application program is included.

| APPLE a PET Requirements:

KRAM is designed to work with both APPLE'S Disk II and Corvus Systems
1 10 Megabyte Winchester Disk, and Commodore's 2040, 3040, and 8050 Disk
units. KRAM 2.0 requires 32K/48K APPLE with Integer Basic in ROM
(compatible with APPLESOFT) and at least one disk drive. KRAM works on any
40/80 column 16K/32K PET.

(5X5

= =a. <s UNITED

-#= SOFTWARE
OF
AMERICA

New York NY 10017

(212) 682-0347 Telex 640055

@©isii $99.95

Look for the RED-WHITE-BLUE
United Software Display at your local
computer dealer, or send check or
money order, plus $3.00 shipping to:

DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED

SEPTEMBER 1980

For your Apple II....

MUSIC ir GRAPHICS

ALF Music Synthesizer

The ALF music synthesizer has three voices on each
board which are easily programmed using the Entry
program provided. The envelope shape of each voice
(or even each note) may be controlled individually thus
allowing the synthesis of practically any instrument
such as a violin, trumpet, piano, harp or bells.
Instrumentation and dynamics may be varied while a
song is playing by changing the attack, sustain, release,
decay, gap and volume of the notes.

Playback of music is accompanied by a spectacular
color display showing a stylized "piano keyboard" for
each part with the colors of the notes varying in
proportion to their loudness and waveform.

Ease of Music Entry

Music is entered directly using the high-resolution
graphics entry program. One paddle is used to select
menu items such as note duration, accidentals, dotted
notes, triplets, tied notes, etc. while the other paddle
moves a note cursor up and down the staff over a
4-octave range. The transpose command extends the
range to eight octaves. This form of music entry is
considerably faster and more accurate than cryptic note
code schemes (like QFS3) found with other synthe-
sizers.

ia ¥ a r r J'U > j^

MST O

gggSURE
SAUEM

JJAMM. .jtbU

sub e

MUSIC ENTRY SCREEN

*■ IWI ML Til

9474 FREE

The board plugs into any Apple II or Apple II Plus.
Two or three boards are required for stereo. Requires a
16K Apple system and external amplifier and speakers.

*ALF Apple Music II (AM-II) Synthesizer

The AM-II is a new, low cost digital music
synthesizer for the Apple II computer. It features 9
voices on a single music card.

The software ENTRY and PLAY systems are the same
as on the ALF Apple Music Synthesizer (AMS). The two
principle differences between the new AM-II and the
original Apple Music Synthesizer are in pitch range,
volume range, and parts per board.

The new AM-II has a range of six octaves. The
dynamic range is 28 db. (The original AMS has a range
or 8 octaves a dynamic range of 78 db and 3 parts per
board.)

VersaWriter

VersaWriter is a drawing tablet for the creation of
full-color, high resolution graphic images on the Apple.
Images may be drawn freehand or traced from existing
images (cartoons, photos, drawings, etc.) using the
simple pivoted two-arm pantograph with magnifying
crosshairs.

After an image is drawn, it may be rotated, shrunk,
or enlarged. It may be moved across the screen and
alternated with other images thus providing high-resolu-
tion animation. The image may be colored with varied

colors

VersaWriter

SELF-
PORTRAIT

Animate other Programs

Graphical images made with VersaWriter and stored
on tape or disk may be called from other programs or
even imbedded in them. With VersaWriter, you don't
have to worry about assembly code, counting pixels or
other cumbersome hi-res graphics entry and retrieval
techniques.

VersaWriter graphics can be used in all types of
programs— games, statistics, engineering, artistic, and
educational. Your only limit is your own imagination.

Two Disks of Software

Disk 1 contains the basic plotting, scaling,
movement, rotation, color, transfer and recall software.
This disk also includes routines which create "shape
tables" from your figures to be used in other programs.
Disk 2 contains applications software. One program
adds five sizes of upper and lower case text to drawings,
another adds standard electronic and digital symbols,
while a third calculates distances and areas.

VersaWriter requires a 32 or 48K disk system,
Applesoft in ROM or an Apple II Plus.

VersaWriter $252.00

ALF Music Synthesizer $268.00
AM-II Synthesizer $198.00

Prices postpaid in USA. NJ residents add 5% sales tax.

To order VersaWriter or the ALF Synthesizer, send
your name and address along with a check or
chargecard number and expiration date. Visa, Master-
Card and American Express are welcome. Units are in
stock and orders will be shipped as soon as your check
clears or your credit is verified.

Peripherok PIik

119 Maple Ave., Morristown, Nj 07960 (201)538-3385

Dealer inquiries invited.

CIRCLE 207 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Stocks and Listed Options

Part5 —

Portfolio Records

and Program PORTVAL

Alfred A. Adler, Ph. D.

The Series Thus Far

The first article of this series was
introductory. The stock market was
presented as the meeting place for
buyer and seller or their representa-
tives. Brokers were discussed as the
usual form of representative, and the
necessity for including the ever-
present commissions in all calcula-
tions was discussed at some length.
Some of the possible varieties of
investment attitudes were touched on
briefly. This was followed by a discus-
sion of puts and calls, the listed option
markets, and one or two of the more
obvious option strategies.

The second article continued the
discussion of option strategies with a
brief presentation of the six basic
maneuvers. Program OPGRAPH was
then presented and discussed
followed by sample runs illustrating
combination strategies: with covered
and uncovered calls, and covered
and uncovered straddles receiving
fairly detailed treatment.

Part 3 continued with more details
on call writing followed by a fairly
detailed discussion of opening versus
closing option transactions. Program
OPTION was presented along with
sample runs covering hedging with
calls, out-of-the-money hedges, and
in-the-money hedges.

In Part 4, presented last month, a
technique was discussed for predict-
ing future option premiums. This
method requires the establishment of a
data base of historical option prem-
iums in whatever detail the user
desires. A pair of algorithms then
utilizes this data base to project future

Alfred A. Adler Ph.D.. 10360 E. Flintlock Trail.
Tucson. AZ 85715

premiums at whatever time and future
stock price the user selects. Program
NEWPREM was presented as the
vehicle for this technique.

Market Timing and Progress Records

Having discussed the subject of
buying and selling puts and calls in
general, selling calls in whatever ratio
against a long stock position in some
detail, and finally the question of
premium prediction, the subject of
stock price prediction, otherwise

The serious investor tries
not to make the same
mistake more often than
necessary.

known as market timing, begs to be
addressed. A considerable degree of
success has been achieved with
Fourier transform methods and a
form which is able to pick out the
important stock price fluctuation fre-
quencies is being written but is not
expected to be completed and ade-
quately tested for several months. That
being the case, we must conclude this
series with a discussion of a program
that assists the user in keeping a
readily available and easily updatable
record of his portfolio and at the same
time in measuring his progress toward
financial success.

Portfolio Records

The IRS, bless them, require that
investors in common stocks file a
Schedule D each year. This fascinating
document requires a statement of the
date and cost of acquisition as well as

the date and proceeds of disposition of
each stock and option position. An
ongoing set of records is obviously
required which, at the very least,
keeps track of the contents of the
portfolio and the acquisition condi-
tions.

The serious investor tries not to
make the same mistake more often
than necessary. This requires his-
torical records which can be referred
to when necessary and reviewed
periodically to continually refresh the
memory regarding past successes and
failures and the events leading to
them. Only by keeping the past alive
can one profit from his experience. In
addition, simple curiosity should
motivate an investor to keep a record of
his performance, by the position, by
the year, or whatever, if for no other
reason than to assure himself that he
would not be better off with his money
in a savings account. Clearly, the
records required to satisfy all these
diverse needs have a high degree of
commonality.

Program PORTVAL

The record needs imposed by
Schedule D are automatically satisfied
since we must start with these data in
any event. The second and third re-
quirements are easily met by trivial
manipulations.

The portfolio itself is contained in
DATA statements within Program
PORTVAL itself. It turns out to be
quicker and easier to do it this way than
to use data files which must be con-
stantly revised and updated. In the
case of stocks the DATA statements
contain the number of shares, the
symbol of the stock, and the cost. The

SEPTEMBER 1980

Stocks, cont'd...

data of acquisition has been dropped
due to lack of space and lack of
interest. It is only needed once (when
the stock is sold) and needn't be
carried, possibly for years, in the
interim. Keeping the 'buy' confirma-
tions of current positions separately is
sufficient and not too inconvenient. In
the case of options, the DATA state-
ments contain the number of options,
the symbol of the underlying stock
along with the expiration month, the
exercise price and a 'P' if a put, and the
cost. These DATA statements are
divided into four groups: Long Stocks,
Short Stocks, Long Options, and Short
Options. In addition, the margin debit
is recorded.

The user must keep a
readily available and
easily updatable record
of his portfolio and at
the same time measure
his progress toward
financial success.

Following the run command the
user will be asked to specify the
evaluation date. The program will then
list the stock and option symbols in
order, pausing after each to permit the
user to enter the current per share
price. When these entries have been
completed, a portfolio evaluation will
be displayed. This consists of the
portfolio information from the Long
Stocks section of the DATA state-
ments, followed across by the cost of
the position, the current per-share
price from the input data, the present
value of the position, and, finally, the
gain or loss in the position. This is
repeated for each stock held long.
When all the Long Stocks have been
presented, subtotals are given for the
cost, present value and gain. The Short
Stocks are then presented in the
same way, followed by the Long
Options and the Short Options. When
the entire portfolio has been pre-
sented, grand totals are given for the
cost, present value and gain. Lastly,
the DEBIT balance in the margin
account is subtracted from the current
value giving the net EQUITY.

Program PORTVAL, along with
OPGRAPH, OPTION and NEWPREM,
already presented, is available on
cassette for TRS-80 16K Level II from
Creative Computing Software. They
are also available from the author on
disk in North Star Basic, single or
double density, and on cassette or disk
in Applesoft.

Each of these programs has pro-
vision, not mentioned previously, for

SSSSSSS Prooram PORTVAL - by A. A. Adler Ph.D. SSSSSSS
............... CURRENT DATA ••••••••••••••••••

The evaluation date is : 5/8/80

In response to prompts, qive prices per share.

EK750.625

NWT729.S

HBL729.12S

173.5

PRD JL 2073.75

NWA JL 2571.375

HBL AU 3071.125

NWA723.625

MDE723.875

DI 750.875

PCC711.125

EK JL 5073.375

MDE AU 307.5

KHG769.
SAP? 30. 25
IBM753.875

SAP JL 357.875
HBL AU 25P7.S

$$$$$$$$$ PORTPOLIO

EVALUATION

Current Portfolio Evaluation
COST CURR.PR.

Lonq Stocks

500 EK

700 NWA

300 KMG

700 NWT

500 MDE

500 SAP

700 HBL

200 DI

200 IBM
*** Long StO'

Short Stocks

500 I

300 PCC
*•• Short St

Lonq Options
6 PRD JL
6 EK JL 5

*** Lonq Optic

Short Options

5 SAP JL 35

NWA JL 25

MDE AU 30

HBL AU 25P

HBL AU 30

24550.
15039.
13676.
2314S.
13097.
16038.
18021.
8625.
12204.
144395.

-13020.

-3855.

-16875.

1650.
1581.
3231.

7
5
7
7
Short Options

-512.
-1911.

-683.

-770.

-478.
-4354.

50.625

23.625

69.

29.5

23.875

30.25

29.125

50.875

53.875

3.5

11.125

3.75
3.375

.875
1.375

.5
1.125

TOTALS *•*
DEBIT «•*
EQUITY *•*

of 5/8/80
VALUE

25313.
16538.
20700.
20650.
11938.
15125.
20388.
10175.
10775.
151600.

-1750.
-3338.
-5088.

2250.
2025.
4275.

-438.
-963.
-250.
-350.
-788.
-2788.

148000.

47994.

100006.

$$$$$$$$
GAIN

763.

1499.

7024.
-2495.
-1160.

-913.

2367.

1550.
-1429.

7205.

11270.

518.

11788.

600.
444.

1044.

75.
949.
433.

420.
-310.
1567.

21603.

Figure 1

SSSSSSS Proqram

PORTVAL

- by A. A.

Adler Ph.D.

SSSSSSS

The evaluation date is : 5/8/80

In response to prompts, qive prices per

share.

EK750.625

NWA723

625

KMG769.

NWT729.5

MDE723

875

SAP730.25

HBL729.12S

DI 750

875

1BM753.875

SAP JL 357.875

NWA JL

2571.375

MDE AU 307.5

HBL AU 25P7.5

HBL AU

3071.125

SSSSSSSSS P R

T P L I

E V A L

U A T I O N

$$$$$$$$

Current Portfolio Evaluation as

of 5/8/80

COST

CURR.PR.

VALUE

GAIN

Lonq Stocks

500 EK

24550.

50.625

25313.

763.

700 NWA

15039.

23.625

16538.

1499.

300 KMG

13676.

69.

20700.

7024.

700 NWT

23145.

29.5

20650.

-2495.

500 MDE

13097.

23.875

11938.

-1160.

500 SAP

16038.

30.25

15125.

-913.

700 HBL

18021.

29.125

20388.

2367.

200 DI

8625.

50.875

10175.

1550.

200 IBM

12204.

53.875

10775.

-1429.

*•* Lonq Stocks

144395.

151600.

7205.

Short Stocks

••* Short Stocks

Lonq Options

••• Lonq Options

Short Options

5 SAP JL 3 5

-512.

.875

-438.

75.

7 NWA JL 25

-1911.

1.375

-963.

949.

5 MDE AU 30

-683.

-250.

433.

7 HBL AU 25P

-770.

-350.

420.

7 HBL AU 30

-478.

1.125

-788.

-310.

•** Short Options

-4354.

-2788.

1567.

*** TOTALS *•*

140041 .

148813.

8772.

••• DEBIT •••

47994.

•*• EQUITY •••

100819.

Figure 2

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Stocks, cont'd...

scroll control in the event that a hard-
copy device is not available. In each
case the user is asked whether or not
printer copy is desired. If not, scroll
control is invoked, which prevents the
data from flying past the user. Since

Only by keeping the past
alive can one profit from
his experience.

remarks such as PRESS RETURN TO
CONTINUE are not highly desirable
on printer copy, they are suppressed in
that case. All sample runs presented in
this series have been made with scroll
control turned off.

Sample Runs

To demonstrate program output,
two sample runs are shown. Figure 1
illustrates an evaluation of a portfolio
containing every possible type of
position, long and short, stocks, puts
and calls. Figure 2 shows an evaluation
of the portfolio of a more conservative
investor. There are no short stock
positions and no long option positions.
Note that the absence of such posi-
tions causes the program no problem.

Conclusion

Records must be kept, if only for
stock records. In order for the investor
to continually improve his perform-
ance it is necessary for him to periodi-
cally refer to past performance, and
this also requires records. Finally he
should constantly be evaluating his
performance to assure himself that he
is playing the right game.

Program PORTVAL meets these
requirements while putting very little
more load on the investor than tax
record keeping already does. □

"...And that over there is the Com-
puter Sciences Building. . . "

A CREATION OF COMPUTER HEADWARE

(Wow! Hm'd All That
Stuff get In There?)

A sophisticated, self-indexing filing system-
flexible, infinitely useful and easy to use,
that adapts to your needs.

WHATSIT comes ready to run on your Apple, NorthStar, or
CP/M computer. See your dealer. . . or write or call:

HAItlHIVI

<§qtwanz

P.O. Box 14815 • San Francisco, CA 94114 • Tel: (415)621-2106

CIRCLE 196 ON READER SERVICE CARD

NOBODY CAN MATCH OUR
DOLLAR/QUALITY RATIO!

MS-204 PRINTER

INTRODUCTORY PRICE:

CABLE: $34.50

Compatible with TRS-80, Apple, Pet
or any other Centronics-type system

Features

• 132/80 Columns. 63 LPM. Bi-Directional. Nominal Thruput

• 100% Heavy Duty Cycle -High Reliability. 100 Million Character
Print Head Life

• Sprocket Feed; Variable Forms Width. 2 5" - 9 5"

• Double Width Characters: 40.66 Characters per line

• 9 x 7 Dot Matrix Character Font

• 6-Channel Electronic Vertical Format Unit

• Documentation Included

Ask about our 8-inch Drives & Software

MATCHLESS

Systems

18444 S. Broadway
Gardena, CA 90248
(213) 327-1010

1980 Matchless Systems & MarketPlan

SEPTEMBER 1980

CIRCLE 150 ON READER SERVICE CARD

ee IdfGJow Whey

I watched a TV program about
computers yesterday. The show wasn't on
Public Television, and it wasn't on cable. It
was on video tape, and it was pretty good.
Coming from Electronic Data Systems
Corporation (EDS Center, 7171 Forest
Lane, Dallas, TX 75230), the set of eight
video cassettes contains a complete intro-
ductory course to small computers. Titled
Little Computers . . . See How They Run.
the tapes are hosted by a trio of beings; a
nameless narrator, who is pleasant and
articulate, an electronic mouse named
Mike, who does little except run around,
and an admittedly-fake computer named
EV I, who resembles a modern lamp. The
tapes form a progressive course, starting
out with an introduction, "Meet the
Computer," which introduces the viewer to
a number of popular home computers,
including the Apple, TRS-80, CBM and
Atari. Before long, the topic eases
painlessly into such areas as memory
organization, types of memory and bus
structure.

Nothing is treated as lofty, holy or
incomprehensible. The narrator keeps the
same casual manner whether explaining
how a cassette tape works or detailing the
pin structure of a Z-80 microprocessor.
The second tape, "Inside the Computer,"
goes more deeply into the workings of the
central processing unit, and also covers
ways that programs are handled once they
are inside computers. Compilers and
interpreters are explained and compared in
this segment.

David Lubar

Throughout the program, visual aids
are used — both computer-generated
graphics and simple illustrations and
charts. Tape 3, "CPU and Memory,"
breaks up a microprocessor into under-
standable functions. Each tape seems to
amplify on the previous ones. By the time
the viewer reaches number three, he easily
grasps concepts such as DMA, I/O lines,
clock lines and other essential concepts.

Next comes "Mass Storage Devices,"
followed by "Character I/O." This
completes most of the background of basic
concepts in hardware and software. Those

Nothing is treated as
lofty, holy or incompre-
hensible. The narrator
keeps the same casual
manner whether explain-
ing how a cassette tape
works or detailing the pin
structure of a Z-80 micro-
processor.

who have viewed the first five tapes would
be comfortable in almost any discussion of
computers, even one held among the most
obscure, jargonistic group of engineers.
But there is more to come.

In "Making things Happen," viewers
are shown how it all falls together. Mike
the Mouse is explained; his computer-
radio link made public. Home control is
demonstrated, along with digital-to-
analog converters and other peripherals.
More hardware is introduced in the next

tape, "Data Communications." Modems,
bandwidth and baud rate are explained.
Possibilities and actualities such as
computer bulletin boards and electronic
mail are introduced, as well as a detailed
explanation of the RS-232 interface.

Then, as a reward for watching the
first seven tapes (though they are valuable
enough in themselves), comes "Speech,
Music and Graphics." The capabilities of
several personal computers are demon-
strated in sound and video. Raster and
vector graphics are explained, along with
bit pads, light pens, speech recognition and
speech synthesis.

The entire production is well done
without being too slick. The camera work
is simple, alternating between full-length
shots of the host and close-ups of
illustrations. The interplay of humor
between the host and EV gets a bit
sophomoric at times, but never unbearable
or labored. The tapes last from sixteen to
twenty-three minutes — perfect for
classroom viewing followed by discussion
— and can, of course, be rewound at any
point if another repetition of a portion is
desired.

A major value of these tapes is that
they don't talk down to the viewer. The
presentation is clear and orderly, the level
suitable for anywhere from bright junior-
high to adult. If you want to learn the
basics of computers, this is a good way to
get started. The tapes are available on a
variety of plans, including rental for $35
per tape per month (minimum two tapes).

CREATIVE COMPUTING

PIGSKIN

by John Laurence,

Rick Sothen,

Walter Gavenda

Don't Get Enough on Sunday?

With Pigskin you work on your offense and de-
fense any day you choose. This football game for
the TRS-80* has most of the elements of the games
you watch every weekend. But in Pigskin you call
the plays, watch the thirty-second clock, and get
called for penalties, if you aren't careful. Featuring a
graphic display of the field, the ball, and statistics on
the scoreboard, Pigskin has eleven offensive plays
and seven defensive formations.

You compete against a friend or battle against the
program in Pigskin. If you go against the program,
there are five levels of difficulty. And they aren't
easy. You can even save a game if you need to go out
for beer!

Acorn produces several games for the TRS-80.*
These include Pinball, a graphic arcade-like game;
Invaders from Space, a fast action program with
sound; Quad, a three-dimensional strategy game;
and Gammon Challenger, the popular backgam-
mon program. Each is available at only $14.95 on
tape and $20.95 on disk for a 16k, Level II TRS-80.*
Ask for these and other quality Acorn programs at
your local computer store.

* TRS-80 is a trademark of Tandy Corp

DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED

* Bafl P Software Products, Inc.

634 North Carolina Avenue, S.E., Washington, DC. 20003

Acorn

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For VISA or MasterCard call toll-free

18001 884-7808

In Calif. (800) 852-7777

In Alaska & Hawaii (800) 824-7919

Ask for Operator 88

d XSIO AddOld 103HI0 AHOlOVd XSIO AddOTd 10

CIRCLE 237 ON READER SERVICE CARD

<JKPPEE — JACK

_ _ . the graphics & games people

New!
THE DESIGNER

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$24.95

DISK&
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CIRCLE 101 ON READER SERVICE CARD

THE DESIGNER is a user oriented APPLESOFT
program that does the HPLOTing for you. Sometimes
referred to as the 'poor man's graphics tablet', it
places lines and complex circular functions on the
APPLE HIRES screen with the use of game controls
and single key-strokes. 2 page animations, disk save
and recall, and simple cursor-driven executions are
among the features of this crash proof program.

REQUIRES 48K APPLE/APPLESOFT ROM/DISK

AVAILABLE FROM YOUR DEALER OR DIRECT FROM
APPLE — JACK, BOX 51, CHERRY VALLEY, MA 01611
(INQUIRIES INVITED)
CIRCLE 106 ON READER SERVICE CARD

IIHillliSI!!!

Point of view

Isaac Asimov

iiiiii

IsVoger came looking for his father,
partly because it was Sunday, and
by rights his father shouldn't have
been at work, and Roger wanted to
be sure that everything was all right.

Roger's father wasn't hard to find,
because all the people who worked
with Multivac, the giant computer,
lived with their families right on the
grounds. They made up a little city
by themselves, a city of people who
solved all the world's problems.

The Sunday receptionist knew
Roger. "If you're after your father,"
she said, "he's down Corridor L, but
he may be too busy to see you."

Roger tried anyway, poking his
head past one of the doors where he
heard the noise of men and women.

He saw his father at once. He
didn't look happy and Roger decided
that everything wasn't all right.

"Well, Roger," said his father.
"I'm busy, I'm afraid."

His father's boss was there, too,
and he said, "Come on, Atkins, take
a break. Take the kid for a bite at
the commissary."

Roger's father didn't look as if he
wanted to. He had an instrument in
his hand that Roger knew was a
current-pattern analyzer, though he
didn't know how it worked. Roger
could hear Multivac chuckling and
whirring all about.

But then Roger's father put down
the analyzer. "OK. Come on, Roger.
I'll race you for a hamburger."

When they were in the commissary
with big hamburgers in front of
them and French fries and shakes,
Roger said, "Is Multivac out of order
still, Dad?"

His father said gloomily, "We're
not getting anywhere, I'll tell you
that."

"It seemed to be working. I mean,
I could hear it."

"Oh, sure — but it doesn't always
give the right answers."

Roger was 13 and he'd been taking
computer-programming since the
fourth grade. He hated it sometimes
and wished he lived back in the 20th
century, when kids didn't take it —
but it was helpful sometimes in talk-
ing to his father.

Roger said, "How can you tell it
doesn't always give the right an-
swers, if only Multivac knows the
answers?"

His father said, "Son, Multivac
has a brain as large as a big factory.
It even has something no other com-

puter has — the ability to grow more
useful as it works. In a sense it
grows with experience, but it still
doesn't have a brain as complicated
as the one we have here," and he
tapped his head. "Sometimes Multi-
vac gives us an answer we couldn't
calculate for ourselves in a thousand
years, but just the same something
clicks in our brains and we say,
Whoa! Something's wrong here!
Then we ask Multivac again and we
get a different answer — so one of
them is wrong.

How do you reason with a
giant computer when it
begins to answer in
double-talk?

"And the thing is, son, how do
we know we always catch Multivac?
How do we know < that some of the
wrong answers don't get past us?
We may rely on some answer and
do something that will turn out to
be disastrous five years from now.
Something's wrong inside Multivac
and we can't find out what. And
whatever is wrong is getting worse."

"Why should it be getting worse?"
asked Roger.

His father had finished his ham-
burger and was eating the French
fries one by one. "My feeling is, son,"
he said, "that we've made Multivac
the wrong smartness."

"Huh?"

"You see, Roger, if Multivac were
as smart as a man, we could talk
to it and find out what was wrong. If
it were as dumb as a machine, it
would go wrong in simple ways that
we could catch easily. The trouble
is, it's /iai/-smart. It's smart enough
to go wrong in very complicated
ways, but not smart enough to help
us find out what's wrong."

He looked very gloomy. "But what
can we do? We don't know how to
make it smarter — not yet. And we
don't dare make it dumber, either,
because the world's problems have
become so serious and the questions
we ask are so complicated that it
takes all Multivac's smartness to an-
swer them."

"If you shut down Multivac "

"We can't do that, son," said his
father. "I'm afraid Multivac must be
in operation every minute of the day

and night. We've got a big backlog
of problems."

"But if Multivac continues to make
mistakes, Dad, won't it have to be
shut down?"

"Well," Roger's father ruffled Rog-
er's hair, "we'll find out what's
wrong, old sport, don't worry." But
his eyes looked worried just the same.
"Come on, let's get out of here."

"But, Dad," said Roger, "listen.
If Multivac is half -smart and grow-
ing, why does that mean it's also
dumb?"

"If you knew the way we have
to give it directions, son, you would-
n't ask."

"Just the same, Dad, maybe it's not
the way to look at it. I'm not as
smart as you ; I don't know as much ;
but I'm not dumb either. Maybe
Multivac isn't like a half-smart adult
— maybe it's like a growing kid."

Roger's father laughed. "That's an
interesting point of view, but what
difference does it make?"

"It could make a lot of difference,"
said Roger. "You're not a half-smart
adult so you don't see how a half-
smart mind would work; but I'm a
kid, and maybe I would know how a
kid's mind would work."

"Oh? And how would a kid's mind
work?"

"Well, you say you've got to keep
Multivac busy day and night. A ma-
chine can do that. But if you gave
a growing kid homework and told
him to keep at it for hours and hours,
he'd get pretty tired and begin to
make mistakes, maybe even on pur-
pose. So why not let Multivac take
an hour or two off every day with
no problem-solving — just letting it
chuckle and whir by itself any way
it wants to?"

Roger's father looked as if he
were thinking very hard. He took
out his pocket computer and tried
some combinations on it. He tried
some more combinations. Then he
said, "You know, Roger, if I take
what you said and turn it into Piatt
integrals, it makes a kind of sense.
And 22 hours we can be sure of is
better than 24 that might be all
wrong."

He nodded his head, but then he
looked up from his pocket computer
and suddenly asked, as though Roger
were the expert — "Roger, are you
sure?"

Roger was sure. He said, "Dad, a
kid's got to play, too." ♦

SEPTEMBER 1980

A New Look

at the
Creative Process

Part II

Eugene Raudsepp

How to Handle Ideas

The occurrence of creative ideas is
often notoriously evanescent and elusive.
At the moment when the idea appears,
the individual may feel that it would be
impossible to forget it. Yet, only moments
later, the impression may become blurred
or fade away altogether. If the creative
individual fails to capture ideas when they
occur, fails to fix them in some form for
later reference, they vanish and seldom
return.

It is at night when many
creative individuals be-
gin to anticipate, as one
creative person so aptly
put it, "a blind date with
their deeper selves."

On the other hand, there are creative
individuals who prefer not to make a nota-
tion of their ideas until they have matured
or become more fully structured. To be
sure, glimmerings of these ideas might
have occurred to them before a number of
times, and they might have toyed with
them repeatedly, but they have done this
in their heads without committing them to
day. The reason for this is that some ideas
take time to mature, and each subsequent

Eugene Raudsepp, Princeton Creative Re-
search, 10 Nassau St., Box 122, Princeton, NJ
08540

emergence of them in consciousness finds
them more firmly developed and
structured.

With novice creative individuals,
however, it is probably imperative that
they fix the unexpected ideas in some form
as soon as they come. As we all have
experienced time and time again, some
ideas appear to us brimming with im-
portant meaning at the time of their in-
trusion into consciousness, yet a later recall
of them often fails. It is therefore im-
perative that such ideas be committed to
paper as soon as they come.

An accomplished creative individual
learns from long practice and frequent
disappointments the proper technique for
handling ideas. He learns, for example,
that some ideas should be jotted down
immediately, as soon as they occur, while
others should be kept fluid and outside
conscious focus until the last possible
instant, and that others, again, should be
dropped back into the unconscious for
further development and incubation. As a
general rule, the more complicated and
complex the idea, the more advisable it is
to postpone a too-early declarative
premiere of the main lines of it. For other-
wise there might be danger of committing
the original implicit idea irretrievably to a
restrictive scheme, the limitations of which
strait-jacket the subsequent development
of the idea. On the other hand, it fre-
quently happens that the germinal force of
an idea can be completely drained into a
notation, and that further additions of
unnecessary details to it by unconscious
gestation would only mar it.

In the Final analysis, the dilemma
inherent in the method with which to
capture and develop ideas has to be solved
by each individual alone. Some individuals
find that they miss the opportunity to
exploit the idea by deferring notation of
it, by failing to make definite commit-
ment: others again feel that they drain
their ideas dry of real novelty by imposing
precision on their insights as soon as they
occur. There is indeed so much variation
in the methods with which creative in-
dividuals handle their ideas that it remains
for each individual to discover the way
between the extremes indicated to insure
optimum utilization.

That our legs are the
wheels of thought has
been known to creative
workers throughout the
ages.

There seems to be a prevalent notion
among many investigators of creativity
that the first ideas that occur to indi-
viduals, when they are faced with Finding a
solution to a problem, are totally value-
less. While this may be true in case of rela-
tively unfamiliar problems, or problems on
which no conscious effort had previously
been spent, with problems that have been
through a period of unconscious cerebra-
tion the first ideas arc frequently the best.
Consequently it is advisable to pay closer
attention to the first ideas that occur

CREATIVE COMPUTING

/^PROGRAM STORE (202,

337-4691

4200 Wisconsin AveNW PQBox°60° Washington DC. 20016

All programs for TRS-80
16k, Level II computer.

SUPER
NOVA

by Bill Hogue from Big Five »
This arcade game of shooting
asteroids and alien ships is
written in machine language and is
the best we have seen on any
computer. There are five different
types of alien ships including the
very deadly Flagship. You shoot
from your ship, rotate it, use your
thrust key to move, and in
emergencies you go into hyperspace.
Level 1 or 2 - $14.95

i * « tie no n t* •ouce m.

I 92: S!» VOX

DISK SCOPE

SIWSRVS 'W MIKING'.

Scene from OUEST

Adventures

withGRAPHICS& SOUND QISK FHITOP

bv Robert Nicholas from Mad Hatter ""^ •'*•'■> ■»■ ■»#■ IWI\

from Instant
This diskette contains three programs to
■check out your disks. You can find the
tracks and sectors where a file is
stored with FILELOCK. With CDISK you
can read the ASCII and hex
representation of any sector. PASSWORD
will qive you the password for any file
or any disk. $19.95

iS^ok

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CRUISER

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INI WBUP/KT

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B»I«E: II
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W OIUMSC: WOPJI

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STOTOt: lMi. 92

Star Cruiser

from Computer Simulations
You are on the side of the bad
guys, the Empire. Program includes
fighter combat, ground action,
hyperdrive, garrisoning, retaking
the 10 system capitals and avoiding
the Rebel Star Fighter groups. The
Star Cruiser is your last hope.
$14.95

Checker King

by Michael Marks from Persona^^
Play checkers against the computer
in one of eight levels of skill.
Features include saving board
positions, switching sides, going
back a move and letting it play
against itself. Also includes
three checker puzzles. Level 1 or
2 - $19.95

by Robert Nicholas from Mad Hatter
These two adventures are similar to
most others where you use two word
sentences to explore. But these
also show you the 'rooms' and have
sound effects!

In QUEST you travel in search of
fame, fortune, treasures, monsters
and more. Three levels of play
with a random set up of each game.

As the detective in SLEUTH you
try to solve a murder. The victim,
weapon and murderer will be
different each game.
On cassette $14.95 each.
On disk $24. 9* for both.

COMPUTER

Bismark

from Strategic Simulations
The historic wargame that
accurately simulates the epic
battle between the German
battleship and the British Home
Features a computer
mapboard of the North
hidden movement, ship
combat and shadowing,
and damage, historic
the ships, and both
and solitaire

Fleet

controlled

Atlantic,

vrs. ship

firepower

setup of

two-player

scenarios.

Cassette $49.95 Disk $59.95

Coming soon Computer Ambush

by JctKT Laurence, nick Sothen and
Walter Gavenda from Acorn
In this football game you call the
plays, watch the thirty-second
clock, and get called for penalties
if you aren't careful. There are
eleven offensive and seven
defensive plays. Features graphic
display of field, the ball, and
statistics on the scoreboard. You
can play against the program,
against a friend, or watch the play
in the spectator mode.
Protected cassette $14.95
Protected diskette $20.95

Microcosm l&ll

from Basics & Beyond

Combined these two packages
contain fifty solid programs.

MICROCOSM I contains 16k-Memory
Test, Atlantis, Biorhythms,
Calories Food, Calories
Ingredients, Challenge Match-em,
Checkbook Balancing, Country Guess,
Day Of The Week, Divisor Game,
Driver, Eliminate, Factorials,
Fakeout, Flowering Houseplants,
Home Insurance, Instruction Test,
Magic Squares, Match-em, Math
Tables Drill, Metric Conversion,
Morse Code, Mortgage, Music
Transposition, News Photographer,
Remainder, South Pole, Spelling
Drill, Spelling Review, Wipe-out.

MICROCOSM II contains Algebraic
Factoring, Base Conversion, Blank
Slate, Decipher, Doodle Art 1,
Electrical Use, Explore, Fish,
Foliage Houseplants, Isolation,
Perspective Racer, Planet Finder,
Prefix Study and Ouiz, Roman
Numerals, Shooting Gallery,
Spelling Bee, Stains, State Guess,
Suffix Study and Ouiz, Trivia
Ouiz.

Each available on two cassettes
for $19.95

from Instant

Access to any byte on a diskette is
possible with the machine language
utility. You just give either the track
and sector or the filename in order to
alter, add, delete, or view
information.

You can also search a diskette for
string of characters. And the data can
be dumped to a printer. Both the 35 and
40 track versions are on the same
diskette. $39.95

SuperSTEP

by Allfc Gelder

Single-step/TRACE/Disassembler for TBtlG.
Variable speed TRACE mode lets you run
any ZS0 machine language program under
total control. Includes intelligent RAM
window, foreground background
breakpointing, and more. TBUG required.

FORTRANslator

Dy Peter Charlton

You can literally translate BASIC
orograms into Fortran with this program
which assumes that you know Disk BASIC
and Fortran. It will not do a complete
translation because of the differences
between the languages. For example,
subroutines, 'THEN,' string handling and
disk operations are different. But for
a programmer this utility is a qood
start. Requires Microsoft FORTRAN.
$24.95 on disk.
FORTRAN available for $95.00

u oaaooooooQuouotxDaaoaaaooonaaanoDnoannac

THE PROGRAM STORE
4 200 Wisconsin Ave NW
P.O. Box 9609 Dept. R3
Washington DC 20007

C£

VISA AND ^^

MASTERCARD " Br

TO ORDER

TOLL FREE

800-424-2738

For program Information call
(202) 337-4691

Mail orders : Send check or
money order for total purchase
price, plus $1.00 for shipping
& handling. Charge card cus-
tomers, please include card
number, expiration date, and
your name as it appears on the
card.

SEPTEMBER 1980

CIRCLE 17SON READER SERVICE CARD

New Look, cont'd...

during a productive mood, even though
the effortless fashion in which they often
appear may make them suspect.

The Primacy of the Whole

The creative process begins with the
intuitive moment. During the intuitive
moment the creative individual gets his
first global feeling toward the idea he is
about to develop, or which might solve his
problem. It is at this moment that he has
his first preverbal intimations of the
implicit idea and also the direction toward
a potential resolution of the idea or the
solution of his problem. The intimation of
the whole or the global grasp of the idea
operates, during the creative process,
through the channel of feeling or intuition.
This intuition directs the shaping and
structuring of the details during the idea's
progressive articulation.

Most of the useless and
valueless combinations
seldom emerge into con-
sciousness or become
amenable to analytic
recognition.

This intimation of the whole has to
persevere through every phase of the
progressive molding of the idea, until the
creative individual finally feels that he can
place a stamp of approval upon the new
product. A savoring consummation, a
sense of completion, accompanies this
action, which in turn signifies that the
more-or-less full exploitation of the
original idea has occurred.

The intuitive global idea furnishes both
the end and the means for achieving this
end. It guides the elaborate forming of the
idea safely through the shifting chaos of an
enormous number of either unconsciously
or consciously perceived alternatives and
details to its unique terminus. It may oc-
casionally happen that elements and de-
tails that are first incorporated into a new
creative idea drop out later, or are seen to
be irrelevant, and that others may take
their place. But this phenomenon does not
argue against the theory that it is the im-
plicit whole that determines what is to be
admitted and what is not to be admitted
into the evolving idea. Only when the in-
dividual has a firm grasp of the intimated
whole is he able to burrow down to the
appropriate data in his memory and to as-
semble the elements that contribute toward
the development of the idea. Only then is
he able to introduce proper elaborations:
to selectively choose past observations: to
restructure, combine and transform the
details that go into the development of the
idea. The test with all of these facets of
creative labor is the immediate feeling that
the details either belong or do not belong.

either contribute or do not contribute to
the emerging configuration. This intuitive
feeling continues until the moment when
the individual Finds that he cannot add or
change anything about his product to im-
prove it.

The emerging total idea or product is,
as a rule, blessed with a series of frag-
mentary and relatively minor insights be-
fore the total import of the idea is brought
home to the creator. When this occurs, he
may have already covered the better part of
his task, and may have been correctly
oriented, so that the import of the more
inclusive insight into the original concept
does not effect any major revision or re-
organization in the already completed por-
tions of the idea. With many other pro-
jects, of course, the wastepaper basket and
the littered floor may give silent testimony
to the numerous arbitrary beginnings, to
loose and fumbling directions, to mount-
ing restlessness and impatience, before a
satisfactory starting point is trapped.

One chief reason why the creative pro-
cess almost invariably produces a severe
strain is because the intimation of the im-
plicit idea and its developmental direction
must be maintained at all costs: in the teeth
of many unwelcome distractions, whether
external or internal: throughout the fleet-
ing and unexplained momentary inhibi-
tions, irrelevant impulses, sudden fatigue
or flagging interest: through moments of
self-consciousness and doubts about the
idea's real value, the suddenly remembered
obligations and concerns and many other
factors that are the lot of the creative in-
dividual in his environment.

A quite opposite pattern of the pro-
cess just outlined occurs when the creative
individual feels that he can give in to the
white heat of his productive mood. He then
attends to his work unhampered by the
strain of having to sift an excess of con-
sciously perceived alternatives at each
successive step in the idea's development.
He does whatever his unconscious prompt-
ings lead him to do, and ultimately finds
that his idea has grown effortlessly and
spontaneously. It is obvious that ideas
developed in this fashion need, as a rule.

'You are specialist for tele- processing f '

very little revision. All in all. however, this
mode of creating, although coveted by
most creative individuals, is either a
relatively rare occurrence, or it cannot be
maintained too long for any period of time.

Constraint, mounting effort and tension
inevitably set in sooner or later. As tension
mounts beyond an optimim point, the
creative individual feels that he is forced to
spend more and more effort on less and less
results. He finds that errors start to pile up
and that his direction becomes rambling
and confused. This is the time when most
creative people quit. Others, the more
obstinate ones, stick by their work and
either take recourse to their richly stocked
bag of methods of the past, or continue
consciously to elaborate as much as pos-
sible in the remembered key of the initial
conception. The later numerous rough
drafts bear witness to the fact, however,
that it is almost impossible for the creative

The condition of inward
isolation that takes the
creative person out of
the context of his activ-
ity and obligations is the
primary requirement for
significant creative work.

individual consciously to assume con-
formity with the intimated end of his new
idea when the hum of the mood has
stopped and when he finds himself no
longer tuned in to the unconscious. The
firmer his anticipation of the initial totality
is. the easier. Other things being equal, it
is for him to shape its emerging derivatives,
fight adventitious conscious choice, and
arrive at a satisfactory creative product.

Many scientists have noted that the
intuitive moment indicates the arrival of
a possible solution. Albert Einstein, for
example, is said to have had the capacity
to feel the direction of a possible solution
for his problem before he actually knew
what the solution was. The psychologist
Max Wertheimer, who made a close study
of Einstein's thought-process, reports: "I
once told Einstein of my impression that
'direction' is an important factor in
thought process. To this he said, 'Such
things were very strongly present. During
all those years there was a feeling of direc-
tion, of going straight toward something
concrete. It is, of course, very hard to ex-
press that feeling in words; but it was
decidedly the case, and clearly to be dis-
tinguished from later considerations about
the rational form of the solution. Of
course, behind such a direction there is
always something logical: but I have it in a
kind of survey, in a way visually."
Wertheimer concluded that "scrutiny of
Einstein's thought always showed that
when a step was taken this happened be-
cause it was required." "Quite generally."

CREATIVE COMPUTING

tock

Keep the data you need to make timely investment decisions at
your fingertips with this incredibly powerful investment tool.
Considerable effort has gone into methods of tilting the odds in the
investment game. Out of this has come the discovery that the
strategy of hedging listed options against common stocks can tilt
the odds drastically. In fact, it can be more conservative and more
consistently profitable than the simple buying and selling of stock.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIII

The four programs in this
package are designed to be used
in the real world, and include the
effects of commissions, margin
interest and dividends, where
applicable. Possible investment
attitudes, the listed option mar-
kets, puts and calls and option
strategies are covered in exten-
sive documentation.

The program Opgrapn presents
important indices of both open-
ing and closing call option trans-
actions. The manual includes
sample runs illustrating combi-
nation strategies with covered
and uncovered calls, and covered
and uncovered straddles recieve
detailed treatment.

The Option program presents a
graph or a table, as the user
chooses, of profit from any
combination of six basic posi-
tions: long or short a stock, long
or short a call and long or short a

put. Sample runs are presented
which cover hedging with calls,
out-of-t he- money hedges and in-
the-money hedges.

Newprem enables the user to
predict the future premiums of an
option at whatever time and
future stock price the user se-
lects. This method requires the
establishment of a data base of
historical option premiums in
whatever detail the user desires.

Finally, Portval enables the
user to determine on an item by
item basis, the cost, current value
per share, total current value and
capital gain of a portfolio con-
sisting of long and short stock,
and long and short option posi-
tions. This program assists the
user in keeping a readily available
and easily updatable record of his
portfolio and, at the same time,
assists him in measuring his
progress towards financial
success.

In order for an investor to
continually improve his perfor-
mance it is necessary for him to
refer to past performance; this
requires useful records. Finally,
he should constantly be evaluat-
ing his performances to assure
himself he is playing the right
game.

The Stock and Options Trading
Analysis package is available for
the 32K TRS-80 Level II on
cassette (CS-3306) and disk (CS-
3801) for $99.95. Creative Com-
puting Software should be avail-
able at your local computer store.
If your favorite retailer does not
stock the software you need, have
him call our retail marketing
department at the number below.
Or you can order directly from
Creative Computing Software,
Dept AGII; P.O. Box 789-M,
Morristown, NJ 07960. Visa,
MasterCard, or American Express
are also welcome. For faster
service, call in your bank card
order toll free to 800-631-8112. In
N J call 201 -540-0445.

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New Look, cont'd...

he adds, "if one knows how Einstein
thinks, one knows that any blind and
fortuitous procedure is foreign to his
mind." A. Reiser, in his book Albert
Einstein , comes to a similar conclusion.
"Once he has come upon a problem,"
Reiser writes, "his path toward solution is
not a matter of slow, painful stages. He
has a definite vision of the possible solu-
tion, and considers its value and the
methods of approaching it." Einstein
intuitively sensed what the solution to his
problem would be. and he always trusted
and acted upon his hunches.

When we scrutinize closely the crea-
tive process in engineering, it becomes
obvious that all the preliminary chaotic
collection and gathering of data and facts
and the feverish accumulation of materials
are only seemingly chaotic and unsystem-
atic. Any engineer starting research on a

The ideas they have
valued most occur to
them during passive, re-
laxed or even fatigued
states of half-waking
conditions.

particular problem is already under the
sway of an intuitive hunch that imputes
relevance to the facts he so assiduously
collects. No engineer ever has a hunch, nor
can he pose a problem, if he is wholly in
the dark about a possible solution and
what data he needs to arrive at a solution.
If he does not arrive at a satisfactory solu-
tion, the trouble may lie in the frightful
complexity of the problem, but it seldom
lies in the genuine original hunch.

Selectivity in the Creative Process

The best evidence that there is an in-
timation of an implicit whole at the in-
tuitive moment is the highly selective
activity that occurs throughout the crea-
tive process. Selectivity works through the
intuitive feeling of moment-to-moment ap-
propriateness and suitability of the details
and elements being incorporated into the
evolving idea, guiding the choice of the
details and elements that are to be used
and the way they are to be used.

Selectivity is operative in the total
spectrum of the creative endeavor, start-
ing with the choice of the problem to be
worked on. In addition to the compelling
preference exhibited toward a problem,
there is the selection of specific experi-
ments to be run to form the groundwork
for solving the problem or developing the
idea. In the process of developing the idea
itself, selectivity is operative in that ele-
ments and details that belong are admitted
and those not felt to be contributory are
suppressed. Thus selectivity cuts across all

the facets of the creative process.

The structure that the implicitly
intimated whole of the novel product
demands is, in the beginning stages, only
vaguely felt. Many of the details, their
balances and correspondences, although
tending toward the implicit whole, are
not quite consistent or congruent with the
sensed whole, and require much re-
structuring before they jibe with the re-
quirements of the implicit configuration.
But so pervasive and insistent is the estab-
lished sense of the whole, the unifying pull
of its nature, that it imposes the conditions
for its realization and inexorably demands
the proper transformations, re-arrange-
ments and regroupings. As John Ferrcn
has expressed this: "Structure demands a
certain quantity and a certain quality ol all
the elements and insists on it. and it leads
you to it or breaks your neck doing it."
Ross L. Mooncy has remarked on the
presence of feeling-selectivity in the realm
of technical research this way: "The pro-
cess is held together by feeling. The re-
search man trusts his feeling for telling
what belongs and docs not belong, what is
appropriate, what fits, what is to be taken
together. ... It is the feeling of one's way
through, and it will tie in to a thing called
appropriateness, to fit. to grouping, to
clustering."

The feeling or sensing aspect, the
affective base in creative activity, cannot
be overemphasized, for it constitutes the
only measure or yardstick by which the
highly selective process during the creative
forming works cumulatively toward that
essential unifying quality without which
there can be no keeping of the elements in
their proper places. The creative in-
dividual must sense the appropriateness or
inappropriateness of every single element
that he adds to the developing idea and
measure his molding of it by the implicit
yardstick of the intuited whole of the idea.
He has to constantly maintain a pervading
intuitive sense for the proper balancing of
elements and details in order to insure their
rightful place in the orchestration of the
whole.

The selectivity inherent in the creative
process allows the creative individual to
find his way through an enormous number
of possibilities and suggestions that some-
times emerge: it makes him ever ready to
grasp the essentials in chance combina-
tions and it helps him to find materials
relevant to his central idea among the most
disparate and dissimilar elements in the
total realm of his experiences. It acts like
a magnet that draws from memory the
proper facts, data and impressions, and
urges their expression in a form that is, for
that particular idea, most fitting in terms of
the sensed appropriateness.

The elimination of inessential or use-
less ideas during the creative process
occurs mainly unconsciously under the in-
fluence of the original conception. It is
implicit, since most of the useless and
valueless combinations seldom emerge

into consciousness or become amenable to
analytic recognition. If some of them
emerge into consciousness, they may in-
fluence the creative activity by blocking
temporarily the emergence of the right
elements. That the elimination of ines-
sential elements occurs mainly uncon-
sciously, as first indicated by the famous
French mathematician Henri Poincare. "It
is certain that the combinations which
present themselves to the mind in a kind
of sudden illumination after a somewhat
prolonged period of unconscious work are
generally useful and fruitful combinations,
which appear to be the result of a pre-
liminary sifting. But how can we explain
the fact that, of the thousand products of
our unconscious activity, some arc invited
to cross the threshold, while others remain
outside? Is it mere chance that gives them
this privilege? Evidently not." Poincare
then continues in a more explicit vein by
stating that "the sterile combinations do
not even present themsehes to the mind of
the inventor. Never in the field of his con-
sciousness do combinations appear that
arc not really useful, except some that he
rejects but which have to some extent the
characteristics of useful combinations."

Many seasoned creators
have an unreasoned, in-
tuitive sense for the
preparatory cues, the ex-
ternal conditions that are
necessary for the evoca-
tion of a creative mood.

Poincare' also recognized what most great
creative individuals have noticed, namely,
that their unconscious has a discerning,
discriminating power that can effect cor-
rect choices even where the conscious or
rational reasoning on a problem has given
up the battle as lost.

There is not only evident the crowd-
ing out of many elements and details that
have no relationship with the idea, but
also the establishment of what can be
called a permissive condition for combina-
tions and syntheses to occur. It often
happens that after the new idea has become
more explicit, it assumes the character-
istics of the ide'e fixe (fixed idea or obses-
sion). This enables the creator to gather
impressions, data, facts and information in
support of the development of the idea in
the most unlikely realms of knowledge and
experience. Many phenomena originally
seen to have no kinship with what the cre-
ative individual is preoccupied at the time
now fall under the beam of the ide'e fixe and
are interpreted in the light of it. His percep-
tions become selectively attuned to notice
and register things that seem to add, verify
or confirm his idea. There is also present
an increased power to organize and com-
bine these contributory impressions so that

CREATIVE COMPUTING

expandability the Keasoi
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New Look, cont'd...

they will fit into the central theme of the
new idea.

Optimum Conditions for
Creative Thinking

The spontaneous appearance of new
ideas cannot easily be foretold, except
by a feeling of peculiar restlessness just
before the advent of one. and it is quite im-
possible to induce ideas at will. Creative
ideas are not under our voluntary control,
and as a consequence cannot be governed
by planning, schedules or sheer enforce-
ment. Goethe, for example, attributed his
sixty years of toil with Faust to the detri-
mental and barren efforts of will. Will
reigns over the already established order
of consciousness, it does not have the
power to induce a flood of the novel, less
determined or less defined materials from
the unconscious. Hence the sterile periods
and dark days known to all creative in-
dividuals.

The spontaneous ap-
pearance of new ideas
cannot easily be fore-
told, except by a feeling
of peculiar restlessness
just before the advent of
one, and it is quite im-
possible to induce ideas
at will.

But once the creative current runs
strong and the organic devlopment of the
idea is underway, one can asume an at-
titude which resembles will and which
helps to maintain the creative heat at a
certain desirable intensity. This attitude is
a wish, a challenging urge of the creative
individual to give his utmost while sub-
mitting to the workings of the creative act.
Any genuine creative engineer wants to
transcend his past performance, to give at
every new occasion of problem solving his
best, and thus achieve more than he has
aspired to achieve before. This urgent
wish toward a fuller and richer self-reali-
zation helps the creative individual to sus-
tain the intensity of the creative mood and
keep the avenues with the unconscious
free from both internal and external in-
terruptions as well as from the established
habit-patterns of consciousness.

While it is impossible to induce
creative ideas at will, there are neverthe-
less certain conditions which are propi-
tious for the evocation of ideas, conditions
that stimulate the potent unconscious
matrix from which novel ideas well forth.
For example, the time of day that is con-
ducive for the evocation of creative mood
and the creatively detached condition is for
innumerable individuals the night, when

world sleeps and the wearisome hustle
of the day has exhausted itself. It is at
night when many creative individuals
begin to anticipate, as one creative per-
son so aptly put it. "a blind date with
their deeper selves." The daytime, with its
predominantly instrumental and practical
orientation, its bustling activity, blinding
glare, and incessant noise, can act as a
blockage to creative ideas and prevent
their flow from the unconscious. The
night, on the other hand, with its all-
pervading, living peace and the inscrutable
mystery of darkness, brings to many
creative individuals a spiritual rapport and
identification with nature or a sense of
cosmic isolation that is conducive to the
arousal of creative mood.

There are other individuals, of course,
who prefer the early morning hours, the
freshness of a new-born day for their
creative labors. Others again need a high-
powered activity around them in order to
find spontaneous release for their ideas.
They have to escape into the whirlwind of
organizational hustle and depend on the
restless activity of the environment to give
them the necessary stimulus for the
emergence of productive ideas. But even in
their case the knack of closing out the
external world at will, of being able to de-
tach themselves instantaneously and
whenever necessary from whatever they
had depended upon as a stimulus to set the
ideas in motion, is an essential ability in
their repertoire.

It must be emphasized that the ability
to become inwardly isolated at will is not
necessarily conditional on the outward
isolation, and many creative engineers can
tune in on their private selves in the noisiest
of environments. The condition of inward
isolation that takes the creative person out
of the context of his immediate in-
strumental or environmental activity and
obligations is. however, the primary re-
quirement for significant creative work.
Without such detachment he cannot
exploit fully his creative ideas. In fact,
moments of that kind of detachment from

(3B

"Because you're a computer, that's
why you can't go fishing with me!"

the encumbrances of environment can be
more productive than hours of merely
physical isolation.

Many of the idiosyncrasies and
peculiarities of creative individuals that
delight the biographers, providing an end-
less source of anecdotal material, have
been their peculiar ways of evoking the
creative mood.

Debussy, for example, used to gaze at
the river Seine, and the playful golden re-
flections of the setting sun on its waves, to
establish an atmosphere for composing.
Schiller kept rotten apples in his desk-
drawer. Their aroma helped him to evoke a
mood for creative work. Dostoevsky
found that he could best brood and dream

Some ideas should be
jotted down immedi-
ately, as soon as they
occur, while others
should be kept fluid and
outside conscious focus
until the last possible
instant.

up his immortal stories and characters
while pen-drawing and doodling. It seems
that there is hardly a creative individual
who does not have a special habit, ec-
centricity or ritual in order to be able to
have that free-floating concentration, that
alertness to all the implications and de-
velopments of a novel idea and the uncen-
sored images that emerge. These habits
seem also necessary for the keeping of the
overactive thought-patterns of conscious-
ness in abeyance, and for the shutting out
of all other distractions. By the anchoring
of oneself to only one single distraction,
such as smoking or biting the end of the
pencil or scratching one's forehead, out-
ward distractions are muted or recede into
nothingness. This is essential, for a shrill
ringing of the telephone in the next room, a
conversation down the hall, a rumbling
stomach or some other momentary bodily
discomfiture could act like a pin-prick to
shatter the protective bubble of creative
mood. By channeling the distraction into
one ritual or habit, all the other distrac-
tions lose their disrupting power.

Many creative individuals pace the
floor endlessly and the accounts of past
masters are replete with instances of crea-
tive ideas occurring to them when they
were walking or hiking or traveling. That
physical motion animates and augments
the flow of imagination and ideas, and
that our legs are the wheels oj thought has
been known to creative workers through-
out the ages.

The problem of when creative in-
dividuals prefer to work and what habits
they have developed to concentrate most
effectively cannot be understood in terms
of any cause-and-effect relationships. So

CREATIVE COMPUTING

NEW YOHK UULIbtUM.

Ul-HJBtMJU IU IMUVtMOEM I, ISOU

J ANNUAL
NATIONAL SMALLICOMPUTER SHOW

A NEW WORLD OF SMALL
COMPUTERS IS AT YOUR
FINGERTIPS THIS FALL

When we say fingertips we mean just that: a
hands-on-inspection opportunity tor you to try
the small computers and systems that will write
the history ol microprocessing in the 1980s

Manufacturers will fill over 30.000 square feet
with computers, soltware and peripherals.
Amazing strides in technology are reflected in
exhibits and lecture series

New hardware and software for business,
education, the sciences and professions,
graphics and personal use are being gathered
for the largest and most beautifully presented
National Small Computer Show ever produced.

As always, the show contains attractions for
the seasoned computer professional, as well as
those who wish an introduction to the exciting
world of small computers for business,
professional or personal use. In just a short
time, you can discuss your interest with many
industry leaders, vendors, technologists, and
our expert lecturers

Registration fee is only $10 per day. and all
registrants have Iree access to the hourly
lectures.
LECTURE PROGRAM

A schedule of Iree lectures is available to all
visitors Lectures run about SO minutes each,
including, in most cases, some time for
questions from the floor. Some topics are given
twice, and. in some cases, topics of related
interest are given on the same day lor the
visitors convenience (Program is sub|ect to
change without notice, but lectures will be
posted daily in the show lobby.)

THURSDAY. OCTOBER 30

Noon Introduction to Small Systems for

Business. Stan Veil. Associated Computer

Industries
Noon Mailing Lists: Several Directions,

Dr Norman I Agin. Mathtech. Inc
1 p m Selecting a Small Computer tor Business.

David Benevy. Computer Mart of New

Jersey

1 p.m. Evaluating and Improving Your Computer s

Performance. Philip Grossman. Raytheon
Co.

2 p.m. Law Office Systems Aspects of Word

Processing. Bernard Sternin

2 p.m. Future Smart Machines. 2000 AD and

Beyond. Dr. Earl Joseph. Sperry Univac

3 p.m Computer Contracts— Facing the issues.

Alan C Verbit. Verbit and Company

3 p.m. Accounts Receivable/ Accounts Payable/

General Ledger

4 p.m Using FORTRAN on a Microcomputer.

Richard A Zeitlin
4 p.m. Investment Analysis of Stocks and

Commodities on a Microcomputer. Fred
Cohen. Shearson Loeb Rhoades. Inc.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31

Noon Introduction to Small Systems for

Business. Stan Veit. Associated Computer

Industries
Noon BASIC Programming, Michael Mulcahey.

Worcester Stage College
1 p.m. Selecting a Small Computer lor Business.

David Benevy. Computer Mart of New

Jersey

1 p.m. Videoprints Full-Color. Low-Cost, Hard-

Copy Computer Graphics. Warren Sullivan.
Image Resource Corp

2 p.m. Mailing Lists Several Directions,

Dr Norman I. Agin. Mathtech, Inc.

2 p m. Business Applications Software Develop-

ment via Data Base Management,

Dr Andrew Whinston. Micro Data Base

Systems

3 p.m. Application of PASCAL to Small Systems

tor Business. Panel. Stan Veit. Moderator.
Associated Computer Systems

3 p.m Investment Analysis of Stocks and

Commodities on a Microcomputer,

Fred Cohen, Shearson Loeb Rhoades. Inc

4 p.m. Advantages of Distributed Processing and

Multi-Processing. John Steefel, Q1 Corp
4 p.m. To be assigned

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1

Noon Educational Software The Good, the Bad.
the Ugly. Jo Ann Comito. S U NY. at
Stony Brook

Noon Introduction to Personal Computing,
RCA— Solid State

1 p.m Computer-Assisted Mathematics Courses.

Dr. Frank Scalzo. Queensborough
Community College

2 p.m. Artificial Intelligence Update. Prof Peter

Kugel. Boston College
2 p.m. Compiling and Retrieving Personal Medical
Data, Dr Derek Enlander. St Luke's
Hospital

2 p.m. The Present State of CP/M Compatible

Software. Tony Gold. Lifeboat Associates

3 p.rr High Volume Data Handling: An

Introduction to File Processing. Prof Peter
Kugel. Boston College

3 p.m. Connecting the Computer to the Outside

World, Prof James Gips. Boston College

4 p.m Educational Applications in the Home,

David Ahl, Creative Computing Magazine
4 p m Household Applications— Some New.
Dr Dennis J McGuire

SPECIAL SESSION: EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
CONFERENCE FOR BUSY PEOPLE

This year, NSCS will present a special five-hour
conference formulated as an intensive fast
education tor administrators and executives.
The aim is to show the conferee how to cope
with computers in business No prior
knowledge ol computers is needed The session
will proceed on a step-by-step basis, covering
computers, computer jargon, software systems,
and peripherals It will indicate how to assess
computer requirements, how to talk to vendors,
and how to make a system work efficiently, alter
you ve bought it wisely

An executive education session will be given
daily for four days. Oct 29 through Nov 1. in
the New York Coliseum Each session is limited
in attendance, and reservation must be made
Registration is on a first-come, first-served
basis Fee is $200. and includes three-day
admission to the National Small Computer
Show, coffee break, and workbook materials
Please write or call the show office for session
outline and registration form. (Do not use
registration lorm m this ad tor special session.

NATIONAL SMALL COMPUTER SHOW

110 Charlotte Place

Englewood Cliffs. N.J. 07632 (201) 569-8542

-REGISTRATION FOR AMERICA'S BIGGEST SMALL COMPUTER SHOW

PImm register me for the 4th Annual National Smalt Computer Show, Oct 30 - Nov. 1, 1960 New York Coliseum.
NAME - BUSINESS TITLE (If Any)

COMPANY (If Any).

ADDRESS

Your company's primary business Chacli i
t D Accounting firm

2 Q Advertising Marketing

3 Q Banking/ insurance/

Real Estate Credit. Secuni-es

4 LJ Communications

5 O Computer Consultant

6 D Computer Dealer Dist

7 D Construction/Architecture

8 Q Education

Check your primary too function

t D Account Executive

2 Q Administrator

3 D Bookkeeper

4 D Chemist/ Pharm

5 O Consultant

6 O Corporate Officer
7UCPA

8 O Creative Arts (All)

TELEPHONE.
ZIP

9 D Engineering

10 O Entertainment/News

11 D Government Military

12 D Hospital

13 D Hotel

14 a Industrial Design

15 a Law Office

16 a Management Consultant

17 Q Manufacturing

9 D Designer (All)

10 O DP WP Manager /Operator

11 O Doctor

12 a Engineer (AH)

13 a Lawyer

14 Q Office Manager

15 Q Programmer

16 O Purchasing

18 D Personnel Agency

19 a Professional Services

20 O Research/ Development

21 a Transportation (All)

22 O Utility

23 O Wholesale/ Retail Sales

24 D Other (Please Specify)

17 D Salesperson (All)

18 D Scientist

19 O Skilled Laborer

20 O Student

21 D Teacher

22 O Technician

23 O Other (Please Specify)

Your primary interest in computers (check only one) 1 Q Business 2 Q Personal 3 O Both

Q ONE DAY $10 a TWO OAYS $20

D THREE DAYS $30

Mail with payment of $10 tor each day you
wish to attend Use one form per person. Re-
gistration badge will be sent by mail in early
October Check or money order only

Mall prior to October 10. 19*0
Foreign order*: October 1, 1980.
National Small Computer Show
1 10 Charlotte Place
Englewood Cliffs. NJ 07632
201-569-8542

SEPTEMBER 1M0

New Look, cont'd...

much variation exists in the habits and
the preferred time for working that it can
be safely concluded that the only optimum
times and conditions for the production of
novel ideas are the occasions when the
creative individual attains an uncluttered
rapport with his unconscious and feels
free from the practical demands of the en-
vironment. The other condition is that he
should be also free from the stereo-
typical orientation of his own noncreative
periods of working and living and the con-
servative, established ways of thinking
that crowd his consciousness during those
periods. This also accounts for the fre-
quent claim of the majority of creative
workers that the ideas they have valued
most occur to them during passive, re-
laxed or even fatigued states of half-wak-
ing conditions. John Dewey says in this
regard: "1 do not think it can be denied that
an element of reverie, of approach to a

Only when the individual
has a firm grasp of the
intimated whole is he
able to burrow down to
the appropriate data in
his memory and to as-
semble the elements that
contribute toward the
development of the idea.

state of dream, enters into the creation of
a work of art, nor that the experience of
the work when it is intense often throws
one into a similar state. Indeed, it is safe to
say that creative conceptions in philosophy
and science come only to persons who are
relaxed to the point of reverie. The sub-
conscious fund of meanings stored in our
attitudes have no chance of release when
we are practically or intellectually
strained."

Inventors also have been aware of the
advantages of relaxed moments. It is well
known that Newton solved many of his
problems when his attention was waylaid
by complete relaxation. Similarly Edison
knew the value of half-waking states, and.
whenever confronted with a seemingly in-
surmountable hitch that defied all his
efforts, he would stretch out on his couch
in his workshop — brought there for just
this reason — and try to fall asleep.

Creative mood may seize the in-
dividual without any detectable reason or
stimulus: it can be catalyzed apparently
by many insignificant and wayward in-
cidents. Since one of the salient character-
istics about intuitive moments is that they
are not under voluntary control, that often
they occur without warning, creative ideas
may and do appear at any hour and under
the strangest of circumstances. For ex-

ple, there is a story about Vivaldi being
overcome by inspiration while celebrating
Mass. As soon as the "divine afflatus" had
struck him, he rushed away from the altar
into the sacristy, where he noted down his
theme. It was only after he had carefully
marked down the melody and assured him-
self of its retention that he returned to the
altar to resume the Mass. Needless to say,
the officials of the church, ignorant of the
wayward surprises of the creative process,
summarily dismissed him from his office.

Another incident has been reported
about Newton, who, during the course of a
dinner he was giving to his guests, left the
table to get some wine from the cellar. On
his way from the cellar he was overcome by
an idea, forgot his errand and company,
and was soon hard at work in his study.

Many seasoned creative engineers
have an unreasoned, intuitive sense for the
preparatory cues, the external conditions
that are necessary for the evocation of a
creative mood. Although it is impossible to
summon creative ideas at will, many crea-
tive individuals have mastered the trick of
exposing themselves to stimuli which make
the occurrence of creative mood possible.
Experience will eventually teach every
creative man which environmental condi-
tions are propitious for creative con-
centration. There are many stimuli that
act as catalytic agents and induce the
mood. We all know that an interesting
lecture, a visit with a colleague, an over-
heard perceptive remark, a hike in the
freedom of nature — as a matter of fact,
any stimulating event that upsets "the
needle in the groove" — may put us in a
proper mood for creative work. For the
painter, the smell of paints or turpentine:
for the composer, the sound of distant
music; for the writer, a stimulating ex-
change of ideas; for the scientist or en-
gineer, the sight of his laboratory equip-
ment, may serve as preparatory cues for
creative activity. These are cues that are
more-or-less directly associated with a
particular creative individual's work, but
not with the specific problem that is later
solved or with the idea that is later de-
veloped.

As appreciators and spectators of art,
even laymen have learned to react to pre-
paratory cues. Thus the sound of musicians
tuning their instruments before a perform-
ance of an opera or a concert serves to put
the audience into a receptive state of mind:
in museums and art galleries the hushed
silence, appreciative cocking of heads and
pensive rigidities of posture may be suf-
ficient to engender the same kind of at-
titude; a detachment, however transitory,
from personal cares and preoccupations.

There are, on the other hand, long
stretches of barren periods in every crea-
tive individual's life. It might be safe to
estimate that, for every creative worker
periodically successful in solving his prob-
lems, there are several who go through
varying degrees of barren sterility, and
who only manage occasionally to glimpse
the tail end of the evanescent mood. To

some, perhaps less integrated individuals,
there are periods when the incipient mood
for productive activity serves to arouse all
kinds of conflicts instead of healing ideas,
with the result that they lapse and remain
in a state of indolence, lassitude and
apathy, and find numerous excuses to
postpone creative work, sometimes for
months or years. Others again desperately
pine for the return of productive mood, but
are unable to rouse the power from its
slumbers. To be sure, there may be
relatively long periods in every creative in-
dividual's life when for one reason or
other the creative fountain has run dry,
when he can only imitate and copy his old
achievements. But he usually manages to
survive these periods of sterility and con-
tinue to grow with the renascence of his
productive powers. Luckily, as the writer
Colin Wilson has suggested, "creative
energy tends to be self-renewing, and to
produce its own chain reaction of health
and further effort."

So pervasive and in-
sistent is the established
sense of the whole, the
unifying pull of its na-
ture, that it imposes the
conditions for its realiza-
tion and inexorably de-
mands the proper trans-
formations, re-arrange-
ments and regroupings.

There are also, of course, a large
number of creative individuals who work
daily, irrespective of the presence of a
driving inspiration, and who show an
amazing amount of patience and fortitude
in mastering their disinclinations to work.
While the amount and quality of their
legacy to the creative arsenal of the world
may not in any way exceed the legacy of
those creative individuals who evidence no
such routine in their output, at least they
are spared the pain of humiliation of bar-
renness.

The creative engineer, although de-
pending on productive mood and an
organizational climate that stimulates
problem-solving behavior, gains if he
establishes regular habits of work. He
should regulate and coordinate prepara-
tion or intake of fresh information, ex-
perience, impressions; he should give time
for the digestion or incubation process; he
should note how long it takes for novel in-
sights to emerge and how long it takes to
elaborate them into viability. He is likely to
show greatest efficiency and creative out-
put when he adheres to his individual
rhythm inherent in these phases. Fre-
quent violation of any of these phases by
undue haste or tardiness can retard his
creative efficiency. D

CREATIVE COMPUTING

MORE BASIC

COMPUTER

GAMES

Contents

Artlllery-3

Baccarat

Bible Quiz

Big 6

Binary

Blackbox

Bobstones

Bocce

Bogall

Bumbrun

Bridge-It

Camel

Chase

Chuck-A-Luck

Close Encounters

Column

Concentration

Condot

Convoy

Corral

Countdown

Cup

Dealer's Choice

Oeapspace

Defuse

Dodgem

Doors

Drag

Dr.Z

Eliza

Father

Flip

Four In A Row

Qeowar

Grand Prix

Guess-It

ICBM

Inkblot

Joust

Jumping Balls

Keno

LGame

Life Expectancy

Lissajous

Magic Square

Man-Eatlng Rabbit

Maneuvers

Mastermind

Masterbagels

Matpuzzle

Maze

Millionaire

Minotaur

Motorcycle Jump

Nomad

Not One

Obstacle

Octrix

Pasart

Pas art 2

Pinball

Rabbit Chase

Roadrace

Rotate

Safe

Scales

Schmoo

Seabattle

Seawar

Shoot

Smash

Strikeg

Tennis

Tickertape

TV Plot

Twonky

Two-to-Ten

UFO

Under & Over

Van Gam

Warflsh

Word Search Puzzle

Wumpus 1

Wumpus2

A Fantastic Book

Here is the sequel to the best-selling book "Basic Computer
Games."

In it you'll find 84 fascinating and entertaining games for solo
and group play. Talk to Eliza, evade a man-eating rabbit, crack a
safe, tame a wild horse, become a millionaire, race your Ferrari,
joust with a knight, trek across the desert on your camel, navigate
in deep space, hunt a wumpus and much more.

All games are complete with program listing, sample run and
description. All run in standard Microsoft Basic. Easy to use with
any computer.

Edited by David Ahl and Steve North with a preface by
Christopher Cerf. Outrageous illustrations by George Beker. Large
format paperbound, 200 pages, $7.50.

To order send your check for $7.50 plus $1 .00 shipping in U.S.
($2.00 foreign) to Creative Computing, P.O. Box 789-M,
Morristown, NJ 07960. Visa, MasterCard or Amrican Express are
also acceptable; send card number and expiration date.

All 84 games available on two 8" CP/M disks. $24.95 each.

Order Toll Free in continental U.S.

800-431-4112

(In NJ call 201-540-0445

masiei ciai

]

Payment for telephone orders must be made with Vita,
MasterCharge , or American Ex press .

creative computing

P.O. Box 789-M Morristown. New Jersey 07960

CIRCLE 350 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER ISM

Susan Friel

and

Nancy Roberts

Computer Literacy Bibliography

Code: E — Elementary Grades
J — Junior High School
H — Senior High School
R — Reference

A. Computer Applications/Societal Issues

Adams, J. Mack & Douglas H. Haden. Social Effects
of Computer Use and Misuse. New York: John
Wiley & Sons, 1976. (H+, R) Includes intro-
ductory chapter on computers, chapters on
history, applications, artificial intelligence,
misuses of computers, privacy, and the social,
economic and philosophical implications.

Ahl, David H. Ed. The Best of Creative Computing.
Vol. 1, Morristown, N.J.: Creative Computing
Press, 1976. (R) The best on a variety of topics
from Creative Computing Magazine.
The Best of Creative Computing, Vol. 2,
Morristown, N.J.: Creative Computing Press,
1977. (R) The best on a variety of topics from
Creative Computing Magazine.

Arbib, Michael. Computers in the Cybernetic Society.
New York: Academic Press, 1977. (R) Contains
some valuable information. Topics covered
include information about computers, simula-
tion of complex systems, data banks, artificial
intelligence and networks.

Bailey, Richard. Computer Poems. Drummond
Island, Michigan: Potagannissing Press, 1973.
(R) Collection of poems either computer-
generated or inspired from random computer-
generated "thoughts."

Ball, Marion and Sylvia Chase. Be a Computer Liter-
ate. Morristown, N. J: Creative Computing Press,
1977. (E) An introduction to computers and to
writing simple programs in Basic.

Benquai, August. Computer Crime. Lexington, VA:
DC. Heath & Co., 1978. (R) Explores strengths
and weaknesses of existing legal structure in
investigating and prosecuting crimes that involve
the use of computers.

Susan Friel. Assistant Professor. Mathematics; Nancy Roberts. Assistant
Professor. Education. Lesley College. 29 Everett St.. Cambridge. MA.

Billings, Karen and David Moursund. Are You Com-
puter Literate? Forest Grove, OR: Dilithium
Press, P.O. Box 92, Dept. CT, 1979. (J,H) Well
done book. Covers a variety of computer literacy
topics and offers many activities to develop
student awareness and understanding of
computers.

Davis, William and Allison McCormack. The Infor-
mation Age. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley,
1979. (H) Sections include an overview of the
computer impact, the basic technology, uses of
computers (primarily in data processing),
problems and future views.

Dorf, Richard. Computers and Man: Second Edition.
San Francisco: Boyd and Fraser Publishing Co.,
1977. (H+) Beyond the usual computer-literacy
topics, includes valuable information in such
areas as simulation and games, computers in
government systems, in the arts and artificial
intelligence and cybernetics.

Graham, Neill. The Mind Tool: Computers and Their
Impact on Society. 2nd Edition. St. Paul,
Minnesota: West Publishing Co., 1980. (J.H)
Excellent overview, with short and informative
chapters on computer applications in many
different areas, as well as introductory program-
ming using Basic.

Holorien, Martin O. Computers and Their Societal
Impact. New York: John Wiley & Sons., 1977.
(J.H) Includes applications in education,
business, government, crime and health. Has a
chapter introducing Basic and a chapter on
Flowcharting.

Leavitt, Ruth ed. Artist and Computer. Morristown,
N.J.: Creative Computing Press, 1976. (R) Good
discussion (with many pictures) of the com-
puter's role in the artistic process.

McCauley, Carole Spearin. Computers and Creativ-
ity. New York: Praeger Pub., 1974. Focus is on the
creative process and the use of computers in
such areas as poetry, graphics, art, music, and
dance.

CREATIVE COMPUTING

MEW! TPM* for TRS-80 Modal II
MEW! System/6 Package

Computer Design Labs

Z80 Disk software

We have acquired the rights to all TDL software (& hardware). TDL software has long had the reputation of being the best in the
industry. Computer Design Labs will continue to maintain, evolve and add to this superior line of quality software.

— Carl Galletti and Roger Amidon. owners.
Software with Manual/Manual Atona

AM of the software below is ■
foMowtna macHa toe opvrwliotv
the CP/M* or similar typ* dlek operating ayatam

ci**rr* to rrale>k power

• CP/a (Modal I or II)
tar »" CP/M (aolt asatared single dawaHyl
tar •***• CP/a (aoft ee ot orea single doaorty)
tar 6V4" North Star CP/a (single denerty)
tar 8 v." North Star CP/M (double denalty)

BASIC I

A powerlul and fast Z80 Basic interpreter with EDIT,
RENUMBER. TRACE. PRINT USING, assembly language
subroutine CALL. LOADGO <Of "cimimnffk/XUFf to
move text EXCHANGE, KILL. LWtt INPUT, error inter-
cept, sequent*! tile handling In both ASCII and binary
tounet%andr*ucn. rrweri more. It runs in a little over 1 2
K Dm eapaHent choice lor games since the precision
wat limited to 7 digits in order to make H one ot the
faateat around. $49 95/$ 1 5.

BASIC

Basic I but with 1 2 digit preci

available to the business axxld with onry a slight sacrifice
in speed. Salt tout taster than most other Basics (even
those, with much less precision). $99.95/81 S.

BUSINESS BASIC

The most powerful Basic for business applications It
adds to Basic II with random or sequential disk Baa in
either fixed or variable record lengthe, prrtuftaneous
access to multspe disk We*. PRIVACY command to
proruM lissr access a source code, global editing,
added auaVi functions, and disk file maintenance capa-
bility without leaving Basic (Nst rename, or delete).
$179.95/$25

ZSMT

A character oriented text editor with 26 commands
and "macro" capability for stringing multiple commands
together Included are a complete array of character
move, add, delete, and display function. $49.95./$ 1 5.

ZTBL

Z80 Text Editing Language ■ Not just a text editor.
Actually a language which allows you to edit text and
also write, save, and recall programs which manipulate
text Commands include conditional branching, subrou-
tine calls, iteration, block move, expression evaluation,
and much more. Contains 36 value registers and 1 text
registers Be creative! Manipulate text with commands
you write using Ztel $79 95/$25

TOP

A Z80 Text Output Processor which will do text
formatting for manuals, documents, and other word
processing jobs. Works with any text editor. Ooaa
justification, page numbering and headings, spacing,
centering, and much morel S79.9f>/$25.

MACRO I

A macro assembler which will generate retocateable
or absolute code for the 8080 or Z80 using standard
Intel mnemonics plus TDL/Z80 extensions Functions
include 1 4 conditionals. 1 6 listing controls, 54 pseudo-
ops. 1 ■ arithmetic/logical operations, local and global
symbols, chaining files, linking capability with optional
linker, and recursive/reiterative macros. This assembler
is so powerful you'll think it is doing all the work for you. It
actually makes assembly language programming much
less of an effort and more creative. $79 95/$20

MACRO II

Expands upon Macro I's linking capability (which is
useful but somewhat limited) thereby being able to take
tun advantage of the optional Linker. Also a time and
date function has been added and the listing capability
improved. S99.95/S25.

UNK8R

How many times have you written the same subroutine
in each new program? Top notch professional pro-
grammers compile a library of these subroutines and
use a Linker to tie them together at assembly time.
Development time is thus drastically reduced and
becomes comparable to writing in a high level language
but with all the speed of assembly language So, get the
new CDL Linker and start writing programs in a traction
of the time it took before. Linker is compatible with
Macro I a II as well as TDL/Xitan assemblers version 2.0
or later. S79.95/$20.

SEPTEMBER 1980

Many programmers give up on writing In assembly
language even though they know their programs would
be (aster and more powerlul To them assembly language
seems difficult to understand and follow, as wall aa
being a nightmare to debug Well, not with proper tools
like Debug I With Debug I you can easily follow the tlow
of any Z80 or 8060 program. Trace the program one
step at a time or 1 steps or whatever you like. At each
atep you will be able to see the instruction executed and
what it did. If desired, modifications can then be made
before continuing. It's all under your control. You can
even skip displaying a subroutine call and up to seven
breakpoints can be set during execution. Use of Debug I
can pay (or itself ma nytimesover by saving you valuable
debugging time. $79 95/820.

DEBUG II

This is an expanded debugger which has all of the
features of Debug I plus many more. You can "trap* (i.e.
trace a program until a set ol register, flag, and/or
memory conditions occur). Also, instructions may be
entered and executed immediately. This makes it easy
to loam new instructions by examining registers/memory
before and after. And a RADIX function allows changing
between ASCII, binary, decimal, has, octal signed
decimal, or split octal All these features and more add
up to give you a very powerful development tool. Both
Debug I and II must run on a ZBO but willdebug both ZBO
and 8080 code $99 95/$20.

-.1

II!

•or TRS-80 Model

SYSTCM/6

TPM with utMtJaa, Basic I interpreter, Basic E compiler.
Macro I aaaembler, r*i tagi I BfWJO ' ' »nd ZEDIT text

Above purchased afpirMry costs $339.75

Special introductory offer Only $1 79.75 with coupon!!

A ZBO executive and debug monitor. Capable of
search, ASCII put and display, read and write to 1/0
porta, hex math, breakpoint execute, move, fill, display,
read and write in Intel or binary format tape, and morel
on disk

APPLR

8080 version of Zapple

A NEW ZOO disk operation system! This is not CP/M*.
irs better) You can still run any program which runs with
CP/M* but unlike CP/M* this operating system was
written specifically lor the ZBO* and takesfull advantage
of its extra powerful instruction sat In other words its
not warmed over 8060 code! Available for TRS-80*
(Model I or II). Tarbell. Xitan DDDC. SO Sales "VERSA-
FLOPPY", North Star (SD&DD). and Digital (Micro)
Systems $79.95/$25.

SYSTEM MONITOR BOARD (SMB II)

A complete I/O board forS- 1 00 systems 2 serial ports,
2 parallel ports. 1 200/2400 baud cassette tape inter-
face, sockets for 2K of RAM, 3-2708/27 1 6 EPROM's or
ROM, jump on reset circuitry. Bare board $49 95/$20

ROM FOR BMB II

2KX8 masked ROM of Zapple monitor. Includes source

listing $34, 95/$ 15

PAYROLL (sourcs c ode) only)

The Osborne package. Requires C Basic 2.
5" disks $1 24.95 (manual not included)
8" disks $ 99.95 (manual not included)
Manual $20.00

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE/RECEIVABLE
(source coda only)

By Osborne. Requires C Basic 2
5" disks $124.95 (manual not included)
8" $99.95 (manual not included)
Manual $20.00

GENERAL LEDGER (sourcs cod* only)
By Osborne. Requires C Basic 2
5" disks $99.95 (manual not included)
8" disks $99.95 (manual not included)
Manual $20.00

C BASIC S

Required for Osborne software. $99 95/S20

ORDERING INFORMATION

Visa. Master Charge and C.O.D. O.K. To order call or
write with the following information.

1 . Name of Product (e.g. Macro I)

2. Media (e.g. 8" CP/M)

3. Price and method of payment (e.g. COD.) include
credit card info. If applicable

4. Name. Address and Phone number

5. For TPM orders only Indicate if for TRS 80. Tarbell,
Xitan DDDC, SD Sales |5V or 8"). ICOM (5 v." or
8"). North Star (single or double density) or Digital
(Micro) Systems.

6. N.J. residents add 5* sales tax

Manual coat applicable against price ol subsequent
software purchase in any item except for the Osborne
software.

For information and toch queries call

609-599-2146

For phone orders ONLY call toll f re*

1-800-327-9191
Ext. 676

(except Florida)

Many CDL products are available for licensing to
OEMs Write to Carl Galletti with your requirements

* Z80 is a trademark of Zilog

* TRS-80 is a trademark for Radio Shack

* TPM is a trademark of Computer Design Labs It is not
CP/M*

* CP/M Is a trademark of Digital Research

Prices and specifications subject to change without
notice.

DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED.

COMPUTER

DESIGN

LABS

342 Columbus Avenue
Trenton. N.J. 08629

CIRCLE 127 ON READER SERVICE CARD
93

Bibliography, cont'd...

Mowskowitz, Abbe. Inside Information: Computers
in Fiction. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley,
1977. (R) Contains several short science fiction
stories.

Nelson, Ted. Computer Lib/Dream Machines.
Swarthmore, PA. Ted Nelson, Publisher (distrib-
uted by The Distributors, 702 S. Michigan, South
Bend, IN 46618). (R) Interesting and fun to read.
Covers all kinds of thoughts about and uses of
computers.

Parker, Donn B. Crime By Computer. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976. (R) Information
on the variety of ways computers have been used
as tools to aid in committing crimes.

Rothman, Stanley and Charles Mosmann. Computers
and Society. Chicago: Science Research Asso-
ciates, 1976. (H) Sections include what com-
puters are, the computer influence in society,
how computers are controlled, and a look at the
future.

Sanders, Donald H. Computers and Society. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1973. (J,H) Includes sections
on computers, computer influence in society,
selected uses of computers, and a look at the
future.

Scientific American: Computers and Computation.
San Francisco: W. H. Freeman & Co., 1971. (R)
Somewhat of a classic, containing readings in
such areas as fundamentals of artificial intelli-
gence and computer models.

Silver, Gerald. The Social Impact of Computers. New
York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979. (H) Very
good book. Consists of four parts: the begin-
nings: what computers are: how computers are
used: and how computers relate to people. Has
good chapter introducing some of the more
common privacy and credit laws in effect.

Smith, Robert Ellis. Privacy. How to Protect What's
Left of It. Garden City, New York: Anchor Press/
Doubleday, 1979. (R) Good overview of many of
the issues concerning privacy and computeri-
zation.

Spencer, Donald D. Computers in Society: Wheres,
Whys and Hows of Computer Use. Rochelle Park.
N.J.: Hayden Book Co., Inc., 1974. (J,H)
Chapters focusing on different applications of
computers.

Van Tassel. Dennie L. The Compleat Computer.
Santa Cruz, CA, University of California: Science
Research Associates, Inc.. 1976. (R) Collection
of readings on a variety of areas related to
computers.

Computers, Computers, Computers. New York:
Thomas Nelson. Inc., 1977. (R) Variety of short
science fiction selections.

Weizenbaum, Joseph. Computer Power and Human
Reason. San Francisco, CA: W. H. Freeman.
1976. (R) Philosophical discussion of the
computer as a metaphor to help better under-
stand our world. Arguments for appropriate uses
of computers are presented. Attacks the ethos of
The Artificial Intelligence community.

Wessel, Milton R. Freedom's Edge: The Computer
Threat to Society. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley
Pub. Co., Inc., 1974. (R) Good discussion of a
variety of issues involving the use and misuse of
computers. Still timely.

Programming; Computer Science;
What is a Computer?

Albrecht, Robert. My Computer Likes Me When I
Speak in Basic. Menlo Park, CA: Dymax, 1972.
(E.J) Intended for beginners. Presents all aspects
of Basic in an elementary way.

Finkel, Leroy and Gerald Brown. Basic (2nded):
A Self-Teaching Guide. New York: John Wiley
and Sons, 1978. (H,R) Very good self-teaching
text geared to use while sitting at a computer/
computer terminal. Can be used, however,
without having direct access to a computer.

Ball, Marion J. What is a Computer? Houghton Mifflin
Co., 1972. (E) Short book which clearly describes
the development of computers, their operation,
how they function and the fundamentals of
flowcharting.

Brainerd, Walter S., Charles Goldberg, and Jona-
than Gross. Introduction to Computer Program-
ming. New York: Harper and Row, 1979. (R)
Designed for college students. Excellent refer-
ence for providing an introduction to what
computers can be programmed to do. Explana-
tions rely on knowledge of general purpose
algorithm language that is developed in the text.
Transfer of concepts can be made to specific
computer languages.

Braude, Michael. Larry Learns About Computers.
Minneapolis. Minnesota: T. S. Denison Co., Inc.,
1972. (E)

Brown, Jerrald R. INSTANT (Freeze-Dried Com-
puter Programming in) Basic. Forest Grove.
OR: Dilithium Press, P.O. Box 92, Dept. CT, 1977.
(E.J.H) Book for microcomputer programming
or DEC Basic PLUS.

DeRossi, Claude. Computers: Tools for Today.
Chicago: Children's Press, 1972. (E)

Dwyer, Thomas and Margot Critchfield. Basic and
the Personal Computer. Reading, MA: Addison-
Wesley, 1978. (H,R) Excellent introductory text
to Basic on the personal computer, with
demonstrated computer applications in several
areas, including games, art, business and
simulation.

CREATIVE COMPUTING

The Best of
creative

computing

Volume 3

creative
computing

336 pages of articles, activities, fiction, games,
programs, reviews, cartoons, and other information
from the 1977 issues of Creative Computing.
Includes features on technology, public access,
educational use, medical applications, and com-
puters in music. Contains great resource listings
and reviews of calculators, games, equipment,
software and books. There are 96 pages of things to
do — puzzles, programs, problems, and games.

A sample of the diverse contents is listed.

Edited by David Ahl and Burchenal Green. Large
format. 336 pages. $8.95 (12C).

Partial Listing of Contents •

• F tCttOA Mid r OOflehn***

Th* Land of Halco— Rowtott

Th*m Hobbyists— Dumon

Computer Control— Vital*

Yailow Computer— Ragan

Edu-Man Meats Pseudo Haro-AM

Edu-Man Meats tha Rumor Mongers— Ahl

Tha Lighter Side of Robots

The Lighter Side of Computer Dating

Nords— Sunston* Graphics

Giorobots— Mai son

Tha Floating Point Solution— Taylor

Mar t sport — Son n tag

Out of the Mouths of Babes— Wlrth

Sttii a Few Bugs in the System

Trends into the Future— Gray

EFTS Living is Better electronically, or IS it'— Oragunas

The World In Your Own Notebook— Lees

Eeny, Meany. Micro and More— Salisbury

The Pocket Computer is Almost Here— Anern
Microprocessors — A Primer— Cohen

Computing at a Public Library— Shair
Computer Power to the People— Ahl
A Dream For Irving Snard — Nelson
Tim* For a National Computer Club— Kuimack
The Microcomputer Inflicts "Future Shock
on Technical Education — Vuiltequiz

interactive Computing in Secondary Schools in Franc*-
A Microcomputer Software Course— Williams
Computer Science at Carnegie- Mel ion University— Hast
Final Exams— Elsenberg
Computational Unsolvabillty— St**n
State-of-the- Art vs Compatibility— Ahl

•L a nguages end Programming Theory
Something is Missing — Finsath
Fit* Structures— L**s
PILOT -Yob
A Tasie of APL— Finseth
ARTSPEAK -Friedman

Othef I o— Wright
SWARMS— Miller
EUCHRE— Raybaud

Daytona 500— Churchill

A New Generation of Biomedical Instruments— Br us
The Miraculous Medical Microprocessor— Wetntraub
Computerized Robots— Armstrong
Computer Correction of Optical illusions— Smith
Brown Scientists Peer Into Fourth Dimension— Norns
An inexpensive Reading Maehilne for the Wind — Brus
Medical Computerized Data Bases— Hastings
The Placebo and the Computer -Hastings

Sophisticated Electronic Pocket

Calculators
Of erne i

Smart Electronic Games— Ahl
Comp IV— Gray

Of Software

Software Technology Music System— Ahl

A Comparison of Software Systems— Ahl

Review of Five Small Inter p-elers — North

Notes on Languages ■ -Chase

A Dynamic Debugging System— North

An Evaluation of Three 8080 8K Basics

New Benchmark Program— Chase

Two Space Game* with Graphics

The Impact

of Computers

on Society

and Ethics:

A Bibliography

SEPTEMBER 1980

Where is the computer leading us? Is it a menace or
a messiah? What are its benefits? What are the risks?
What is needed to manage the computer for society's
greatest good? Will we become masters or slaves of
the evolving computer technology?

This bibliography was created to help answer
questions like these. The works cited can provide the
range of facts and opinion necessary to your
understanding of the role of the computer.

This is a bibliography of works dealing with the ways
in which computers are being used in our society, the
beneficial changes that are taking place in our lives as
a result of computer technology, the social and ethical
problems intensified by the improper use of com-
puters, the dangers of computerized society, the
safeguards and defenses against those dangers, the
attempts to indicate what computerized direction the
future will take, and the responsibilities of computer
professionals. It contains 1920 alphabetical entries of
books, magazine articles, news items, scholarly
papers and other works dealing with the impact of
computers on society and ethics. Covers 1948 through
1979.

Compiled by Gary M. Abshire. Hardbound, 128
pages. $17.95. (12E).

CIRCLE 350 ON READER SERVICE CARD
> '

To order, send a check for books plus $2.00 shipping and
handling per order to Creative Computing, P.O. Box 789-M,
Mornstown, NJ 07960. NJ residents add 5% sales tax. Visa,
MasterCard, and American Express orders are welcomed. For
faster service, call in your bank card order toll free to
800-631-8112 (in NJ call 201-540-0445). Or use the handy
order form bound into this magazine.

creative computing press

Bibliography, cont'd...

Dwyer, Thomas and Michael Kaufman. A Guided
Tour to Computer Programming in Basic.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973. (J.H) Consists of
three parts: about computers, writing computer
programs, and professional computer applica-
tions. While written primarily for high school, the
style is such that it could be used for upper
elementary school.

Foley, Jacobs, Bower and Basten. Discovery and
Structure: Individualizing Mathematics — Flow-
chart I, II, III. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley
Publishing Co., 1970. (E) Each book introduces
flowcharting and then applies the use of
flowcharts to mathematics.

Graham, Neill. Introduction to Computer Science. St.
Paul, Minn: West Publishing Company, 1979. (R)
Designed for college students, this book
provides an excellent reference. It covers the
topics of algorithms and programs, data
structures, file organization and processing and
introduction to numerical methods using an
informal algorithmic language or pseudocode.
Transfer of concepts can be made to specific
computer languages.

Matt, Fred C. Instructo Paper Computer. Paoli, Penn:
Instructo/McGraw-Hill, 1979. (J,H) Designed to
provide experience in operating, and under-
standing the operation of, a computer.

McQuigg, James D. and Alta M. Harness. Flow-
charting. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co.,
1970. (J,H) Short workbook on flowcharting that
provides a good introduction.

Moursund, David. Basic Programming for Computer
Literacy. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1978. (H)
Designed for the computer programming
component of Computer Literacy Instruction
( Basic ). It begins with an introduction to
problem solving and focuses on reading
programs and modifying programs before
program writing.

Scharff, Robert. The How and Why Wonder Book of
Robots and Electronic Brains. New York: Wonder
Books Division of Grosset and Dunlap. (E)

Spencer, Donald. Computers in Action: How Com-
puters Work. Rochelle Park, N.J.: Hayden Book
Co., 1974. (J)

The Story of Computers. Ormond Beach, CA:
Abacus Computer Corporation, 1975. (J)

Srivastana, Jane Jonas. Computers. New York:
Thomas Crowell Co., 1972. (E)

Stern, Nancy. Flowcharting — A Self-Teaching
Guide. New York: John Wiley, 1975. (J,H) A
clearly written introductory presentation of the
use of flowcharting as a step in organizing a
computer program.

Walter, Russ. The Secret Guide to Computers:
(J.H.R) Vol. 1: Basic: Vol. 2: Applications: Vol. 3:
Languages: Vol. 4: Systems; Vol. C1: Hassles In
Basic; Vol. C2: ". . . Tough Questions." Boston,
MA: Russ Walter, 92 St. Botolph Street, 02116.
Worth the reasonable investment. Contain much
information on several areas.

Weissman, Kenneth. School Basic. Hanover, N.H.:
Kiewit Computer Center. Dartmouth College,
1970. (J,H) Simply written. Geared to secondary
mathematics curricula.

Teaching Resources

Apple Personal Computer Magazine. "Computers
in Education," Vol. 1, No. 1. (E) A well written
description of several different examples of
computer uses in education along with a look to
the future.

Ahl, David. Basic Computer Games. Morristown,
N.J.: Creative Computing Press. (E,J,S,R)
More Basic Computer Games. Morristown, N.J.:
Creative Computing Press. (E.J.S.R) Sequel to
the first book, Basic Computer Games.

Computers in Education Resource Handbook. Eu-
gene, OR: University of Oregon, Dept of
Computer Science, 1976. (R)

Edwards, J.B., Ellis, A.S., Richardson, D.E., Holz-
nagel, D. and D. Klassen. Computer Applications
in Instruction: A Teacher's Guide to Selection
and Use. Hanover, N.H.: Time Share Corpora-
tion, 1978. (R) Very good general introduction to
uses of computers in education. Includes four
sections: the essentials of hardware; instruc-
tional uses of computers: selecting computer-
based instructional units: readings on computers
in the curriculum.

Ellis, Allan B. The Use and Misuse of Computers in
Education. San Francisco, CA: McGraw Hill,
1974. (R) Good thoughtful overview of com-
puters and the role they should have in educa-
tion.

Harris, Diana (ed) Proceedings of the National Edu-
cational Computing Conference. Iowa City:
University of Iowa, Weeg Computing Center,
1979. (R) A collection of 69 papers presented at
the first NECC. Topics range across all educa-
tional levels and disciplines.

Illinois Series on Educational Applications of Com-
puters: Computing-Teacher Education Papers.
Urbana, III: University of Illinois, Dept of
Secondary Education, 396 Education Building,
1979. An excellent collection of 22 booklets
discussing all aspects of computers in education.
A must for anyone's library. Can be ordered for
the amazing cost of 50C each.

Kosel, Marge and Geraldine Carlstrom. Elementary,
My Dear Computer. Lauderdale, Ml: Minnesota
Educational Computing Consortium, 2520
Broadway Dr., 1978. (E) Guide designed as a
reference for use in teaching students the basic
idea of what a computer is and how it operates. It
also shows teachers how to incorporate use of
computers into daily classroom experiences.

Kurshan, Barbara. Computer Literacy: Practical
Ways to Teach the Basic Mathematical Skills.
Richmond, Virginia: VirginiaCouncil of Teachers
of Mathematics, 1978. (E,J,H) Summary of what
to do and how to do it in teaching computer
literacy for Elementary, Junior High and High
School.

Lidtke. Doris. Computers and Computer Applica-
tions: A Film Bibliography. Portland, Oregon:
Oregon Council for Computer Education, 1977.
(R)

Molnar, Andrew. "The Next Great Crisis in American
Education — Computer Literacy." EDUCOM
Bulletin, Spring, 1979. (R) A strong argument, by
the program Director of the Division of Science
Education Development and Research of The
National Science Foundation for the importance
of making our population computer literate.

Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium.
2520 Broadway Dr., Lauderdale, MN 55113. (E)
Programs available for purchase specifically
designed for elementary students. Very valuable
resource for software.

Papert, Seymour. "Computers and Learning" in The
Computer Age: A Twenty-Year View. Michael L.
Dertouzos and Joel Moses (eds). Cambridge,
MA: The MIT Press 1979. (R) Excellent summary
of Papert's views as result of years of work with
children and LOGO.

"Teaching Children Thinking" Logo Memo No. 2.
Cambridge, MA: MIT, Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory. (R) Exciting discussion of the
potential power of creative use of computers with
children.

People's Computer Company. What to do After You
Hit Return. Menlo Park, CA: 1 263 El Camino Real,
Box E. (E,J,H,R) Collection of games, to be
played using a computer. Each game is ex-
plained and listings are provided in the back of
the book.

Rice Jean. My Friend — The Computer: Teacher's
Guide and Activity Book to Accompany "My
Friend — The Computer." Minneapolis: T. S.
Dennison & Company, 1976. (E) The student
book and teacher's guide together focus on
seven topics: what is a computer, how it works,
how it is used, the history of computers, input/
output devices, flow charts and writing simple
Basic programs. The Teacher's guide also pro-
vides transparencies, lists of objectives, re-
sources and suggestions for planning.

Ricketts, Dick (Project Director). Course Goals in
Computer Education K-12. Portland, Oregon:
Commercial Educational Distributing Services,
P.O. Box 8723, 1979. (R) Contains goals for use in
planning and evaluating Elementary and Sec-
ondary school curricula in computer education
(which includes such topics as computer literacy
computer science, computers and society, data
processing, and computer programming).

D. Periodicals

Creative Computing, P.O. Box 789-M, Morristown,
N.J. 07960.

EDU. Educational Products Group, Digital Equip-
ment Corp., ML5-2/M40. Maynard, Mass. 01754.

Recreational Computing, P.O. Box E, 1263 El Camino
Real, Menlo Park, CA 94025.

The Computing Teacher, Computing Center, Eastern
Oregon State College, La Grande, Oregon 97850.

T.H.E. Journal, Information Synergy, Inc., P.O.
Box 992, Acton, Mass. 01720 □

SEPTEMBER 1980

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CIRCLE 104 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Jetili ih [Sn H Inn i

Chris Hansen

When students at Minnie P. Blair
Middle School decide to use a computer,
they don't just walk down the hall or go to
a corner of the room; they embark on a
cosmic adventure. They become space
cadets who carry official Star Passes

were an object of mistrust rather than of
interest. The students were willing enough
to try the PET computers, but most of the
teachers wouldn't take the time to learn
how to insert a cassette into them. The
three computers were spread throughout
the school. One was being used by one-
third of the students, but the other two
computers were never touched by the other
two-thirds of the student body.

Something had to be done to generate

STAR PASS

CAPTAIN COMMODORES COMPUTER CUBICLE

STAinir catumn

TMa STAR PASS allows on* SFACt CADCT Into

cattaui comoocm's conmn cuncix.

The Star Pass is signed by the principal and then laminated so it can be used over
and over again.

signed by the starship commander. They
become space navigators, engineers, and
science officers who must man the helm of
Captain Commodore's Computer Cubicle.

Why all of the space jargon associated
with computers? Our middle school was
the first school in the county to ask for and
receive small computers for classroom use.
Three PET Commodore 2001 computers
were brought into the school at the
beginning of the school year, but they lay
idle. The teachers were afraid to walk the
halls at night. They heard rumors that
strange PETs had been loosed and the
strong possibility of attack was ever
present. The majority of students saw a
strange green glow coming from a seldom-
used teachers' preparation area. The word
"computer" was being whispered among
some of the students, but no one seemed to
be interested.

As with anything new in a traditional
setting, computers in our middle school

Chris Hansen. 355 W. Stillwater Ave., Fallon, NV
89406.

student and teacher interest. The three
computers were brought together and
placed in the small, seldom-used teachers'
preparation area. From there, the trans-
formation from schoolroom to starship
began. The unadorned room became
Captain Commodore's Computer Cubicle.
The name of the room is printed in six-inch
multi-colored letters above and on each
side of the door. Four bolts of lightning,
cut from bright yellow butcher paper,
strike at the entrance door from each
corner of the wall, and a poster of earth as
seen from space is in the center of the door.
Mounted to the right side of the entrance
are the small outlines of PET computers
numbered one to seven. Students must
take a numbered cardboard PET when
they enter the cubicle. When all of the
numbers are gone, other students wishing
to use a computer are able to see from quite
a distance that the room is full and know
that they will have to come back later.
Students return the numbered PETs when
they leave. Other posters inside the cubicle
are of planets, space walks, and docking

space craft. It's as if the student is in the
control room of a space craft looking out
into space. The computer is the student's
control panel.

In order to get the uninterested
teachers involved with the computers and
to get them to let their students participate,
the starship commander (the principal)
issued Star Passes to all teachers. These
Star Passes are given to any student who
wishes to use the computer and has his or
her work done satisfactorily. The word
soon spread among the students and they
began asking for the Star Passes. Even-
tually even the teachers most adamantly
against letting their students use the
computers were issuing the Star Passes.

Within weeks the PETs
were no longer feared as
wild things.

Within weeks the PETs were no
longer feared as wild things. The com-
puters were being used before, during, and
after school. Many of the students would
rather spend their lunch hours and free
time in the Computer Cubicle than on the
playground. So much interest was shown
that a concerned parent began a student-
only programming course one night a
week. He eventually also taught an in-
service course for teachers. Over twenty-
five teachers took the course and wrote and
saved programs which the students are
presently using. Two of the seventh grade
students and one of the sixth grade
students took the computers to a school
board meeting and gave a demonstration
with the programs they had written.

A tremendous problem when intro-
ducing computers into a school is getting
them accepted as an extra helper and
getting teachers enthused about them.
Once this is done, the school is on its way to
some exciting experiences. And it says on
the PET screen at Minnie Blair Middle
School at the end of a successfully
completed program:

CONGRATULATIONS. YOU ARE
NOW A MEMBER OF MY SPACE
TEAM AND WE ARE HEADED BACK
TO EARTH.

CAPTAIN COMMODORE

SIGNING OFF ... D

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CIRCLE 173 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Smart Programs,

Dumb Programs

Michael Potts

Teaching at a computer isn't like
teaching in a classroom. For one thing,
you can't imprison the kids. This leads
to some important new considerations.

Many schools find themselves at a
crucial point in the decision to bring
computers into the classroom. It's a tough
area to enter because it's so complicated,
and there's such an apparent confusion of
paths and advice. Like the legendary firm
in England whose directors debated three
hours whether to build a shed for the
workers' bicycles (for 18s6d), then deliber-
ated for seven minutes the proposal to
completely re-equip the mill (at a cost of
several hundred thousand pounds), too
many administrators are looking at the
wrong problem.

When you compare a minimal useful
configuration, all of the small computers
that can make it in the classroom are
remarkably similar in price, capability,
and reliability. I don't think it's possible to
make a wrongdecision here. (Although my
conclusions apply to any classroom
computer, my examples all run on the most
popular machine. Radio Shack's TRS-80.)

Software, the marching orders the
computer gets to do its educational thing,
is the tough nut to crack. I've seen too
many computers sitting, dusty and forlorn
amidst a welter of battered program tapes,
in the back corners of classrooms. When I
ask "Why?" I'm inevitably told, "teachers
overworked . . . tape loading problems . . .
(mumble mumble) . . . kids lost interest."
One local school keeps its TRS-80 (and
both program tapes) in a cupboard
because none of the teachers will take it on.
Twelve miles south, in another district,
three TRS-80s hum away six hours a day
every day, with little or no intervention
from the teachers. What's the difference?
Appropriate software.

Too often teachers, reading the
woeful wails of hobbyists about "not
enough memory," blow their whole budget
on the machine, and find themselves
software poor. It takes time to learn to
program well enough that kids will enjoy

Michael Polls. P.O. Box XX. Caspar. CA 95420.

running your programs . . . and anyway,
it's tough to learn to program in a vacuum,
with no one else's work to bounce off of.
I've helped a few teachers through the
lonely first years, and I'd like to share what
I've learned.

Computer-Aided Instruction (CAI)
and computer games have come to be
treated as one-and-the-same. Program-
mers — usually amateurs and hobbyists
with ambitious programming aims but
marginal literary and educational skills —
have discovered that children need to be
entertained to stay with the machine, so
Klingons have captured much of the
available territory. Programmers fall
victim to the TV spinoff syndrome: we've
got a compelling subject here, guys, so let's
change the story a bit, and write another
program . . .

Computer- Aided Instruc-
tion (CAI) and computer
games have come to be
treated as one-and-the-
same.

Heaven forfend that we re-open the
Great Games Debate. Games are super.
Anything that gets a child to relate to
symbols with glee is super! Children — and
big people too — require novelty and
entertainment in their activities. Surprise,
humor, and enlightenment make a pro-
gram, or a novel, movie, whatever,
successful if present, boring if absent.
Examples: Battleship, the classic coordi-
nate-based seek-and-destroy game, is a
natural for the 6- to 10-year-old set, but the
record-keeping involved in playing it well
with paper and pencil is too complex for
this notoriously scattered age group.
People's Software Project (Box 158, San
Luis Rey, CA 92068) offers several
collections of programs, strewn amongst
which are a few fine educational games.
Tapes 5 and 7 ($8 each) are best for our
purposes. Their version of Battleship (on
tape #7), written by Harley Dyk, uses the
computer to solve the record-keeping
problem in an exemplary way: it's a real
teaching program. It contains suspense
(Will TRS-80 get me?), surprise (Haha! I

100

hit the Battleship!), and the chance to
polish strategy and see immediate results.
Many children are intimidated by ma-
chines, and so a screening for bad input
should be gentle; this program's universal
response to user error is a loving "You
goofed!" Well done, Harley.

My favorite pigeon among crummy
"games" is one of the various versions of
States: what is the capitol of Maine?
etcetera . . . Programmers find it attractive
because it presents a neatly-bounded data
base with a simple relationship between
elements — Dover always goes with
Delaware, and vice versa. Teachers seem to
like it because it purports to teach a
frustrating subject without much teacher
effort. So then what's the problem? It isn't
much fun to run: kids get bored before they
get much out of it; an atlas with pictures
does the job better. Another loser is the oft-
rewritten "pre-school math program,"
presenting math facts (3 + 4 always equals
7), then testing comprehension. Radio
Shack's pathetic little phallic rocket in
their Math I package makes my kids
laugh in pity . . . right before they walk
away. Robert Purser proposes "Hang-
man" as a candidate for an award in this
category: "Here is a simple game which is
better suited to pencil and paper than a
computer. For the lack of anything better
to do, over a hundred people have written
and are selling their own computerized
version of this game." Give all these guys a
I for entertainment. (The People Software
tapes have two different versions for your
edification, plus a couple of versions of
States and one or two elementary math
testers.)

A near miss at relevancy: The Bottom
Shelf's Addition program from "I00
Programs." The program has been de-
signed to do addition like a kid, adding
from least significant to most. That's a
wrinkle I'm ashamed to say I left out of my
adding program. But a nice feature does
not a great progra m make: it's still a testing
program, and the kids walk away after a
few problems. TBSV'IOO Programs" is
largely useless educationally: the few
useful concepts are aimed at adults, not
children, and need drastic revision.

A Key to good CAI is "repeat
business": if a program challenges and

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Basic in A Nutshell

Name: Step-By-Step
Vendor: Program Design. Inc.. 11
Idar Court. Greenwich CT 06830
Price: $49.95

Purpose: Teaches how to program
a TRS-80 using BASIC
Documentation: Outstanding
Loading: OK -Level 6. not critical
Implementation: This is a case of
a BASIC program that teaches BA-
SIC programming. It starts out with
the assumption that the student
only knows how to turn the TRS-80
on. Three cassette tapes are
mounted in the cover of a loose-
leaf notebook that also contains
supplementary information frames.
The course is divided into ten two-
part lessons From a simple PRINT
"HI" through arrays and graphics to
complex programs, all of the Level
II commands and statements are
exercised.

The instruction method consists of
explanation, example, trial and
testing Commands and state-
ments are presented and ex-
plained, examples are shown both
on the screen and in the notebook,
and then the student is presented
with some problems to solve using
the BASIC elements under discus-
sion If an incorrect answer is given.

two more tries are allowed, and
then the correct answer is dis-
played. Each lesson ends with a
test that is administered and
scored by the computer. The results
are then entered into the student's
progress chart. More comprehen-
sive examinations are given at the
end of Lesson 5 and at the end of
the course. %

Suitability: This is the kind of edu-
cational programming that per-
sonal computing needs more of.
The student (my teenage son)
learned much more quickly than I
could have taught him, and at his
own pace. However, this course
isn't just for youngsters but for any-
one who wants to be able to pro-
gram effectively using the BASIC
language. In a household where
there isn't anyone to do the teach-
ing, this course would be espe-
cially useful. I'd like to see a similar
course for assembly-language
programming.

Other software available from
the same vendor: IQ Builders (four
different kinds). Memory Builder
and Story Builder.

Reprinted with permission:

80 Microcomputing, February 1980

Step by Step also available for Apple II and Pet Apple II version also available on disks for $59.95.
Available at Computerland and other fine computer dealers. Or. use the coupon below.

F>rogram Design. Inc. 11 Idar Court Greenwich. Conn. 06830 203-661-8799

ORDER FORM

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STEP BY STEP

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Price

Please send me a list of dealers in my area D
Check or mo. enclosed □

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SEPTEMBER 1980

101

CIRCLE 218 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Smart, Dumb, cont'd.

intrigues, the student will come back for
more. Repetition leads to mastery; it also
saves the teacher repetition of program
directions. In some ways — the presence of
surprise, engaging fantasy, and the like —
repeatability is related to entertainment.
But I find the program's built-in attitude is
important, too.

Even the most forbearing teacher has
bad days, grumbles at students, and picks
on wimps. One of the incredible qualities
of the computer is that it can be program-
med for infinite patience. Gentleness is a
necessity: the customer is always delicate.

Star Trek is entertaining, but it's
horribly frustrating for most children
below age thirteen. Usually many hours
are required to get good enough (and lucky
enough) that you don't leave the computer
depressed because you've been demoted to
cabin boy, leaving 26 Klingons to destroy
the Galaxy. Reinforcement value, nil.
Battleship, which teaches much the same
material (coordinate geometry), is much
more compact and machine-efficient —
although undeniably less challenging. At
the age level where this lesson is most
appropriate. Battleship will suffice; the
more sophisticated student will consume
vast hunks of computer time mastering
Star Trek for an arguably marginal
educational gain. The People's tapes have
two versions of Stark Trek, plus a few
other Klingon games for your enjoyment.

The Adventure games are in a class by
themselves. In these games the player
conducts the computer on a quest using
two-word directives like "ENTER
BUILDING" or "OPEN DOOR." Peri-
odically, malevolent dwarves and other
added distractions throw axes and knives
. . . but it all takes place on the computer's
display as narrative: interactive literature.
The children it appeals to most are
generally the non-readers, who get sucked
in and end up reading despite themselves.
The games are incredibly time-consuming,
but the value is obvious. The grandaddy
Adventure is Microsoft's version (origi-
nally run on the DEC PDP-I I mainframe
computer, it's been rewritten to run on a
32K disk-based S-80, costs $30.) Scott
Adams' reprises of the formula are
engaging, too. and run nicely on a minimal
I6K machine (Adventure International.
Box 3435, Longwood. FL 32750, $15 each
and also available from Creative Com-
puting Software.) A significant part of the
appeal is the marked difference between
the verbal exchange of these games as
contrasted with the numerical preoccupa-
tion of commoner computer games.
Adding an Adventure to your library
increases the flexibility of your computer
twofold.

Simulations bridge the gap between
games and pure education, depending on
the material and the program-writer's
sense of humor. "Tai-pan" is a near-perfect
example of the potential for education
offered by simulations: author Art Canfil

has translated his own obvious love for the
potential for adventure in the China trade
of the 1 800s into an exciting trading game,
complete with marauding pirates, Wu the
moneylender, and officials bent on seizing
your opium. To win, the trader must
parlay a modest stake into a million; the
memory and calculation required are
incidental to the enjoyment of the game.
"Hammurabi" is a classic along the same
line: the player rules a pre- Biblical realm in
the fertile crescent, deciding annually how
much the peasants eat, how much land is
bought or sold, how much grain is planted;
on these few decisions hangs the welfare of
the State. Both of these games have the
added attraction that big people like them,
too. Games like these provide a jumping-
off point for broader classroom units on
trade, history, or whatever the teacher's
imagination decrees; the children should
note an increase in their playing skill as
their grasp of the concepts improves. These
programs are usually written by teachers
with just this effect in mind; making the
lessons real.

But a nice feature does
not a great program
make: it's still a testing
program, and the kids
walk away after a few
problems.

At the far end of the spectrum are the
programs (and packages of programs)
which make comprehensive use of the
computer as a drill-and-practice tool.
Radio Shack's new K-to-8 Math Package
attempts to provide such an instrument for
the full range of Elementary math. This
powerful series of programs — arrayed as a
horizontal grouping of general number
skills — 150 lessons for Kindergarten
through third grade (6 programs by grade
level) — and a vertical array of operations
program — 70 addition, 70 subtraction, 50
multiplication, and 37 division lessons (4
programs, one for each operation) offers a
reasonably broad range of individual
competence within each program, making
it easy to load and shuffle students through
the program, while broadly challenging
students across the full spectrum of the
four operations up to eighth grade. The
programs tread a thin line between
gentleness and insult: if the child takes too
long answering, she is prompted to "Try
another" — a nice touch — or repri-
manded — "Don't fall asleep." I was
concerned that children might be offended
when needled by the computer, but the
machine's timing seems superb: the "Don't
fall asleep" message comes along about the
time the child needs a giggle. The package
is expensive ($200), but it is compre-
hensive, providing all by itself justification
for a computer lab for the math depart-
ment. True: drill and practice is dull. But

test results indicate it's reasonable to
expect that most children will attain
concept mastery two or three times faster
than conventional workbook drills given
adequate practice with this series of
programs: it's an elegant use of the
computer to solve a tough problem. A
foundation package like this is an absolute
necessity in any well-integrated computer
program.

Finally, your software library needs to
start out with the ability to "bootstrap
load" (a computer term for bringing a
system — in this case a human — from a
state of total ignorance to usefulness) the
teachers and students with enough com-
puter knowledge to use the system.
Computers have the unique and amazing
ability to teach absolutely anything,
includingthemsclves.Using such a system, a
receptive teacher can dedicate an after-
noon a week, or a few weekends, to the task
of learning to program to her own
specifications, and succeed handsomely in
a surprisingly short time. Radio Shack's
Basic self-instruction tapes offer this
capability at a modest price. It could have
been done with more style and spirit, but
this is a workmanlike effort.

Two last details: subscribe on your
school's behalf to a computer magazine or
two, and encourage the parents of a couple
of your "computer heroes" to do likewise.
CLOAD Magazine (P.O. Box 1267.
Goleta, CA 93017. $36/ year) sends
monthly program tapes which will flesh
out your games department, but don't
count on them for much educational
material. Purser's Magazine (P.O. Box
466. El Dorado. CA 95623. $12/ year)
consists of reviews of educational pro-
grams, and will save you the price of
admission in lousy software. You'd be wise
to set aside a few dollars for the right
program when you see it. Given the solid
foundation library you've established by
following my advice, you'll be able to pick
and choose.

This "shopping list" for a minimal
TRS-80 software library undertakes to
make two points. First: if your computer
had the pick of these programs, you'd be
able to settle back and let the programs
come to you. confident that your computer
could earn its keep educationally for at
least a year. At year's end. you can expect
to spend some time weeding out inferior
programs in order to keep your library
manageable. Second, and more important:
exercise careful judgment in getting and
keeping programs. Children have a
tendency to play what's available: if it's
Star Trek or Hangman, your computer
program is being ill-used. If. on the other
hand, you provide a bouquet of valid,
challenging, and engaging programs to
embellish a solid back-bone of instruction
(like the Radio Shack K-8 Package), you
have a viable computer program which will
justify by any objective measure your
school's expenditure and your energy. □

102

CREATIVE COMPUTING

GOO-GOO, GAA-GAA, REA-DEE...

The Fine Print:

Overseas rates a tad higher— please write for them.

Back issues available— ask for our list.

TRS-80 is a trademark of Tandy Corporation.

Califomy residents add 6% to single copies and anthologies.

Programs are for Lvl I 4K and Lvl II I6K. After Oct I. Lvl II I6K only.

So your new TRS-80 just said its first word. REA — DEE. Now

what? Are you thinking of its future? About its education?

Before you run out and get an ANSI standard FORTRAN or a

CODASYL data base management system, think back to when

you were less than a year old. How would you have handled the

bewondering plethoria of data you are possibly thinking of

handing to your computer? No, you have to CLOAD

before you can RUN — we all know that. So put

away all those COBOL routines and Pascal texts.

and get a subscription to CLOAD MAGAZINE

CLOAD has just the right mix of nutritious

programs for a healthy, happy new computer. Once

a month, a new cassette will arrive at your door by

First Class Mail, full of software that will provide a

solid learning foundation for both you and your

computer.

PRICES Now Oct 1

I year subscription $36.00 $42.00

6 month subscription $20.00 $23.00

Single copies $3.50 $4.50

Anthology-volume I $10.00 $10.00

Anthology-volume 2 $15.00 $15.00

©Copyright CLOAD MAGAZINE 1980

Mastercharge/Visa Welcome.
Also Cash & Gold.

CLOAD

MAGAZINE inc.

P. O. Box 1267«Goleta. CA 93017

(805)964-2761

CIRCLE 113 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1980

8462 Hfcuood In. Tuscon. RZ 85715 (608)896-4978
103

_ CAP electronics, Dept. C
CIRCLE 143 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Classroom Computers And Innovation Theory

Why Don't They Adopt Us?

Helena C. Martellaro

We computer lovers find it hard to
understand why our beloved machines
are trickling into the schools so
slowly . . .

Introduction

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI)
has been around for a little over 1 5 years,
but not until very recently have large
numbers of educators begun seriously
considering the use of computers in the
classroom. In the beginning, extensive
software and courseware packets were
developed for large computers (PLATO,
TICCIT and others). Then in the last few
years a branching-out in CAI has taken
place with personal computers. At present,
these computers like the Apple 11.
TRS-80, PET, and others — are beginning
to infiltrate the schools. With these new
lower-cost systems, more schools can put
computers in more classes than ever
before. Yet, for the most part, the average
child in the average public school is still not
involved with computers. It seems as
though the potential is there to make the
classroom a more imaginative and
challenging learning environment with
these computers. The question then
becomes: why haven't more school
children been exposed to computers?

Helena C. Martellaro. 2929 Los Amigos Ct.. Apt. B.
LasCruces, NM 88001.

To try to answer this question, one
needs to look at the schools as a complex
social system, a social system whose
values, attributes and traditions affect the
rate of adoption of all innovations. Public
schools have long been a haven for the
traditional values in society. Although
there have always been a few pockets of
innovative and progressive forms of
education, in general the school systems
have been resistant to change. Education
today is much as it was one hundred years
ago. The outward trappings have changed,
but the three fundamental characteristics
of the school — the classroom, the teacher,
and the textbook — still remain.

Because of their traditional attitudes
and their weariness of innovations that
claim phenomenal results, many teachers
are just not certain how they feel about
computers. Teachers, when asked about
computers, usually fall into three cate-
gories: 1 ) those who believe computers will
dehumanize education and want com-
puters kept out of the schools except for
very controlled situations (e.g., advanced
math or physics classes), 2) those who
believe computers have potential in the
schools, but are a little more than
frightened to have computers in their
classrooms, and 3) those who believe
computers are the new wave of the future
and want computers in their classrooms
now. The majority of teachers fit into
group two. It is the second group that must
be positively influenced if computers are to
become a major tool in education.

Attributes of Innovations

Everett Rogers and F. Floyd Shoe-
maker ( 1 97 1 ) list five attributes that affect
the rate of adoption of innovations. They
are: 1 ) relative advantage. 2) complexity.

104

3) trialahility. 4) observability, and
5) compatibility. From examination of
these five attributes, one can delineate the
barriers that must be overcome in order for
computers to prevail in the schools.

The first and most important attribute
is relative advantage, which ". . . is the
degree to which an innovation is perceived
as being better than the idea it supersedes"
(Rogers, 1971, p. 139). To generalize this
idea, one can think of the computer as the
innovation and the idea it supersedes as the
regular classroom method of teaching. In
order for computers to enter the class-

The 1984 syndrome is
present either consci-
ously or subconsciously
in these teachers, and
trying to explain that
computers are useful
tools does not always
alleviate their fears.

rooms in large numbers and be used by a
majority of the students, teachers must
perceive the computer to be more valuable
in the learning process than the old ways
previously used to teach. The greater the
perceived advantage, the faster the rate of
adoption.

An area of conflict lies in the fact that
those teachers who do use the computer see
it as a nice aid to instruction, but as an aid
that can be done without if need be. This
implies that the computer is not perceived
as an integral part of the education
process. It does not supersede another
teaching method; it merely adds a
dimension to the classroom, one not really

CREATIVE COMPUTING

considered necessary for good teaching.
The result is a slower rate of adoption. If
computers are to breach the classroom
barriers, they must be perceived as an
integral part of the curriculum.

The second attribute is complexity.
The perceived complexity of an innovation
will determine how fast that innovation
will be adopted. The more complex the
innovation, the slower the rate of adop-
tion. Unfortunately, computers are per-
ceived as very complex devices.

In teacher education programs little
attempt is made by prospective teachers to
take a beginning computer class. If one
asks why. one is told that computer courses
are too difficult and irrelevant for their
programs. This attitude of students in the
education field will reflect on how they will
feel about computers in their classrooms
when they become teachers.

The perceived complexity of com-
puters cannot be ignored. The computer is
thought of as one of the most complex
devices that has entered the school system
in a long time. The implication of this
perception is that the computer's rate of

Public schools have long
been a haven for the
traditional values in
society.

adoption in the classroom will be consider-
ably slowed because of its complexity.

The third attribute is trialability.
which deals with the ability to experiment
with the innovation on a limited basis. If
the innovation can be tried before being
adopted, the rate of adoption will be
increased. In the past, computers have
tended to be non-trialable. i.e., you either
bought the computer or terminal or you
didn't. Inexpensive computers for class-
room use could rarely be rented. Certain
computer systems (such as PLATO, for
thousands of dollars), could be — and still
are — rented on a monthly basis. But most
school boards are still reluctant to spend
what they consider large sums of money on
an innovation whose results have not been
extensively examined. Today, school
boards must contend with taxpayer
revolts, inflation, and demands by teachers
for higher salaries; which means that new
equipment, such as computers, has a very
low priority in the budget. This does not
mean that computers will not become
more prevalent in the classrooms, only that
the rate of increase in classroom computers
will be slowed considerably.

The fourth attribute is observability.
which is the visibility of the results to other
persons not immediately involved with the
innovation.

When working with children and
computers, teachers often find very
dramatic results. The computer seems to
ignite the students' interest in the world of

learning. Trying to separate the student
and the computer at the end of the class can
be a formidable task. The unfortunate
problem with this is that other teachers do
not often get a chance to observe the results
that the computer generated. Because
teachers are often set apart in their
classrooms, they do not often realize or
appreciate what is going on in other
classrooms in the same school. If the
results cannot be easily seen by others, the
computer is less likely to spread to other
teachers.

The fifth attribute is compatibility.
which deals with values, experiences, and
needs of the adopter — the school teacher
— to determine how well the innovation —
the computer — will fit into the system —
the school climate.

Some teachers feel threatened by
computers. They feel that computers will
eventually take away their jobs. Other
teachers feel that computers dehumanize
education because the student is not
interacting with other children but with a
machine. (Our culture seems to associate
dehumanization with machines.) A teacher
may subconsciously want to keep com-
puters out of the classroom to hold onto
what he or she considers the last vestige of
the real human world. The 1984 syndrome
is present either consciously or subcon-
sciously in these teachers, and trying to
explain that computers are useful tools
does not always alleviate their fears. This
type of teacher represents the teacher in
group one mentioned previously: their
values, experiences, and needs are not
always compatible with computerized
learning.

Another aspect of compatibility is the
way computers are associated with past
innovations. New inventions of the last 30
years for use in the schools have included
educational records, films, slide/ tape
shows, film strips, individualized package
program learning aids, and videotape
recorders. The teachers were told that
these new innovations would revolutionize
education, make children receptive to
learning, and eliminate all the ills of the old
teaching methods. For the most part,
unless they were made for a particular
school environment (with teachers trained
to use these new materials), these touted
wonders came nowhere near their pur-
ported learning value. Teachers and school
administrators became disenchanted, a
great deal of money was poured into these
devices, and often very little learning was
produced.

This now leads us to the newest
wonder invention: the computer.

With computers entering the class-
room, many teachers and administrators
are a little apprehensive. They see the
computer as just another new toy that costs
a great deal and may. or may not. increase
learning.

Finally, the last aspect of compati-
bility is the misconception about who

ought to use the computer. When the
question is asked of school administrators
how many students have had prolonged
exposure to the computer, the percentage
is usually around five to ten percent, and
usually only the advanced math and
science students. Ninety percent of the
students have never even seen the com-
puters or terminals in the school. The
average students have the feeling that
computers are only for the very bright
students, and if they are average, then they
have no business trying to understand
computers. This misconception leaves out
many students from ever being exposed to
computers.

Summary

It appears that computers in educa-
tion have a long, uphill struggle before they
become well established in the classroom.
The computer will have to have a perceived
relative advantage over older, more
established teaching methods before it
comes into widespread use. The perceived
complexity of the computer will have to be
overcome either through training pro-

Our culture seems to
associate dehumaniza-
tion with machines.

grams or by the teachers' constant
exposure to the machines. The computers
will have to be experimented with on a
small scale, and then their use increased as
their usefulness becomes more and more
apparent to larger numbers of teachers.
The results of computers in education will
need to be made more observable, and
every teacher should have some type of
contact with the computer even if it is only
minimal. And finally, the values, ex-
periences, and needs of the teachers and
students will have to slowly alter so that
computers are necessarily an integral part
of their learning and life. O

Reference

Rogers. Everett and F. Floyd Shoemaker Cumnium-
iOti<>m>t ' /nnt>vuiu>n\. New York: The Free Press.
1971.

©Creative Computing

"Pemberton, I'd like to process a few
words with you. "

SEPTEMBER 1980

105

Where can you dial one

TOLL FREE number and be

able to select the finest software

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Suppose you and your family could spend a
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106

CREATIVE COMPUTING

wprioe vs. Ifetprice'

onipcii

TRS-80

Price

Our

Price

APPLE

Levei-n, 4K
Levei-H 16K no Keypad
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CIRCLE 1S3 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1980

107

Word Problems
Made

Nel Noddings

Solving story problems has long
been a hated and feared task for both
mathematics students and teachers.
In this paper, I shall describe the de-
velopment of a problem solving
course that is aimed at eliminating
some of the fear and dread. Problem
Solving (Noddings, 1978) is an ele-
mentary school (grades 3-6) mathe-
matics curriculum designed for use in
Computer Assisted Instruction. Dis-
cussion will be organized around four
stages in the development of the
curriculum.

Stage One:

The Problem with Problem Solving

Why do students have so much dif-
ficulty with word problems? The prob-
lem with word problems, some educa-
tors suggest, is reading: solve the
"reading problem," and the problem
with story problems will disappear
(Alexander, 1960; Martin, 1963). This
contention, plausible as it seems, is
not strongly supported by the evi-
dence at hand. Investigators have
shown that many children with normal
scores in reading still experience dif-
ficulty in solving story problems (Ba-
low, 1964; Knifong and Holtan, 1976,
1977). Indeed, students who can read
problems accurately aloud often do
not know how to proceed. Hence,
while it is true that youngsters who
have obvious difficulty in reading will
experience derived difficulty in prob-
lem solving, it is clear that other dif-
ficulties must be involved also.

In a series of studies (Loftus, 1970;
Loftus and Suppes, 1972; Searle, Lor-
ton, and Suppes, 1974), it has been
suggested that structural difficulties
in the problems themselves account
for some student difficulties. Prob-

Nel Noddings. Stanford University, Stanford,
CA 9430S.

lems which require a large number of
operations or conversion of units will
be difficult; problem statements which
exhibit complex surface structures or
many words will be difficult; problems
which differ from preceding problems
will be more difficult than those which
are similar to their predecessors.

Clerical and computational errors
account for some of the faulty per-
formance in problem solving (Knifong
and Holtan, 1976). Further, procedural
errors (Kantowski, 1977; Knifong and
Holtan, 1976; Polya, 1945) loom large
in the analysis of difficulty. Students
often do not know how to begin, where
to focus their attention, or how to
monitor their own progress toward a
solution.

Students who can read
problems accurately aloud
often do not know how to
proceed.

Finally, motivational and affective
factors, (Holt, 1964; Polya, 1945) enter
the picture. When students lack con-
fidence in their mathematical abilities,
they often turn to nonmathematical
heuristics in their attempts to solve
problems. They make guesses and
judge by their teachers' frowns or
smiles how good the guesses are.

With these five areas of potential
difficulty in mind, we could begin to
describe the curriculum we want in
rather holistic terms. We could even
make some decisions on specific or-
ganizational matters. We decided, for
example, that our problem would be
presented at two or three levels of
structural difficulty. The first level
would use a minimum of words and
state all problems simply. Higher
levels would use more words and

106

complex sentence structures. It would
be possible for students to complete
the entire course conceptually at the
basic level. We decided also that,
given mixed evidence on the "reading
problem" and given that many of our
users had demonstrated reading prob-
lems, our curriculum should employ a
redundant vocabulary. Our idea was
to keep the nonmathematical skills
and peripheral information required to
a minimum. But, of course, there is
some risk of boredom in designing
story problems with a redundant
vocabulary. It was decided, therefore,
to introduce some variety into the
noun class where research indicates
it causes little difficulty (Blankenship
and Lovitt, 1976).

Procedural and effective factors
concerned us greatly. CAI has obvious
potential for reducing anxiety and
fear. The computer does not frown, or
threaten, or become exasperated with
its students. We wanted to maximize
this strength. Most CAI lessons end
with a report informing the student how
many correct and incorrect responses
have been made on the day's lesson.
It was decided to add to our lesson
report a category "correct with help"
so that a student who followed our
pedagogical hints could achieve a
sense of success from having done
so. Assessment of this report also tells
the teacher whether a particular stu-
dent is profiting from the computer's
instruction or whether he/she might
need special encouragement from the
teacher.

To cope with procedural difficulties,
the curriculum was to incorporate
general heuristics of problem solving
and special techniques for specific
problem types. This initial decision
was to lead eventually to an "Alpha,
Beta, Gamma" structure in our pre-
sentations. This structure, which I will

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CIRCLE 124 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CAI, cont'd...

describe later, would emphasize gen-
eral problem solving heuristics at the
first stage in both Beta and Gamma
and specific techniques at the second
stage in those sections.

Ideas for reducing clerical and
computational errors arose gradually.
As we began writing our problems and
sought the best form for each type, we
saw that the computer could be used
as a model of neat and accurate com-
putational form. Sometimes, we
would require students to perform
digit-by-digit computation on the com-
puter screen; other times, we would
request an answer only, and this for-
mat would require students to perform
their own pencil and paper computa-
tion before responding. We hoped, of
course, that this continual modeling
would contribute to a reduction in
computational and clerical errors.

CAI has obvious potential
for reducing anxiety and
fear. The computer does
not frown, or threaten, or
become exasperated with
its students.

We were committed early, then, to a
multi-level curriculum organized by
structural difficulty; to an attempt to
teach general and specific problem
solving techniques and not to the
mere presentation of problems; and to
a continuing effort to encourage stu-
dents in their efforts and to reduce
their anxieties about story problems.

Stage Two: Basic Organization

How should the curriculum be or-
ganized? A survey of popular texts
shows that story problems appear at
fairly regular intervals throughout the
texts and that they are organized
around activity themes, e.g. "Grand-
mother's Farm," "A Halloween Party."
This thematic organization is not very
helpful in creating sequential schemes
and, indeed, one finds actual repeti-
tion of problems across grade levels.

Problem Solving is organized as a
"strands" curriculum. The strands are
built on topics which form the central
core of work on story problems ap-
pearing in widely used texts and
standardized tests. If one digs below
the thematic organization mentioned
above, one finds characteristic math-
ematical questions and themes. The
strands are named in just the way stu-
dents and teachers usually talk about

the topics:

A. How many

B. Money

C. Mystery number and age

D. Measure

E. Number system

F. Time, rate, and distance

G. Geometry

Classification of problems in cur-
rent texts can be made by analyzing
1) the question asked and 2) whether
or not the mathematical topic being
considered is essential in the problem.
Consider the problem: "John drank 2
pints of milk Tuesday and 3 pints of
milk on Wednesday. How many pints
did he drink altogether?" Should this
problem be classified as "How many"
or as "Measure"? It was decided that
the measure, "pints," does not enter
the problem in an essential way; that
is, the reader does not need to know
the meaning of "pint" in order to solve
the problem. Therefore, the problem
was classified as "How many." Using
this sort of analysis, it was possible
to survey popular texts and count the
number of problems in each category.
Problem Solving offers a representa-
tive distribution.

The next important question is how
to present the problems to students.
Lessons could be organized in blocks
of problems from a single strand. This
approach has obvious advantages.
One can present the topic in textbook
fashion, give examples, monitor prac-
tice. But there are disadvantages, also.
In the analysis of structural dif-
ficulties, it was pointed out that stu-
dents find it relatively easy to do a
particular problem if it is just like its
predecessor. This kind of success
does not seem to represent anything
significant in mathematics learning.
Further, presentation in blocks seems
to encourage specific techniques
rather than the general heuristics we
wanted to teach.

It was decided to present a mixture
of problems from each active strand
according to the distribution estab-
lished by our survey. It was also de-
cided, however, that whenever stu-
dents got a problem wrong, they
would immediately see another prob-
lem just like it. Should this happen
three times in a row, mixed presenta-
tion would be automatically reac-
tivated. The capability of producing a
host of problems just like a given
problem is a unique strength of com-
puterized presentation. Since each
problem is generated from a "generic
form," many different problems of ex-
actly the same form are immediately
available. Further, it is most unlikely
that any student will see exactly the
same problem twice.

110

The decision to use topical strands
in the curriculum organization helped
greatly in the large task of sequencing
problems. We could work through an
entire strand from its initial activation
to the end of sixth grade. Further, as
the basic strands were completed, we
could begin interweaving them with
later strands. Thus, a "Time, rate, and
distance" problem might involve sub-
tasks that had been presented in the
strands on "Money" and "Measure."

As I am describing it, the task of
curriculum creation seems to be
linear. It is not, of course. Right from
the start, we were engaged in writing
sample problems, and difficulties that
arose in that task influenced the over-
all planning of curriculum. We worked
as a team — writer, editor, and pro-
grammer — from the start, and this
arrangement also influenced our
planning. Problems which were not
well suited to computer presentation

Since each problem is
generated from a "generic
form," many different
problems of exactly the
same form are immedi-
ately available.

— odd, one-of-a-kind problems —
were cast out. Problems which re-
quired graphics beyond our capability
were eliminated or restructured. The
early stages were characterized by
idea generation, argument, trying-out,
and attempts to understand and ap-
preciate the tasks of each curriculum
worker. Later work, as a result of team
decision making, was streamlined.

Stage Three: The Tutorial Component

CAI programs often aim to provide
practice and reinforcement. Programs
that actually attempt to teach problem
solving skills are relatively rare. The
Word Problem Program of Roman and
Laudato (1974) is an important ex-
ample in the teaching category; it
concentrates on teaching the transla-
tion of word problems into number
sentences. Students are taught how to
set up problems, and the computer
handles the necessary computations.
Clearly, an underlying assumption of
this program is that the translation
stage of problem solving is crucial
and that it is dominantly analytic.

Problem Solving takes a different
approach. First we postulate a holistic
stage in problem solving — one in
which the problem is grasped intui-
tively. At this stage students may visu-

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CIRCLE 350 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CAI, cont'd...

alize the problematic situation. In-
deed, it is entirely possible that young-
sters in third and fourth grades can
solve certain simple word problems
without being conscious of the arith-
metic operations they use in their
solutions. The analytic mode so char-
acteristic of later mathematical think-
ing may not be natural for young
children. We decided to approach it
gradually.

Second, we wanted to discourage
the use of nonmathematical heuristics
and algorithms in problem solving.
Roman and Laudato, with the same
aim, employed three techniques in
their program: (1) writing problems so
that cue words and phrases, i.e.
"each," "divided by," were missing;

(2) sequencing problems so that no
two consecutive problems were alike;

(3) varying the numbers so that the
numbers themselves would not pro-
vide a clue to the required operation.
Problem Solving uses the second (se-
quencing) technique, ignores the third,

We postulate a holistic
stage in problem solving—
one in which the problem
is grasped intuitively.

and rejects the first. In fact, a deliber-
ate effort is made to teach children
who cannot grasp the general heuris-
tics ways in which to make use of cue
expressions. We felt this technique
could be important in itself, but, also,
we wanted our problems to look like
those children would encounter in
texts and tests.

Because what goes on in the pos-
tulated holistic stage of problem solv-
ing is not well understood, it was de-
cided to start with problems that
could be solved mentally. In third and
fourth grades, then, the Alpha stage
of instruction simply presents a prob-
lem and requests an answer:

Alpha Stage

Jane has 12 stamps, Kathy has 5.

Jane has how many more stamps

than Kathy?
Students are not asked to identify
an operation at this stage, because we
do not want to interfere with whatever
intuitive processes may be going on.
Premature concentration on the for-
mal aspects of problem solving may
lead to the sort of wild guessing and
mathematical stupidity so well de-
scribed by John Holt (1964).
If the student answers correctly,

however, the program moves to the

Beta Stage:

Good. You got it! Which number
sentence tells you how you got
your answer?

a. 12-5 = 7

b. 12-5-6

c. 12 + 5-17

d. 13-6-7

With the reinforcement of success
at the Alpha Stage, students may be
ready to reflect on what they did, and
how it might be described formally.
If the student responds incorrectly in
Beta, a hint is given:

Think again about the numbers

you used to get the answer:

( )-( ) = 7

The student is then invited to "try

again."

Throughout the Beta Stage, we try
to induce "Looking back," a heuristic
long endorsed by mathematics educa-
tors (Polya, 1945; Kantowski, 1977).
Through this two part process — in-
tuitive solution and reflection on for-
mal aspects — we hope to provide a
natural transition from intuitive to
analytic process.

Students who answer incorrectly in
Alpha are aided in the Gamma Stage:

Let me help you. The problem

asks you to find:

a. how many stamps Kathy has

b. how many more stamps Jane
has than Kathy

c. how many stamps Jane has.
Students who answer again incor-
rectly are advised:

Read the problem again. Read
the QUESTION carefully.
They are then invited to "try again."
This technique — read and reread —
is another general heuristic strongly
recommended by mathematics educa-
tors (Earp, 1970; Blankenship and
Lovitt, 1976).

In grades five and six, the order of
response in Alpha and Beta is re-
versed. Students are now asked in
Alpha to "choose an expression
which tells how to find out" and in
Beta to carry out the required com-
putation. Students at this stage can
handle computations which cannot be
carried out mentally.

Problem Solving always requires
students to complete solutions. In a
later section, I shall describe the ways
in which actual solutions are carried
out. Here I want to emphasize that
"carrying out" is seen as an important
part of the holistic view of Problem
Solving. We want students to reflect
continually on the relations between
means and ends. To do this thought-
fully they must live the consequences
of their decisions at each stage of

solution and then look back on these
decisions and the results thus
obtained.

Stage Four: Modes of Response

The final stage in planning for
Problem Solving involved a consid-
eration of modes of presentation and
modes of response. Initially, we re-
jected a proposal that would have had
the computer do all the calculations,
but we realized that students could
profit from instruction in using the
computer as a calculator. We also
wanted students to have experience
with test-like situations in which they
would have to perform calculations
aside and respond by choosing the
correct answer from a multiple choice
array. So there were two experiential
objectives that influenced our thinking
about response modes. As a result,
some problems in "Test Mode" are
presented at every grade level and in
every strand; problems in "Calculator
Mode" begin, after instruction in use
of the computer as calculator, at the
fifth grade.

Premature concentration
on the formal aspects of
problem solving may lead
to the sort of wild guess-
ing and mathematical stu-
pidity so well described by
John Holt (1964).

As problem writing progressed, it
became clear that two other modes
might be very valuable. I mentioned
earlier that computations could be set
up on the terminal screens so that
students could perform computations
as they would with pencil and paper.
Computations performed this way are
always neatly and properly set up, and
the computer performs a digit-by-
digit check on computational ac-
curacy. With Computational Mode,
students do their own calculations,
but the computer provides a model of
clerical excellence. It is hoped, of
course, that Computational Mode and
Test Mode will work together toward
a reduction of computational and
clerical errors.

Although word problems in general
are difficult for many students, some
types are more difficult than others.
"Measure" problems, for example,
seem to be especially difficult
(Knifong and Holtan, 1976). Some of
the difficulty with measure may be
traced to faulty or missing informa-
tion. It was decided, therefore, to sup-

112

CREATIVE COMPUTING

CAI, cont'd...

ply a "pre-problem context" for
measure problems. In D 4.21, for ex-
ample, students are asked:

Which is greater, 22 hours or 1

day?
If an error is made, they are told (in
Gamma):

There are 24 hours in a day.

Which is bigger,22 or 24?
We also introduced a Structural
Mode to provide models of mathe-
matical reasoning. In a text book,
sample problems of this sort might or

We want students to re-
flect continually on the
relations between means
and ends.

might not be actually read by the stu-
dent. In Problem Solving, students
must read the model problem, be-
cause they are required to respond by
filling in blanks. Consider, for ex-
ample, D 5.21 :

Jane buys a gallon of punch for
a party. She drinks 1 quart before
the party. How many quarts are left?
Fill in the blanks:
1 gallon = 4 quarts
amount Jane drinks = 1 qt.
amount left = 3 qt.
Structural Mode is also used to
model the solution of equations:
C 6.51

A certain number is multiplied by

3. Then 4 is substracted from the

product.

The result is 5. Can you find the

number? Choose the expression

which tells how to find it:

a. (3 X number) -4 = 5

b. (number x 3) + 4 = 5

c. (4 X number) 3 = 5
Students who answer correctly are

moved to Beta:

(1) (3 X number) — 4 = 5

(2) 3 X number = 9

(3) number = 3
Structural Mode is used, again, to

acquaint students with useful dia-
grams. In Strand F, "Time, rate and
distance," instruction begins with
diagrams:
F5.11

A car travels at the rate of 30
miles per hour. Fill in the blanks in
the picture below which shows how
far the car goes in 1 , 2, or 3 hours.

1hr.

2hr.

3hr.

rate = 30

30 miles

60 miles

90 miles

ummarizing the decisions on
problem format, several modes of
presentation and response were de-
vised to accomplish the following:
provide experience with test-like
situations; provide familiarity with the
computer as calculator; use the com-
puter as a model of clerical and com-
putational excellence; use the com-
puter as a model of mathematical rea-
soning; use the computer to model
diagrams; provide a pre-problem con-
text in which to familiarize students
with information on units of measure.

Summary

Planning for Problem Solving
evolved through four important
stages. In Stage One, a theoretical
framework was established; it was de-
cided to view problem solving holisti-
cally. At this stage, research on prob-
lem solving difficulties was reviewed
and assessed, and decisions were
made to incorporate several special
features in the curriculum: a redun-
dant vocabulary, multi-level presenta-
tion to conform with what is known
about structural difficulties, and an at-
tempt to teach general heuristics of
problem solving.

In Stage Two, problems of organiza-
tion were studied. It was decided to
use "topical strands" as the basic
feature of organization, and to present
students with a mixture of problems
varying at every level according to an
established distribution table.

In Stage Three, the tutorial com-
ponent was created. A unique feature
of Problem Solving is its gradually
increasing emphasis on the formal or
analytic aspects of problem solution.
An Alpha, Beta, Gamma structure is
used to permit instruction in both
general heuristics and techniques
specific to given problem types.

Finally, in Stage Four, modes of
presentation and response were con-
sidered. To provide the breadth of ex-
perience that seemed both desirable
and possible with CAI, four distinct
modes were created: Computational,
Test, Calculator, and Structural. □

REFERENCES

Alexander. V. E., Seventh graders' abil-
ity to solve problems. School Science and
Mathematics, 1960,60,603-606

Barlow, I H , Reading and computation
ability as determinants of problem solving.
Arithmetic Teacher. 1964, 11, 18-22

Blankenship, C S and Lovitt. T. C,
Story problems: Merely confusing or
downright befuddling? Journal tor Re-
search in Mathematics Education. 1976,
7. 290-298

Earp, N. W., Procedures for teaching
reading in mathematics. Arithmetic
Teacher. 1970. 17. 575-579.

Holt. J.. How Children Fail. New York:
Dell Publishing Co . Inc . 1964

Kantowski, M. G , Processes involved in
mathematical problem solving Journal
tor Research in Mathematics Education.
1977.8. 163-180

Knifong. J. D. and Holtan. B . An analy-
sis of children s written solutions to word
problems Journal tor Research in Mathe-
matics Education. 1976, 7. 106-112

Knifong. J. D. and Holtan, B., A search
for reading difficulties among erred word
problems Journal tor Research in Math-
ematics Education. 1977. 8. 227-230

Loftus. E.F.J., An analysis of the struc-
tural variables that determine problem-
solving difficulty on a computer-based
teletype. Report No 162 Stanford. Cali-
fornia: Institute for Mathematical Studies
in the Social Sciences. 1970

Loftus. E. and Suppes. P. Structural vari-
ables that determine problem-solving dif-
ficulty in computer-assisted instruction
Journal of Educational Psychology. 1972.
63. 531-542

Martin. M. D . Reading comprehension,
abstract verbal reasoning, and computa-
tion as factors in arithmetic problem solv-
ing. (Doctoral dissertation, State Univers-
ity of Iowa). Ann Arbor Michigan: Univers-
ity Microfilms. 1963. No 64-03395

Noddings. N . Problem Solving, Grades
3-6. Palo Alto. CA: Computer Curriculum
Corporation, 1978

Polya, G.. How to Solve It. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1945.

Roman. R. A., Teaching problem solving
and mathematics by computer. Report No
PU-LRDC-1974-15 Pittsburgh. Pa : Learn-
ing Research and Development Center.
Pittsburgh U . 1974

Roman. R. A. and Laudato. N.C. Com-
puter assisted instruction in word prob-
lems: Rationale and design. Report No.
PU-LRDC-1974-19 Pittsburgh. Pa .: Learn-
ing Research and Development Center,
Pittsburgh U . 1974.

Searle, B W.. Lorton. P. and Suppes. P.,
Structural variables affecting CAI perform-
ance on arithmetic word problems of dis-
advantaged and deaf students Education-
al Studies in Mathematics, 1974. 5.
371-384

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Integrating CAI & Videotape

Interactive video systems provide a
lively audio-visual medium to which users
can actively respond. Putting together a
computer and a videotape player for
instructional purposes means we can
present to the student teaching materials
from both videotape and computer
programs. Materials can appear on the
screen alternately coming from one or the
other device, depending on what is needed
at each step in the teaching program. A
simple system consists of a computer like
the Apple II. a video player and a TV
monitor with a connecting interface unit
that permits control of the remote TV
functions from the computer keyboard or
from within a computer program ( lee
Figure I).

With a slightly more sophisticated
arrangement, it is possible to search
automatically for any given frame or
sequence under computer control.

There are several advantages to this
combination of technologies for teaching.
On the one hand, videotape can present
moving, colorful, visual materials; it can
permit spoken descriptions, instructions or
other sounds: and it can counterbalance
the more formal, text-bound character of
some computer-assigned instruction. On
the other hand, a computer can offer
branching, programmed learning; it can
generate text and graphics; it can allow for
easy modification of teaching materials; it
can bypass what the student already
knows; it can score responses, if desired; it
can be programmed to start and pause the
videotape at the chosen points in the
presentation.

The videotape provides a more
stimulating range of visual material than is
possible through the use of a computer
alone, and offers spoken instruction and
sound effects. Review of video materials
that were not clear is possible. Further-
more, video material may be searched for
and played as requested, thereby permit-
ting audio-visual learning tailored by
students to their individual needs. In
addition, automatic scoring and usage
tabulation can indicate points of difficulty
and areas successfully mastered.

Marc D. Schwartz. 26 Trumbull St.. New Haven. CT
0631 1.

Marc D. Schwartz

Such an integrated system of com-
puter and videotape thus provides a very
flexible means of producing an interactive
audio-visual presentation which can be
suited to the needs of specific learners.
Existing tapes can be adapted for use with
such a system or new programs produced.

A Walkthrough

Let's walk through an example. Let's
say a segment of videotape on a particular
subject is presented to a student — for
instance, a demonstration of how a piece of
equipment works, or an analysis of a
certain kind of group behavior, or a
discussion of a computer program.

The more elaborate inter-
face, permits random
search and retrieval from
certain low-cost videotape
units.

After the segment is finished, the
computer can be programmed to halt the
video player and switch control of the TV
screen to the computer, which offers
textual instruction on the materials just
presented.

The user may be asked to respond to
questions about what has been presented,
or given further information in textual or
graphic form. An incorrect response will
branch the program to either a presenta-
tion of helpful information (by computer-
generated text), or will result in a "search
to and play" a segment of video that
contains the required information.
Following a correct response or series of
responses, the display is switched back to
VTR for the next section of the program.
Only after the student has shown that he or
she understands the subject matter will the
next segment of video instruction begin.

The program continues with alter-
nating sections of video display and
computer questions, the complete learning
unit being summarized at the end of the
videotape.

The Mechanics

The system must be synchronized so
that video player and computer will work
smoothly together. For example, the
moment after a segment of video material
has been completely presented, command
of the TV display must be switched from
video to computer and the video player
paused. Following the CAI segment, the
video player should be switched to
FORWARD and the command of the TV
display switched back to video.

Modes of Presentation

Using the first interface system, five
modes of presentation of materials are
feasible. These are I) video display and
sound (normal videotape operation),
2) computer display and sound from
videotape, 3) computer display and no
videotape sound (video player paused).
4) frozen-frame video display while the
video player is on PAUSE. (This mode
does not work well with some because their
pause mode does not correctly frame the
picture. With a player that frames correctly
while on PAUSE, the mode is a useful
one.) Keyboard control by the user of
PAUSE or single-frame advance makes it
possible to stop the video player when the
user wants to look at certain materials in a
more leisurely way. (One problem of the
latter two modes is that if users repeatedly
pause too long at one spot, the tape at that
point will wear down and degrade the
picture quality.)

The random-access video player, used
with the second CAVRI computer inter-
face, offers all the power of full branching
capability. As well as those already
mentioned, two additional presentational
modes become possible: 6) a replay of a
previous section of video, 7) branching
forward or backward to hitherto unseen
materials on the tape.

Interface packages to hook up an
Apple II computer and video player in this
fashionsare available from CAVRI
(Computer Assisted Video Recorded
Instruction), 26 Trumbull Street, New
Haven, CT065II.

The simpler one, $295, permits
alternation between computer and video
player by starting and stopping the

116

CREATIVE COMPUTING

videotape. It requires an Apple II and any
videotape player/ recorder having a remote
control socket and two audio channels.

This interface uses brief signals at
selected points en audio channel I of the
videotape to tell the computer to switch
one of the relays or go on to the next step in
the program. To receive the signal, the
channel I audio-out from the video player
is run into the cassette-in socket of the
computer. The computer hangs in a wait
loop until it receives this signal. (Audio
channel 2 is used for the normal sound
track of the video program.)

The more elaborate interface, at $495,
permits random search and retrieval from
certain low-cost videotape units. (These
are the Panasonic NV8200 and NV8I70,
and the Sony Betamax SLO320 and 323.
SLP300 and 323, and AV 2850, 2860 and
2011.)

With a relatively low ex-
penditure of time and
money, an extensive cur-
riculum of computer as-
sisted teaching materials
can be produced

Programmed Instructions

The computer's response to the user's
answers can be of three types: the pseudo-
branch (especially suited to videotape
materials), the branch, and the menu. In
the pseudo-branch the program proceeds
in the same way after the user's response,
regardless of the answer given. For
example, at one point in a medical
program, as X-rays of the lung-were being
displayed on the screen, the question was
posed. "In which area of the lungs can you
see pneumonia?" After waiting a few
moments for the user to study the X-rays.

the VP paused and control of the TV
screen was switched to the computer which
displayed, on the screen, the same question
and four possible answers. After the user
responded, regardless of the response,
command of the TV display was switched
back to video where the area of pneumonia
was highlighted while the audio explained
what characteristics of the X-ray helped
identify the pneumonia as being in the mid-
left lung.

A second kind of computer response
to user's answers is the true branch. Here, if
the user answers the question incorrectly
the program branches to give him or her
more information (by computer generated
text) so that the question can be answered
correctly. The program then returns the
user to the incorrectly answered question
for another try. After receiving the correct
response, the program proceeds to the next
step.

A third type of computer response is
to offer a menu of additional information
available from the computer at the user's
discretion, e.g., "what tests would you like
to do now, bone x-ray, cardiogram, or
blood count?"

Depending on the situation, the user
has the option of requesting one or more
pieces of information before going on.

The Beginning of a Program

The right beginning is important for
your program. One good way to begin is
with a videotaped welcome to the user
(spoken over a soft musical background)
and a brief introduction about the
program. This may be followed by an
explanation of the typewriter-style
keyboard, and a demonstration of how to
answer questions and how to request
additional information from the program
as it goes along.

The user shall then be asked to carry
out a few practice maneuvers. Computer-

SCHEIMTIC OF COMPUTER-VIDEOPLAYER INTEGRATION

SOUND FROM AUDIO CHAHKEL »2 TO TV

VtDEO fKOII INTERFACE TO TV

VIDEO FROM COMPUTER TO INTERFACE

S1CNAI

VIDEO FROM VIDEO PLAYER TO INTERFACE

SIGNAL FROM INTERFACE TO VIDEO REMOTE

A* A

SICNAL FROM AUDIO CHANNEL #1 TO COMPUTER

ic A\ k

COMPUTER
SEPTEMBER 1980

Figure I

VIDEO PLAYER

generated instructions and questions may
be displayed on the screen, with the video
player automatically held in PAUSE mode
while the user responds via the keyboard.
If the user's response is incorrect, the
program branches to re-instruct him or her
on the proper use of the keyboard. If the
response is correct, the program moves
ahead to the formal presentation of the
teaching materials.

After each videotaped presentation of
teaching materials, the TV display is
automatically switched to computer-
generated text (while the video player
pauses), and the user is asked to respond to
questions about what has been presented,
or asked what specific additional informa-
tion he or she would like. Following one or
more correct responses, the video player is
switched back on to preset the next
segment of the program.

An integrated system of
computer and videotape
provides a very flexible
means of producing an
interactive audio-visual
presentation

Converting Previously Made Videotapes

A large number of teaching video-
tapes are already available. Using the
method described in this article, the
teaching value of those videotapes can be
greatly enhanced with computer-assisted
instruction by the relatively simple
insertion of programmed teaching
material at appropriate points on the tape.

To add computer assisted instruction
to an already made videotape, I suggest the
following method. Review the tape several
times to select the points where CA1 is to be
inserted. Write the program for each CAI
section. Dub the audio signals onto audio
channel I of the videotape at the insertion
points you have chosen. The tape is now
ready for computer assisted/ video re-
corded instruction.

Editing seems to go best when specific
cues are selected by the author, such as a
particular syllable of audio or a well-
defined instant of video. (These help the
author keep a chart of synchronisation
points for editing and review.)

Conclusion

The integration of the computer and
the video player in teaching offers
significant advantages. With a relatively
low expenditure of time and money, an
extensive curriculum of computer-assisted
teaching materials can be produced or
easily adapted from the large selection of
video cassettes already available. The
result can be a moving, complex, colorful
presentation with relevant narration and
sound effects, plus all the didactic power of
computer-assisted instruction. O

117

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Vol. 5, No. 1— January 1979

Computers in fiction; Survey ol
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TRS-80, Exidy Sorcerer; Ohio Scientific
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Vol. 3, No. 4 - Jul/Aug 1977

Guide to selecting a microcomputer.
Write your own CAL. Part 2. Computers
in medicine and health care. Dwyer: "8-
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Charles Babbage. Four new games.

Vol. 3, No. 5— Sep/Oct 1977

A dynamic debugging system for 8080
assembly language, bibliography of
"limits to growth" models, Dywer: 8-
hour course in Basic-Part 2, Pro-
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exchange. Symmetric art with your
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computer BASICS, software technology
music system. Games: Nomad, Rotate.
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Vol 3, No. 6— Nov/Dec 1977

Programming techniques- Part 1. CAI.
Topics in Logic. Three 8080 8K BASIC
evaluations. Smart electronic game
reviews. How computers can write final
exams Mastermind II and Othello
computer games Profile of the Alpha 1
and Alpha 2 for the TDL Xitan.

Vol. 4, No. 1-Jan/Feb 1978

File structures. 16-bit computers, LOGO
Language, Murphy's laws, review of
Radio Shack TRS-80 and Heath H8.
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simulation. Hart sort algorithm. 3
games. 8-Hour Basic Course - Part 4.

Vol. 4, No. 4— Jul/Aug 1978

Reviews of Commodore PET. Apple II.
Atari computer. Video games, inter-
facing to the real world: 5 articles,
business. computing: 4 word process-
ing systems. ROM section: 7 articles,
backgammon game, bar code.

Vol. 4, No. 5— Sep/Oct 1978

Equipment profiles: TRS-80, Exidy
sorcerer. Bally Arcade. PolyMorphic
6813. Merlin Video Display preview of
nine new personal computers. Ac-
counts receivable systems. All about
PASCAL, real world games, a real time
clock to build. PET cassettes, special
education features, new software: Star
Wars. Hex.

Vol. 4, No. 6— Nov/Dec 1978

Subject index and file index in BASIC,
consumer computers buying guide,
electronic game reviews, critical path
analysis, mailing label programs, robot
programming, experiment in teaching
strategic thinking, evaluations ol North-
star Horizon. CP/M operating system
end backgammon computers, columns
on Apple II PET and TRS-80. plus game
section including "Corral". "Joust" and
Puzzle'

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Vol. 5, No. 2— February 1979

Evaluations: Electric Pencil. Heathkit H-
8. Computer Music Records. Computer
Games: Gold Mine. Atom-20. Com-
puterized Sports Predictions. Multiple
Regression Analysis Simplified. Value of
Computers in Education. Budget Man-
agement System. Help for the belea-
guered consumer.

Vol. 5, No. 3— March 1979

Six articles on data base management;
Evaluations of TRS-80 and Apple Disk
Systems; Payroll system; the Game of
Go; Small business computing with the
Sourcerer; Judging of sports events;
Social Science survey program.

Vol. 5, No. 4— April 1979

Safeguarding your computer: Inter-
pretive programming; Elements of a
good computer game. Music com-
position; "What will happen if". Vertical
graphs and bar charts; People Pro-
gramming; Home applications.

Vol. 5, No. 5— May 1979

Word processing systems — buying a
system and 5 evaluations: Writing 2
user-oriented program: Tutorial on
PILOT: 3 new games; Amoritization
schedules, reading and comprehension
tests

Vol. 5, No. 6— June 1979

8 Articles on computer graphics and
plotting; Evaluations: HiPlot. NAD
System, ALF/Apple Music Synthesizer:
Copyright of Software, Sesame Place;
Probability Study; String Manipulations:
3 New Games.

Vol. 5, No. 7- July 1979
Two Ecology Simulations. Creativity
Test; World Power Systems; Files and
Data Basis — 4 Articles; Evaluations of
Six Peripherals and Software Systems;
Personal finance Model. 2 logic games.

Vol.5, No. 8 August 1979

Adventure, Computers and Dance,
Can Computers Think? The Law and
Your Computer, muMath, Image Pro-
cessing, Manipulating Pencil Files,
Structured Programming Techniques.
Evaluation of TI99/4, TRS-80 Model
II, SWTPC PR-40, IMSAIVIO. Games:
H VOLT and Fort.

Vol.5, No. 10 October 1979

Battle of the Word Processors, The
Computer as a Gun, Computer Driven
Real 3-D Display. Applications. RCA
VIP and COSMAC.ELF* Graphics
Digital Clock. Evaluations: Perip-
hicon 511, Compucolor II, Health H14
Printer, Atari Video Computer Cart-
ridges, Mountain Hardware Super-
Talker.

Vol.5, No. 11 November 1979

Comparison Chart of Six Popular
Personal Computers, Comparison of
Single Board Computers, Electronic
Toys and Games, Quick Printer II,
Interact Computer, TRS-80 Level III
Basic, Battle of the Word Processors,
lntrolX-10 Home Control System,
Adventure: Complete Listing in Ba-
sic, Build Your Own Telephone Dialer
and Joysticks.

Vol.5, No. 12 December 1979

More Electronic Games, Language
Translators, APFMP10O0 Video Game
System, Buying a Word Processor
printer, Satellite Tracking Software,
Syskit for the 8080, Assemblers
CP/M vs. TSC, Statistics for the
TRS-80. Part 2: Controlling House-
hold Devices, Computerized Biofeed-
back. Applications: The Microcom-
puter as an Investment Tool, "Turn-
key" CP/M systems, Animation for
the Apple. Digitized Video Images.

Vol. 6, No. 1 January 1980

Interviews with Donald E. Knuth and
William Wulf; Six Features on Artifi-
cial Intelligence; Air Traffic Control-
ler; Computerized Resume; GROW:
A Program that Leams; Evaluations:
Six Basics; NEWOOS and TRSDOS;
Auto Scribe; Micro Music.

Vol. 6. No. 2 February 1980

Six articles on Investment Analysis;
David Levy: Intelligent Computer
Games; Programs: Geneology,
Graphing, Genetics; Evaluations of
Word Star vs Electric Pencil ; Pascal

'or the TRS-80; Micro Composer;
Data Dubber; Sorcerer Word Proces-
sing Pac; Trivia Contest Results.

Vol. 6, No. 3 March 1980

Evaluations: Tl 99/4; Cobol: Micro-
soft vs Micro Focus; Pencil Sharp-
ener; Mailroom Plus; Ten software
packages; Networks for Personal
Computers; Three Mile Island
Game; Interview with Joel Blm-
baum ; Hov. to Make a Basic Tree.

Vol. 6, No. 4 April 1980

Dr. KlloBYTE's Creative Popular Per-
sonal Recreational Micro Computer
Data Interface World Journal— the
Famous 73 page April Fool parady. 8
Articles on Reading and Language;
Interview with Gordon Bell; Evalua-
tions of Heath WH-89. Atari 800 vs
PET; Chatsworth Mark Sense Card
Reader, Adventure.

Vol.6, No. 5 May 1980

7 Features on Saving Money with your
Computer: Analysis of Stock Op-
tions. Budgeting Model, Shopping
Lists, Home Inventory, Home Pur-
chase, Retirement Planning. Com-
puter-Alded Model Rocket Design;
Two Natural Language Systems :
Evaluations of PET 2022 Line Printer,
APF Imagination Machine, Personal
Softwares Desktop/ Plan, Universal
Data Entry System.

Vol.6, No. 6 June 1980

14 Graphics Articles: Polar Plots, 3-D
Graphics, Animation, Graphic Mazes,
Motion Simulation, Inside Space
Invaders. 7 Music Articles: Digital
Audio, Computer-Alded Sight Read-
ing, Design of a Synthesizer, Digital
Enhancement of Old Recordings.
Comparison of printers; Evaluations
of The Atari Machine, Neelco's Music
Box for the PET, HeathKit-Thomas
Electronic Organ Kit.

■Awm

July 1977

SOL. The Inside Story: Braille and the
Computer Video newspaper; A Chip is
Born; The Care and Feeding of Your
Home Computer; Digital Foam — the
peripheral of the future.

August 1977

The Kit and I, Part I, by someone who's
never soldered before; Introduction to
the fundamentals of Computer Memory:
Tips for the do-it-yourself hardware
beginner; Binary clocks: APLomania

September 1977

Xeroxes and other hard copy off your
CRT; Payroll Program; How Computers
Work; The Kit and I. Part II: or Power to
the Computer; CCD's How They Work
and How They're Made: A look at
PLATO, an Educational Computer
System; IBM 5100.

October 1977

Binary Arithmetic For the Beginner;
Microprocessor Aid for the Deaf and
Blind; The Kilobyte Card: Scott Joplin
on Your Sci-Fi Hi-Fi; Building a Basic

119

Music Board; Flowcharting: Payroll
Program.

November 1977

Solar Energy Measurement; A Begin-
ners Introduction to BASIC; The Kit and
I. Part III; More Music to Play on Your
Computer: Micro Maintenance: Solo-
mon and Viet: Putting Together a
Personal Computing System: Time
Sharing on the Family MICRO

December 1977

A Beginners Guide to Peripherals; The
Best Slot Machine Game ever; Artificial
intelligence?; An Electronic Jungle
Gym for Kids; File Copy Program; Better
Health Through Electronics: the Kit and
l Part IV.

January 1978

Synthetic Skin for Your Robot and How
to Make It. TLC. A Visual Programming
Language: The Code That Can't Be
Cracked: Beginners Guide to Computer
Graphics; The Computer and Natural
Language; First-Timer's Guide to
Circuit Board Etching.

A Challenge for the Language Arts

CAI Developer

John G. Allee, Jr.
Robert L. Williams

Language Arts CAI — grammar and
usage, for example — provides the
CAI developer opportunities to use
the computer terminal dynamically in
ways far superior to the traditional
textbook, if language and the terminal
are assessed and employed carefully.

Essentially, language is speech —
sets of sound symbols — live, im-
mediate oral communication among
people, and these conventionalized
sounds and utterances are practiced
and polished almost from birth. They
permeate the individual's life even be-
fore school, as they are received and
interpreted by ear, produced and sent
by mouth to an expanding, visible
audience, personal, and interactive.
Only secondarily is language writing
— written symbols representing a
significant portion of the sound sym-
bols — this another kind of stylized
communication that is practiced nor-
mally in schools only after age six.
Although writing limitedly affects the
individual's life at first, its impact in-
creases progressively through the
school years, as it is received by sight
and reinforced by ear and sometimes
reproduced to be sent to a limited
audience that is often impersonal,
static, frequently almost non-interac-
tive so the good faith corrections and
recorrections available in oral lan-
guage virtually disappear. Thus, hu-
man language becomes two lan-
guages — both mutually supportive
and competitive.

Reading — the receiving and inter-
preting of the partial speech symbols
by eye — is the school's primary con-
cern, so that failure with reading im-
pedes or denies almost all other in-
tellectual pursuits in our culture.
Reading even significantly affects the
acquisition of quantitative processes
— arithmetic and mathematics — a
school's second primary concern. But
in order to go from speech language
to written language so that there can
be a mastery of language sufficient
for all learning, educators have em-

John Q. Allee, Jr., The George Washington
University, Washington O.C. 2006

Robert L. Williams, St. John's University, New
York, NY

pirically found that a whole discipline
of language — "grammar" — be-
comes a third primary concern among
the skill disciplines.

From a practical point of view, gram-
mar, or the study of language, is as
necessary as it is difficult to achieve.
Some of the difficulty arises, of
course, because of the relative ab-
stractness of grammar and its accom-
panying "seeming uselessness." Thus
students (and teachers) often do not
see how to apply the theory (of gram-
mar) to the use and performance in
language and the quantitative skills.
In part the fault lies in all-too-partial
mastery that comes not only from

Failure with reading im-
pedes or denies almost all
other intellectual pursuits
in our culture.

some lack of understanding but also
from lack of practice. But how to get
the necessary practice without repeti-
tion or drill? Of course, it's been said
practice makes permanent, not per-
fect, so that the drill must be totally
accurate and interesting enough to
do!

In most language instruction —
grammar and usage — the teacher
strives to present language practice
contextually. But even in the best of
circumstances, most teaching situa-
tions are artificial — divorced, as it
were, from actual lifework and play
— and true context cannot be
reached in either written or spoken
language systems. With language, in
one sense, it seems easier to address
written usage since writing is stylized
and static whereas speech is dynamic,
personal, and considerably more de-
pendent upon setting and expected
interplay. Yet both "languages" are
one language. As said before, for both
the student and the teacher the two
are competitive: the distinctions be-
tween them are neither easily dis-
cerned nor easily isolated for atten-
iton. However, a teacher who con-
stantly attempts to simulate the best
contextual situations for language in-

struction is more apt to be treating
"real language" than one who does
not. The teacher, by the ability to act,
interact, and re-act face to face with
students, can stage or simulate con-
texts that impart keen language in-
sights helpful to students. Such a
teacher carries language instruction
far beyond the confines of the best
text book. Admittedly this personal
interaction is largely denied the de-
veloper of CAI.

Even though facing the same con-
textual needs as the classroom
teacher, the developer must try to
stage or simulate language contexts
somewhat differently. He must trans-
fer what would otherwise be his per-
sonal role in the classroom to the
terminal.

Let's consider a problem of context
that is faced by both the teacher and
the CAI developer. The English arti-
cles — a and the — provide a case in
point:

A1 . Do you have a dog, Tom?

A2. There is a cat here, Tom.

T1 . The dog is barking, Tom.

T2. There is the cat, Tom.
The two A sentences would appro-
priately open or initiate responses and
conversations, that is, establish con-
text. Dog and caf are identified or
marked by the article a. On the other
hand, the T sentences would normally
not open or initiate communication
unless previous contexts had been es-
tablished by prior communication (i.e.,
conversation and/or physical rela-
tionships between individuals). In
these sentences dog and cat, identi-
fied or marked by the, could be con-
sidered "valid" only if prior contexts
to accept them had been established.

Now let's look at the following set
of exercises typically from a tradi-
tional textbook:

Set A

Use is or are to complete these
sentences.

1. The boy .... speaking to Tom.

2. The girl .... happy.

3. There .... a boy near Tom.

4. A girl .... talking to Tom.

In sentences 1 and 2 boy and girl are
marked by the; no contexts have been

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CAI, cont'd...

established for these nouns. In one
sense for the student, it's as if he or
she has been "dropped" into the mid-
dle of a conversation. Sentences 3
and 4 introduce boy and girl by mark-
ing them with a so that no prior con-
texts or antecedents are necessary.
Let's see if we can get the same "drill"
in but at the same time bring the
sentences closer to real life language,
that is, in context.

SetB

1 (3). There a boy near Tom.

2 (4). A girl talking to Tom.

3(1). The boy speaking to Tom.

4 (2). The girl happy.

Now, boy and girl of sentences 3 (1)
and 4 (2) could be assumed to have
been introduced in sentences 1 (3)
and 2 (4). They now have a context.

How can language arts
CAI, where instances of
context are crucial, over-
come the difficulties?

Rather obviously these sentences
have now been logically arranged to
demonstrate an aspect of the English
article system. In the event a class-
room teacher and students were using
a textbook presenting Set A and in the
event the students were to raise ques-
tions about language logic, the
teacher, if available of course, and if
there were time for all sets of ques-
tions, would respond to these ques-
tions. Were the students considering
the same exercise in a CAI lesson they
most likely would not have the teach-
er's assistance or interaction. Thus,
how can language arts CAI, where in-
stances of context are crucial, over-
come the difficulties?

The context example cited above is
not as simple as it might appear at
first glance.

SetC

A boy is talking to John.

The boy is also talking to Mary.
These appear acceptable. But let's
pluralize boy.

SetD

boys are talking to John.

The boys are also talking to Mary.
The dashes might be filled in with
some, several, three, . . . Because the
article "flows" or "branches" into
other grammatical subsystems, or
vice versa, in effect, the articles are
also members of a larger subsystem,
the determiners. The particular issue
at hand (articles) and other issues
(determiners) that may suddenly come
into consideration demand careful
analysis by the CAI developer. Lan-

guage subsystems are not easily
isolated for study or practice,
whether for textbook, CAI, or teacher
presentation. Thus, for the CAI de-
veloper, any subject matter to be pre-
sented must be studied and consid-
ered most carefully and logically.
Were the developer, without cogent
study, to seize upon items from tradi-
tional textbooks — items the teacher
can explain (if time permits) and
handle through classroom interaction,
the resulting CAI exercises would un-
fortunately reproduce the lack of log-
ical clarity and naturalness of the text-
books. Where traditional textbook ma-
terial is transferred to individualized
CAI, the limitations then become
magnified.

Although not so fully as a good
classroom teacher, the terminal (or
CAI program) does react and interact
with the student. The terminal's inter-
action is immediate — this is perhaps
its chief asset to the student. How-
ever, the quality of interaction is
limited. On the other hand, not all
teachers are equally adept at lan-
guage instruction and interaction or
have the time to answer questions:
some are excellent, others are not.
One might assume also that CAI may
vary in quality, but can CAI dare to be
less than excellent?

In short, the terminal, first, should
not simply transfer magnified limita-
tions from textbooks. Second, the in-
teractive powers of the terminal
should be assessed carefully by the
developer and used in CAI develop-
ment. Moreover, since the student can
be prompted by the terminal, he
should be employed, wherever pos-
sible, as an active participant in de-
veloping language CAI. The student
participating with the terminal, for in-
stance, can indirectly help solve some
of the problems that language instruc-
tion imposes: context — exampled by
one problem noted earlier — can be
made almost real by the student be-
cause the student can be asked, for
example, to input characters — names
of his classmates — which the termi-
nal then can use in its presentations.
In effect, the student can help develop
context and can be considered an
instructional assistant by the CAI
developer.

Figure 1 is the first stage of a lesson
that asks the student to give the
names of other classmates who are
then to become characters within the
lesson and its exercises.

In later lessons this first stage is
shortened somewhat, but it seeks the
same student participation (see Fig-
ure 2).

LET'S ACT LIKE I'M A NEW CLASSMATE OF YOURS. JOHN.

TELL ME TXr FIRST NANE6 OF SOME OF OUR OTHER CI ASSHATES.

THREE OIRLS AND THREE BOYS!

READY T

OIRL NUMBER 1 IS T SUE

IS He* NAME — RUE — SPELLED CORRECTLY (YES. NO)

OIRL NUMBER 2 IS T ANN

IS HBR NAME—ANN— SPELLED CORRECTLY (YES.

NO)

OIRL NUMBER 3 IS T JANC

16 NER Name --JrtNE- -SPELLED CORRECTLY (YES. NO)

•OY NUMBER 1 IS T TOM

IS HIS NAME — T0H--8PELLED CORRECTLY (YES. NO)

BOY NUMBER 2 IS T JACK

IS HIS NAME--JACK — SPELLED CORRECTLY (YES. NO)

BOY NUMBER 3 IS T JO

IS HIS NAME--JO--SPELLED CORRECTLY (YES. NO)
AGAIN, BOY NUMBER 3 IE T JOE

IS HIS NAME--JOE--SPELLED CORRECTLY (YES. NO)

T YES
T YES

T YES

T NO
T YES

Figure 1

FRED. TELL HE THE NAMES OP SOME Or

OUR CLASSMATES 1

OIRL NUMBER I IS T JANET

I8--JANET — CORRECT (YES. NO) T YES

OIRL NUMBER 2 IS T SUE

IS--SUE--CORRECT (YES. NO)

T YES

GIRL NUMBER 3 IS T MAY

IS--HAY--CORRECT (YES. NO)

T YES

BOY NUMBER 1 IS T SOB

IS--B0B--CORRECT (YES. NO)

T YES

BOY NUMBER 2 IS T JACK

IS— JACK— CORRECT (YES. NO)

T YES

BOY NUHBSR 3 IS T TIM

IS--TIM— CORRECT (YES. NO)

T YES

Figure 2

122

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others.

A UNIVERSAL SYSTEM

You may use "THE DATA FAC-
TORY" at home or at work. Set
up: Inventories, Mailing Lists (a
printer is needed for mailing
labels); Sales records; Accounts
payable or receivable; Budgets;
Library, recipe, or phone direc-
tories; Appointment calendar;
Notices of subscriptions,
license or warranty dates; Work-
ing or shopping lists, and many
other applications that you will
discover. All of the above can be
accomplished from this one
disk oriented program. No need
to have separate costly pro-
grams for each purpose. With all
the data on a disk, you can
manipulate the information
more easily and efficiently. Find
any record using the record
number, the data entered or any
variation of the data in your data
base. The from/to feature
selects records by dates or
amounts.

REQUIREMENTS

"The Data Factory" is presently
being offered in APPLESOFT
but will be available in other
forms of basic shortly. Check
with your dealer for other soft-
ware varieties currently being
handled. You will need 48k and
Applesoft in ROM. "The Data
Factory" is as powerful with one
disk drive as with two. You do
not lose any of its capabilities
using only one disk drive. A
printer is optional.

INSURANCE POLICY

Micro Lab is instituting a revolu-
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Micro Lab Disk Insurance.

You can feel secure. Two iden-
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and accidentally blow a disk,
there is no time or money lost.

AVAILABLE NOW

"The Data Factory" is being of-
fered nationally for the first
time. It has been marketed and
tested on a local level and has
been received with a most en-
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an introductory price of $100.00.
Stop in to see our demo disk.

/-micro lab 7

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811 STONEGATE • HIGHLAND PARK, IL 60035 • 312-433-7877

123 CIRCLE 1S60N READER SERVICE CARD

CAI, cont'd...

A sequence of lessons within
English Usage Exercises (EUX), a CAI
unit composed of stand-alone pro-
grams, teaches (1) coordinating con-
junctions, (2) prepositions, (3) count-
able nouns, (4) articles, (5) pronoun
objects of propositions, and (6) pro-
noun possessives. Within the peda-
gogical scheme of EUX, these topics
interlock because the keystone is a
limited set of nouns that force the stu-
dent to look at and understand the
article. In the prior 150 sessions or
lessons of EUX only a most limited,
tangential role has been given the arti-
cle, primarily because of the "difficul-
ties" posed by the article and deter-
miners suggested earlier.

See Figure 3 for a portion of EUX271

— Connectors

It's been eaid practice
makes permanent not per-
fect

This session assumes that the stu-
dent accepts the terminal as a class-
mate who is "speaking" or "writing"
to him about other classmates within
the student's (and the terminal's) own
classroom context. Because the ter-
minal has now been introduced to
some other classmates, he can refer
to others he's not been introduced to
by citing them in/with prepositional
phrases such as THE BOY NEAR . . .
for example.

Pedagogically, Connectors I does
not treat the article — it simply em-
employs the article. It compares
and contrasts two coordinating con-
junctions — and and or — and a few
prepositions — like behind and near

— in terms of a "counting" concept
established and running through
major portions of EUX, where the
"counting" of verbs and subjects is
used to treat, among other things,
verb-subject concord, illustrated in
Figure 4 by the exercise of the second
session of Connectors I.

As can be seen from the above, the
student "counts" noun subjects,
choosing the verb that agrees. The
major language generality being
taught is that nouns following preposi-
tions do not alter sentence counts
and/or that only and may alter
"counts."

Similarly, O & S Markers I, EUX281,
compares and contrasts verb and
countable noun endings, the charac-
ters in the lesson being assigned by
the student through the procedure
shown earlier. Assuming that the stu-

'AND' POINTS TWO MAYS.

ROBIN, LET'S STUpY SOME SENTENCES:

I . SUC <AND- JANE ARE UHI9PER1N6.

'AND' IS A CONNECTOR.

'AND' COMItCTS 'SUE' AMD 'JANE.'

READY T

TWO CLASSMATES ARE UHISPERINOI DOTH 'BUE' AND 'JANE.'
•OTH '6UE' AND 'JANE* ARE SUBJECTS Of 'ARE NHISPERINO. *

READY T

'AND' ADDS 'SUE* AND 'JANE' TO COUNT 2.
'ARE* COUNTS 2 AND AGREES.

READY T

3 . JANE <0R ANN IS TALKING.

'OR' IS A CONNECTOR.

-OR- CONNECTS 'JANE' AND 'ANN.'

READY T

OR' POINTS TWO WAYS.

ONE CLASSMATE. IS TALKING: EITHER 'JANE' OR 'ANN.'

EITHER 'JANE- OR 'ANN' NAY BE THE SUBJECT OF 'IS TALKING.'

READY T

-OR' CHOOSES ONE, riTHER 'JANE' OR 'ANN.' TO COUNT t.
'IS' COUNTS I AND AGREES.

READY T

3 . THE BOY <NEAR< JACK IS LAUGHING.

'NEAR' IS A CONNECTOR.

'NEAR' CONNECTS 'THE BOY' AND 'JACK.

READY T

'NEAR' ONLY POINTS ONE NAY.

ONC CLASSMATE 18 LAUOH1NOI JUST 'THE BOY' — NOT 'JACK.'
ONLY 'THE BOY' IS THE SUBJECT OP 'IS LAUOHINO.'

READY T

'NEAR' DOES NOT ADD 'THE BOY' AND 'JACK.
'IS' COUNTS I AND AGREES.

READY T

'NEAR JACK' IDENTIFIES 'THE BOY.'

Figure 3

ROBIN. LET'S STUDY BOMS SENTENCES!

I . BUE <AND> JANE WHISPERING.

(IS. ARE) T IS
'AND' ADDS 'SUE' AND 'JANE' TO COUNT 2.
'ARE' COUNTS 2 AND AOREES.
READY T

. THE OIRL <BEBIDE< ANN TALKING.

(IS. ARE) T ARE
'BESIDE' DOCS NOT ADD 'THE GIRL • AND 'ANN.
'IS' COUNTS 1 AND AGREES.

READY T

. JANE <OR> ANN TALKING.

(IS. ARE) T ARC
•OR' CHOOSES ONE. EITHER 'JANE' OR 'ANN.' TO COUNT 1.
'IS' COUNTS 1 AND AGREES.

READY T

ONE CLASSMATE IS TALKING I EITHER 'JANE' OR 'ANN.'
EITHER 'JANE' OR 'ANN' HAY BE THE SUBJECT OF 'IS TALKING.
READY t

4 . THE BOY <NEAR< TON LAUGHING.

(IS. ARE) T IS
O.K.

9 . ANN <AND> TON LAUOHINO.

(IS. ARE) T ARE
O.K.

dent has accepted the terminal as a

124

Figure 4

CREATIVE COMPUTING

classmate within his classroom con-
text, he interacts with the lesson ma-
terial as shown in Figure 5.
The O and S marker concepts having
been established in prior lessons, the
student is here given noun subjects
like boy with nouns — names of char-
acters supplied by the student — in-
terposed between the subjects and
verbs in prepositional phrases (in
these instances, nouns following pre-
positions do not add to the sentence
"count"). But the point here is that to
use nouns like boy. context can be
simulated so that the grammatical at-
tention given to nouns is met in "real"
contextual sentences.

In a later series, after a request for
classmate names, EUX311 treats noun
and pronoun possessives as shown in
Figure 6.

Thus, human language be-
comes two languages—
both mutually supportive
and competitive.

Here "context" sentences like
THERE IS A GIRL WITH JANE estab-
lish contextual antecedents for the ex-
ercise sentences requesting possesive
pronoun decisions since nouns like
girl appear in the exercise sentences
without identifying prepositional
phrases. The syntax of the exercise
sentences is varied, there being one
declarative and three interrogative
forms used:

THE BOY IS A PARTNER OF TOM'S.
IS THE BOY A PARTNER OF TOMS?

ISN'T THE BOY A PARTNER OF

TOM'S?
THE BOY IS A PARTNER OF TOM'S,

ISN'T HE?

In summary then: (1) For many as-
pects of language arts CAI simulated
contextual situations can be provided
that are far more dynamic than the
static exercises of a traditional text-
book. (2) The student himself devel-
ops many of these contextual situa-
tions. (3) Thus, a most careful study
and control of the subject matter is
demanded of and must be preplanned
by the CAI developer. (4) The termi-
nal, through dynamic interplay, can
prove far more powerful than a cus-
tomary textbook, though obviously not
so flexible nor as dynamic as an adept
classroom teacher. And (5) the adept
teacher with adept CAI, one might
note, ought to compose a far better
team for the instructional environment
than the teacher with just a static
textbook. □

SEPTEMBER 1980

Figure 5

Figure 6

OEOKQE.

LET '6 PRACTICE 1

THE

•OY8 WITH HART OFTEN TALK.

'MT' HAS WHAT EHDINO T •
TES.

. 'TALK' HAS WHAT ENDING T
0. K.

THE

OIRL HEAR ALICE SOMETIMES LAUOHS.

. 'OIRL' HAS WHAT ENDING T ■
NO.

. 'IAUBH' HAS WHAT ENDIHO T

HO. S

THE

BOYS BESIDE FRAN OCCASIONALLY WORKED.

DIDN'T THEYT

. 'BOY' HAS WHAT ENDING T B
YES.

. 'WORK' HAS WHAT ENbINO T D
0. K.

'DO' HAS WHAT ENDING T D
RIOHT.

THE

GIRLS BY TED FREOUENTLY SNICKER* DON'T THEYT

. 'OIRL' HAS WHAT ENDING T S
YES.

. 'SNICKER' HAS WHAT ENDING T
0. K.

. 'DO' HAS WHAT ENDING T
RIGHT.

THE

BOYS BEHIND LEWIS OFTEN WORK.

. 'BOY' HAS WHAT EHDINO T S
YES.

. 'WORK' HAS WHAT ENDING T
0. K.

THE

OIRL WITH JOHN SOMETIMES WORKED. DIDN

T BHET

. 'OIRL' HAS WHAT ENDIHO T
YES.

. 'WORK' HAS WHAT ENDIHO T D
0. K.

. 'DO' HAS WHAT ENDING T D
RIOHT.

HART. LET'S PRACTICE!

> THERE IB A BOY NEAR BOB AND JUNE.
» THE BOY IB A PARTNER OF BOB AND JUNE'S* ISN'T

HET

1 . THE BOY IB A PARTNER OF ■ ISN'T HET

NO. THEIRS

THEIR

> THERE ARE TWO BOYS BESIDE BAH AHD ROSE.
» THE BOYS ARE BAM AND ROSE'S CLASSMATES* AREN'T

THEYT

2 . THE BOTS ARE CLASSMATES. AREN'T THEY?

YES.

THBIR

> THERE ARE TWO OIRLS WITH JUNE - .
» ARE THE GIRLS JUNE'S FRIENDS*

3 . ARE THE OIRLS FRIEHBST

YES.

HSR

> THESE IS A SIRL WITH AHN.
» THE GIRL IS ANN'S CHUM, ISN'T SHET

4 . THE OIRL IS CHUH. ISN'T SHET

YES.

HER

> THERE IS A BOY NEAR SAN AND ROSE.
» ISN'T THE BOY SAM AND ROSE'S PARTNER?

9 . ISN'T THE BOY PARTNERT

YES.

THEIR

> THERE ARE TWO OIRLS BE8IDE JUNE AND BOB.
» ARE THE OIRLS PARTNERS OF JUNE AND BOB'ST

6 . ARE THE OIRLS PARTNERS OF T

YES.

THEIRS

> THERE IS A OIRL WITH ANN.
» IS THE OIRL ANNS FRIEHDT

7 . IS THE OIRL FRIENDT

YES.

HER

> THERE ARE TWO BOYS WITH SAM.
» THE BOYS ARE FRIENDS OF SAMS. AREN'T THEYT

6 . THE BOYS ARE FRIEHDS OF 1 AREN'T THEYT

YES.

HIS

125

■

"A ureal discovery solve* a great
problem but there is a grain oj
discovery in the solution of any

problem. Your problem may be
modest; but if it challenges your
curiosity and brings into play your
inventive faculties, and if you solve it by
your own means, you may experience
the tension ami enjoy the triumph of
discovery. Such experiences at a
susceptible age may create a taste for
mental work and leave their imprint on
the mind and character for a lifetime. "
George Polya. 1945

These are the opening words in the
preface to the first edition of Professor
Polya 's book How To Solve It. 1 Upon re-
reading them recently. I was struck by how
well they described the mode that I prefer
to use in teaching programming skills.
When I have introduced computers into
the classroom. I have found young
students want to understand how to
program a computer and enjoy the
challenge of figuring out how to control it.
In a small but significant way, the process
of learning how to program a computer is a
creative and inventive activity which
exercises all aspects of the problem-sols ing
process. Through working on program-
ming exercises, students learn to enjoy
problem-solving. Young students are
especially excited about working with
computers because it gives them an
opportunity to test out their own ideas.
something the traditional mathematics
curriculum does not usually permit.
Students learn that solutions to problems
are not a series of rigid and meaningless
operations that arc blindly and uniformly
followed. For this reason 1 believe that if
small computers are used for no other
function than as a vehicle for development
of problem-solving skills, their use is
completely justified.

The National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics (NCTM) has placed the
improvement of problem-solving skills as
its primary objective for the I980's. In a
recent report, 2 they have recommended
that:

"I. problem solving be the focus of
school mathematics in the I980's."

Donald Pielc. Associate Professor ol Mathematics.
University ol Wisconsin - Parksidc. Kenosha. Wl
33141.

How To Solve It—

With The Computer

Donald T. Piele

The applications of these skills are not
limited to mathematics but are in demand
in all disciplines. Arthur Whimbey and
.lack l.ockhead write in the preface to their
new book Problem Solving and Compre-
hension*:

"It is fascinating to imagine what
might happen to our national literacy
and math competency if all teachers
from elementary through college level
saw one of their major roles as
teaching students to think carefully in
acquiring and using information from
the academic disciplines. This could
be done by allowing more class time
for students to verbally interpret and
draw conclusions from reading
assignments. and explain their
answers to problems they solved.
When a student made an error, the
teacher could guide him through a
correct analysis with probing.
Socratic questions, whilccxlolling the
need for completeness and accuracy."

Teachers have many preconceived
ideas on the role of computers in the
classroom — mainly Computer Assisted
Instruction. When I suggest that a black
box exists that if brought into the
classroom could serve as vehicle for
student interaction, invite experimenta-
tion, reward careful analysis, require
reading and writing, allow cooperation
among students, and reward completeness
and accuracy, most teachers do not think
of a computer. Even advocates of com-
puters in the classroom seldom view
computers in this role. And finally, even
those who understand this role have
difficulty collecting enough ideas to make
it work.

Objectives

The major focus of this series, then, is
to give ideasand examples that support the
problem-solving role for computers in the
classroom. Procedures, techniques and
sample problems will be given that can be
used with beginning, intermediate and
advanced students. For beginning stu-
dents, ideas for teaching elements of the

Basic language in a discovery mode will be
explained. These ideas will supplement but
not replace a good manual or text on the
Basic language. The ideas presented here
will outline an alternative to the format
used in most textbooks and should be used
in conjunction with reference material on
Basic for a particular system.

For intermediate and advanced
students, who have a working knowledge
ol Basic, problems for investigation will be
described and complete solutions provided

The specific relationship
is of little importance but
the idea of looking for one
is of great importance.

in Basic. Teachers using these materials in
the classroom may wish to withhold the
solutions for discussion with students after
they have worked on the problems. Since a
great deal can be learned by seeing how
others solve problems, complete listings
will be provided. Most of us have learned
to program this way.

Lesson #1 (Beginning Students):
The Process

In accord with the objectives above,
the emphasis throughout this series will be
on process, not answers. The personal
computer is designed for interaction, and
hence encourages students to experiment.
re\ise. extend, simplify and rearrange.
These are processes that are vital to
problem solving. The problem that we
choose to investigate will never be as
important as the process that we go
through to solve it. Polya 's quote at the
beginning of this article is the guiding
principal for this scries.

Keeping Records

Keeping records is very important in
learning a new language and should
become the primary responsibility of the
student. I recommend that each student

126

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SEPTEMBER 1980

127

■■■

Solve, cont'd...

have his or her own spiral notebook which
will become a personal reference manual
for Basic. From the very beginning,
students should record information about
how to operate the system — turn it on and
off. enter Basic or the system monitor, load
and save programs on cassette or disk.
These operations arc easy to demonstrate
to the entire class while the students take
notes on them. I have found that it is a
mistake to pass out a complete summarv of
this information because it bypasses a skill
you want to teach recording informa-
tion. This procedure also avoids what can
be a big "turn-off' in the teaching of
computer programming information

overload. By having students build their
own records, this problem can be mini-
mized and. as a bonus, they will be
developing a fundamental problem-
solving skill.

It is not important that
they write 'textbook' de-
scriptions of each state-
ment. It is more important
that they record what they
know in their own words.

What follows is an example to
illustrate the problem-solving approach to
teaching the Basic language. The ideas
expressed could be used with any system:
however, for the purposes of illustration,
the samples will be written for the Apple II
system. Teachers with different systems
can still use the format of the presentation
but will need to change the programs.

Program 1 (Beginning Students)

Begin your first lesson in Basic by
picking out a small program that contains
three or four statements and ask the
students to copy it in their notebooks. For
example, if you are working with the Apple
II system you might type in the following
program:

10 OR

20 COLOR - 9
30 PLOT 20.20
40 END

Lots of information can be explored
beginning with this simple program. For
example, you may demonstrate what
happens when you type LIST. Ask the
students to record their own meaning for
this command and to note that every
statement and command must be
ENTERed or RETURNed with a key
stroke. The process of first demonstrating
the command and then having the students
record a description, in their own words,
can be used effectively in the learning of

an) interactive computer language.

Next. Rl N the program. II every-
thing was typed in correctly, the program
will produce the intended results. In this
example the screen will clear and a small
orange square will appear in the middle of
the screen. Again, it does not matter what
your program docs as long as it contains a
small number of fundamental statements.
Use graphics whenever possible because it
is easy to visualize the effect of each
statement. Continue discussing the pro-
gram with the class and ask for their ideas
on the effect of each statement.

Sample Questions

1. The first statement in the program
is 10 GR. What do you think is the effect of
this statement?

2. The second statement is
20 COLOR = 9. What would happen if
we changed this line to 20 COLOR - 7?

3. The third statement is 30 PI.OI
20.20. What does this statement do? What
would happen if we changed it to
30 PLOT 10.10? What about 30 PLOT
30,30 or even 30 PLOT 20. 10? What are the
limits to the values in the first and second
coordinates?

4. The final statement is 40 END.
What would happen if we forgot it?

RUN the program a few times to test
each answer. Soon the class will formulate
a working definition of each statement. It
is not important that they write "textbook'
descriptions of each statement. It is more
important that they record what they know
in their own words. Emphasize that a
program is a list of statements executed in
order of increasing line number and that
each statement has a certain action.

System Operation and Commands

In the discussion of the program
above a number of questions about the
system operation and Basic commands will
naturally arise. The commands RUN and
LIST will be used continuously and will
need to be recorded. Specific commands
such as TEXT for the Apple II. which
clears the GRaphics mode and allows for

128

the listing of the program, will become a
natural part of the investigation. Questions
such as how to change a line bv retyping it.
or how to delete or add lines to the
program. are easv and natural to demon-
strate in the context of this program.
Finally, how to SAVE vour program for
later use when you will need to LOAD it
again may come up in the discussion and
could easily he explained at this time.

lesson Goal

The goal of each lesson is to learn how
to use the statements and commands that
have been introduced and to exercise
problem-solving skills. I his will be done
by writing a program that solves a specific
problem. A typical example is:

Problem I (Beginning Students)

Write a program that will draw your

initials in block letters on the screen.

Remarks

1. This is a clearly defined problem
with a clearly defined goal and the student
should have all the necessary tools to solve
it. What needs to be done is to apply some
problem-solving skills. Clearly, the value
of the problem is not the solution but the
process that each student needs to go
through to solve it.

2. A fundamental skill in problem-
solving is knowing how to represent
information. Like most skills, it can only
be developed with practice. If the problem
were to represent letters on a piece of paper
then the problem would be trivial because
this skill has been practiced a great deal.
But to carry out the same task in low
resolution color graphics on the Apple II
computer is quite a different problem. The
student needs to first understand how
positions on the screen are represented.
For the Apple II the low resolution screen
locations are as follows:

0.0 1.0 2.0 39,0

0.1 1.1 2.1 39,1

0.2 1.2 2.2 39.2

0.39 1,39 2.39 39.39

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SEPTEMBER 1980

129

CIRCLE 214 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Solve, cont'd...

Next, the student must figure out how
individual letters can be composed with an
arrangement of small squares in a 40x40
grid. Finally, he or she needs to under-
stand the Basic statements which draw the
letters.

3. The opportunity to work on the
computer is essential. Students work
successfully in pairs if there is a limited
number of machines. A sign-up schedule is
advisable for the available times on the
system. Deadlines for the completion of
each problem should be set one or two
weeks depending on the time available tor
each student on the computer. All work on
the problem should be recorded in the
notebooks and a complete listing of the
final documented program should ac-
company every problem solution. To
insure that this is followed, establish the
rule that no one can continue using the
computer until their work has been
recorded in their notebook in a satis-
factory form. It is important to establish in
the beginning that the use of the computer
is a privilege that can be lost to those who
do not take the work seriously. The
motivation to use the computer is so strong
that most behavioral problems are self
correcting.

Intermediafe Students

For intermediate and advanced
students the emphasis will be placed on
problems at the junior high level and
above. It is hard to establish an absolute
level of difficulty since programming skills
are highly dependent upon experience
which, at least for now. has very little
relationship to age. In the annual com-
puter problem-solving contest at UW-
Parksidc. there have been cases where
students in grades 7-9 have done better
than the winners in grades 10-12.

Understanding the problem-solving
process is still the major objective here.
The emphasis given earlier on record
keeping is just as important for inter-
mediate and advanced students as for the
beginning student. Again, the problem will
never be as important as the experience
gained in trying to solve it. Let's begin
with:

Problem 1 (Intermediate Student)

Ten people show up for the first
meeting of the school computer club. Each
person shakes hands with every other
person exactly once. Write a program that
will produce a print out of all the pairs of
people who shook hands with each other
and the total number.

Remarks

I. A good problem solver would first
try to solve this problem with a small
number of people. For example, with only
three or four people it would be an easy

matter to list all the handshakes. Try it.

2. What is a good way to represent the
solution? One simple idea is to use the first
ten letters in the alphabet for the names of
the ten students and print out pairs of
letters such as AB. AC, etc. to represent
handshakes between members. Deciding
on a convenient representation is often a
crucial part in successful problem-solving.
Be flexible and actively pursue a number of
alternatives.

Young students are espe-
cially excited about work-
ing with computers be-
cause it gives them an
opportunity to test out
their own ideas.

3. What is your plan of attack? Can
you express it in words? The natural
language is a high level language. Use n
to express your plan of attack. For
example:

Plan of Attack
"list the members in alphabetical
order ABCDEFGHIJ. First A shakes
hands with everyone to the right. AB.
AC. AD. . . . AJ.Then B shakes hands
with everyone to the right BC. BD. BE
. . . BF. You continue shifting one
position to the right and pairing that
letter with all the remaining letters to
the right. The last pairing is I.I. You
never pair to the left because that
handshake has already taken place.
Continue until you reach the last
handshake."

4. Finally, transform the plan of
attack into an algorithm in Basic. A
program that runs properly is evidence
that the algorithm works and the plan has
been carried out successfully.

Solutions

S*»pl« Solution

10 LET A*=" ABCDEFGHIJ"

20 LET L » LEN(A*>

30 FOR I - 1 TO L-l

40 FOR J - 1*1 TO L

30 OC+1

60 PRINT C." ",A»(I.I>.A«(J,J>

70 NEXT J

80 NEXT I

90 END

Remarks

1. This program was written in North
Star Basic and should be changed in line 60
for Microsoft Basic which handles strings
differently.

60 PRINT CI" "«MID»<A«,I.1>

;mid»(a«, j. i)

2. The above program is stripped
down to show only the workings of the

algorithm. Students should be required to
include a statement of the problem and
other personal documentation at the
beginning of the program.

Suppose we had phrased the problem
differently:

List out all pairs of people that can be
formed from a population of 10 people.

In this form it is natural to ask:
List out all groups of size 3 that can be
formed from a population of 10 people.
This problem can be solved by adding
another loop to the previous solution.

S«*f1* Solution

10 LET A* - "ABCDEDFOHIJ"
20 LET L - LEN(A»)
30 FOR I - 1 TO L-2
40 FOR J - 1*1 TO L-l
43 FOR K » J*l TO L

30 LET C - C*l

60 PRINT C." ".A«<I.I>,

A»(J.J).A«<K.K>
63 NEXT K

70 NEXT J
80 NEXT I
90 END

Remarks

1. Again this program is not com-
plete; the output needs to be formatted.

2. As above, line 60 needs to be
changed for other dialects of Basic.

The way this program is written, each
time the si/e of the group is changed the
program needs to be changed. There must
be a better way to write a general program
which will work for any si/c group. This
leads to a reformulation of the problem
for:

Advanced Students: Problem I

Write a program that will list out all groups
of VI people that can be formed from a
population of N people. For convenience
you may limit N to 26. Format the output
so that it prints the groupings across the
page and gives the total number.

First Sample Solution

10 DIM A(26).A«(26)

20 At-"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXVZ"
30 INPUT ENTER POPULATION
SIZE. GROUP SIZE N.M ",N.M
40 L-l I A(L>-1 > C»0
50 IF N-M >« A(L)-L THEN 90
60 L ■ L-l
70 IF L - THEN 230
80 A(L) - A(L> +1 \ GOTO 50
90 IF L-M THEN 130

100 A(L+1)=A(L)+1

110 L»L*1

120 GOTO 50

130 REM »» PRINT GROUP »»

140 FOR 1-1 TO M

ISO X»A(I) I PRINT A«(X.X>.

160 NEXT I

170 PRINT

180 C-Ol

190 IF A(L)-N THEN 220

200 A(L)=A(L)+t

210 GOTO 30

220 L-L-l

230 IF L-0 THEN 250

240 GOTO 190

250 PRINT I PRINT "C( ".N. ". " .M.
"> - ",C

260 END

130

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Remarks

1. The basic idea of this program is to
build an array of length M which consists
of numbers taken from I to N. Each
number corresponds to a letter from A to
Z, with I = A . . . 26 = Z. Thus 1234
corresponds to the group ABCD.

2. The last digit is increased until it
reaches the size of N. This generates the
numbers 1234, 1235. 1236 . . . I23N which
correspond to the groups ABCD. ABCE.
ABCF . . . ABCZ (if N = 26 and M = 4).

3. The preceding digit is now in-
creased by one and the count continues
anew: 1245. 1246. 1247 . . . I24N.

4. The numbers continue increasing
in a "speedometer like' manner until the
first number is \ 3. Now the last arrange-
ment is (N 3m\ :»(N l)N. If N=26 this
corresponds to WXYZ.

5. To carry this plan out. an array
A(l) is used to hold the numbers.

6. The formatting of the output is left
to the reader.

Remarks

1. This solution is written for a Basic
which supports multiple line functions.

Second Sample Solution

10 DIM A»t26).B«t26>

20 B»- ,, ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPORSTUVWXYZ"

30 At>-""

40 INPUT "ENTER POPULATION SIZE.
GROUP SIZE N.M ",N.M

50 X-FNF(O.O)

60 PRINT : PRINT "C( " .N. " . ".M. " )
« ",C

70 END

80 DEF FNF(K.I)

90 L«LEN(A«)
100 IF L< M THEN 120
UOC-C-M : PRINT A» : RETURN
120 IF N-M < K-L THEN RETURN 0"
130 FOR I-K+l TO N
140 A«=A»+6*-< I. I )
ISO X-FNF(I.O)
160 IF LEN(A«>-1 THEN At>-""
170 IF LEN(A«)>1 THEN A«=A«(1.

LEN(A»)-1 )
180 NEXT I
190 RETURN O
200 FNEND

2. The procedure begins with the
empty string AS-"" and builds it up to
A$="ABCD" (if M=4). Once the
LEN(A$)=M. the string AS is printed out.

3. Next, drop back to AS="ABC"and
build it up again starting with one letter to
the right of the last one used.

4. Statement 150 X=FNF(I.O) is
embedded in the definition of the function
FNF. This means that FNF is defined in
terms of itself, ie.. recursively.

5. Recursively defined functions can
be very useful as this example shows.
However it is not necessary to use
recursion to solve the problem as illus-
trated by the first solution.

6. Again, the printout has not been
formatted.

A Related Problem

A simpler problem for investigation
would be:

Count the number of distinct groups of M
people that can be formed from a
population of size N.

Remarks

1. This problem is much easier since
the groups are not required to be listed.

2. There is a natural way to view this
problem which uses the notion of subgoals.
For example, suppose you are asked to
count the number of groups of size 3 that
can be formed from 5 people. Suppose you
could solve the problem if the group size
was one less (4). Let C(4.2) be the number
of groups of si/e 2 that can be chosen from
4 people, and let C(4.3) be the number of
groups of si/e 3 that can be formed from 4
people. Now if one more person. Sam. is
added to the group. Sam can join all the 2
member groups to make 3 member groups.

I hesc are all the ways in which Sam can be
included in a three member group. The
remaining 3 member groups (C(4,3)) are
those that do not contain Sam. Thus the

The personal computer is
designed for interaction,
and hence encourages stu-
dents to experiment, re-
vise, extend, simplify and
rearrange.

total number of 3 member groups from 5
people is given recursively by:

C<3.3> • C(4,2) ♦ C<4.3>

3, This argument can be generalized

to:

CtN.M) - CtN-l.M-1) + C(N-1,M).

4. This relationship shows how to
express the problem in terms of two
simpler problems. It is called a recursion
relationship. It would be a mistake to have
students simply program this relationship
without understanding how it related to
the proposed problem. Discussions, like
the one above, plant ideas and procedures
which will bear fruit in completely
different situations. This specific relation-
ship is of little importance but the idea of
looking for one is of great importance.

5. One sample solution that uses this
idea is:

10 INPUT "POPULATION SIZE, GROUP

SIZE N.M - ".N.M
20 DIM C(N.N)
30 C<0.0>-1
40 FOR I - 1 TO N
50 FOR J ■ 1 TO I

60 C(I.J) - C(I-l.J-l) ♦ C(I-1

70 NEXT J

80 NEXT I

90 PRINT "C<".N,".".M."> - ". CtN.M)
100 END

6. Another sample solution that uses
a function recursively is given by:

10 INPUT "POPULATION SIZE. GROUP SIZE
N.M - ",N.M

20 PRINT "Ct",N,".".M,"> ■ ".FNF(N.M)

30 END

40 DEF FNF(N.M)

50 IF M«0 THEN RETURN 1

60 IF M > N THEN RETURN

70 Y=FNF(N-1,M) ♦ FNF(N-l.M-l)

80 RETURN V

90 FNEND

7. Try running this second solution
for N=I4 and M=7. You will discover a
tremendous difference in time of execution
of these two solutions. Ask your advanced
students to explain why, The second
solution isa classic example of the poor use
ol recursion. In the worst case the time of
execution is proportional to 2 . while in
the first solution the time ol execution is
proportional to N

8. As a final experiment, let the
students keep timed records of individual
runs to feel' the difference between 2 N and
\

Conclusion

Problem-solving skills cannot be
acquired just by reading problems and
their solutions. Sandwiched in the middle
must be discussion, trial and error,
modification, generalization and more
discussion. These are the activities that
strengthen one's ability to solve problems
because they are independent of the
particular problem or its setting and can be
used again in completely different problem
situations.

The actual solution will never be as
important as the process of arriving at it.
Consequently, you should not be in a hurry
to dispose of problems before they have
been completely used up. Whenever you
find some interesting ways to further
develop these or related problems, let me
hear from you. I believe we need to
establish better lines of communication
between all of us who want to understand
and teach the problem-solving process. D

Binliograph)

11 Polya, t;.. Hon 1 /<* Sotvt ti. Princeton Unrvertit)
Prat, 1945

2) An Ayt'tu/u For Anion: RrrommentnHHMU For
Srnool Uuilumains ,>t the IVX<>\. NCIM Inc..
Raton. V irpniii ls>H0

3) Whimby. A.. I tH.khc.nl. J.. Prohlfm Salving raid
Comprrhrnxton. I he t-ranklm Institute Press. I°K0.

©Creative Computing

"...It's trying to tell us it wants high
tech circuitry. . . "

SEPTEMBER 1980

131

Student, Meet Computer.

Creative
Computing
Makes the
Introduction

iCharp

Be A

Computer

Literate

GRADES 4 TO 8

Marion J. Ball and Sylvia

This informative, full color book is
an ideal first introduction to the world of
computers. Covers kinds of computers,
how they work, their applications in
society, flowcharts and writing a simple
program. Full color drawings, diagrams
and photos on every page coupled with
large type make this book easy to read
and understand. Used as a text in many
schools. 66 pp softbound, $3.95 (6H).

&S&&£?

te«

^^go Three new catalogs are

A»* ^ available free. The new Fall

^-\V° 1980 Creative Computing

#%S Catalog features the full

_ < A<n^'* line of Creative Computing

G«* Press and Book Service

titles, back issues of Creative Com-
puting, ROM, and S-100 Microsystems
magazines, games, posters and t-shirts.

The all-new Fall 1980 Sensational
Software Catalog lists 150 software
packages for eleven popular systems
including Apple II, TRS-80, Sol-20, Atari,
Sorcerer, Pet and CP/M systems. Re-
creational, educational and professional
applications software is described fully
and accompanied by screen photos and
illustrations.

Clubs and schools can order quantities
of the new combined Press-Software
Catalog to give out to members and
students. Just send your request on
letterhead.

Make the most of your computer
resources with Creative Computing)

kjV

Joe Weisbecker

Learning how computer circuitry works
can actually be fun. All you have to do is
slide around a few pennies. Computer
Coin Games presents a series of interest-
ing games with full size playing boards
that trace the paths of electronic signals
through various simple computer cir-
cuits.

Beginning with the "basic penny
switch flip flop" the games build in
difficulty until the reader is creating
intricate networks. Why binary math is
used in computers and how it works, how
the computer counts, adds, subtracts,
uses a number base, and handles letters
and words, are all explained in the book.

Computer Coin Games

GRADES 7 AND UP

Play "Tic Tac Toe," "Guess a Word,"
"Create a Pattern" and "Escape the
Network." This book is an ideal Intro-
duction to the complicated concepts of
computer circuitry.

Games Magazine says "Whether or not
you have any experience with computer
technology you'll be both amazed and
delighted by the simplicity of the format
and the complexity of the play. All you
need is some common cents."

Dr. Dobb's Journal says Computer
Coin Games is a simple approach to a
complicated concept... Computer Coin
Games is liberally sprinkled with clever
illustrations and diagrams, and provides
a relatively painless route to an under-
standing of how computer circuits func-
tion."

Written by Joe Weisbecker and en-
hanced with great cartoons by Sunstone
Graphics. 96 pages, paperbound, (10R)
$3.95

e v^ v Computers^
o**° in Mathematics:
A Sourcebook off Ideas

m Mathematics:
A sourcebook of ideas

Edited bvD«vidH AM / ' \

Creative Computing

Edited by David Ahl

Here is a huge sourcebook of ideas
for using computers in mathematics
Instruction. This large format book
contains sections on computer literacy,
problem solving techniques, art and
graphing, simulations, computer assist-
ed Instruction, probability, functions,
magic squares and programming styles.

One section presents over 250 prob-
lems, puzzles and programming ideas-
more than is found in most "collection of
problems" books.

Pragmatic, ready-to-use, classroom
tested ideas are presented for everything
from the most basic introduction to
binary numbers to advanced techniques
like multiple regression analysis and
differential equations. Every Item dis-
cussed has a complete explanation
including flowcharts, programs and
sample runs.

Much of the material has appeared In
Creative Computing but the back issues
are no longer available. Hence thla is
your only source to this practical and
valuable material. Edited by David H.
Ahl, this mammoth 224-page softbound
book costs only $15.95. (The Individual
issues, If they were available, would cost
over $60.00). [12D]

132

CREATIVE COMPUTING

r» IMIll IIS
VPSI> mi us

Sill III I

Problems for

Computer

Solution

GRADE 9 AND UP

Stephen J. Rogowski

90 intriguing and fascinating pro-
blems, each thoroughly discussed and
referenced, make an excellent source of
exercises in research and problem solv-
ing. Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, num-
ber theory, probability and science are
examples of the 11 types of problems
included. The book contains 7 appen-
dices and 3 classic unsolved problems.

Or. Dobb's Journal says "The problems
are clearly and concisely stated."

The great classroom book is 104 pp.
8 1 /* x 11"SoftbOund. (9Z)$4.95.

The Teacher Edition contains solutions
to the problems, each with a complete
listing in BASIC, sample run, and an
in-depth analysis explaining the al-
gorithms and theory involved. It is 192
pp. 8V2 x 11"Softbound. (9Y)$9.95

The Best of Byte

Edited by David Ahl and Carl Helmers

This blockbuster of a book contains
the majority of material from the first 12
issues of Byte magazine. It is crammed
full of how-to articles on everything from
TV displays to joysticks to cassette
interfaces and computer kits. Also full of
software and applications from on-line
debuggers to games to a complete small
business accounting system. A section
on theory examines the how and why
behind the circuits and programs, and
one on opinion looks at where this
explosive hobby is heading. 386 pp. 8V? x
11" Softbound. Much more. All of these
Byte issues are now out of print so this is
the only source of this vital material.
Large format paperbound, 386 pages,
(6F) $11.95.

SEPTEMBER 1980

Computers For Kids

TRS-80 Edition

Apple Edition

Atari Edition

Sally Greenwood Larsen

These wonderful books provide chil-
dren with a complete, simple-to-
understand, step-by-step guide to using
the computer. Each book explains what a
computer is, how to run the computer,
how to load and save programs, how to
write flowcharts, and how to program in
BASIC. The use of graphics, PRINT,
Variables, GOTO, INPUT, IF-THEN and
FOR-NEXT is explained and sample
programs are included. A glossary of
statements and commands is featured.

For parents and teachers, a special
section offers valuable teaching tech-
niques, solutions to common hardware
problems, and lesson ideas to ac-
company each chapter. Sample work
sheets are provided. The large type
makes the books easy to read. 11 x 8V2"
Softbound, Computers For Kids comes
in three editions: TRS-80 Edition (12H);
Apple Edition (12G); Atari Edition (12J).
Each book is $3.95.

Computer Music
Record

A recording of the Festival was made and
is now available on a 12" LP record. It
features eight different computer music
synthesizers programmed to play the
music of J.S. Bach, J. Pachelbel,
Rimskykorsakov, Scott Joplin, Neil Dia-
mond, Lennon & McCartney and seven
others. The music ranges from baroque
to rock, traditional to rag and even
includes an historic 1963 computerized
singing demonstration by Bell Labs.
$6.00.

133

Computer Rage has been hailed by
educators as an outstanding game for
teaching youngsters between 7 and 14
about the binary number system (the
game uses 3 binary dice!), parts of a
computer system and how a program is
processed. In addition the game is sheer
fun! Recommended by Instructor,, The
Arithmetic Teacher, The Science Tea-
cher, Curriculum Product Review and
others.

Computer Rage is based on a large scale
multiprocessing computer system. The
objective is to move your three programs
from input to output. Moves are deter-
mined by the roll of three binary dice
representing bits in a computer. Hazards
include priority interrupts, program
bugs, decision symbols, power failures
and restricted input and output channels.
Notes are included for adapting game for
school instruction. A perfect intro-
ductory tool to binary math and the
seemingly-complex computer. $8.95 (6Z)

^^B

Binary Dice. Now, the same dice used in
Computer Rage can be purchased separ-
ately. Three binary dice (red, green and
yblue) in ziplock bag. $1 .25 (3G)

To Order

Send your check for books plus $2.00
shipping and handling per order to
Creative Computing, P.O. Box 789-M,
Morristown, NJ 07960. NJ residents add
5% sales tax. Visa, Master Charge or
American Express are also acceptable.
For faster service, call in your bank card
order toll free to

800-631-8112
(in NJ, call 201-540-0445)

creative computing

P O Box 789-M. Morrillown NJ 07980
"CIRCLE 350 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Creative Computing magazine and
software are seeking an outstanding
simulation which focuses on the urban
transportation problem faced by many
cities today.

The simulation should include Rail,
Bus, Automobile.

Some Background Information

Railroads

Advantages — dense carrying capa-
bilities, low pollution, not subject to traffic
delays.

Disadvantages — initial construction
very high, maintenance relatively high,
uses complex mechanisms, feeder roads
and parking areas needed, psychologically
unacceptable to some customers (because
of sparse late night schedules, fear of
crime, bad connections, distance to walk).

A factor which could be either an
advantage or disadvantage is that rail uses
people to operate thus it provides jobs, but
also it is subject to work stoppages.

Automobile

Advantages — provides point to point
transportation, psychologically desirable,
not subject to work stoppages.

Disadvantages — acquisition of right-
of-ways expensive, inefficient carrying
capacity, relatively high pollution, traffic
jams and delays (due to weather, converg-
ing on one point, accidents, etc.).

Bus and/or Light Rail

Has some of the advantages and
disadvantages of rail and auto.

Decisions To Be Made By
The User of The Simulation

Capital Spending on new road
construction, capital spending on new rail
construction, operating expenditures on
roads, operating expenditures on rail,
operating subsidies on rail, operating
subsidies for bus.

Potential Hazards

Derailment, blizzard or heavy snow,
fog, strike, gas shortage, brownouts or
blackouts.

Factors to be Included in the Program

To build new facilities, voters will
approve a maximum tax rate increase of
N %. Voters will approve a maximum rail
percentage of M% and a maximum road
percentage of X%. What this means is that
not all taxpayers will approve of a 100%
rail plan or 100% road plan so that the
funding and plans must be allocated
between the two. These percentages may
be ranges.

Examples of What Can Happen

If spending on road construction is
too high, you loose credibility and the
mayor asks you to resign. If it is too low,
the commuters revolt and the mayor also

asks you to resign. Other things that can
happen in between: If road construction
expenditures are relatively high, rail
commuters and environmental groups will
get angry and will picket and demonstrate.
If expenditures are relatively low, motor-
ists will get angry and picket and demon-
strate. There will also be no provisions for
bus lanes creating many delays and the
total carrying capacity will be too low. If
capital expenses are high, maintenance
expenses can be somewhat lower because
newer facilities require somewhat lower
maintenance than older facilities. If the
total spending is too high, taxpayers
revolt; if it is too low, companies will leave
the city because of poor transportation and
residential taxes will be forced up. If
maintenance expending is too low on
roads, that will create potholes which leads
to traffic slowdowns and accidents. Other
examples of what can happen include: if
operating expenditures on rail are too low
the schedules will not be frequent enough
and trains will not connect with one
another thereby stranding commuters and
creating lower overall carrying capacity.
The actual expenditures should bear some
relationship to the transportation system
for a medium size city.

What We Are Looking For

We would like a program which is
instructive, which is based on fact and
which is fun to use. It should run on a
commonly available microcomputer such
as a I6K or 32K Apple or TRS-80. It
should employ graphics whenever possible
and should use good programming tech-
niques and design. The accompanying
instructions should be comprehensive and
should give the user a good background
into the problem as well as giving the user
the necessary information to make wise

decisions to run the program and to learn
from it. The user should probably be
playing the role of the transportation
commissioner of a medium size city such as
Milwaukee, Sacramento or Jacksonville.
The winning program will be pub-
lished in Creative Computing Magazine
and will also be distributed by Creative
Computing Software. The winner will
receive an Ohio Scientific Challenger I P
computer. In addition, the winner will
receive royalties from the sale of the
program through Creative Computing
Software.

Got a Better Idea for a Simulation?

If you don't like the idea of an urban
transportation simulation and would like
to do one on another subject, there isa place
for you too. For the best simulation on any
other subject submitted we will award a
Video Brain Computer system and 10
software program cartridges. Also the
program will be published in Creative
Computing Magazine and will be distrib-
uted through Creative Computing Soft-
ware. Simulations could focus on the
energy problem, usage and/ or explora-
tion; on any aspect of ecology, science,
physics, space exploration, geology,
chemistry, biology or any other subject of
your choice. The rules are the same. We
want a very comprehensive description of
the program; the program must be realistic
and must provide the user with a worth-
while educational experience.

Deadline

The deadline for submissions is
December 10, 1980. The awards will be
made in time for Christmas. The programs
will appear in Creative Computing in the
February and March 1981 issues. D

134

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Great Christmas Gifts!

Perfect for

Schools

and Libraries

ild Your Library!

Our warehouse is bursting at the seams. We
just don't have enough room for everything we
publish. So we've put together some cartons of
every single thing we print plus some other
books and Cut the price nearly In half. The books
are brand new— not damaged or rejects. The
magazines range from July/August 1977 to July
1980. We don't have every issue, of course, but
there's over 3600 pages of good reading in the 25
issues of Creative Computing and another 800
pages in the 8 issues of ROM.

Huge 45%
Discount!

Here's the ideal way to start or build a basic
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package has 33 timeless magazines. You'll get a
nifty board game, an LP record, nine posters,
and a set of binary dice. All together 63 separate
items for only $120.00 postpaid!

If you just want the 33 magazines alone,
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whopping 42%discount.

Orders must be prepaid by check or money
order. (Sorry we can't afford WATS charges or
bank card charges on a deal this good.)
Send order and payment to:

Creative Computing

Sensational September Sale

P.O. Box789-M

Morristown, NJ 07960

Limited Time Offer

$ZS

Here's what you get—

16 Books

The Best of Creative Computing, Volume 1

The Best of Creative Computing, Volume 2

The Best of Byte, Volume 1

Basic Computer Games

More Basic Computer Games

The Colossal Computer Cartoon Book

Games With the Pocket Calculator

Computer Coin Games

Be A Computer Literate

The Home Computer Revolution

A Guided Tour of Computer Programming in Basic

Computers in Mathematics: A Sourcebook of Ideas

The Impact of Computers on Society and Ethics:

A Bibliography
Katie and the Computer

Problems for Computer Solution-Student Edition
Problems for Computer Solution-Teacher Edition

Miscellaneous items

Computer Rage Game

Binary Dice (Set of three)

First Philadelphia Computer Music Festival

12" LP Record
Computer Myth Posters (Set of eight)
Mr. Spock Poster

Reprint: Sorting, Shuffling and File Structures
Reprint: Word Processing

33 Magazines

Creative Computing (25 issues from Vol. 3, No. 4

to Vol. 6, No. 7)
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SEPTEMBER 1980

135

ow Not To Be Out Of Sorts

The first part of this series of three
articles discussed the insertion sort as
an excellent method to sort short lists.
In this part we discuss the amazing
Heapsort. Its program is short, no
auxiliary storage is required, and its
method is intriguingly clever, though
initiafly not simple. It was discovered
by Williams and Floyd, in 1964. Our
description closely follows that in
"Combinatorial Algorithms" by the
author and H.S. Wilf (Acad. Press),
where the reader can also find a com-
pact program in Fortran.

What Is A Heap?

For the purposes of heapsort the
best way to visualize the array a(1) . . .

Part II: Heapsort

Albert Nijenhuis

precedes Women's Lib!) Figure 3 is an
example of a so-called BINARY TREE,
ROOTED at box 1. It is useful to ob-
serve that each box is the root of a
smaller binary tree, e.g., box 5 is the
root of a binary tree consisting of
boxes 5, 10, 20, 21, 22, 23, while box
14 is a binary tree all by itself.

It is easy to determine the struc-
ture of a binary tree with n boxes with-
out a picture: box i is the father of boxes
2i and 21+1, so long as these do not
exceed n.

A binary tree is called a heap if the
elements stored in the boxes have the
property that the value stored at each
father is greater than, or equal to, that
at each of the sons: if 2i<n this means

Figure 3

a(n) to be sorted is shown in Figure 3.
In the first row one box represents a(1 ),
in the next row two boxes represents
a(2) and a(3), etc.; each row contains
twice as many array members as the
previous one, until we run out (n=26
in Figure 3).

Each box ("father") is connected
to two boxes (his "sons"), as long as
the supply lasts. (The terminology

Albert Nijenhuis, Univ. of Pennsylvania. Dept. of
Mathematics. Philadelphia. PA 19104.

a(i) > a(2i) and a(i) > a(2i+1), while if
2i=n it means only the first of these
two conditions — if 2i>n there is no
condition on the (son-less) fatherhood
at box i. For example, in Figure 3 the
subtrees rooted at 4 and 5 are heaps,
while the tree rooted at 6 is not a heap.

Creating A Heap.

The first phase of heapsort con-
sists in converting the binary tree into a
heap. This is accomplished by a care-
fully designed sequence of inter-

changes of entries between father and
son. In analogy to Part I we assume
that at any time part of the desired
heap structure is already present, and
we shall extend it, until the whole
binary tree is a heap. For example, if

Heapsort is a very de-
sirable candidate for a
quick sorting, particu-
larly when the input is in
a state of considerable
disorder.

an interchange between a father and
son is contemplated, the binary trees
rooted at the sons (there may be 0, 1 or
2 of them) are already heaps. Initially,
all the subtrees rooted at "son-less"
fathers are heaps.

So, suppose that the strategy calls
for a possible interchange at father i;
see Figure 4. Then we first compare

Figure 4

the sons 2i and 21+1 to find the larger
one of the two; let j=2i or j=2i+1 as the
case may be (if 2i=n, we always have
j=2i). Next, compare a(i) an a(j). If
a(i) > a(j), the heap condition holds at
box i, since the value at the father is
greater or equal to that at the sons.
Otherwise, we interchange a(i) and

136

CREATIVE COMPUTING

a(j), thereby insuring that the new
values satisfy the heap condition at
box i. Note, however, that the heap
condition may no longer hold at box j,
since the new value is less than the old

1000 'SUBRS HEAPSORT OF Ad).
...»A<N)

1010 'PHASE 1

1020 LET M=N

1030 FOR L»INT(N/2) TO 1 STEP -1

1040 LET B-A(L)

1050 GOSUB 1150

1060 NEXT L

1070 'PHASE 2

1080 LET L*l

1090 FOR M=»N-1 TO 1 STEP -1

1100 LET B-A<M+1>

1110 LET A(M+1)=A(1 )

1120 GOSUB 1150

1130 NEXT M

1140 RETURN

1150 'TOHEAP

1160 LET I=L

1W0 LET J=I + I

1180 IF J>M GOTO 1250

1190 IF J=M GOTO 1210

1200 IF A<J+1)>A(J) THEN LET J-J+l

1210 IF B>«A(J) GOTO 1250

1220 LET A<I)=A(J)

1230 LET I-J

1240 GOTO 1170

1250 LET A(I)-B

1260 RETURN

Figure 5

one. We may, therefore, have to re-
adjust the situation at box j. In view of
the fact that the binary trees rooted at
the sons of box j are heaps, we have the
same problem again, though of a
smaller size. It may be hard to be-
lieve, but this one operation of father-
son interchanges is the building block
of the whole heapsort!

Referring to Figure 3, let's make a
heap. First of all, the binary trees
rooted at boxes 13 through 26 are
(trivially) heaps. Now, first make a
heap out of the subtree rooted at 13,
then 12, etc., through 8. After this, con-
tinue with the binary rooted at 7, 6, etc.,
all the way to 1. In this last group an
interchange at the root may lead to

further interchanges below it, of
course.

Let's follow in detail what happens
at box 6. Observe that the binary trees
rooted at 12 and 13 are heaps. Now
a(12) > a(13), so compare a(6) and
a(12), which calls for an interchange.
Now compare a(24) and a(25) to find
the larger one. So, compare the new
a(12)--25 with a (25). Since the latter
is smaller, no further interchanges are
needed; otherwise, we would have
interchanged the new a(l2) and a(25).

Algorithm TOHEAP.

We assume that the binary tree
rooted at box I has to be made into
a heap, while the binary trees rooted at
the sons (if any) of box I are heaps. The
highest-numbered box is not to exceed
m (this was n in section 6; we will see
later why).

Step 1 (Initialize) Set b - a(l); set i - 11
Step 2 (Find a son, if any) Set j — 2i; if

j > m goto step 5
Step 3 (If there is a second son, let j be
the larger one) If j=m, goto step 4,
else, if a(j+1) > a(j) set j - j+1
Step 4 (Compare b with a(j)) If b < a(j)
goto step 5, else (move a(j) up) set
a(i) — a(j) and i — j, then goto step 2
Step 5 (Insert b) Set a(i) - b, EXIT

Phase 1 (creating a heap) is now
accomplished by performing TOHEAP
with m=n, and with 1 running back-
ward from [n/2] to 1. (We use [x] to
denote the largest integer in x; e.g.,
[7.5] = 7, [6] = 6.)

We discuss the amazing
Heapsort. Its program is
short, no auxiliary stor-
age is required, and its
method is intriguingly
clever, though initially
not simple.

Heapsort, Phase 2.

So — now that we have a heap:
what next? We wanted to SORT the
list, didn't we? And what the heap
gives us is a pile, rather strangely
organized, with the largest element on
top. It is not even clear where the
second-largest element lives; and as to
the third-largest . . . Nevertheless, in
just a few lines we can describe how it
all ends.

Take a(1), the largest element, and
interchange with a(n). Then the
largest element is where it belongs
(don't touch it again!), and we now have
a binary tree consisting of the boxes 1
through n-1 , which is a heap, except at
the root. One application of TOHEAP
(1, n-1) restores the heap structure, so
the (next) largest element is now in
a(1). Interchange a(1) and a(n-1), and

apply TOHEAP again, et. That's all!
Phase 1. For I = [n/2] to 1 in steps —

1 do TOHEAP (I. n); next I
Phase 2. For m = n-1 to 1 in steps —
1 interchange a(m+1), a(1), do
TOHEAP (1, m), next m; EXIT
In Figure 5 we give a Basic pro-
gram for Heapsort. The subroutine
TOHEAP starts at 1150. It differs from
the algorithms in section 7 only in that
b(=B) is defined just prior to entering
the subroutine, in instructions 1040
and 1100. The loop 1030-1060 is Phase
1, while the loop 1090-1 130 is Phase 2.

Final Comments.

A careful examination of TOHEAP
shows that each application of this
subroutine is in fact an insertion.
However, the lists on which this in-
sertion is performed are extremely
short. Other methods, e.g., merge sort
methods (see the next article) require
even fewer comparisons, but demand
their own price, e.g., additional work-
ing storage. Also, some other methods
make use of any pre-existing order in
the input data. In this last respect,
even the insertion sort is superior.

All with all, Heapsort is a very
desirable candidate for a quick sorting,
without fuss, of lists of most any length,
particularly when the input is (usually)
in a state of considerable disorder.
(Next: Merge-sort of linked lists) D

SEPTEMBER I960

137

MICROCOMPUTER MEASUREMENT and

TRS 80 INTERFACE

El CZ3

*--"^ 1 APNOD
APPLE INTERFACE

EXPANDER

MODULE

REMOTE
CONTROLLER

SENSORS

• TEMPERATURE

• LIGHT LEVEL

• PRESSURE

• pH

• HUMIDITY

• ACCELERATION

• SOUND

• ETC...

REMOTES

• APPLIANCES

• LIGHTS

• MOTORS

• PUMPS

• ALARMS

• HI-FIS

• TELEVISIONS

• HEATERS

• FANS

• ETC...

Analog Input Module

The world we live in is full of variables we
want to measure. These include weight,
temperature, pressure, humidity, speed and
fluid level. These variables are continuous
and their values may be represented by a
voltage. This voltage is the analog of the
physical variable. A device which converts
a physical, mechanical or chemical quanti-
ty to a voltage is called a sensor.

Computers do not understand volt-
ages: They understand bits. Bits are digital
signals. A device which converts voltages
to bits is an analog-to-digital converter.

Our AIM 16 (Analog Input Module) is a 16
input analog-to-digital converter.

The goal of Connecticut microcompu-
ter in designing the uMAC SYSTEMS is
to produce easy to use, low cost data
acquisition and control modules for small
computers. These acquisition and control
modules will include digital input sensing
(e.g. switches), analog input sensing (e.g.
temperature, humidity), digital output con-
trol (e.g. lamps, motors, alarms), and
analog output control (e.g. X-Y plotters, or
oscilloscopes).

Connectors

The AIM 16 requires connections to its
input port (analog inputs) and its output
port (computer interface). The ICON (Input
CONnector) is a 20 pin, solder eyelet, edge
connector for connecting inputs to each of
the AIM16's 16 channels. The OCON
(Output CONnector) is a 20 pin, solder
eyelet edge connector for connecting the
computer's input and output ports to the
AIM16.

The MANMOD1 (MANifold MODule)
replaces the ICON. It has screw terminals
and barrier strips for all 16 inputs for
connecting pots, joysticks, voltage
sources, etc.

CABLE A24 (24 inch interconnect cable)
has an interface connector on one end
and an OCON equivalent on the other. This
cable provides connections between the
uMACSYSTEMS computer interfaces and
the AIM 16 or XPANDR1 and between the
XPANDR1 and up to eight AIM 16s.

The AIM 16 is a 16 channel analog to digital
converter designed to work with most
microcomputers. The AIM16 is connected
to the host computer through the compu-
ter's 8 bit input port and 8 bit output
port, or through one of the uMAC SYS-
TEMS special interfaces.

The input voltage range is to 5.12
volts. The input voltage is converted to a
count between and 255 (00 and FF hex).
Resolution is 20 millivolts per count. Ac-
curacy is 0.5% ± 1 bit. Conversion time
is less than 100 microseconds per channel.
All 16 channels can be scanned in less than
1.5 milliseconds.

Power requirements are 12 volts DC at
60 ma.

The POW1 is the power module for the
AIM16. One POW1 supplies enough power
for one AIM16, one MANMOD1, sixteen sen-
sors, one XPANDR1 and one computer in-
terface. The POW1 comes in an American
version (POW1a) for 110 VAC and in a
European version (POW1e) for 230 VAC.

TEMPSENS

This module provides two temperature
probes for use by the AIM16. This
module should be used with the MANMO01
for ease of hookup. The MANMO01 will
support up to 16 probes (eight TEMP-
SENS modules).

Resolution for each probe is 1°F.

** ***

t 1

XPANDR1

The XPANDR1 allows up to eight Input/
Output modules to be connected to a com-
puter at one time. The XPANDR1 is
connected to the computer in place of the
AIM16. Up to eight AIM16 modules are
then connected to each of the eight
ports provided using a CABLE A24 for
each module. Power for the XPANDR1
is derived from the AIM16 connected
to the first port.

138

CREATIV

:ONTROL for PET, Apple, KIM

Computer Interfaces
and Sets

For your convenience the AIM16 comes as
part of a number of sets. The minimum
configuration for a usable system is the
AIM16. one POW1, one ICON and one
OCON. The AIM16 Starter Set 2 includes
a MANMOD1 in place of the ICON. Both
of these sets require that you have a
hardware knowledge of your computer
and of computer interfacing.

For simple plug compatible systems
we also offer computer interfaces and sets
for several home computers.

INTRODUCING
SUPER X-10 MODULE
Open a door or window and turn on a
light, tape recorder, alarm!

Control lab equipment. CLOSE THE
LOOP on the real world.

AN INEXPENSIVE CONTROL
SOLUTION FOR

HOME SECURITY
ENERGY CONSERVATION

GREENHOUSES
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
INDUSTRIAL CONTROL
LABORATORIES

SUPER X-10 MOD SPECS

1. Remote controller

Controls up to 256 different remote
devices by sending signals over the
house wiring to remote modules. Uses
BSR remote modules available all over
the USA (Sears, Radio Shack, etc.).
Does not require BSR control module.
Does not use sonic link.

2. Clock/calendar

Time of day - hours, minutes, seconds
Date ■ month, day - automatically cor-
rects for 28.29,30 and 31 day months.
Day of the week.

3. Digital inputs/outputs

8 inputs - TTL levels or switch closures.

Can be used as triggers for stored

sequences.
8 outputs - TTL levels

and AIM r^ii 1 ]

L|lf SYSTEMS J

PLUS: CLOCK, CALENDAR,

REMOTE SEQUENCE TRIGGERS

4. Computer interfaces

S-100: Requires one 8-bit input port and

one 8-bit output port.

Requires cable assembly.

PET, APPLE. TRS-80, KIM, SYM, AIM65:

Plug-in sets available ■ no cable assembly

required.

Other: same as S-100

5. Self-contained module in metal case with
its own power supply. Physical size
approximately 5X6X2.

Price (until April 30. 1980): $199.00 (S-100),
$249.00 (other)

All prices and specifications subject to
change without notice. Our 30-day money
back guarantee applies.

AIM16 (16 channel-8 bit Analog

Input Module) 179.00

POW1a(POWer module 110 VAC) 14.95

POW1e(POWer module 230 VAC) 24.95

ICON (Input CONnector) 9.95

OCON (Output CONnector) 9.95

MANMOD1 (MANifold MODule) 59.95
CABLE A24 (24 inch interconnect

cable) 19.95
XPANDR1 (allows up to 8 Input or

Output modules to be connected to a

computer at one time) 59.95
TEMPSENS2P1 (two temperature probes,

•ICFtOieCF) 49.95

LIQHTSENS1 PI (light level probe) 59.95

The following sets include one AIM16,
one POW1, one OCON and one ICON.

AIM16 Starter Set 1a (110 VAC) 189.00

AIM16 Starter Set 1e (230 VAC) 199.00

The following sets include one AIM16,
one POW1, one OCON and one MANMOD1.
AIM 16 Starter Set 2a (110 VAC) 239.00

AIM16 Starter Set 2e (230 VAC) 249.00

The following modules plug into their
respective computers and, when used
with a CABLE A24, eliminate the need for
custom wiring of the computer interface.
PETMOD (Commodore PET) 49.95

KIMMODfKIM, SYM.AIM65) 39.95

APMOD (APPLE II) 59.95

TRS-80 MOD (Radio Shack TRS-80) 59.95
SEPTEMBER 1980

iDfllsl©

SYSTEMS

Order Form

CONNECTICUT microCOMPUTE R , Inc.
150 POCONO ROAD
BROOK FIELD. CONNECTICUT 0M04
TEL 1203) 775-9659 TWX 710 456 0052

The following sets include one AIM16.
one POW1, one MANMOD1, one CABLE
A24 and one computer interface module
PETSETIa (Commodore PET •
110 VAC) 295.00

PETSETIe (Commodore PET •
230 VAC) 305.00

KIMSETIa (KIM, SYM, AIM65 •
110 VAC) 285.00

KIMSETIe (KIM, SYM, AIM65 •
230 VAC) 295.00

APSETIa (APPLE II -110 VAC) 295.00

APSETIe (APPLE II -230 VAC) 305.00

TRS-80 SET 1a (Radio Shack TRS-80 -
110 VAC) 295.00

TRS-80 SET1e (Radio Shack TRS-80 •
230 VAC) 305.00

139

QUANTITY

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

TOTAL

SUBTOTAL

Handling and (hipping — add par order

$300

Foreign orders add 10% lor AIR postage

add 7S sale* tai

TOTAL ENCLOSE0

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Card number

Complements & Supplements

Ronald Carlson

Complements and Supplements is
aimed at two groups. Math and science
teachers can use the program as it is,
or change the alphanumeric strings,
constants, and parameters to assist
with algebraic concepts in their cur-
rent lessons. Also, students of different
levels can benefit from the algebra
involved in the solution and the
structure of the program.

Since this program deals with one
type of problem, only one type of
solution is needed. As a math teacher I
don't recommend that students use
one method exclusively for solving
equations, but proficiency with one
method does have its advantages. The
program gave my programming stu-
dents an example of Computer-As-
sisted Instruction and my Geometry
students enjoyed a chance to work
together since no two problems are
identical.

The problems in this program are
of the following type:

An angle is

Aimore than Betimes 'ts I supplement.

1 less t complement

Find the angle.

-60 < A < 60

B=1. 2,3.4

C=1,2 (complement or supplement)

The values for A,B, and C are gener-
ated randomly, The problem is trans-
lated into the equation shown at the
top of the next page.

Ronald Carlson, 44825 Kirk Ct . Canton. Ml
48187

RUN

THIS PROGRAM HILL HELP YOU SOLVE ALGEBRA PROBLEMS CONCERNING
SUPPLEMENTS AND COMPLEMENTS.

ANSWER YES IF YOU ARE GOING TO WORK AT THE COMPUTERf

OR NO IF YOU WANT A QUIZ SHEET.
7N0
HOU MANY PROBLEMS DO YOU WANT ? 5

* 1 ) AN ANGLE IS
FIND THE ANCLE .

* 2) AN ANGLE IS
FIND THE ANGLE .

* 3) AN ANGLE IS
FIND THE ANGLE .

* 4) AN ANGLE IS
FIND THE ANGLE .

« 5) AN ANGLE IS

FIND THE ANGLE .

9 LESS THAN 4 TIMES ITS SUPPLEMENT .
57 LESS THAN 4 TIMES ITS COMPLEMENT ,
57 LESS THAN ITS COMPLEMENT .
53 MORE THAN 4 TIMES ITS COMPLEMENT ■
9 MORE THAN 3 TIMES ITS COMPLEMENT .

DO YOU WANT THE ANSWERS ? YES

• 1 THE ANSWER IS 142.2

• 2 THE ANSWER IS 60.6

• 3 THE ANSWER IS 16.5

• 4 THE ANSWER IS 82.6

• S THE ANSWER IS 69.75
READY

THIS PROGRAM WILL HELP YOU SOLVE ALGEBRA PROBLEMS CONCERNING
SUPPLEMENTS AND COMPLEMENTS.

ANSWER YES IF YOU ARE GOING TO WORK AT THE COMPUTER.

OR NO IF YOU WANT A QUIZ SHEET.
TVES
HOW MANY PROBLEMS DO YOU WANT ? 5

• 1 > AN ANGLE IS 57 LESS THAN
FIND THE ANGLE .

ITS COMPLEMENT

WHAT IS THE ANGLE ? 16. 5

CONGRATULATIONS ! YOU ARE CORRECT. THE ANSWER IS 16.5

* 2) AN ANGLE IS 53 MORE THAN 4 TIMES ITS COMPLEMENT .
FIND THE ANGLE .

WHAT IS THE ANGLE ? 7.4

TRY THE COMPLEMENT
WHAT IS THE ANGLE ? 82.6

CONGRATULATIONS ! YOU ARE CORRECT. THE ANSWER IS 82.6

140

CREATIVE COMPUTING

• 3) AN ANGLE IS 9 MORE THAN 3 TIMES ITS COMPLEMENT
FIND THE ANGLE .

WHAT IS THE ANGLE ? 45

DO YOU KNOW THAT COMPLEMENT ARE ANGLES WITH A SUM OF 70
WHAT IS THE ANGLE ? 35

TRY THIS EQUATION.
X- 3( 90-X) * 9
WHAT IS THE ANGLE ? 26

YOUR EQUATION SHOULD SIMPLIFY TO THE FOLLOWING.

4X= 270+ 9

WHAT IS THE ANGLE ? 75

THE CORRECT ANSWER FOR YOUR PROBLEM IS 69.75
TRY ANOTHER PROBLEM.

* 4) AN ANGLE IS 22 MORE THAN 4 TIMES ITS COMPLEMENT .
FIND THE ANGLE .

WHAT IS THE ANGLE ? 76.4

CONGRATULATIONS ! YOU ARE CORRECT. THE ANSWER IS 76.4

• 5) AN ANGLE IS 43 MORE THAN 4 TIMES ITS SUPPLEMENT .
FIND THE ANGLE .

WHAT IS THE ANGLE ? 152.5

DO YOU KNOW THAT SUPPLEMENT ARE ANGLES WITH A SUM OF 180
WHAT IS THE ANGLE ? 152.6

CONGRATULATIONS ! YOU ARE CORRECT. THE ANSWER IS 152.6

x= B (C*90 -x) + A

x= B*C*90 - Bx + A

Bx + x = B*C*90 + A

(B+1)x = B*C*90 + A

x = (B*C*90 + A)/(B+1) . . .

which is the definition of FNA, line 160.

Line 470 controls the acceptable
accuracy of the user's answer. Pres-
ently it must be within .001 of the
correct answer. This is to allow for
such answers as 75'/ 3 to be entered as
75.333. Progressive hints on incorrect
answers will be provided in the termi-
nal session of this program, otherwise
a list of random questions and a choice
of an answer sheet for that particular
quiz is printed.

Possible modifications to the
program include more diagnostic work
in the hint section, or variation in the
wording of the problems. It would not
be to difficult to change this program
to handle algebra problems such as
problems involving acids, bases, con-
centrations, gravity, etc. or, for ex-
ample, Bill is 5 inches taller than
Herby. Together their height is 125
inches. Find Bill's height. a

(Program listing on following page)

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CIRCLE 131 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1980

141

Buy By Mail
and Save!

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64K Quad, List $3995 $3395

NORTH STAR Horizon I'

16K D.D. Kit $1259

32KD.D. Kit *1579

32K Assembled. List $2695 $2149

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PRINTERS & TERMINALS

PAPER TIGER IDS 440 $ 849

with Graphics Option $ 949

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920C $ 839

HAZELTINE 1420 $ 839

1500 $ 879

SOROC 120 $ 745

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Computers
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S (315)4722582 QQ

CIRCLE 132 ON READER SERVICE CARD

COMPLEMENTS & SUPPLEMENTS
R. CARLSON
CANTON. MICH 48187

10 REM
20 REM
30 REM
40 REM
SO REM
60 REM

70 DIM R< 100).A»<5).B»<8>.C*( 10 >»(.»< 3)

80 PRINT" THIS PROCRAM HILL HELP YOU SOLVE ALGEBRA PROBLEMS CONCERNING"

90 PRINT-SUPPLEMENTS AND COMPLEMENTS."

100 PRINT • ANSUER YES IF YOU ARE GOING TO HORK AT THE COMPUTER."

110 PRINT" OR NO IF YOU WANT A QUIZ SHEET."

120 INPUT 0$

130 IF Q»«"YES" THEN T«l ELSE T»0

140 INPUT "HOH MANY PROBLEMS DO YOU WANT ? "eN

ISO PRINT

160 DEF FNA<ArBrC>» ( AtB»C»90 ) /( Btl )

170 REM FHA BILL SOTVE THE EQUATION UBIrTC THE VALUES OF A.B.C

180 FOR H-l TO N

190 A- INT< 60«RND( M ) Hi

200 IF RNIKMK.5 THEN A=-A

210 REM A RANGES FROM -60 TO 60

220 B» INT(4*RND<M>>+1

230 REM B IS 1.2.3,4

240 C> INT(2*RND<H>m

250 REM C IS 1 OR 2 FOR COMPLEMENT OR SUPPLEMENT

260 R<H>» FNACA.B.C)

270 REM R(H> HAS THE CURRENT ANSUER

280 IF C-l THEN C««"COMPLEMENT" ELSE C«="SUPPLEMENT*

290 IF SGN(A>°1 THEN A»=" MORE" ELSE A*=" LESS"

300 ON B GOTO 310.330 .350 . 370

310 B»»" "

320 GOTO 380

330 B$=" TWICE"

340 GOTO 380

350 B«»" 3 TIMES"

360 GOTO 380

370 B»=" 4 TIMES"

380 PRINT"* "»M»" ) "I

390 PRINT "AN ANCLE IS " JABSC A >»A»»" THAN ",B»8" ITS ".C»l" . "

400 PRINT "FIND THE ANGLE ."

410 PRINT

420 K-0

430 IF TOl THEN 680

440 PRINT

450 INPUT " WHAT IS THE ANGLE ? ".Al

460 PRINT

470 IF ABS(A1-R(M)» .001 THEN 510

480 PRINT-CONGRATULATIONS I YOU ARE CORRECT.

490 PRINT

500 GOTO 680

510 IF Al <>C*90 -R(M) THEN 550

520 PRINT'TRY THE "SC«

530 GOTO 450

540 REM K IS FOR PROGRESSIVE HINTS

550 K=K+1

560 ON K GOTO 570.590.620,650

570 PRINT* DO YOU KNOW THAT "»C»." ARE ANCLES WITH A SUM OF "SC»90

580 GOTO 450

590 PRINT'TRY THIS EQUATION."

600 PRINT"X» "»B8"<".C*90»"-X> +">A

610 COTO 450

620 PRINT" YOUR EQUATION SHOULD SIMPLIFY TO THE FOLLOWING. -

630 PRINT B+1."X=".B»C*90.-+".A

640 GOTO 450

650 PRINT -THE CORRECT ANSUER FOR YOUR PROBLEM IS *.R(H)

660 PRINT "TRY ANOTHER PROBLEM."

670 PRINT

680 NEXT H

690 PRINT

700 PRINT

710 IF T»l THEN 770

720 INPUT" DO YOU WANT THE ANSWERS

730 IF Q«="NO" THEN 770

740 FOR M«l TO N

750 PRINT "« "»M." THE ANSWER IS "« R( M )

760 NEXT M

770 END

READY

THE ANSUER IS "«R(M>

142

CREATIVE COMPUTING

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the suspense as you repel the Saucer Invasion. Finally, a
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Sports Gomes - 1 puts you in the Apple World Series

Take the field in the Great American Computer Game.
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your fielders to snag the ball before he gets to first. Balls
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SEPTEMBER 19. r :C

143

Are You Ready for Mouse Control Language? (Squeak!)

The

Mechanical
Mouse

MikeTyborski

High school computer programming
teachers are seldom able to challenge
the student with simple, but elegant
off-line problems. The classical Me-
chanical Mouse problem, however,
can give excellent results when ap-
plied to the classroom situation. In
addition, it will intrigue both novice
and experienced programmers alike.

The Mechanical Mouse (CC, May/
Jun 78) is simply an exercise in prob-

The classical Mechanical
Mouse problem can give
excellent results when ap-
plied to the classroom
situation.

lem analysis and flowcharting. These
are important skills that the student
should learn to use effectively. Unlike
many other problems, however, the
Mechanical Mouse will challenge the
student while retaining his interest.

These advantages were recognized
by the Greendale High School com-
puter programming teachers in Green-
dale, Wisconsin. As a result, they
elected to use the Mechanical Mouse
as a flowcharting exercise for all stu-
dents. This article will show how this
task was accomplished with ease.

In this exercise, each student was
responsible for using a simple set of
commands to give the mouse intel-
ligence. This was to be done using
previously taught flowcharting tech-
niques and skills. An important re-
quirement was that each mouse had
to successfully run all the mazes
shown in Figure 1.

Allowable commands had two major
functions: motive and sensory. They
were as follows:
I. Motive

A. Move one cell in current
direction.

B. Turn right.

C. Turn left.

D. Turn around.

E. Halt.
II. Sensory

A. Facing a wall?

B. Outside of maze?
Furthermore, two additional tests

could be used if the mouse was out-
side the maze. They check for the en-
trance or exit and are used to de-
termine if the run is completed.

A number of factors were to be ex-
amined while testing flowcharts. They
determined how efficient each mouse
was and allowed intelligence quo-
tients to be given. Best efficiency, and
hence performance, was defined as
the least number of turns, physical
moves and executed statements.

Time considerations, however, did
not allow each program to be hand
checked. This obstacle led to the de-
velopment of a simple mouse control
language that could be implemented
on the school timeshare computer
system. This language, or MCL for
short, is based upon PILOT and con-
sists of twelve commands. These
commands are simple to use and al-
low programs to be written quite
easily because they are directly re-
lated to those allowed in the flow-
charts.

Mouse control language syntax, like
PILOT, is also very easy to learn and

remember. This was shown when two
students taught their class MCL
within 15 minutes.

Each MCL command, as shown in
Figure 2, consists of one letter and is
followed by a colon. In addition,
branch instructions use another letter
as the destination label. This label
must be placed immediately after the
colon because no spaces are allowed.

Mouse control language
syntax, like PILOT, is very
easy to learn and remem-
ber.

As an example, Figure 3 shows a
simple flowchart and its MCL
equivalent.

These MCL equivalents were tested
by an interpreter. This interpreter was
written by an advanced programming
student in Fortran-20 (a modified
Fortran-IV). Equally important, a
simple text editor was also included
in the package.

This text editor proved to be ex-
tremely versatile and useful. It fea-
tured 8 commands and allowed vari-
ous maze files to be used. These com-
mands were execute, load program,
list program, load maze, reset coun-
ters, insert, delete and stop. Each was
specified by a single numeric argu-
ment in the range to 7. Finally, op-
erating instructions were available
through a HELP file.

Michael Tyborski, 5937 Sugarbush Lane,
Greendale, Wl 53129

Maze 1
Exit

Maze 2
Exit

Maze 3
Exit

Maze 4

Ex" . .

Entry

Figure 1. Four simple test mazes.

144

CREATIVE COMPUTINQ

C ST * RT )

Figure 3. Simple flow chart
and its MCL equivalent.

MOVE

1 CELL

TURN
AROUND

TURN
LEFT

MOVE
1CELL

-«J-^ WALL? ^
JYES

TURN
AROUND

The companion interpreter was also
very effective. It handled all 12 MCL
commands and calculated how effi-
cient each mouse was. Equally im-
portant, it included various error traps
and their associated messages.

Finally, the assignment was given

Figure 2.
Mouse control language commands.

COMMAND

MEANING

Move one cell In current direction

Pivot right

Pivot left

Turn around

Halt

Outside of maze?

At Beginning ot maze?

At exit of maze?

Facing wall?

Y:x

Yes conditional

N:x

No conditional

J:x

Unconditional branch

HALT

SEPTEMBER 1980

MCL LISTING

A M:
O:
Y:C
W:
N:A

B L:
W:
N:A
A:
W:
N:A
R:
J:A

C B:
N:D
A:
M:
J:B

D H:

after the MCL interpreter was com-
pleted. This was done through a
three-page handout and short lecture.
This handout included a description
of the problem, helpful hints and flow-
chart information. Lecture was then
used to further illustrate Mechanical
Mouse requirements.

These requirements led to a two-
stage grading system. Flowcharts
were graded first by having each stu-
dent check a classmate's work for ac-
curacy. Each acceptable result was
then submitted to the computer pro-
gramming teacher for check off. Final
grades were eventually calculated
after MCL equivalents were evaluated.
Each student, however, had the op-
portunity to make his flowchart more
efficient if needed. These grades, as
stated earlier, were based on mouse
efficiency.

The Mechanical Mouse problem
proved to be an extremely valuable
off-line exercise in flowcharting tech-
niques. More importantly, it taught the
student real world problem solving
while showing that computers are not
just overgrown calculators.

The author would like to personally
thank Mr. Gary Luck and Mr. Arne
Engebretsen, computer programming
teachers, for their excellent work in
making the Mechanical Mouse a real-
ity. Special thanks are also given to
Tom Gorski, junior, for his fine MCL
interpreter. □

A complete listing ot the Mouse
Control Language editor /compiler
in Fortran IV is available from the
author tor $2.00, to cover production
and handling costs. Please address
requests for the listing to:
Michael Tyborski
5937 Sugarbush Lane
Greendale.WI 53129

145

interactive
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CC9/80

CIRCLE 11SON READER SERVICE CARD

The Student Gets A Break

Grading Made Easy

Bruce D. Barnett

This ankle, of interest to teachers ami

students alike, presents a grading
scheme that not only makes grading
easier, hut also gives the student a
'break.' A computer program that
performs the compulations involved is
provided and described.

"It's fair." "I think it is a good
scheme." are typical responses to the
grading system I've successfully used over
the past sexeral years. It is based on a
combination of three elements: home-
work, in-term tests, and a final examina-
tion. A computer makes the necessary
combination of all scores involved easy,
and in the process makes some allowance
for the student who happened to have a
"bad da\."

When you first use the
computer program at the
end of the semester,
enter the 'perfect score'
for each homework
assignment as well.

To use the grading scheme, you must
first decide how you wish to weight the
three elements mentioned above. I found
weighting the homework 20% and apply-
ing a 30% and a 50% weight to the
remaining two elements very satisfactory.
The student gets a break in that the higher
weight (50% in my case), goes to the higher
of either the final exam grade or the
average of the in-term tests. The 30%
weight naturally goes to the remaining
grade. Figure I illustrates the calculations
for each of two students.

Since the final exam grade for student
A was higher than the average of the two
test scores (=74), the final exam score was
weighted 50%. In contrast, student B had

Bruce D. Barnett. RD »2. Box 213. Blairstown. NJ
07825.

STUDENT

STUDENT B

AVERAGE HW
SCORES:

TEST #1:

TEST #2:

FINAL EXAM:

WEIGHTED
SCORE:

92(.2)+
+88(.5)

74(

■

.3)
84.6

92(.2)+88(.5)
♦68(.3) • 82.8

Kigurc

Notation

N Counter (counts number of students)

N I Number of homework assignments

rill) Point value of Ith homework assignment

Tl Total point value of all homework assignments

(ill I) Student grade on Ith homework assignment

51 Sum of all student homework assignment grades
Wl Weight given to homework assignments

N2 Number of in-term tests

P2(l) Point value of Ith in-term test

T2 Total point value of all in-term tests

(12(1 1 Student grade on Ith in-term test

52 Sum of all student in-term test grades
F2 Weight given to in-term tests

P3 Point value of final examination

G3 Grade student earned on final examination

NS Student name

Q$ Response (Yes or No) to query:

"ANOTHER STUDENT?"

S Average weighted score of all students

P Print device (Missing or %2 for printer)

I FOR-NEXT loop index

(INPUT)
(INPUT)

(INPUT)

(INPUT)
(INPUT)
(INPUT)

(INPUT)

(INPUT)
(INPUT)
(INPUT)
(INPUT)

(INPUT)

146

CREATIVE COMPUTING

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26 1180 Voice Synthesiser 339.00

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- CIRCLE 163 ON READER SERVICE CARO

SEPTEMBER 1980

147

Grading, cont'd...

his final exam grade weighted 30'V since it
was lower than the average (=88) of his two
test scores. Without this boost, student B
would have had a weighted score in the
70's. You have the opportunity, of course,
to enter any weights into the accompany-
ing computer program that suit your
purposes.

So far it would seem that the
computer doesn't do much computation -
that you could easily do this by hand. But
there is more. It is not at all necessary that
each test be based on the usual 100 points.
If you decide on 8 problems for a test, why
not have 80 as the perfect score? Going one
step further, a perfect score on the last final
exam I gave was 108 points. Why 108?.'
The explanation is easy. The final was
based on nine problems. Some of these
problems contained one part, some
problems contained two parts, others had
three parts and still others had four. It was
natural to base each problem on twelve
points since one. two. three and four each
divide evenly into twelve. Thus, if you
desire to give equal credit to each part in
any one problem, all you need to do is
divide 12 by the number of parts. Each
part, for example, of a three-part problem
was worth lour points ■ nice round
number and easy to grade too. finally. 9
problems times 1 2 points for each problem
- 108 points.

If you decide on 8 prob-
lems for a test, why not
have 80 as the perfect
score?

Reasonable?

The attached computer program thus
requires, and indeed asks for. the number
of points for a perfect score for each test as
one of the initial inputs. In a similar vein,
homework grades could also be geared to
the number of problems given in each
assignment, four problems for one assign-
ment, nine problems for the next. etc.
When you first use the computer program
at the end of the semester, enter the 'perfect
score' for each homework assignment as
well. Once done, you arc now ready to turn
your attention to the students. You enter
each student's name and all corresponding
scores.

As a permanent record (if you or your
school computer has a printer), the
program prints each student's name on the
raw scores you entered - this provides a
valuable check on your inputs and all
corresponding grades expressed in per-
cent. In addition the average score for each
element is shown and finally, of course,
you obtain the 'weighted score.' The end of
the run concludes with the average of all
'weighted scores."

The computer program, written in

PROGRAM LISTING

10 N-0

ZO DIM N${20)

30 PRINT"FIXED INPUTS FOLLOW:"

40 INPUT-ENTER WEIGHT YOU WISH TO GIVE TO HOMEWORK IN DECIMAL FORM »,WI

50 INPUT"ENJER HIGHER OF REMAINING TWO WEIGHTS IN DECIMAL FORM ",WJ

60 WZ-I-WI-W3

70 PRINT"L0WER 0T REMAINING TWO WEIGHTS IS ",WJ

tO INPUT"NUMBER OF HW ASSIGNMENTS f ",NI

90 FOR I-I TO HI

100 PRINT"ENTER POINT VALUE OF HW ASSIGNMENT *",I,

110 INPUT" ",PI (II

120 T1-TI*P1(I)

130 NEXT I

140 INPUT"NUM8ER OF IN-TERM TESTS t ",NZ

ISO FOR I-I TO N2

160 PRINT"ENTER POINT VALUE 0T IN-TERM TEST »",!,

170 INPUT" ",P2ID

ltO TZ-TZ*PZ(I|

190 NEXT I

ZOO INPUT"ENTER POINT VALUE Of FINAL EXAMINATION ",P3

210 SI-0

110 SZ-0

Z30 T-0

140 PRINT?

Z50 PRINT"STUDENT INPUTS TOLLOW

260 PRINT

Z70 INPUT"STUPENT NAME f ",N*

210 FOR I-I TO NI

290 PRINT"ENTER GRAPE EARNED ON HW ASSIGNMENT »",I,

500 INPUT" ",GMH

3/0 NEXT I

3Z0 FOR I-I TO NZ

330 PRINT"ENTER GRADE EARNED ON IN-TERM TEST «",I,

540 INPUT" ",G2(II

350 NEXT I

360 INPUT"ENTER GRADE EARNED ON THE FINAL EXAMINATION ",G3

370 PRINT»P

3J0 PRINT«P,N$

390 PRINT»P"HW RAW SCORES: ",

400 FOR I-I TO NI

410 S1-S1*G1 (II

420 PRINT»P,G> (I),

450 NEXT I

440 PRINT«P

450 PRINT«P"HW GRADES IN I : ",

460 FOR I-I TO NI

4 70 PRINT* P, INTIGI (I I '100/ PI (1)1,

4t0 NEXT I

490 PRINT»P

500 PRINT*
510 PRINT*
5Z0 FOR I-
530 PRINT*
540 SZ-S2*
550 NEXT I
560 PRINT*
570 PRINT*
540 FOR I-
590 PRINT*
600 NEXT I
610 PRINT*
6Z0 PRINT*
630 PRINT*
640 PRINT*
650 IF SZ/
660 FZ-I-W
670 T-W!"S
6t0 PRINT*
690 S-S*T
700 INPUT"
710 N-N*l
7Z0 IF a$(
730 PRINT*
740 PRINT'

P"AI/ERAGE HW GRADE: ", INT(SI '100/T1 )

P" IN-TERM TESTS RAW SCORES: ",

I TO NZ

P,GZ(I),

GZ(I)

P"IN-TERM TESTS IN t: ",
I TO NZ
P,INT|GZ(I|»100/PZ(I|),

P"ACERAGE IN-TERM TEST GRADE: ", INTISZ* I 00/TZ )

P, "FINAL EXAMINATION RAW GRADE SCORE IS ",G3

P, "FINAL EXAMINATION SCORE IN PERCENT IS ", INTIG3* J0tf/P3J

TZ . G3/P3 THEN F3-W2 ELSE F3- W3

I-F3

I /T1*rt*St/Tt*F$*9S/f$

P"AfERAGE WEIGHTED TERM GRADE SCORE IS ",INT(T*I00I

ANOTHER STUDENT f

(VES OR NO)

\PJ

I,I)-"V" THEN ZI0 ELSE 730

P"AVERAGE WEIGHTED SCORE OF ALL STUDENTS IS ",S'I00/N

North Star Basic, implements this grading
scheme in a very straightforward manner.
In fact, it is easy to follow the program
simply by looking at all the print state-
ments which detail the inputs and the
computations. For completeness, defini-
tions for all the variables are also provided.
The sample run considers two hypo-
thetical students who have done reason-

ably well. All inputs to the program are by
query, which is easily identified by a
question mark or the direct prompt
ENTER. If you use a printer, only the ten
summary lines headed by the student's
name will appear on the paper.

Next time you have to submit those
final grades, sit back, relax and let the
computer do most of the work for you!D

148

CREATIVE COMPUTING

FIXED
ENTER
ENTER
LOWER
NUUBl
ENTER
ENTER
ENTER
ENTER
ENTER
NUMBE
ENTER
ENTER
ENTER

INPUTS FOLLOW:

WEIGHT VOU WISH TO GIVE TO HOMEWORK IN. DECIMAL
HIGHER OF REMAINING TWO WEIGHTS IN DECIMAL FORM
OF REMAINING TWO WEIGHTS
R OF HW ASSIGNMENTS f 5
POINT VALUE OF HW ASSIGNMENT
POINT VALUE Of HW ASSIGNMENT
POINT VALUE OF HW ASSIGNMENT
POINT VALUE OF HW ASSIGNMENT

POINT VALUE OF HW
R OT IN-TERM TESTS
POINT VALUE OT

ASSIGNMENT

t 2

IN-TERM TEST *

* 1

* 2

* S

* 4

* $

POINT VALUE OF IN-TERM TEST * 2
POINT VALUE Of FINAL EXAMINATION

50
10
60
SO
90

90
lOt

45
62
SI

SO
77

STUVENT INPUTS FOLLOW

STUDENT NAME ? ANDERSON

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON HW ASSIGNMENT »

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON HW ASSIGNMENT «

ENTER GRAVE EARNED ON HW ASSIGNMENT *

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON HW ASSIGNMENT •

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON HW ASSIGNMENT *

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON IN-TERM TEST * i

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON IN-TERM TEST » 2

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON THE FINAL EXAMINATION

ANDERSON

HW RAW SCORES: 45 62 Si SO 77

HW GRADES IN %: 90 tt 96 100 tS

AVERAGE HW GRADE: 91

IN-TERM TESTS RAW SCORES: 42 73

IN-TERM TESTS IN »: 77 tl

AVERAGE IN-TERM TEST GRADE: 79

FINAL EXAMINATION RAW GRADE SCORE IS 102

FINAL EXAMINATION SCORE IN PERCENT IS 94

AVERAGE WEIGHTED TERM GRADE SCORE IS «9

ANOTHER STUVENT 7 IVES OR NO) V

102

STUDENT INPUTS FOLLOW

STUVENT NAME t HARRISON

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON HW ASSIGNMENT • I SO

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON HW ASSIGNMENT * 2 70

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON HW ASSIGNMENT ' S SS

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON HW ASSIGNMENT * 4 St

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON HW ASSIGNMENT « S 90

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON IN-TERM TEST » I 72

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON IN-TERM TEST » 2 19

ENTER GRADE EARNED ON THE FINAL EXAMINATION

HARRISON

HW RAW SCORES: SO 70 55 It 90

HW GRAVES IN t: 1 00 1 00 9 1 16 1 00

AVERAGE HW GRAVE: 94

IN-TERM TESTS RAW SCORES: 12 *9

IN-TERM TESTS IN %: 90 91

AVERAGE IN-TERM TEST GRADE: 94

FINAL EXAMINATION RAW GRADE SCORE IS 73

FINAL EXAMINATION SCORE IN PERCENT IS 61

AVERAGE WEIGHTED TERM GRADE SCORE IS t6

ANOTHER STUVENT t IVES OR NO) N

AVERAGE WEIGHTED SCORE OT ALL STUDENTS IS
READV

«7.93I9»5

JOMES TBLLEV

NFL-PIX for 1980-1981 SEASON

Predict this Seasons ^ Games!

This program will maintain weekly
team schedules, keep track of scores
of games played, list current Division

win-loss standings and — predict the probable outcome of games! It establishes
a rolling average of strengths of all teams based on past performance. During the
last season its prediction was 6% better than the Greek Prognosticator!

For 16K Level II TRS-80 or Single Disk DOS Just $19.95

Please specify tape or disk!! Documentation supplied with either disk or tape.

80 U.S. Software

3838 South Warner Street

Tacoma, WA 98409

(206) 475-2219

Check, Money Order, Visa/Mastercard

TRS 80 is a Trademark of the Tandy Corporation
80 US Software & 80 US Journal are Divisions of 80 Northwest Publishing Co.

CIRCLE 189 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1980

149

■M

Maintenance Program

A useful program for managing a
department budget presented with
introductory material on using
North Star disk files.

If you are a manager or depart-
ment head in an institution, school,
university, private corporation, or gov-
ernment organization, then the prepa-
ration and administration of a budget is
one of your daily concerns. If you wish
to utilize your microcomputer to assist
you, you may find that there is no really
applicable software available. On one
hand, computerized accounting pro-
grams are certainly available. The
problem with these, however, is that
they tend to include such arcane
concepts as ledgers, double entries,
etc., that are more the province of the
accountants in your business office.
And there is no point in simply
duplicating their activities on a smaller
scale. On the other hand, the simple
checkbook balancing programs de-
signed for domestic use do not include
enough detail or flexibility to be very
helpful.

As a bridge between these two
extremes, the following Budget Main-
tenance Program is suggested. It
assumes that your institution has a
centralized business office that does
the real' accounting and bookkeeping,
and so does not try to needlessly
duplicate these efforts. It does, how-
ever, use the microcomputer's ability
to cross-index information and to add
up columns of figures in a hurry, to
provide you with very useful day-to-
day information on the state of your
budget. Such questions as: Is revenue
in a certain area meeting projections?
Has P.O. #xxxxxx been received? Do
we have enough money in the supplies
account to buy extra materials before
the price goes up? Who did we order
crenelated gizmos from last October,

John Webster. Director, Audio Visual Services.
University of New Brunswick. Fredericton. NB.
CANADA.

and how much were they? The BMP
will provide answers to these and
virtually any other related questions
you can think of very rapidly (such as
in the middle of a telephone query or
staff meeting).

Utilization of the BMP will also
greatly simplify your annual budget
preparation ordeal. Whether your
budget is historically or zero-base
determined, the data accumulated
over the previous year will show very
clearly how much each division in your
department costs to provide its various
services.

Finally, the BMP is extremely
flexible. By understanding the struc-
ture of the records in the data file, you
can easily add your own menu options
to those presented here.

The purpose of this article then, is
two-fold. First it presents an imple-
mentation of the program just de-
scribed (in North Star Basic) and,
secondly, it gives some insight into
using North Star disk files: How they
may be accessed and utilized.

Structure of the Program

The main program, BUDGET,
contains a menu as well as the
functions necessary to enter new
records into the file and to modify
existing records. All other menu
options are separate, stand-alone
programs CHAINed to BUDGET. The
disk also contains a data file, ACCT,
which holds all the transaction re-
cords. A short program, ANEW, is used
to initialize the ACCT data file the first
time it is used. Before examining the
programs in more detail, let's look at
some basic information on North Star
disk files.

File Structure

Data files on North Star disks are
any number (up to the capacity of the
disk) of sequential bytes of informa-
tion. Each file has a name (e.g., ACCT)
and ends with an endmark. One file
contains a number of records and each
record is made up of a number of fields.

Each field is a specific number of
bytes. If we compare a computer disk
file to a manual filing system, the file
would be analogous to the filing folder.
Each record might be a page of paper
in the folder and each field a word,
number or sentence on the page.

In designing a computer data file
the first thing to be concerned with is
the structure of the records. All similar
records will be the same length and
must allow space for all the informa-
tion you might want that record to
contain. Say, for example, you start
building a file of records, each of which
contains a purchase order number and
an account code. If you were to decide
in six months time that you also wanted
to know the date of a specific trans-
action, then you're in trouble. Ade-
quate space must be provided when
the record structure is first set up. As
records are stored sequentially on the
file, there would be no room for date
information on your first six months
worth of entries. Table 1 lists the
various fields which make up one
transaction record in the Budget
Maintenance Program.

TABLE 1

Label

Description i

Number
If Bytes

Type of
Variable

Record No of this
transaction

Numeric

Object Code
(account)

Numeric

A$(8)

Date (mm/dd/yy)

String

D$(1)

Division Dimension
(of the Department)

String

C$<30)

Description/Name

String

Revenue amount

Numeric

Chargeback amount

Numeric

Expenditure amount

Numeric

B$(8)

P.O/Receipt #

String

SS(8)

Supplier/
Description

String

RSID

Status (O.R.C)

String

TOTAL ■

93 Bytes
per record

150

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SEPTEMBER 1980

CIRCLE 167 ON READER SERVICE CARD

151

Budget, cont'd .

Eventually we will have to know
how many bytes of disk space each of
our records will require, so let's use the
BMP records as an example and figure
it out now. There are two rules to
remember:

1. A numeric variable (regardless
of its size) will take five bytes of disk
space;

2. A string variable will take one
byte for each character in the string
(not its dimensioned size!) plus two (if
the string is less than 256 characters
long) or three (if it is more than 256).

These rules are very important to
understand. If we say A$ = "George"
then we would require 6 + 2 bytes of
disk space to store AS. whether AS was
d imensioned to 6 or 60. Similarly, if A$
■ "Bill" then A$ would store in 4 + 2
bytes.

The simple checkbook
balancing programs de-
signed for domestic use
do not include enough
detail or flexibility.

If you will be reading data files by
random access (as we will in these
programs).often it is necessary to have
AS store in the same length space
regardless of what it contains. This will
allow you to skip A$, for example, if
you want to access the next field or to
skip an entire record of fields to reach
the next one. (Remember that numeric
variables are no problem. They always
use five bytes). If we look at our
description' field (see Table 1 ) we have
decided that we will allow for a 30-
character description. It might be less
than 30 characters but it can't be more.
Therefore, we will call our description
field C$ and dimension it to thirty:
CS ( 30) We will also dimension another
string of blanks to thirty: L$(30). Then
when C$ is input from the keyboard L$
is concatenated with CS:

INPUT C$

C$ = C$ + L$

This has the effect of filling CS with
blanks after the input value, if the input
value has less than thirty characters, to
ensure that C$ contains exactly thirty
characters. We can now be sure that
every description field contains ex-
actly thirty characters (whether it is
George # 24 blanks or Bill # 26 blanks
or Consolidated Aircraft + 9 blanks).
See Table 1 for byte allocations in each
BMP transaction record.

The Header

Our data file also contains some-
thing called a header which uses the
first 250 bytes of the file. All transaction

records are then stored sequentially
after the header.

All fields in the header are numeric
variables. Our budget is broken down
into 16 different accounts (or object
codes). For example, 121 is external
revenue, 601 is a supplies account, 762
is capital equipment and so on. The
bulk of the header consists of 3-field
records containing object code num-
ber, original balance and the present
balance. Whenever a new record
(transaction) is entered, the present
balance of the pertinent object code is
modified. This allows quick access to
the balances in all accounts (as in the
DISP Program). The last field in the
header is the record number of the last
transaction currently in the file (N) and
the first field is the record number of
the first record in the file (N5). These
values are used by the programs to
compute the total number of records in
the file (N-N5+1 ), the next valid record
number to be used (N+1), etc. This
system also allows you to use as many
disks as you need to store your
transactions.

Finally, we can see that our data
file will require 250 bytes of disk space
for the header, plus 93 bytes for each
record. Single density North Star disks
store 256 bytes per sector (or block).
Thus, a data file one hundred blocks
long would store the header and 272
transaction records.

Accessing Data Files

There are two methods of reading
and writing to disk data files; sequen-
tial and random access.

Before accessing a data file by
either method, the file must be opened:
OPEN #0, "ACCT"

A WRITE statement will then
cause data to be entered into the file
(starting at the beginning of the file)
and an endmark will be written after the
last entry:

WRITE #0, A, B, C (this would be
record #1) A subsequent WRITE
statement:

It gives some insight into
using North Star disk
files.

WRITE #0, A, B, C (this would be
record #2) will cause a second record
to be appended to the first. The original
endmark is written over and a new
endmark is placed at the end of the
second record. This is sequential file
access. So long as the file remains
open, the file pointer is moved along in
the file by the WRITE statements.
When file access is complete, the file
should be closed:

CLOSE #0

The zero (0) in the above examples
is a file number, assigned to that file

when it is OPENed and used to
differentiate it from other files that may
be open at the same time.

READ statements function in the
same way:

OPEN #0, "ACCT"

READ #0, A, B, C
will cause the variables A, B and C to
be loaded with the values in the first
record. A subsequent READ statement
will read the second record, etc.

If we compare a com-
puter disk file to a manual
filing system, the file
would be analogous to
the filing folder.

It is necessary to realize here that
information must be read from a record
in the same sequence it was written.
This is especially important if one
record contains a mixture of numeric
and string variables, e.g., A, B$, C.
A READ statement to access this data
must contain first a numeric variable,
then a string variable and finally
another numeric. Attempting to access
this data example with the following
statement: READ #0, A, B, C, will return
a TYPE (more about TYPE later) error.
A correct READ statement might be:
READ #0, X, Y$, Z.

Note the use of loops to cause
these sequential WRITES and READS
in the ANEW and DISP programs.

Random access simply allows you
to skip a specified number of bytes
(from the beginning of the file, not from
the last position of the file pointer)
before performing a READ or WRITE:

OPEN #0, "ACCT"

READ #0 %(expression), A, B, C

In the case of the BMP,, for
example, it is necessary to skip over
the header before reading the first
transaction record:

OPEN #0, "ACCT"

READ #0, %250, M, A, A$, D$, C$,
R, C. E, BS, S$, RS If we only wanted to
know the date of the first transaction
we could: Read #0 %260, A$.

It should now be clearer why we
were concerned with making all string
variables store in a predictable number
of bytes. It now becomes a simple
matter to random access the nth
record in the file by skipping n-1
records. Since we know that each
record in a file contains 93 bytes and
our header contains 250 bytes, the
following statement will let us READ
the nth record:

READ #0%93*(n-1)+250. M, A, A$
. . . etc.
What if we want to modify something in
the nth record? The theory is exactly
the same as reading a value in the nth
record,only we use a WRITE statement.

152

CREATIVE COMPUTING

BUSINESS PROFESSIONAL GAME
SOFTWARE FOR APPLE AND TRS-80

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153

CIRCLE 202 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Budget, cont'd

Before we do this, however, remember
that we said a WRITE statement will
enter an endmark after the last value
written. This is obviously desirable in
this case.as it would leave an endmark
in the middle of our nth record.
Therefore, we terminate our WRITE
statement with NOENDMARK. For
example, let's say we want to replace
the date information in the nth record
with a new value, B$. The proper
statement would be as follows:

WRITE#0%93*(n-1 )+260,
BS.NOENDMARK

We mentioned earlierthat trying to
read string data into a numeric variable
(or vice versa) would result in a type
error. North Star Basic contains a TYP
function that will tell you the type of the
next variable to be read.

The TYP(f ile number) function will
return a value of zero (0) if the next field
is an endmark, a one ( 1 ) if the next field
is string variable, and a two (2) if the
next field is a numeric variable.

One useful application of the TYP
function is to find the end of a data file
by sequential access:

Be sure that every de-
scription field contains
exactly thirty characters.

If TYP(O) = THEN (this is the end,
we can add a new record) ELSE (read
another record).

The North Star Basic manual gives
a program example that uses the TYP
function in conditional IF statements
to control which kind of variable is read
next. This allows the reading of a data
file of unknown structure.

Finally, two common error mes-

sages that will be encountered in using
the data files are TYPE error and FILE
error.

A TYPE error may mean:

• you made a mistake in calculating
your random-access offset (the ex-
pression after the %) and are trying
to read the wrong type of variable.

• you inadvertently added an endmark
in the middle of your data file during
some previous WRITE access and
your file is no longer as long as you
thought it was.

A FILE error may mean:

• you are trying to OPEN (or CLOSE)
a file that is already open (or closed)

• you are trying to write to a protected
disk (forgot to take the protect tab
off).

The BUDGET Program

The BUDGET program begins by
displaying a "menu" of options. Option
numbers 1 and 3 are in the BUDGET
program itself, all others (and ones you
will add), CHAIN to separate pro-
grams. Notice that the ANEW program
is not accessible through the menu, as
it is only used to initialize a new data
file and would destroy an existing data
file if inadvertently run.

Line 540 of the BUDGET program
will determine the number of records
that will fit into the size of file you have
initialized (250 bytes for header, 100
for tail = 350). Line 570 may be used if
you wish to limit the number of records
to less than the maximum (say, 600
records per file to make it work out
evenly). If you don't care about easy
numbers and want to fill your initial-
ized ACCT file then delete 570.

When the program determines
that your data file is full, the header

values (C present balance) are copied
into a 'tail' which is written directly
after the last record in the file. The
purpose of the 'tail' is to function as a
temporary variable set by which to
judge whether the header of that disk
has been modified or not. After the
subsequent disk is updated, the 'tail' is
corrected to equal the modified header
value.

DISP

DISP accesses data from the
header fields and displays the present
balances along with account number,
description and original approved
balance for each account. This is a very
fast program and is very handy for
seeing what you have in any given
account at any time. You will modify
the data statements (line 210 to 240) to
contain appropriate descriptions of
your various accounts. If you have a
printer, it may be useful to generate
DISP printouts at the end of each
month to keep a record of activities
over the year.

Information must be read
from a record in the same
sequence it was written.

Notice that DISP uses both ran-
dom and sequential access. Line 100 is
a random access READ statement with
an offset value of zero which returns
the file pointer to the beginning of the
file, and then redundantly reads N5 to
set the file pointer to the second field.
Object codes and amounts are then
read from the header using sequential
access in the FOR loop (line 110).
Another method of resetting the
pointer would be to CLOSE and
immediately OPEN the file before
READing N5.

DIVDIS and DIVDIS 2

These programs take a bit longer
to run as they access all file records.
Their purpose is to give a complete
expense picture incorporating all
transactions pertaining to any one area
(division) of the department for a
chosen time period.

DIVDIS requires only one disk
drive and some programmable mem-
ory starting at location zero to store the
pertinent record numbers. Its only
limitation is that all your records must
fit into one single ACCT data file.

DIVDIS 2 will gather data from
multiple ACCT files but requires a
buffer ACCT file on a second drive.
DIVDIS 2 first transfers all records with
division and data fields matching the
parameters selected into the buffer file
to prepare an expense statement
similar to DIVDIS. There is no need for

154

CREATIVE COMPUTING

DIVDIS 2 to store pertinent record
numbers in programmable memory as
they are kept in the buffer file. DIVDIS
uses the stored record numbers to
access the proper records if you wish
details of the transaction.

The sample runs show slight
differences in the printout for the two
programs merely to show two different
approaches. Either display format
could be used with either program or
you may alter the display further to suit
your needs. Line 580 in DIVDIS prints a
space when the hundreds digit of the
account code increments. This groups
similar accounts (e.g., 600's are all
supplies) in the display. Inactive object
codes are ignored by the display.

As date information is entered
MM/DD/YY, a VAL function of the date
character string will return a number
corresponding to the month.

Certainly the inclusion of more
sophisticated data base handling
techniques (such as 'hashing.' which
uses pointers to link pertinent records
in a file) could be applied to either of
these two programs to increase their
speed. This would, of course, lengthen
the program and data records. In
defense of the "brute force" approach
presented here, it was written by a
novice to meet a specific need (which it
does). It is hoped that the simple
approach will be more understandable
and provide a model which can be
modified and improved upon.

CANT

Occasionally it is necessary to
cancel a transaction. The CANT
program finds the transaction you wish
to cancel, displays the details and after
asking you again to make sure you
really want to cancel it, changes the
record's status to "C" which will
prevent it from being modified in the
future. It then modifies the header
record to remove the effect of the
transaction's value (either income or
expenditure) from the pertinent object
code balance.

As the record is not removed from
the file, all pertinent details of the
transaction are saved for reference.

POS and SSRCH

POS allows you to search your
data file by Purchase Order Number
(to see if it has been received, the price,
or whatever). Super Search is an
extension of the same techniques and
allows you to search your data file for
any possible combination of param-
eters. POS is smal ler and faster to use if
you are checking the status, say, of a
list of P.O. numbers. Super Search, on
the other hand, will allow you to find
out if your equipment division
purchased anything from Consoli-

dated Whatsits during the month of
March. Super Search prompts the user
(lines 60 and 230) asking for specific
parameters (object codes, month,
division, etc.). The user may enter a
value or simply pressReturn.lf a value
is entered, the program will use it as
one of the parameters it tries to match.
If no value is entered, then the content
of that particular field will not be
examined for a match. For example: If
you enter a T in response to the
prompt 'month (1-12)': (line 80), the
program will consider only trans-
actions for the month of January . If you
do not enter a value and merely press
'return,' all months will be considered.

The user also has the option of
searching for an exact 'supplier' name
or specifying only thef irst letter. This is
useful if you are not sure of the exact
abbreviations used when the supplier
name was entered.

By concatenating the input string
(A2$, in this case) with a string variable
(L$) filled with blanks, as described
earlier, the computer will accept a
'return' as a valid input and ignore that
parameter in its search for matching
data (e.g., line 340).

UPDATE

Option #7 in the menu is an
updating program to correct the
header balances on a disk in the event
that a value of a record on a previous
disk is modified. This program is only
used if you have two drives and are
using several disks to hold all your
ACCT files. The UPDATE program
issues instructions and will not allow
you to erroneously update the wrong
disks.

The ANEW program is
not accessible through
the menu as it is only
used to initialize a new
data file.

Say, for example, you are pres-
ently on your third ACCT file and you
find that an invoice amount in a record
on your first disk must be modified.
First, the amount in the record on the
first disk is modified using menu
option #2. Then run UPDATE with disk
#1 in drive #1 and disk #2 in drive #2.
Finally, run UPDATE again with disk #2
in drive #1 and disk #3 in drive #2. This
will correct your present header
balances and insure that your output
from the DISP program is correct.

Adding Additional ACCT Files

Once you have the BUDGET
program and any others you wish to
use stored on a disk (along with DOS
and Basic), use DOS to create a type 3

file called ACCT. Then run your
customized version of ANEW (prob-
ably kept on another disk to save space
and prevent inadvertent use). Make the
ACCT file as large as possible, especi-
ally if you have only one disk drive.

If your volume of transactions
exceeds the capacity of one ACCT file,
you will periodically have to add new
ones. The BUDGET program keeps
track of how many empty records you

It may be useful to gen-
erate DISP printouts at
the end of each month to
keep a record of activities
over the year.

have left in your current ACCT file and
displays this information whenever
you add a new record to the file (lines
540 through 590). The procedure for
initializing additional ACCT files is as
follows:

When the BUDGET program de-
termines that the ACCT file is full, it will
indicate this and write a 'tail' (con-
taining all the present balances from
the header) immediately following the
last record.

Place a new disk into drive #2 and
copy your previous disk (go to DOS,
CD 1 2). Then run UPDATE (option
#7). This will update N5 on the second
disk (N5(2) = N(1) + 1). You are now
ready to place the newly initialized
second disk into drive #1 and begin
entering additional records.

Conclusion

Notice that considerable program
space has been devoted to "error
checking" input responses. Although
there is no way to completely check the
validity of data entered, the program
will generally reject inappropriate
responses and provides the user with a
display of the values entered before
they are written to the file.

Remember it is wise to keep a
regularly updated back copy of your
current ACCT file. A few minutes
copying work every day or so will save
days of retyping in the event of some
catastrophic system or disk failure.
With a basic understanding of random
disk file access you can readily begin
to make your micro "do something
useful."

NOTE: A single density North Star disk
containing all the Budget
Maintenance Programs de-
scribed in the article is avail-
able from the author for $25.00.

System Requirements:

North Star Basic and DOS

20K RAM

1 or 2 disk drives

SEPTEMBER 1980

155

iOO

IM"

110

!\!

120

130

1*0

1*1.

150

1*2.

160

!"3.

170

("4.

180

!"5.

190

("6.

200 IV.

. . .
20 Kin COPYRIGHT 1'

30 Ktn h V SERVICES. UNIVERSIT -ICK

«0 REM FREDERICTGN. N.B.i CANADA

50 BHMM8>iDMl)rC»(30i>I»<l)i 8 tU

R*< i ).L*U ).YN 8 >.V*< 1 1 ).C2*( 30 I
60 DIHCi io i

70 REM 20 - 190 MENU ROUTINC
80 REM EXPAND TO ADS OPTIONS
90 !\!\!\!\! "BUDGET MAINTENANCE PRio
UNB AV SERVICES

rtEMi"

ADD RECORDS TO FILE"

SUF2R-SEAh<.

MODIFY AN EXISTING RECORD"

DISPLAY PRESENT BALANCES'

DISPLAY BALANCES I'; DIVISION*

CANCEL A TRANSACTION"

UPDATE [ISC FILES"
210 IMMM

220 INPUT "CHOOSE ONE: "rl
230 !\!\!\!
240 IF I>7 THEN 220
250 IF 1*0 THEN 110

2ft0 ON I GOTO 470»2220.230f223u.2240i2250.2255
270 REM 200 - 360 SET UP FOR MODIFY
280 OPEN*Of "ACCT"
290 READtO.NS
300 READtO Z245fN
310 CLOSEtO

320 !\!"THIS FILE CONTAINS TRANSACTIONS ".N5." THROUGH ".N
330 (MNPUT'UHICH NUMBER MOULD YOU LIKE TO MODIFY? : " ( M
340 IF M'O THEN 110
350 IF rt>N ThEn 320
360 IF M<N5 THEN 320
370 R2«0\C2=0\E2=u
380 OPENtO, "Ai,

390 READtO 2250t( 93*(M-N5) )t5.A2f A25fD2«.C2tfR2f C2fE2.B2i.S2$.R2»
400 CLOSEtO

410 IF R2*="C" THEN 420 ELSE 760

420 ! "P.O. /RECEIPT* ".B2t»* HAS BEEN CANCELLED AND MAY NOT BE
430 !\!M\!\INPUT"PRESS RETURN TO CONTINUE.... ' ,U% MODIFIED."

440 GOTO 110

450 REM GET READY TO ADD RECORDS
460 REM S5 • SIZE OF FILE (BLOCKS)
470 OPEN*0. "ACCT-.S5
480 READtO.NS
490 READtO Z245iN
500 CLOSEtO

510 REM IF N=N+1 U£ ARE ADDING A RECORD
520 REM IF M<N+1 UE ARE MODIFYING EXISTING RECORD
530 M = Ntl

540 REM S5=tOF RECORDS AVAILABLE
550 S5«lNT((S5*256-350)/93)

560 REM USE 570 TO LIMIT FILE LENCTn ELSE USE 580
570 IF N-N5>»599 THEN 600
580 IF SSt(N5-l>»N THEN 600

590 ("THERE ARE ".S5HN5-1 )-N." EMPTY RECORDS REMAINING. "\GOTC 760
(.00 OPENtO, 'ACCT"
oiO ("DATA FILE FULL!"
620 READt0X250t93»(N-N5tl)-3.R«
630 IF TYP< >0 THEN 650
640 CLOSE«0\COT0120
e>50 FOR 1=0 TO 15
660 READtOZ<lS*IH5.A»8»C<H-l)
670 NEXT

680 FOR 1=0 TO 15

69v> aair£#0Z250+93«<N-NStlH<5»I).C. -
700 NEXT
710 CLOSEtO

72u l-JATA FILE 18 FULL. COPY SISC THEN LOAD AM RUM UPDATE'"
730 ("ENTER 'BYE' TO RETURN TO .
740 END

750 REM INPUT ROUTINE FOR ADD AND MODIFY STARTS HERE
760 !\!\!"RtCLRD NO.: ".MAI
770 REM CUSTOM ERROR MESSAGE
780 ERRSET 2270,0.01
790 ("OBJECT CODE I ',
800 IF M<Ntl THEN ("I UAS:",A2>'
810 INPUT ■ : ",Y»\!
820 Y*«Y»tL2*

830 IF Y»(l.i)=" - THEN i, ._ l< ELSE A"V*L<Y»)

840 IF A«0 THEN 110

850 ("DATE (HH/DD/YY /. -,

860 IF M<N+1 THEN !"< MSI' ttOti

870 INPUT ■! *.A»\A**A*tL2t

880 IF A*(l,l)»" " THEN IF MsNti THEN At«A2»+L2)

890 (\PRINT "DIVISION tSfM.F.U.E.P): ",

900 IF M<Ntl THEN l"< UAS:",i2}." )",

910 INPUT "i "»D*\D*«B1.-

...

930 REM :

94u IF D»»*C" THEN T«l
950 IF lf»="N"
960 IF i*="F
97i>

980 IF D»""E'
990 IF B*""P'
1000 IF T-
1010

102< l\PRINT V
1030 IF R2

1051.' .

lOt, . ■ ,

1071

1080 IF »»(i,l 5 .... .... B»VAL<Y»,

1090 R«0\C»0\-

noo (\;"is th:

1110 IF

1120 IF C.

1130 IF £200 THE 4 ; W*EXi

1140 IF M<N+1 THEN !"( UAS: ",V»," )"

1150 INPUT "CHOOSE ONE (RiC [1«I*H2»

1160 IF I*<1.1)=" " THEN IF HXNtl THEN I»*VK1fD ....

1170 IF I»="R" THEN R»D ELSE 1190

1180 GOTO 1220

1190 IF I»="C" THEN C»D ELSE 1210

1200 GOTO 1220

1210 IF I«*"E" THEN E»D ELSE 1:55

1220 IF I»="E" THEN 1280

1230 !\l "RECEIPT/INVOICE *: ".

1240 IF M<N+1 THEN !"( UAS: ",B2i." )"»

1250 INPUT •: ",B*\B*=B*+L2*

1260 IF B*(l.l)«" " THEN IF M<Ntl THEN I ELSE 1130

1270 GOTO 1320

1280 (\CP.O.*: ".

1290 IF M<N+1 THEN !"( UAS: ".B2t." >".

1300 INPUT "! ",Bt\B*=B»tL2*

1310 IF B*(l,l>=" " THEN IF M<N*1 THEN 8*»82. *280

1320 !\IF M*N+1 THEN (TABU5)," "

1330 IF !«•■£' THEN 1400

1340 PRINT " NAME: ".

1350 IF M<NU THEN !"( UAS! "»C2t." )"

1360 IF M<N« THEN ! — '

1370 INPUT " ! •»C»\C*=C$+L2*

1380 IF C*(l.l>=* " THEN IF M<N+1 THEN Ct»C2*+L2» ELSE 1320

1390 COTO 1450

1400 !\! "DESCRIPTION: ".

1410 IF H<NU THEN !"< UAS: ".C2»." )"

1420 IF M<N« THEN !" ■

1430 INPUT "I ",C*\C*«C»+L2*

1440 IF C*(l.l)«" " THEN IF M<NH THEN Ct»C2»+L2* ELSE 1320

1450 IMF M=N+1 THEN !TAB(16>."

1460 IMF N<N« THEN !TAB(32)»" ■

1470 IF I««"E" THEN 1530

1480 PRINT "DESCRIPTION: "»

1490 IF M<N+1 THEN !"< WAS: ".S2»," >" .

1500 INPUT "! ".S»\S*=SttL2*

1510 IF S$<1,1)»" " THEN IF M<N+1 THEN S*»S2ttL2* ELSE 1450 E..SE 1570

1520 COTO 1570

1530 PRINT " SUPPLIER! ",

1540 IF M<N+1 THEN I "( UAS: ",S2t»" )".

1550 INPUT -i ",S«\3t»S*tL2*

1560 IF S»(l.l)«" " THEN IF M<Ntl THEN St»32ttL2t ELSE 1530

1570 !\! "STATUS: = ON ORDER (OR OUT FOR SIGNATURE)"

1580 C R = RECEIVED (COMPLETE)"

1590 PRINT "ENTER STATUS (0/R): ".

1600 IF N<N+1 THEN !"( WAS: ".R2»." )•

1610 INPUT "i ",R*\R*=Rt+L2t

1620 IF R»=" " THEN IF M'CNtl ThEN R««R2«+L2« ELSE 13)0

1630 IF R*="0" THEN 1660

1640 IF R»*"R" ThEN 1660

1650 GOTO 1590

1660 IMMMMMM

1670 REM DOUBLE CHECK ENTRIES BEFORE WRITING TO DISC

1680 IMMMMMM

1690 CREC.NO.: ".M." OBJ. CODE: ".A." DATE: ",At\l

1700 ("DIVISION: ".D»." AMOUNT! "»I»CllF2fCr' TYPE: ".I*\:

1710 ! "P.O. /RECEIPT/INVOICE*: ",B»." NAME/DESCR.: " ,Ct\>

1720 I "DESCR. /SUPPLIER: ".S«." STATUS: ",R$\!

1730 IMMNPUT "ARE THESE ENTRIES CORRECT? (Y/NK ".X*

1740 REM SEE LINES 1900 TO 1990

1750 IF X**"Y" THEN 1780

1760 IF X$="N" THEN 1730

1770 GOTO 1730

1780 OPEN«0. "ACCT'

1790 IF M=NU THEN 1800 E

1800 URITEtO mS-H-NOENDNARK

1810 UR1TE40 193«(H-N5)4-:5ii.M.A.A».tt.C».R,:.E.B*.S*.R» \GOTC 1920

1820 URITEtO Z93*(M-N5)f2S0,M.A.At.Dt.Ct.R,C,EtB»,Si.Rt,NOEND.lAR,\

1830 READtO Z5.A1.B1.C1

156

MID-flTLflNTI

-COMPUTER
SHOW

WASHINGTON, D.C.

DC. ARMORY/STARPLEX

THURSDAY-SUNDAY

SEPTEMBER 18-21

11 A M TO 9 PM THURS -SAT
11AM TO 5 PM SUN

601 A PROGRAM
FOR Y00!

The new computers are showing off.
Over $50 million worth of equipment in over 100,000
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Computers costing $150 to $250,000, mini and micro com-
puters, data- and word-processing equipment, telecommunica-
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leading names in the industry like IBM, Xerox, Radio Shack
and Apple will all be there.

There'll be conferences on business uses of small to
medium sized computers, and how to make purchasing
evaluations.

There'll be robots, computerized video games,
computer art and computer music.

Everyone from kids to people who earn their liv-
ing with computers will have a great time at the larg-
est computer show ever organized in each region.
Admission for adults is $5. The public is
invited, and no pre-registration is necessary.
jur Don't miss the computer show that

•lip m.uw-t—r mixes business with pleasure. Show
l"llu«Wt3 1 up for the show.

COMPUTEF - A thf

SHOW

CHICAGO

Mccormick place
thursday-sunday

OCTOBER 16-19

11 AM TO 9 PM THURS -SAT
11AM. TO 5 PM SUN.

Produced by National Computer Shows.

824 Boylston Street. Chestnut Hill. MA 02167

Telephone (61 7) 739-2000

Please send me

NOFTHEfiST

COMPUTER

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BOSTON

HYNES AUDITORIUM

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THURSDAY-SUNDAY

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11 AM TO 5PM SUN

adult tickets at $5 each I have enclosed the proper amount of $

□ Information on the show's conference program.
□ Hotel registration information a Exhibitor rental information

Please print Name.

City.

_ State .

.Zip.

SEPTEMBER 1980

157

1840 J=0

1850 REM REMOVE 'OLD' EFFECT ON HEADER BALANCE

1860 REM WHEN MODIFYING RECORD

1870 IF A1=A2 THEN C1-C1-C2-R2+E2 ELSE 1900

1880 URITEtO Z15H15*J)fC1,N0EN.

1890 GOTO 1920

1900 READtO. A1,B1, CI

1910 J=J+1\G0T0 1870

1920 READtO Z5,A1.B1»C1

1930 J=0

1940 REM ADJUST HEADER BALANCE

19S0 IF A1»A THEN Cl*CHC+R-£ ELSE 1970

1960 COTO 2040

1970 READtO tAl.Blf CI

1980 J=JM

1990 REM DISALLOW INVALID OBJECT CODES

2000 IF J; 15 THEN ("OBJECT CODE KOI ELSE 2030

2010 URITEtO Z245>NtN0ENDMARK

2020 CLOS£tO\GOTO 110

2030 GOTO 19S0

2040 URITEtO Z15t( 15»J J.Cl.NCENDHARK

205O CLOSEtO

2060 IF H«NU THEN 2160

2070 !

2080 IF X*="Y' THEN INPUT "EC YOU WISH TO MODIFY ANOTHER RECORD?

2090 P*=P«+L2* »"»M E-SE 2160

2100 REM RESPONSE CAN BE\ Y.NtRETURN OR RECORD *

2110 IF P»(ltl>=" ' THEN 110

2120 IF P»(1f1)='Y" THEN 280

2130 IF Pt(l.l)»"N"THEN 110

2140 M«VAL(P«>

2150 GOTO 340

2160 IF X*(lil)*'N" THEN N=N«

2170 IF Xt(lil)="N" THEN 370

2180 !\!\!\!\>\!\!

2190 !" mm****"

2200 !\!

2210 GOTO 470

2220 CHAIN "SSRCH"

2230 CHAIN "DISP"

2240 CHAIN "DIVDIS2"

2250 CHAIN "CANT"

2255 CHAIN "UPDATE"

2260 REM CUSTOM ERROR MESSAGE

2270 IF 01=12 THEN K

2280 ! "OBJECT CODE MU!

2290 END

READY

20 DIM 3tC 13}

tNS
50 REAfctC Z245rN
55 IF H5-N=l THl
60 RLfiDtv Z93*(:. -.-,.

70 !TA6l35;."DArE Of LAS1
80 !TAE:40 ,,'Lr.ST rUC.
90 ! "OBJECT COD.. SVEI

100 READtO'.
110 FOR J»l TO 16
120 READtO. A.BfC
130 READ 6*
140 !A.TABit:»B»fZtC#.
150 NEXT J
160 CLOSEtO
170 l\l\l

180 INPUT'PRESS RETURN TO CONTINUE' rAt
190 !\l\l

200 CHAIN "BUDGET"

210 DATA -R£VENUE*»"CHAR6EDACK"f"TRA NE(L.D.

220 DATA -PRINTING",": HOTO'.'EOUI
230 DATA "NAG. TAPE". "BU-D3.ACC."."FIL.-. HAINT.
240 DATA ' (AVAILABLE;"
250 END
READY

i ««WANCE

60 READtO Z245.N

70 REM AfDATE OF LAST ENTRY

80 READtO Z93*(N-1H250»N.A.A$

90 INPUT "UHICH DIVISION?: " »D»\D*=DStLt

100 IF Dt<lil>»" ' THEN CLOSEtO

110 IF D»(l.l>=" " THEN CHAIN "BUDGET"

120 !\INPUT -UHICH MONTH? (NUMBER OR 'AU.' H " ,M*\M*=Mt+L$

130 R2*0

140 C2=C

150 :.

160 T«0

170 REM F'NUMBER OF MATCHES FOUND

180 F=0

190 !TAB(50)t-DATE OF LAST ENTRY: ",A»

200 i\l-OBJ. CODE". TAD( 25 >» -REVENUE". TABl 42,. "C,iARSE:iACK".TAB( 61 >."

210 REM STEP THROUGH HEADER RECORDS EXPENDITURE'S I

220 FOR J-l TO 15

230 READtO Z15»( J-l H5.A1.B1.C1

240 REM ROUTINE TO CHECK DIV.. DATE/STORE REC. KO.S/MtXKI MATCHES

250 GOSUB 540

260 NEXT J

270 CLOSEtO

280 IF R2+C2+E2=0 THEN !"N0 TRANSACTIONS FOUND FOR ".D»

290 IF R2+C24E2«0 THEN 520

300 'TAB(20)»- -.TAB(40)i - ".TABi60'/»" ,

310 !Z»Ctl2F2.TAB(20>.R2.TA3(40>»C2»TAB(60>.E2

320 T=TtE2-C2-R2

330 !

340 !TAB( 20). "TOTAL INCOME: " ,R2tC2.TA3i 50 >, "NET EXPENDITURE: ".T.Zt

350 ! "RECORD t LIST: ■

360 FOR K-l TO F

370 ! EXAM(K-l).

380 NEXT K

390 !\INPUT"yOULD YOU LIKE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE TRANSACTIONS?

LOAD DIVDIS

READY

LIST

10 REM 'DIVDIS' DISPLAYS BALANCES l\ I

20 REM REC. NO. '3 ARE STORE!

30 DIM D$(13).C*(30).D1*C.

40 OPENtO. "ACCT"

50 REM N=NUMBER OF RECORDS IN . ILE

400 IF X»(l.DO-Y- THEN 520

410 OPENtO. "ACCT"

420 REM GET REC. NO.S FROM RAM

430 FOR K*l TO F

440 U-EXAH(K-l)

450 READt0Z93*(U-lH273»C*»R>C.E»8«»St.R*

460 !U.TAB(12).CS.TAB(44).B*.R.C»E>-(".R».";"

470 REM Z ■ PAGING

480 Z=ZH

490 IF Z*6 THEN INPUT"Pf.L JE....".X$

500 IF Z=6 THEN Z*0

510 NEXT KNCLOSEtO

520 INPUT" JA» DISPl

530 IF X«(1»1>"1
540 R1=0
550 C1=0
560 L.

F :=. TO N
530 PEADtC Z93»( I
590 IF DltODWl.i;
600 IF AOA1
610 IF M«C1.3>»
620 Cl-VAL(At)

640 IF G=G1 THEN 650 I

650 IF INT< V/1»0 XIN1

660 V»A

670 REM STCRE REC NO.S IN

680 FILL Fill

690 F»Ffl

700 REM IGNORE ' CANCELLED' S

710 IF R*="C" THEN 750

720 Cl=CltC

730 El'EHE

740 R1=R1+R

750 NEXT I

760 IF Rl+CltEl»© THEN RETURN

770 !Al»TA&(20).Z*Ctl2F2.Rl.TAB(40).Cl.TAB(60)»El.Zt

780 R2=R2+R1

790 C2=C2tCl

800 E2-E2+E1

810 RETURN

READY

LOAD DIVDIS2

READY

LIST

10 REM DVD I 32

20 ! -DISPLAY EXPENSES FOR"

30 DIM L$(30).A»(8).D»(l).C$(30}»Xt(l;»R»;i>.St(2:

40 INPUT -UHICH DIVISION?: " »X*\Xt»X«L*

50 !

60 INPUT "UHICH MONTH ? (1-12 OR 'ALL'): ". Y*\Yt=Yt+L*

70 OPENtO, "ACCT. 2"

80 OPENtli-ACCT-

90 READtl.Fl

100 READtlZ245,N

,X»\X*«X»+L*

158

RETAILERS, CLUBS, SCHOOLS

12" LP Record

Philadelphia Computer
Music Festival

A recording was made of the festival
and is now available on a 12" LP record. It
features eight different computer music
synthesizers programmed to play the
music of J.S. Bach, J. Pachelbel,
Rimsky-korsakov, Scott Joplin, Neil
Diamond, Lennon & McCartney and
seven others. The music ranges from
baroque to rock, traditional to rag and
even includes an historic 1963 computer-
ized singing demonstration by Bell Labs.

50%
Discount!

The list price of the record is $6.00.
Normal retail discount is 40%. However,
for a limited time we are offering a 50%
discount on cartons of 25 records. Your
price is just $75 per carton postpaid
compared to the normal $150 plus
shipping. Orders must be prepaid. For-
eign price is $80.00 postpaid. Single
records are available for $6.00 postpaid
or $7.00 foreign.

order from :

creative computing

P.O. Box 789 M Morristown, New Jersey 07960

CIRCLE 350 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1980

110 REM READ A..L RECORDS

120 IF X>N THE:,' 80

120 FOR J*1T0 N-Fl+1

130 IF X<N5 THEN 80

130 READ»lZ93*(J-lH250»M,A.A*,D*,C«.R»C.EFB*,St.R«

140 READtO Z93*<X-N5H250,N.A.A*,D*.C».R,C,E.B*.SS,R«

140 REM SAVE LAST DATE

150 !\!\!"RECORD«: "fMi" ",B*,-< ".D*i" ) "»A«

ISO a:»=a»

160 !C$," re: "»S$

160 REM CHECK FOR DIVISION

170 >A,TAB<20).Z»C*:2F2,R,TAB<40),C.TAB<60)rE,Z*

170 IF DtOXt THEN 240

180 IF R*="C" THEN !* THIS TRANSACTION HAS ALREADY BEEN CANCELLEI

180 REN CHECK FOR MONTH

190 IF R*«"C" THEN 420

190 IF Y*<1,3)="ALL" THEN 230

200 ! "STATUS: ",R*

200 Y=VAL<Y*)\Y1=VAL<A»)

210 !\!\INPUT "DO YOU WISH TO CANCEL THIS TRANSACTION? : ",X*\X»-

210 IF YOY1 THEN 240

220 IF X*<1,1)="Y" THEN 270

220 REN STORE MATCHES IN BUFFER FILE

230 CLOSEtO

230 WRITE#0,N,A,A*,D*»CS.R,C,£,6t.,S*»R»

240 !"THIS TRANSACTION WILu NOT BE CANCELLED"

240 NEXT J

250 COTO 420

250 CLOSE* 1

260 REM MODIFY STATUS

260 REN BEEP OUR KEYBOARD ( IKB-1 )

270 Rt="C"

270 OUT 20 tO

280 WRITEtO Z93*(X-N5H90+25v .RJ.NQENBMARK

280 INPUT "ANY MORE DISCS? ■ ,Z*\ZW*+L*

290 REM FIND, MODIFY HEADER BALANCES

290 IF Z*< 1 , 1 >*" " THEN 360

300 R£ADI0Z0,N5

300 IF Z*(1.1)*"N" THEN 360

310 FOR J=l TO 16

310 >

320 READ*0,A1,B1,C1

320 !"LOAD NEW DISC ONTO DRIVE tl>"

330 IF A=A1 THEN EXIT 350

330 INPUT -WHEN NEU DISC IS LOADED TYPE 'READY'... ".Z1*\Z1»»Z1*+L* 340 NEXT J

340 IF Z1*(1,5)-"READY" THEN 3C E.SE 330

350 C1=C1-R-C+E

350 REH START DISPLAY

360 URITE*0Z15*<J-1H15,C1,N0£ND;,

360 !TAB(40)i"DATE OF LAST ENTRY: -,A2*

370 CLOSEtO

370 !"OBJ. CODE", TAB! 17), "REVENUE", TAB< 34), "CHARGEBACK", TAB< 53),

380 !\!\!

380 !TAB(68)i"NET EXPENSE" "EXPENDITURE"

, 390 '"THIS TRANSACTION HAS NOW BEEN CANCELLED. IT NO LONGER AFFECTS

390 OPEN«lf"ACCT"

400 R2=0\C2«0\E2«0\T2»0

400 '"ACCOUNT BALANCES AND IT MAY NOT BE MODIFIED FURTHER."

410 REN READ HEADER RECORDS

410 !\!\!

420 FOR J«l TO 17

420 IMNPUT "PRESS RETURN FOR MENU...",X«

430 READ*1Z(J-1)*15+5.A2,B2,C3

430 CHAIN "BUDGET*

440 REN RESET BUFFER POINTER

READY

450 CL0SE*0\0PEN«0,-ACCT,2"

PSIZE

460 REM READ ALL BUFFER RECORDS

5 BLOCKS

470 IF TYP(0)=0 THEN 580

READY

480 READ#0>N,A>A*,D«,C«>R»C>E>B*»S*>RI

LOAD POS

490 REH HATCH OBJECT CODES

READY

500 IF A20A THEN 470

LIST

510 REH REJECT 'CANCELLED' RECORDS

10 REM 'POS' SEARCHES FOR P.O.* AND PRINTS DETAILS

520 IF R«=-C" THEN 470

20 DIM X»(8),B*(3),Ct(3l>)

530 REM KEEP TOTALS

30 OPEN«0,"ACCT-

540 Rl-RltR

40 READ «0,N5

550 C1=CHC

50 READ*0Z245,N

560 El-El+E

60 !\INPUT"UHICH P.O.* ?! " ,X*\X*=X*tLf

570 GOTO 470

70 FOR J= 1 TO. N-N5U

580 TsEl-Rl-Cl

80 READ«0Z250+93*(J-l>.M,A,A*,D*,C*,R,C,E,B*,St..R»

590 REM IGNORE INACTIVE ACi-OUNTS

90 IF Bt*XS THEN EXIT 160

600 IF T=0 THLr,

100 NEXT J

610 REM Pr\.(,: t

110 l\IM* »*» THERE IS

620 !\!A2,ii;. . ,TfM

120 INPUT'ANY ..THEftS ? ! -»X*\X»=X*tL*

630 R2*R2

130 IF X*(1,:) = "N" THEN 250

640 Rl=O\Li=0\£l=0\T=0

140 IF XJil,.

650 NEXT J

150 IF X*(1,1)="Y" THEN 60 ELSE 70

660 CLOSE*l\CLC

160 IF R>0 THEN £1=R

170 IF CX

180 IF E>0 THEN E1=E

680 !Z*C#12F2.TAB(l2),R2,TAB(32J,C2.TA3l52),E2.TAB<63).T2.i*

190 !\!"P.0.» 'fX*>TAM3«>'A«i -■-.

690 INPUT "DO rCL' tlANl DETAILS 0. TRANSACTIONS! '. *,Y«\Y*sY*+,.»

200 !C$," FROM ",S«," CREC,

700 IF Y«(1,1)="Y* THEN 73C

210 IF R*='h" then;

710 CHAIN -BUDGET'

220 IF R$="0" . .LT£"

720 REH DISPLAY DETA.

230 IF R«="C" THEN!"

730 0PEN»0,"ACCT,2"

240 !\(\G0T0 120

740 IF TYP<0)>0 THEr.

250 CLOSEtO

750 READ#0,N.A,A*,D*,C*. .J,R»

260 CHAIN "BUDGET'

760 !M»TAB<12>,C«fTABU4),B*,R.C.E."( ",R»," )•

READY

770 Z=Z+1

780 IF Z=6 THEN INPUT "PRISS RETURN TO CONTINUE... -»Z$\Z*=Z*n.»

790 IF Z*6 THEN Z=0

800 GOTO 740

LOAD SSRCH

810 CLOSEtO

READY

820 INPUT "WANT TO DISPLAY ANY OTHER ilONST : "iZ*\ZI=Z$tL»

LIST

830 IF Z*(l.i;=-Y" THEN 40 ELSE D SET"

10 !\!V" ** SUPER-SEARCH **

READY

20 CENTER DATA YOU WISH TO SEARCH FOR OR PRESS \'

30 DIML*( 30 ),C1*( 1 ),D1*( 1 ),C*( 30 ),A$< 8 ),D*( 1 ),R$( 1 )>B*( 8)>S«<8)

40 DIM B1«(3),S:«(8),R;*( i;,0»<3)
50 !

LOAD CANT

60 INPUT "OBJECT CODE: " ,A1»\A1*=A15*L«

READY

70 !

LIST

80 INPUT "MONTH (1 TO 12): " ,A2*\A2«=A2ttL»

10 REM 'CANT' PROi:

90 !

20 REM AMOUNTS ARE REMOVL. " ARE

100 INPUT -DIVISION ( G,M,F,W,EfP>: '.01»\D1*»D1«H.«

30 REH RETAINED UNDER REC. NO. AND STAT.. ...

110 !

40 DIM R*(1),C*<30),D*C1>

120 INPUT "P.O. /RECEIPT*: - ,B1*\BH=B1*+L$

50 OPENtO, "ACCT"

130 !

60 READtO,NS

140 INPUT -SUPPLIER/DESCR.: " ,S1»\S1**S1UL*

70 READ*0 Z245.N

150!

80 I'THIS FILE CONTAINS RECORD NC.'S ",NS," THRC^r, ",N

160 !-DO YOU WANT TO SPECIFY ■

90 INPUT" WHICH RECORD DO YOU UiSH TO CANCEL? ",X

170 !" i. THE EXACT SUPPLIER NAME, .

100 IF X«0 THEN CLOSE*0

180 !' 2. JUST THE FIRST LETTL

110 IF X=0 THEN 430

190 IMNPUT ' TYPE 1 OR 2 : " .Q*\Ot=G«tL$
200 !

160

DYNACOMP

Quality software for:

PET

Apple II Plus
TRS-80 (Level II)
North Star

All software a supplied with complete documentation which includes clear
explanations and examples. Each program will run with standard terminals (32
characters or wider) and within I6K program memory space. Except where
noted, all software is available on PET cassette. North Star diskette (North
Star BASIC), TRS-80 cassette (Level II) and Apple cassette {Applesoft
BASIC). These programs are also available on PAPER TAPE (Microsoft
BASIC).

BRIDGE 2.0 Prix: tOM fhmmm

An all-inclusive version of this most popular of card games. This program both BIDS
and PLAYS either contract or duplicate bridge. Depending on the contract, your com*
puier opponents will either play the offense OR defense. If you bid too high the com-
puter will double your contract! BRIDGE 2.0 provides challenging entertainment for
advanced players and is an excellent learning tool for the bridge novice.

HEARTS 1.5 Frlra: SM.M SMetaaM

An exciting and entertaining computer version of this popular card game. Hearts is a
trick-oriented game in which the purpose is not to take any hearts or the queen of
spades. Play against two computer opponents who are armed with hard-to-beat play-
ing strategies.

FLIGHT SIMULATOR r^SPMROStesu.

(as described in SIMULATION, Volume 10

A realistic and extensive mathematical simulation of take-off, flight and landing. The
program utilizes aerodynamic equations and the characteristics of a real airfoil. You
can practice instrument approaches and navigation using radials and compass
headings. The more advanced flyer can also perform loops, half-rolls and similar
acrobatic maneuvers.

SIMULATION. Volume II (BYTE Publications): K.OO

VALDEZ Price: SI4.VS postpaid

A simulation of supertanker navigation in the Prince William Sound and Valdex
Narrows. The program uses an extensive 256X25* element radar map and employs
physical models of ship response and tidal patterns. Chart your own course through
ship and iceberg traffic. Any standard terminal may be used for display.

CHESS MASTER Price: SW.»S pMSpasd (arsslaktt far Nana StwaafimVMoal*)
This complete and very powerful program provides five levels of play. It includes castl-
ing, en passant captures, and the promotion of pawas. Additionally , the hoard may be
preset before the start of play, permitting the examination of "book" plays. To max-
imize execution speed, the program b written in assembly language (by SOFTWARE
SPECIALISTS of California). Full graphics are employed in the TRS-gO version, and
two widths of alphanumeric display are provided to accommodate North Star users.

FOURIER ANALYZER Mm miM tott^M

Utc thit program to examine the frequency spectra of limned duration signals. The
program features automatic scaling and plotting of the input data and results. Prac-
tical applications include the analysis of complicated patterns in such fields as elec-
tronics, communication! and business.

TEXT EDITOR I (Letter Writer) pwet: sun >■ small

An easy to use, line-oriented text editor which provides variable line widths and simple
paragraph indexing. This text editor is ideally suited for composing letters and is quite
capable of handling much larger jobs.

MAIL LIST II Price: $19.99 gaaspnli (avaasiMa for Nor* Sear only)

This many-featured program now includes full alphabetic and zip code sorting as well
as file merging. Entries can be retrieved by user -defined code, client name or Zip Code.
The printout format allows the use of standard size address labels. Each diskette can
store more than 1000 entries (single density; over 2000 with double density systems)!

STARTREK 3.2 Price: $9.99 postpaid

This is the classic Startrek simulation, but with several new features. For example, the
Kltngons now shoot at the Enterprise without warning while also attacking starbases in
other quadrants. The Kbngons also attack with both light and heavy cruisers and move
when shot at! The situation is hectic when the Enterprise is besieged by three heavy
cruisers and a starbasc S.O.S. b received! The Kbngons get even!

rTlee* V9.99 each poaspstM
LUNAR LANDER. CRAPS.

GAMES PACK I and GAMES PACK II

GAMES PACK 1 contains BLACKJACK,

HORSERACE, SWITCH and more.

GAMES PACK II contains CRAZY EIGHTS, JOTTO. ACEY-DUCEV, LIFE.

WUMPUS and more.

Why pay $5.95 or more per program when you can buy a DYNACOMP collection for

just $9,957

All orders arc pro cess ed within 4g hours. Please enclose payment with order. If paying by
MASTER CHARGE or VISA, include all numbers on card. Foreign orders add 10% for

Write for detailed descriptions of these and other programs available from DYNACOMP.

Dept.C

DYNACOMP, Inc.

6 Rippingale Rd.
Pittsford, New York 14534

(716) 586-7579

New York State neMeats please add 7". NYS sates sax.
CIRCLE 136 ON READER SERVICE CARD

TERMINALS FROM TRANSNET

PURCHASE 1 12-24 MONTH FULL) 36 MONTH
PLAN I OWNERSHIP PLAN ILEASE PLAN

PtIRCHASf PER MONTH

PttCttlPTIOSI PRICE 12 MM. 24 HOg. M MS

LA36 DECwriter II $1,695 $182 $90 $61

LA34 DECwriter IV 1,095 105 59 40

LAM DECwriter IV Forms Ctrl. 1,295 124 69 47

LA120 DECwriter III KSR ... 2,495 239 140 90

LA180 DECprinter I 2,095 200 117 75

VT100 CRT DECscope 1,895 182 101 68

VT132 CRT DECwope 2.298 220 122 83

DT80/1 DATAMEDIA CRT ... 1.995 191 106 72

TI745 Portable Terminal .... 1,595 153 85 57

TI765 Bubble Memory Terminal 2,595 249 146 94

TI810 R0 Printer 1,895 182 101 68

TI820 KSR Printer 2,196 210 117 79

TI825 KSR Printer 1.595 153 85 57

A0M3A CRT Terminal 875 84 47 32

ADM31 CRT Terminal 1,450 139 78 53

ADM42 CRT Terminal 2.195 210 117 79

DUME Letter Quality KSR ... 3,295 316 176 119

QUME Letter Quality R0 .... 2.895 278 155 105

HAZELTINE 1420 CRT 945 91 51 34

HAZELTINE 1500 CRT 1,195 115 64 43

HAZELTINE 1552 CRT 1,29f 124 69 47

Hewlett-Packard 2621A CRT . 1,495 144 80 54

Hewlett-Packard 2621 P CRT . 2.650 254 142 96

FULL OWNERSHIP AFTER 12 OR 24 MONTHS

10% PURCHASE OPTION AFTER 36 MONTHS

ACCESSORIES AND PERIPHERAL EQUIPMENT

ACOUSTIC COUPLERS • MODEMS • THERMAL PAPER
RIBBONS • INTERFACE MODULES • FLOPPY DISK UNITS
PROMPT DELIVERY . EFFICIENT SERVICE

RA NsNe T corporation

1945 ROUTE 22
UNION, N.J. 07083

201-688 7800

TWX 710-985-5485

CIRCLE 196 ON READER SERVICE CARD

What you C
is what
you get!

C Compiler for CP/M

New, and available now! An easily affordable compiler
incorporating most of the features of the full C language.

BD SOFTWARE

System requirements: CP/M and at least 24K of RAM

Variable Types: char, int, unsigned

Composite Types: arrays, structures, unions

Pointers: to variables, structures, unions and functions

Features: is a structured language, all functions (Programs)
recursive; more powerful expression operators than any
other von Neumann type language; allows free-formatted
source; close enough to UNIX " C to make conversions
feasible.

Speed: On 2 MHz 8080, the statement
for (i = 1; i < 30000; i + + ) x = 5;
takes about 4 seconds to execute.

Package contains: compiler, linker, library manager; standard
function library; sample source files include games, a
terminal emulator with disk I/O plus the source for
many standard library functions; BDS C User's Guide;
Book— The C Programming Language by Dennis Ritchie
and Brian Kernighan of Bell Labs. Price: $125

Recipient of the Computer Lib Seal of Approval — «~ $20

'CP/M is a trademark ol Digital Research Corp
'UNIX is a trademark ol Bell laboratories

Lifeboat Associates

T().px 220501

161

210 INPUT 'STATUS (O.R.CK " ,Rl«\Rl*=Rlt+L*
220 !

230 INPUT 'REVENUE. CHARGEBACK. EXPENDITURE .i*+L»

240 REM DISPLAY PACING
250 K*21\!\!
260 OPEN »0,'ACCT"
270 REAB00.N5
280 READ«0X245.N
290 REM MATCH FOUND FLAG
300 Y=0

310 FOR J=l TO N-N5U

320 READ#0X93*< J-l >+250.M.A.A*.D*.C«.R.C.£.B*.S*.RI
330 IF A1*<1.1>=" " THEN 350
340 IF VAL(Al$)=A THEN 350 ELSE 410
350 IF A2*<1.1>=' ■ THEN 370
360 IF VAL< A2* >=VAL< A$ ) THEN 370 ELSE 610
370 IF Dl*Cltl)»" " THEN 390
380 IF D1»=D« THEN 390 ELSE 610
390 IF B1*<1.1)=" " THEN 410
400 IF Blt-Bt THEN 410 ELSE 610
410 IF S1«<1.1>=" " THEN 440
420 IF S1*=S« THEN 440 ELSE 430

430 IF Q»<1.1)*"2' THEN IF Sl«( 1.1 )»S«< 1>1 > THEN 4>
440 IF Rift 1.1)'* " THEN tLSt Alc

450 IF Rlf'Rf THEN 460 ELSE 610
460 IF Clffl.l)=" ' THEN
470 REM TEST MATCH FOR R.C.E
480 V=0

490 IF Clf(l.l)="R* THEN
500 IF Clf(l.l)=*C" THEN V=C
510 IF C1*(1.1)="E" THEN V=E
520 IF V>0 THEN 540 ELSE 610
530 REM PRINT MATCHES
540 !M." ".A." '.At,' ".Df." "»C«
.Hi

300 READ»12250tVi»! ti', 1 HIS 1 Ml H5*< 1-1 >.T< I )
310 IF Cd.l EK 360
320 CtI.2)=Ctl.2HCtl.l)-TU)

340 URITE*lZ250+93*i.'. : )F5*( 1-1 )»T( I ■

350 URITE«2Z15»I.C< I.2).N0ENfcn,

360 NEXT

370 ! "THESE

380 CL0S£«1\CL0SE»2

390 END

400 DEF rNAU».'

410 FOR 1=4 TO 6

420 IF Df(I.I)»V" THEN Y$»D«(Itl»I

430 NEXT

440 Y=VAL(Y$)

450 IF VALtDfKS THEN Y»Y-1

460 RETURN Y

470 FNEND

READY

,11,

-,i::,:.i

■PRESS RETURN TO CONTINUE". Vf

550 !7.fCllF2,R,C.E.'

560 I

570 Y=l

580 K'K-3

590 IF K=0 THEN INPUT

600 IF K»0 THEN K=21

610 NEXT J

620 CLOSEfO

630 IF Y=0 THEN 670

640 ("SEARCH COMPLETE. ENTER M FOR MENU"

650 INPUT " ENTER S FOR ANOThER SEARCH'. V»\Vf*Vf+Lf

660 IF Vf(l.l)="S" THEN 50 ELSE CHAIN "BUDGET"

670 !\!'*I*m NO MATCH FOUND FOR THIS DATA «»«»*f\l

680 !'DATA:'.A1*.A2».D1».B1*.S1$.R1*.C1»

690 !

700 INPUT "DO YOU WANT TO SEARCH ANOTHER DISC FOR THIS DATA? ".

710 IF Vf(l.l)="N" THEN 740 Vf\Vf«Vf+Lf

720 INPUT "INSERT NEU DISC AND PRESS RETURN TC CONTINUE ".V*

730 GOTO 250

740 INPUT "HANT TO DO ANOTHER CCARCH'r *i V»\v'f=-Vf -fLt

750 IF Vffl»l)='Y" THEN 50 ELSE CHAIN "BUDGET"

760 END

READY

LOAD UPDATE

REASY

LIST

10 REM UPDATE PRQCRAK
20 !" **» L
30 !\!\!

40 I" PLACE DISC TO BE ^ -

50 !\!\INPUT"THEN PRESS Rl

60 !\!\!\f

70 DIM N5(2).N<2)»Ctl6.2).Ttl6;

80 OPEN* 1." ACCT'

90 0PEN#2."AC:r.2"

100 REAB*lX260.Df

110 Yl»FNA(Dt>

120 READt2X260.Ut

130 Y2=FNA(D«/

140 IF Y1=Y2 THEN 170

150 ! "THESE TUO DISCS DO NOT REFE* rC

160 GOTO 380

170 FOR 1-1 TO 2

180 READfi»,N5<l)

190 FOR J»0 TO 15

200 READ»U5KJ*15>.;<B.C( Jtl.I;

210 NEXT J

220 REMMIZ245i

230 NEXi I

240 IF NS 2 »*N5< 1) K 1 1*1

250 URITE«2Z0tN

260 IF NL(i >-r..l t:

270 '"THE;-- (ENTIAI

280 GOTO 380 ^

290 FOR I»l iU 16 162

LOAD ANEU

READY

LIST

10 REM 'ANEU' PROGRAn -ED 'ACCT'

20 !"*»»*** WARNING!! *«***" N

30 I "THIS PROGRAM IS DESIGNED TC iLE CABLED 'ACCT'

40 I "AND MILL DESTROY ANY DATA C.N ThE FILE. IT CONTAINS DATA"

50 ("SPECIFIC TO (YOUR DEPT.'S) 79-80 BUDGET YEAR."

60 !\!\!\!

70 INPUT "DC YOU WISH TO PROCEED? f Y/N > " .Tf\Tf=Tf+Lf

80 IF Tftl.l)="Y" THEN 90 ELSE

90 N5=1\REM N5=FIRST RECORD*

100 N=N5-1\REM N=LAST RECORD* IN FIU

110 OPENfO. "ACCT"

120 WRITE *0.N5

130 FOR J - 1 TO 16

140 READ A.B.C

150 WKITEtO. A.B.C

160 NEXT J

170 URITEfO.N

180 CLOSE «C

190 i

200 !" DATA FILE ■ ,- £TiA

210 REM DUMMY DATA TO 11.

220 DATA 121i0.0rl22.0i0i

230 DATA 454. 2JJ0, 2000. 45'.

240 DATA 601.50.

250 DATA 616.7C:

260 DATA 6!

270 DATA 762.5000.5000.0.0.0

280 CHAIN 'BUDGE.

290 END

READY

LYivnc©^

makes your TRS-HO
a whole new
animal.

LYNX isn't just a telephone coupler.

LYNX is a one-piece total telephone linkage

system for TRS-80 Level I and II computers. It

contains all the functions you need to tap The

Source. Engage your business computer. Play

games with a computer friend. Or do nearly

anything you wish.

Best of all . . . LYNX costs only $239.95*. A mere

fraction of what you used to have to pay for

equipment to do the same job.

LYNX. To get your paws on one, call or write:

EMTROL
SYSTEMS, INC.

LANCASTER. PENNSYLVANIA 17601

1262 LOOP ROAD

Phone 717/291-1116

VISA or Master Card Welcome

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CIRCLE 139 ON READER SERVICE CARD

No "Glitches", Surges Or Interference

Marway's MPD 1 17 turns an ordinary outlet
into a controlled power source for up to S devices.

Today's electronics devices microcomputer systems,
stereo and audio visual components, and so on require
clean, (ilter<»d power l<>r optimum performance.
\l.ir\v.i\ Products' new MPD l 17 AC Power Controller
transforms an ordinary \(' outlet into ■ controlled
power source (or up to eic'it devices filtering .m<l
distributing power evenly lo .ill of its outlets. The \0'l)
1 1" has a nigh-performance KM I filter, built-in circuit
breaker, two aired and si\ sw itched outlets, illuminated

"on-off" switch for switched outlets, and is built with
ruKued ll.-approved comp o nents and housing in an all-

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The MPD 1 1 7 is the low -cost solution to your

power distribution problems.

Marway's MPD I 17 sells lor 189.00 (plus lax), making

it the lowest priced, high-performance AC Power

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To find out more, contact M \IU\ w PRODUCTS, INC

Marway can solve your power distribution problems am) save you money

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CIRCLE 208 ON READER SERVICE CARD

TRS-80*

EQUIPMENT

16K MEMORY KITS
$49.95

4116's 6 MONTH WARRANTY INSTRUCTIONS INCLUDED

DISK DRIVES

40 TRACK — $325 2-DRIVE CABLE
77 TRACK — $475 24.95

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163

CIRCLE 210 ON READER SERVICE CARD

puzzles & problems

Pyramid Power

ost puzzles and lost civilizations. From the valley of the
Nile comes this ancient and venerable problem. Above
the altar in the diagram are positioned six pyramids.
The problem is to rearrange them so that they will be

effecting this change are as follows: ( I ) It must be done
in 3 moves. (2) You must move two adjacent pyramids
during each move. (3) A move is considered turning a
pyramid end for end. (4) Each pyramid must remain in
the same spot after it has been inverted. May the

jL^pii positioned as shown under the altar. The rules for Pyramid Power be with you!

Money Talks

r. Wilson Rowland, of Silver Spring, Maryland, writes:
"I'm writing about 'A Valuable Problem' on page 133
of the August 1 979 issue of Creative Computing. Eleven
sleds coins were to be put on the ground forming seven
rows of four. The solution on page 160 is somewhat
tricky in that only eight of the sleds/ coins touch the
ground. Accepting this method of solution, however, I

offer the observation that it is possible to form more
rows of four from fewer objects. Thus, rather than
seven rows from eleven objects, ten rows, of four coins
each, can be formed using only ten coins."

"That's a challenging problem for our readers to
take on. Mr. Rowland, a copy of "Merlin's Puzzler l"is
on the way to you.

A Cigar Puzzle

hobo, after collecting 25 cigar butts, sat himself down
in the shade and rolled himself some fresh cigars. He
could make one fresh cigar out of 5 butts. How many
cigars was our hobo friend able to manufacture from his
original stock of cigar butts?

The Perfect Score

ere we see Friar Tuck, that roguish monk of
Robin Hood's band of outlaws, slumbering
through the afternoon when he is supposed to
be keeping an eye on the castle of the Sheriff of
Nottingham. Earlier in the day he had been
trying with his bow and arrows, to win a bet he
has made with Robin. The problem is to shoot a
number of arrows into the target so that the
score will total exactly 100. Judging by the smile
on his face, I'd guess that Friar Tuck thinks he
knows the answer and can already taste the
prize. Do you know how many arrows it would
take to score 100? (From "Merlin's Puzzler I").

164

CREATIVE COMPUTING

The Square Puzzle

n the diagram at the left we have twenty circles
arranged in the form of a cross. How many
perfect squares can you see in this cross when
you consider any four circles as being the
corners of the square. Look at the diagram and
you will see what I mean. The four squares,
which contain the letter a. form the corners of
one square. Also, the four circles containing the
letter b form another square. This should keep
you busy for awhile.

One other little puzzle you might try, when
you have solved the foregoing, is to remove six
of the circles from the cross so that it is
impossible to form any squares from the
remining circles. (From "Merlin's Puzzler 2").

The Choo Choo Puzzle

wo boys were out walking along the
railroad tracks on a hotsummer'sday.
In order to escape the heat, they went
nto a tunnel. They walked two fifths
of the way in and stood there.
Suddenly they heard a train approaching the end of the tunnel closest to them. Both boys ran.
They each ran at 15 M.P.H.. but in opposite directions. Luckily, each of them just made it to
their respective ends of the tunnel, to escape without being clipped by the train's engine.
Question: How fast was the train going? (This puzzle was sent in to us by Mr. Taber L. Bucknell
of Ontario, Canada. Many thanks Mr. Bucknell, Merlin is sending you a copy of "Merlin's
Puzzler 2" for sharing this interesting puzzle with us).

A Groovy Problem

ow many grooves are there on an average, old time, 10-inch 78
r.p.m. record by Paul Whiteman and his orchestra? (I) 1000,
(2) 1500. (3) 2000. (4) 2500. (5) 3000.

A Common Problem

ur last puzzle deals with how keen your powers of observation are.
The following eight words all have one thing in common. What is
it? The words are: deft, first, calmness, canopy, laughing, stupid,
crabcake. hijack?

If you would like to purchase "Merlin's Puzzler 1 . 2
or 3" write to Merlin in care of Creative Computing. Each
book is S'A" x II", 128 pages long. If you have any
puzzles that you would like to try and stump our readers
with, send them along to Merlin. If he uses your puzzle he
will send you a copy of one of his books.

Your Editor,

Charles Barry Townsend

^~~££L

SEPTEMBER 1980

165

creative
computing

EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE

Learn French in One Easy ADVENTURE

Take your students to an enchanted land filled with
French speaking characters and send them on a
treasure hunt. They direct their computer puppet in
French with two-word commands like "climb tree" or
"g« north." They try to find their way from a small brick
well-house to underground caves. They'll meet up with a
giant clam, nasty little dwarves, and other hazards. If
the situation gets too rougn to handle they can switch to
English at the push of a button. Kvenso.it will take your
students months of enjoyable games playing to unravel
the mvsterv. HON VOYAGE! Bi lingual Original
Adventure (CS-9004) runs in IKK CIVM, the 8" disk is
available for$24.9:>.

Creative Computing offers a wide variety of un-
complicated user-oriented educational programs. Study
Made Easy for the PET (CS-1202) will create study drill
tapes for any subject automatically. The computer guides
you, step by step, through the entry of questions and
multiple choice answers. The package includes three
prepared drills. From U.S. Presidents to Lacrosse rules, the
versatile programs of Study Made Easy will create study
drills for you automatically. It's well worth the price of
$14.95.

CAI Programs offers a diverse group of study aids. U.S.
Maps uses high resolution graphics to help students learn
the states and their capitols. Spelling increases its pace as
you progress. Math Drill and Add with Carry will help you
with mathematics basics at your skill level. The Know
Yourself package (CS-4301) helps you investigate society's
effects on your behavior, how your life style affects your life
expectancy, and how your attitudes are affected by society's
concept of sex roles. CAI Programs and Know Yourself are
available individually on cassette for $7.95 each or on one
disk (CS-4503) for only $14.95. Cassette versions will run in
16K and the disk requires 32K. These are for the Apple II.

Computer Assisted Instruction Programs

U.S. Map

8-1=9

WOW ■ ■ !

Math Drill

166

CREATIVE COMPUTING

EFFECTIVE,

AFFORDABLE

AND FUN!

The Social, Economic, and Ecology Simulations
Unique Educational Tools

The director of a malaria control program works
within a $500,000 budget over 5 years. A war breaks out
and suddenly the supply of curative and preventative
drugs is cut off— if there is no treatment 4% of those who
are ill will die...

What happens??? In an ordinary classroom situation
the student speculates haphazardly on the outcome and
turns the paKe to find out.

The student using the Malaria program of the
Social, Economic, and Ecology Simulations series
actively designs his plan for the deployment of field
hopitafs, pesticides, remaining drugs for the ill and
preventative medication. Then in a highly realistic
simulation he carries out his strategy and receives
prompt feedback about the effectiveness of his treat-
ment. Because the student is personally responsible for
economic, political, and scientific decisions he returns to
his textbooks with renewed interest.

The series (which is based on models developed by The
Huntington Two Computer Project) exposes students to
problem solving in real world situations. Ecology
Simulations- 1 (CS-3201) explores methods of popula-
tion management. Students can cooperate to save the
Wild West bison from extinction in Buffalo. The
comprehensive introduction to modeling concepts is
completed in Pop, Sterl, and Tag.

Ecology Simulations-2 (CS-3202) explores
problems in environmental and health sciences. In
Malaria, Pollute, Rats, and Diet the user can attempt
to end water pollution, rats in a city slum, or to design a
healthy diet. Social and Economic Simulations (CS-
15204) allows students to experiment with a micro-
computer version of the well-known "limits to Growth"
project in Limits or compete against each other in the
bicycle industry in Market; U.S. Pop lets students
investigate demographic concepts.

The series is designed for the 16K TRS-80 Level II and
is attractively packaged in a vinyl binder. Included is a
study guide which relates the material to current

"In the classroom, this should be an ideal
learning tool. Not only can students work on the
mathematical effects of population growth but
they can also see the social and ecological effects
of any decisions they make. . .

"The manual is extremely well done. It provides
necessary background information on each pro-
gram and encourages the student to think about
the social aspects of each program rather than just
the mathematical processes."

80 Software Critique on

Ecology Simulations-1

Jan-March 1980

Ecology Simulations-2

" H If n

Rats

Malaria

controversies, stimulates classroom discussion, and
provides sample exercises. The series is also available
on disk: Ecology Simulations-1 (CS-3501), Ecology
Simulations-2(('S-:i502).and Social and Economic
Simulations (CS-3508). At a modest $24.95 each, with
quantity discounts available, the series becomes an
affordable necessity.

Apple Gradebook (CS-4506) brings the speed and
accuracy of the computer to the teacher's traditional
grading and record-keeping procedures. Gradebook
stores and maintains all student records on disk. The
package includes ten interlocking programs which lead
you step by step, through setting up' a class file and
storing it on disk. These invaluable programs sum-
marize the state of the class as a whole and then let you

check on the progress of any individual. Apple
Gradebook runs in 32K on Apple II and costs only
$24.95.

IQ Test conducts a reliable intelligence test for ages
1 and over. A sophisticated machine language program
does the scoring and makes cheating almost impossible.
The test consists of 60 graphically presented questions.
Only $14.95 on cassette for the 16K TRS-80.

Creative Computing Software offers the educator,
small businessman and home user outstanding
applications programs at modest prices. A FREE
Sensational Software Catalog of over 400 programs,
on 70 tapes and disks, is available upon request.
Sensational Software has the programs educators
need to make microcomputers in the classroom
worthwhile . . . children can compose poetry, learn the
role of an air traffic controller, or simply make music
with software from Creative Computing.

Sensational Software should be available at
your local computer store. If your favorite
retailer does not stock the software you need,
have him call our retail marketing department at
the number below. Or you can order directly
from Creative Computing Software, Dept. AGII,
P.O. Box 789-M. Morristown, NJ 07960. Visa,
MasterCharge, or American Express are also
welcome. For faster service, call in your bank
order toll free to 800-631-8112. In NJ call
201-540-0445.

CIRCLE 300 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1980

167

Edmond H. Weiss, a communica-
tions consultant, teaches effective
writing seminars for business,
industry and government. To con-
tact him call 609-795-5580.

Effective Writing

Edmond H. Weiss, Fh.n

If there is one thing that everyone
who writes about writing will tell you it
is this: Don't Show Off.

Orwell said, "Never use a long,
unfamiliar word where a short familiar
word will do." Gunning says, "Write to
express, not to impress." Strunk and
White say, "Avoid fancy words."

You would expect that after all this
consistent advice that writers would be
getting the message by now. But no.
Every week I edit manuals and reports
in which I have to change uf/7/ze to use
a hundred times. Or belatedly to late.
Or subsequently to later. Or prioritize
(God help us) to rank. Just yesterday I
had to comb through a proposal
changing the phrase facilitate or
inhibit to help or hurt.

Of course, we all know why this
problem persists. Many insecure
people still consider a large vocabulary
and lots of big words to be the measure
of intelligence. They are afraid that if
they write plainly and simply no one
will think them intelligent or college-
educated.

Nonsense. The only people who
need to couch simple ideas in ornate,
difficult language are those con-men
and hucksters who are trying to make
ordinary commonsense statements
sound technical or "professional." (We
all know which "professions" those
are, don't we.)

To put it bluntly, if you want to be a
more effective writer, if you want to be
respected and understood, then write
as simply as you can. Don't be
simplistic (that is, don't oversimplify
difficult issues). Don't be patronizing
(that is, don't talk down to intelligent
readers). But don't go out of your way
to snow us with your recondite vo-
cabulary either.

Typical Offenders

Presume against any word with
three or more syllables. When you find
such a word in your first draft, stop and
ask yourself if it could be replaced with
a simpler substitute. (If you cannot
substitute without hurting your mean-
ing, then leave the longer word, of
course.) Here are some examples I see
every day.

Before After

implementation start, use

commencement start,

beginning

Edmond H. Weiss. Ph.D.. 1612Crown Point Lane.
Cherry Hill. NJ 08003.

Showing Off

finalization

end, finish

interaction

talks

utilization

use

indication

sign

requirement

need

application

task, job

condition, situation

state,

status

compensation,

pay, fee

remuneration

capability

ability

reservation

doubt

conceptualization

sketch,

idea, draft

furnish, provide

give

employ

use

formulate

make

inspect, investigate

check

ascertain

learn

possess, maintain

have

indicate, reveal

show, tell

transmit, disseminate

send

acknowledge

agree,

grant

establish

prove,

show

effectuate

cause

evaluate

rate, judge

Some Show-Offs I Have Known

Showing-off is more than an
occasional big word. It is an attitude,
a phony personality that sneaks into
your letters, reports, or manuals. Be-
ware of these characters:

The Lawyer, sometimes known as
"The Cossell," is enamored of legal
expressions; he is most I ikely to appear
in your letters and agreements. For
example:
Before:

As per your request, we are
attaching hereto a copy of the
aforesaid contract. Reference
your inquiry regarding future
training dates, please be advised
that we will be sending same under
separate cover.
After:

Here is a copy of the contract you
asked for. We shall send along our
training schedule in a little while.

The Stewardess relies entirely on
stock phrases and standard speeches.
She usually appears at the end of a
letter. For example:
Before:

Should you find that you are in
need of additional information
regarding our services do not

hesitate to communicate with a
representative of our sales depart-
ment.
After:

If you want to know more about
our services just call someone in
our sales department.

The Invisible Man thinks that a
report is more impressive when it
contains no personal pronouns. He is
fond of sentences beginning with "It
is," "It was," or "It has." For example:
Before:

It was expressed strongly that
making the system as simple and
easy to use as possible is an
integral part of the CALC develop-
ment.
After:

They insisted that CALC must be
as easy to use as possible.
Be on guard for all show-offs.
Notice the Ambassador, who never
misses a chance to use and misuse a
foreign word; he says via instead of
with, and he usually gets i.e. and e.g.
mixed up. Be wary of the Counterfeiter
who likes to coin new words that we do
not need (like remediate instead of
remedy, or orientate instead of orient,
or designee instead of designate).
Watch our for the Poet, who likes to
invent incomprehensible figures of
speech; I heard a management con-
sultant say that his client's company
needed to get "a more tightly focused
handle on the problem"!

Most of all, be careful of a char-
acter I have come to call the Conehead,
after the alient creatures on TV's
Saturday Night Live. Coneheads de-
scribe all processes and objects as
though they were parts of a computer
system; fathers are "male parental
units" and homes are "domiciliary
function stations."

There are lots of Coneheads in the
computer word. Who but an alien
could have written this?

"The general interactions during
and after the presentations made it
clear that there were areas of
security required by an opera-
tional TROL system which had not
yet been documented and so did
not exist in the security implemen-
tation on the prototype system?"
Oh yeah?

Next time: How Not to Write an
Instruction. □

168

CREATIVE COMPUTING

At last

the typewriter interface!

Turn your electric typewriter into a low cost, high
quality hard copy printer. 1 Year Warranty

The patented' RDI— I/O Pak is fast becoming the industry standard
lor typewriter output. Why? Because:

1. It takes 2 minutes to initially install and 5 seconds to remove or
replace.

2. You do not have to modify your typewriter. All factory warranties
and maintenance agreements on your typewriter will be honored.

3. You can use it with all powered carriage return typewriters that
have U.S. keyboard Our Model I works with all non Selectrics and
our Model II works with Selectrics. Conversion between models
takes 2 minutes and the kit (26 plungers) is available for a nominal
charge.

4. You don't have to lug around a bulky printer when you travel. If
there is a typewriter at your destination, you can install the light
(3 lbs.) I/O Pak in just 2 minutes.

5. Same interface tor TRS-80. Apple and GPIB. Centronics and Pet
compatible interfaces are available in third quarter 1980. Electric
pencil available.

6. Delivery: stock to 2 weeks: Price: $639 50. FOB Rochester, Do-
mestic.

See your local distributor or call Bob Giese. 716 385-4336. In Europe,
contact Capital Computer Systems. London 01-637 5551. We have
the only "clean" approach to the typewriter / printer market

3100 Monroe Avenue. Rochester. New York 14618 incorporated
CIRCLE 2S1 ON READER SERVICE CARD

^g^SSKRELL SOFTWARE
■Sjw presents for the TRS-80'
~ PET, Apple II, and Apple II Plus

ELECTORAL COLLEGE 1980

The Tool for forecasting the outcome of the 1960 presidential Election
Will it be CARTER? REAGAN'' ANDERSON' or will the election be forced
into the House of Representatives' This program, developed by a pro-
fessor of Political Science is built to be used m two ways.

1 During the political campaign prior to the election and.

2 On Election Night, as the partial returns roll in on network news
Using state by state data on previous elections that the program provides,
simulated elections are run and the probability of outcomes calculated
$1495

COLLEGE BOARDS

The best way to sharpen your skills for the College Board SAT Exams is
to work on actual examinations. Each of these 4 programs confronts the
user with a virtually limitless series of questions and answers. Each is
based on past SAT exams and presents material of the same level of diffi-
culty and in the same form as used in the verbal and mathematical por-
tions of the College Board Examinations Scoring on each exam is pro-
vided in accordance with the formula used by College Boards.
COLLEGE BOARD - VOCABULARY
COLLEGE BOARD - WORD RELATIONSHIPS
COLLEGE BOARD - MATH PART A
COLLEGE BOARD - MATH PART B
COMPLETE SET

1995
1995
1995
1995
5995

TIME TRAVELER

The best of the adventure games Confronts player with complex deci-
sion situations and at times, the demand tor real time action Using the
time machine, players must face a challenging series of environments
that include: the Athens of Pericles, Imperial Rome. Nebuchadnezzar's
Babylon. Ikhnaton's Egypt. Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion, the
Crusades, Machiaveiii s Italy, the French Revolution, the American
Revolution and the English Civil War Deal with Hitler's Third Retch, the
Vikings, etc Involve yourself with historical military and government
operations, markets, etc in fascinating game situations Each game is
unique! $24 96

'** #rOf/*ms rnii.'* it* • rMS »0 **09'»mt rtg.i.ti Lt,*i h fai< • «a#f* «#of(«4ni raawt Mrooioft •«»<«

Send check or money order to Krell Software

21 Millbrook Drive, Stony Brook, NY 11790 (516) 751-5139?

CIRCLE 252 ON READER SERVICE CARD

{.obot raftuv/

Robot Rabbit T-Shirt

Roll down the block with this little black monster (on a
bright orange T-shirt) on your chest and you can intimidate
every carrot, radish or cuke in your way. Watch your enemies
scurry for cover when they see this cute HI' bionic bunny
aiming to nip their toes. Specify size : adult S, M , L, XL . Only $5
postpaid ($6 foreign) to :

Creative Computing T-Shlrts,
P.O. Box789-M, Morristown, NJ 07960.

QUALITY PROFESSIONAL & BUSINESS SOFTWARE
FOR THE APPLE II AND APPLE PLUS COMPUTERS

LETTER MASTER - This is a lightning fast Word
Processor which is simple to use and operates like a character
oriented system It features a menu driven operating system
which allows entry storage editing draft printing and final
lustitied printing Editing includes line corrections (add up to
200 characters it you want) global search string
replacement delete add and merge Text floats as needed to
make up lines of text Print justified unjustified or a mixture
System prepares and prints form letters with its own 500
name diskette full feature mailing list program Applesoft II
Disc Item M-34 S139 95 Processor without mailing list and
form letter Item M-33 S69 95

PROGRAMMER PLUS - A 16 lesson course in Applesoft
II on two full disks or super-load tape which will teach you all
you need to know to program in BASIC Lessons cover all
string math and logical operations necessary for personal,
scientific or business applications Special units teach
graphics and sound to add a little Apple Class to your
programs Applesoft II Item 35 Tape $24 95 Disc $34 95

SCIENTIST - A powerful scientific data base and statistics
program which will turn your Apple into a mathematical and
graphics tool It will do simple statistics or such complicated
functions as Chi- Square. Normal. Student-t and Poisson
With the Data Base element you can build your own analytical
programs Applesoft II Disc S89 95

TO ORDER CALL TOLL FREE 24 HOURS

800 854 0561 Exl 802

In CA 800 432 7257

OR WRITE FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO

MONUMENT COMPUTER SERVICE

Village Data Center P O Box 603
Joshua Tree California 92252

SEPTEMBER 1980

169

CIRCLE 192 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Correspondence is welcome.
Letters with interesting quest-
ions- and'ideas will be used in the
column along with a response.
No personal replies can be
made. Send to: David Levy, 104
Hamilton Terrace, London NW8
9UP. England

Checkers

Up to now this series has been devoted
entirely to the general principles involved
in writing programs to play intelligent
games. This month we start on a new track,
and the next several articles will describe
specific games in some detail, commenting
on the most notable work in each field.
From now on I shall be happy to accept
readers' letters for consideration. Letters
should be written in English and addressed
to me at 1 04, Hamilton Terrace, London
NW8 9UP, England, and while I shall
endeavour to answer the most interesting
letters within future articles, under no
circumstances will any reader receive a
personal reply — I am simply much too
busy.

The subject of the present article is the
game of draughts, which is known as
checkers in North America and dames
throughout much of continental Europe. I
have already described one of the learning
techniques employed in Arthur Samuel's
checker program and now we shall make a
closer inspection of other aspects of this
famous project. The article will conclude
with some additional comments on
computer learning, as applied to games.

Samuel's Checker Program

l Arthur Samuel began to program

checkers in I952, when his program ran on
an IBM 701 computer. It was rewritten for
the IBM 704 in 1954 and the following year
the first learning mechanism was intro-
duced.

The fundamental program structure
employed a minimax tree search, since the
alpha-beta algorithm had not yet been
invented. All moves were examined to a
depth of 3-ply, and the program would
look selectively at moves at the next ply,
provided that:

1 . The move was a capture;

2. The previous move was a capture;
or

3. The move offers the opponent the
chance to exchange men.

At the next ply the program ignored
all moves for which the previous move was
not a capture, and at deeper levels in the
tree only capture moves were examined.
By the time the program reached this depth
the number of moves being examined from
any position was small, but it was still
possible for the program to find itself
getting involved in ridiculous capture
sequences, and so at a depth of 1 1 -ply the
search would terminate if either side were
more than two kings ahead (an over-
whelming advantage). At 20-ply the search
terminated under all circumstances so that
the program did not run out of memory for
storing the tree.

Samuel's criteria for pruning the tree
were chosen in such a way as to encourage
the evaluation of positions that were
quiescent, and to discourage evaluation in
turbulent positions. The concepts of
quiescence and turbulence are perhaps
better understood when related to the two
different aspects of game playing: strategy
and tactics. Strategy involves planning and
maneuvering. Tactics (e.g., capturing) are
used to punish blunders and to convert a
strategic advantage into something more

concrete, such as material. The argument
in favour of Samuel's approach is that the
three ply of exhaustive search give the
program some strategic grasp of what is
happening, while the deeper tactical search
ensures that it does not perform erroneous
evaluations in turbulent positions. The
necessity to restrict the deeper search in
this way is clearly dependent on the nature
of the game and the number of branches at
each node of the tree (the branching
factor). The number of positions evaluated
in an alpha-beta search is roughly propor-
tional to b d 2 where b is the average
branching factor and d is the depth of
search, and anything that can be done to
reduce the "b" will produce a combina-
torial improvement in playing speed.

The evaluation function used in the
early version of Samuel's program em-
ployed 39 terms or features, only 17 of
which were in use at any one time. The
features were temporarily suspended from
duty if and when it was found that they did
not contribute significantly to the evalua-
tion process. Correlation measurements
indicated which of the 1 7 features currently
in use were the least effective, and once the
effectiveness dropped below some thres-
hold value they were replaced by the
features at the top of the reserve list, while
the rejects were added to the bottom of the
reserve list. Material was the dominant
feature, and Samuel recognized the need to
encourage the program to trade off pieces
when it was ahead but to avoid exchanges
when behind. This may be accomplished in
various ways, the most reliable is probably
to determine the value of

(program material
- opponenfs material) X (greater s.de's material)
(lesser side's material)

A full list of the other features in the
linear part of the evaluation function is
given below. In addition, there were some

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SEPTEMBER 1980

171

CIRCLE 11BON READER SERVICE CARD

Games, cont'd...

non-linear terms in the function, as will be
mentioned later. In the following list the
board notation is as used in the draughts
(checkers) literature.

y////M '■!''""■?. W VM i: wumf

|32| |31J |30| pSj

%imx& W///M ?//////?.

m vz& ruf

^ww?> s//ss//$ drAW///, BHBH

|24| |23J p2j |21|

M////Z, W////M W/////f. W/'/M

w/////, ■#//////, '4/////Z y//////,

ioj Kg] fill Ii7j

(S^»^ 2%*^ 2033% ««*3j2

W"t. y/zMy, zv////4 ■■K"////,
P6l |15f f14l p3|

33*86 33tt*3 W/M/f. ?■—

W/////t W///M SS333J WW

fi2| |ii| fiof nj

3333s 3333?. ;?333S :%3sJ

fffl Pff pfi ffl

3S338S 3W^ &s/?//k 4r///%.

4 ¥1 PJ H

WllHIt 3W3: S%30ii 3J-433

ADV (Advancement)

The parameter is credited with I for
each passive man in the 5th and 6th rows
(counting in passive's direction) and
debited with I for each passive man in the
3rd and 4th rows.

APEX (Apex)

The parameter is debited with I if
there are no kings on the board, if either
square 7 or 26 is occupied by an active
man, and if neither of these squares is
occupied by a passive man.

BACK (Back Row Bridge)

The parameter is credited with I if
there are no active kings on the board and
if the two bridge squares ( I and 3, or 30 and
32) in the back row are occupied by passive
pieces.

CENT (Center Control I)

The parameter is credited with I for
each of the following squares: II, 12, IS,
16, 20. 21. 24 and 25 which is occupied by a
passive man.

CNTR (Central Control II)

The parameter is credited with I for
each of the following squares: II, 12, 15,
16, 20. 21. 24and 25 that is either currently
occupied by an active piece or to which an
active piece can move.

CORN (Double-Corner Credit)

The parameter is credited with I if the
material credit value for the active side is 6
or less, if the passive side is ahead in
material credit, and if the active side can
move into one of the double-corner
squares.

CRAMP (Cramp)

The parameter is credited with 2 if the
passive side occupies the cramping square
(13 for Black, and 20 for White) and at
least one other nearby square (9 or 14 for
Black, and 19 or 20 for White), while
certain squares (17, 21. 22 and 25 are
Black, and 8, 1 1, 12 and 16 for White) are
all occupied by the active side.

DENY (Denial of Occupancy)

The parameter is credited with I for
each square defined in MOB if on the next
move a piece occupying this square could
be captured without an exchange.

DIA (Double Diagonal File)

The parameter is credited with I for
each passive piece located in the diagonal
flies terminating in the double-corner
squares.

D1AV (Diagonal Moment Value)

The parameter is credited with I / 2 for
each passive piece located on squares 2
removed from the double-corner diagonal
flies, with I for each passive piece located
on squares I removed from the double-
corner flies and with 3/2 for each passive
piece in the double-corner flies.

DYKE (Dyke)

The parameter is credited with I for
each string of passive pieces that occupy
three adjacent diagonal squares.

EXCH (Exchange)

The parameter is credited with I for
each square to which the active side may
advance a piece and, in so doing, force an
exchange.

EXPOS (Exposure)

The parameter is credited with I for
each passive piece that is flanked along one
or the other diagonal by two empty
squares.

FORK (Threat of Fork)

The parameter is credited with I for
each situation in which passive pieces
occupy two adjacent squares in one row
and in which there are three empty squares
so disposed that the active side could, by
occupying one of them, threaten a sure
capture of one or the other of the two
pieces.

GAP (Gap)

The parameter is credited with I for
each single empty square that separates
two passive pieces along a diagonal, or that
separates a passive piece from the edge of
the board.

GUARD (Back Row Control)

The parameter is credited with 1 if
there are no active kings and if either the
Bridge or the Triangle of Oreo is occupied
by passive pieces.

HOLE (Hole)

The parameter is credited with I for
each empty square that is surrounded by
three or more passive pieces.

KCENT (King Center Control)

The parameter is credited with I for
each of the following squares: II, 12, 15,
1 6, 20, 2 1 , 24 and 25 which is occupied by a
passive king.

MOB (Total Mobility)

The parameter is credited with I for
each square to which the active side could

move one or more pieces in the normal
fashion, disregarding the fact that jump
moves may or may not be available.

MOBIL (Undenied Mobility)

The parameter is credited with the
difference between MOB and DENY.

MOVE (Move)

The parameter is credited with I if
pieces are even with a total piece count (2
for men, and 3 for kings) of less than 24,
and if an odd number of pieces are in the
move system, defined as those vertical files
starting with squares I. 2, 3 and 4.

NODE (Node)

The parameter is credited with I for
each passive piece that is surrounded by at
least three empty squares.

OREO (Triangle of Oreo)

The parameter is credited with I if
there are no passive kings and if the
Triangle of Oreo (squares 2, 3 and 7 for
Black, and squares 26, 30 and 3 1 for White)
is occupied by passive pieces.

POLE (Pole)

The parameter is credited with 1 for
each passive man that is completely
surrounded by empty squares.

RECAP (Recapture)

This parameter is identical with
Exchange, as defined above. (It was
introduced to test the effects produced by
the random times at which parameters are
introduced and deleted from the evalua-
tion polynomial.)

THRET (Threat)

The parameter is credited with 1 for
each square to which an active piece may
be moved and in so doing threaten the
capture of a passive piece on a subsequent
move.

Different sets of weightings were tried
in the evaluation function and an initial set
was chosen by playing through a series of
checker games from a book and computing
the correlation coefficient of the moves
chosen by the program and those chosen
by the original (human) player.

Rote Learning

The most elementary type of learning
worth programming is the storing of a
large number of game positions together
with their scores as determined by the
evaluation function. Samuel pointed out
that if a score for a position was arrived at
as a result of a 3-ply search, the next time
this position is encountered as a terminal
node in the tree (say at depth 3) the
evaluation of the root position will be
made on the basis of a search which has. in
one variation, been examined to a depth of
6-ply. In this manner a program with a
large storage capability could learn to play
a game such as checkers rather well. The

172

CREATIVE COMPUTING

■I

problem facing personal computer users is
clearly one of space, and without a floppy
disk system the task will be impossible for
any moderately interesting game. Even
with a floppy, games such as checkers will
very soon use up all available memory.

Move-Phase Tables

Another method of learning,
described in 1974 by Arnold Griffith, is
quite unusual. Griffith discovered that in
each particular phase of the game a certain
move would, fairly consistently, either be a
good move or a bad move. This is an
oversimplification of his thesis, but it will
suffice for the purpose of this article.

Griffith analyzed a number of games
from draughts books. Whenever an expert
player made a move, Griffith noted the
move and defined the position arising after
that move as a "strong" position. A
position which would have arisen after an
alternative move was assumed to be less
desirable, and hence termed a "weak"
position. He then tabulated all the possible
forward moves, of which there are 49, and
for each forward move he noted the the
proportion of occasions in which this move
led to a strong position in each phase of the
game ( 1st ten moves, 2nd ten, 3rd ten, 4th
ten, Sth ten and move SO onwards). The
first rows of his table looked like this:

MOVE PHASE I PHASK 1 PHASE J PHASE 4 PHASES PHASE*

1-5

0.07

0.09

0.12

0.06

0.05

1-6

0.1 1

0.18

0.15

0.06

0.07

0.02

When the program came to evaluate a
move it could simply look up the table
entry corresponding to the particular move
and the appropriate phase of the game.
One way of utilizing such a method would
be to employ Michie's probabilistic
approach described last month, since this
would provide a more global view of
whether a particular path in the tree was
heading in a desirable direction.

I must confess that I find Griffith's
method somewhat curious, but it appears
to work to a certain extent in draughts, and
presumably the same will be true in other
games which (a) have a fairly restricted
move set, and (b) have a dependence
relationship between the various phases of
the game and the moves themselves. In
chess, for example, the move of the king
towards the center of the board is usually
very undesirable until the endgame is
reached, but the game is so complex that
very few rules of this type could be used for
phase-tables, and the number of possible
chess moves is so vast that the whole
approach would be useless. 1 would be very
interested to hear from any reader who

successfully applies the phase-table
method to a game playing program.

Monthly Tasks

In previous articles I have set a
monthly task to test the readers' under-
standing of particular principles in the
programming of computer games. Since
this month's article heralds a new phase in
my series, in which I shall be concentrating
on specific games. I will not be setting any
more tasks for the reader. I hope that some
of you will write successful game playing
programs, and that you will write to me
with any interesting ideas or discoveries.

□

Bibliography

(■ninth. A. K "A Comparison and Evaluation of
Three Machine learning Procedures as Applied to the
Game of Checkers." Artificial Intelligence. Volume 5
(1974). pp. 1.17-148.

Samuel. A. "Some Studies in Machine learning
using the game of checkers ." IBM Journal of Research
and Development. Volume 3 (July 1959). pp. 21 1-229.

Samuel. A. "Some Studies in Machine Learning
using the game of checkers II recent progress."
IBM Journal of Research and Development. Volume
II (November 1967). pp. 601-617.

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SEPTEMBER I960

173

CIRCLE 188 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Apple-Car

Chuck Carpenter

Correspondence I* always welcome and a
raaponaa will be made to those accompanied
by a SA8E. Sand your letters to: Chuck
Carpantar, 2228 Montclalr PI., Csrrollton, TX
79006.

Reports from NCC are indicating lots
of new products will be available for our
Apple computers. My first new acquisition
will be the Softcard from Microsoft. With
this card I will be able to have a version of
Basic that is more suitable for the kind of
prpgramming I like to do. There will be
several other languages available for the
Softcard system too. Check the ads in the
magazines and at your computer store if
you're interested. I'll be watching the ads
and computer stores for any other new
items, too. I have one slot left once I get
Softcard, and will be looking for some-
thing to fill it. No, I'm not getting an Apple
III. After lots of thinking on the subject, I
decided that I would not be able to do
many of the things that I like to do. With
the Apple III, a lot of flexibility will be lost.
With all the products being offered for the
Apple II. and all the things you can do with
the system on your own. it seemed foolish
to me to start all over again. And, now that
Mountain Hardware has announced an
expander box, you can add 8 more slots to
your Apple II. The next several months
should bring us many interesting Apple
II projects. I, for one, will be trying to
check out each one.

listings I and 2 are programs to turn
your catalog listing into a menu. By
including these programs in your HELLO
program, you will see the catalog listed on
the screen and then, as if by magic,
changed to a menu. You can then press a
corresponding key and RUN, LOAD,
UNLOCK, or LOCK any file listed.
Listing 1 is in Applesoft, and the selection
options are displayed in billboard fashion.
The Integer version in Listing 2 will not
appear to be doing anything until you press
one of the selection keys. Then you either
RUN a program or do one of the other
functions. If you have both Integer and
Applesoft, you can use the technique of
putting the Applesoft version in the
HELLO program and the Integer version

in a program called Applesoft. The
procedure for doing this was described in
last month's column. There is a limitation.
You can only have up to 23 catalog entries
showing on the screen at a time. If you have
more than 23, only the last 23 will be
included in the menu. These programs
were written by Bob Sander-Cederlof for
our local newsletter. I usually don't like to
bother with gadget programs but these are
quite useful. Seemed like something that
you might like to have.

Lemonade Music

In the March 1980 column. I included
a program for playing "music" with the
Apple. The music- playing routine is a
machine-language program from the red
Apple II Reference Manual. This same
music routine is used in the "Lemonade
Stand" program being shipped with the
newer Apples. I was able to find a copy on
the master diskette of a friend's new
machine. Why am I telling you all of this!?

Charles Kluepfel of New York City
has sent along some interesting data
relative to that program. The version I
have was written in Applesoft and the
program POKF.s the machine language
into page 3 of memory. Charles found this
to be done in lines 10000 through 10190 of
the Lemonade Stand program. The values
for pitch and duration are POKEd into
decimal memory locations 768 and 769.
Charles has calculated the values to select
the pitch. Here is his contribution.

Based on the tone values for "Rain-
drops Keep Falling on My Head" in line
1 1550 of "Lemonade Stand" — 152. 152.
152. 144, 152. 171. 192. 152 and the sheet
music for that song, a knowledge that A
(pitch) is inversely proportional to the
frequency and that 1 2 half-tones make an
octave (doubling of frequency), we get
Table I.

Note that serves as 256 as it needs to

be decremented 256 times to get back to
zero. The formula used is: if x is the
number of half-tones lower than C above
middle C, use the nearest integer to:

128 • 2 " (k/12)

Also, a value of lean be used for pauses. as
the note produced is barely audible. To
play all of Lemonade Stand's songs, load
the program, GOSUB 10000 to POKE the

Table I. Values for A to be POKEd for Pitch

Lou

Hid

HI ah

Hiah*

192

203

102

D#.

Eb 213

108

22B

114

c#.

0b 242

121

129

136

A#.

144

132

161

171

F#.

181

174

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Announcing „ the music card
that turns you into a Rock Star.

Girts will climb over each other to kiss your feet.

Some companies will say anything to sell you a music musical instrument — real or imagined". Sure. Before
card. One is "designed by leading experts". One's called you listen to their claims, listen to their music. That's

the "Super Sound Generator". Another is "part of the where the real differences show up

excitement of owning a personal computer". Then

there's the one with "flash & crash sound effects". And ' 'Jt

how about the one that "generates the sound of any <\f ■' v

You can hear our
music card at your
local Apple dealer.

Or, just send us $1 and

we'll send you a demo

record of our 9 voice card.

Bill Fickas, lead guitar for
the Broken Rubber Band.

i«&

When you listen to a music
card, ask if the song you're
hearirig was programmed by
a customer, or by experts at
the company that made the
card. Was it done with the
software you'll get, or with
special programming? Over
half the songs on our demo
record were entered by
customers using the soft-
ware supplied with the card -
you can do it the same way.
Our manual shows you how
step by step.

The "Apple Music ][" has
9 voices and is just $195*.

The "Apple Music Synthesizer"

has 3 top-quality voices

for just $265*.

See your local Apple dealer,
or write for more details.

Quality computer music
products since 1975.

ALF PRODUCTS

1448 Estes
Denver, CO 80215
(303) 234-0871

'Suggested U.S. price.

machine language program, delete line
1 15200. which has non-musical data, and
repeatedly GOSUB 11700. You will get
"Yes, We Have No Bananas," some glug.
glug, glugs of a glass filling up, "Summer-
time, and the Living is Easy," "Raindrops
Keep Falling on my Head," and "Singin' in
the Rain." Charles notes further that if a
value of 196 is used to represent middle C
then the formula to use is:

A = 232.5 / 2

(x/12)

All of these calculations will help
those of you interested in making your own
simple music interpreter. One gentleman,
also from New York City, called to let me
hear a very nice classical piece done with
the tone generating routine. My thanks to
both for an interesting application of a
useful utility routine. Of course, you
should write a program to make the
calculations for you. I mean, after all!

Disk-O-Tape

Here's a new program that will allow
you to copy your diskettes to cassettes.
With Disk-O-Tape. you can copy an entire
DOS 3.2 diskette to inexpensive cassettes.
Up to 4 diskettes can be stored on both
sides of a 60 minute tape. Considering the
cost of disks, you can save the cost of
several disks you now have tied up as
archive or back-up storage. The program is
designed to let you save a diskette to tape
and, as desired, restore the contents back
to an initialized diskette. Here are some of
Disk-O-Tapes features:

• Copy an entire DOS 3.2 disk to tape.

• Comprehensive error detection during
transfer.

• True read-after-write for reliability.

• Loading boot-strap saved with each
copy.

• User-assigned naming of tapes.

• Copv time is a function of data on the
disk.'

• Copies all but the DOS tracks, 0-2.

• Pays for itself in media savings alone.

This is one program that should find a
lot of use. Consider the ease with which
you can mail the contents of a disk on a
rugged cassette. Or. how many of your
rarely used disks you can now use for other
purposes. Disk-O-Tape is available for
SI 2.00 postpaid from: Dann McC rears.
Box 16534-Y, San Diego, CA 921 16.

Applesoft Revealed

Analyzing how an Applesoft program
is constructed in memory has several
benefits. One is to append a program.
Another might be to make special changes
to certain memory locations. A third could
be to include a machine language program
in with your Basic program. Once you
know how to directly modify a program in
memory, your imagination can do the rest.

In the following discussion, all
^memory locations and data will be in

hexadecimal. This can be confusing if you
usually work with decimal numbers. And
the 'Tokens' we will be talking about are
decimal values in the Applesoft manual.
When working directly with values in
memory, only hexadecimal numbers are
used. So, if you're riot comfortable with
HEX numbers, now's the time. (You
should be able to easily convert back and
forth because PEEKs and POKEs use
decimal values.)

Clearing Memory

On page 140 in the appendix of the
Applesoft manual, you can find that
programs start at memory location 801 for
the ROM version (3001 for the tape
version). The page zero pointer to this
location is in memory locations 67-68. To
make sure we can know that our inputs are
easily identified, let's put an easy-to-
recogni/e character in several memory
locations. The following sequence will let
us do that:

JCALL-151

•8oo :ff

• 80K800.87FH

•800. 81F

0800- FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
0308- FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
0810- FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
0818- FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF

The character 'F is not likely to be found in
pairs in this test, so I used it. This is what
happened: From Applesoft, a CALL-I5I
is made to get to the monitor. Next, the
value FF is loaded into memory location
800. The next step uses the monitor move
commands to fill a range of memory with
the value loaded into location 800. A
memory dump of the program area we will
be using is shown in the last step. I am
showing less memory than the move
command used because I already know
how big my test program is. Now, press the
<CTRL>B key sequence to get back to
Applesoft.

A Test Program

Now let's write a short program and
sec what happens to the program space. To
keep things easy to understand, only low
line numbers and simple commands will be
used. The following sequence, using a three
line program, will do the job:

1 REM

2 X ■ 1

:< PRINT

3CALL-131

•69. 6A

0069- 17 08

•

•800. B1F

0800- 00 07 08 01 00 62 00 OF

01308- 08 02 00 98 DO 31 00 15

0810- 08 03 00 BA 00 00 00 FF

0818- FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF

After typing in the short program, we
again make the CALL to the monitor. This
time, from page 140, the memory locations
in page zero containing the address of the
end of the program are examined. A
memory dump of locations 69 and 6A
show us that the end of the program is at
memory location 0817. It's customary to
display the low address byte first and the
high address byte last (adds to the
challenge of learning new things). And,
once more, we make a memory dump of
the range where we expect the program to
be.

Interpretation

And there it is. By examining the data
in the memory dump, the contents of the
program will be revealed. As you can see,
the Applesoft interpreter replaced most of
the Fs with program data. The first byte at
address 800 is always 00 and is not part of
the program. The next two bytes at address
801 & 802 contain the address of the next
line at 0807. Next, bytes at addresses 803 &
804 are the number of the first line, 0001.
Following the line number pair, the next
byte represents the token for the REM in
line I. Tokens are used to represent
keywords and commands. This way. only
one byte is needed to represent commands
that may use several letters. A complete list
of tokens used in Applesoft can be found
on page 1 2 1 in the Applesoft manual. You
may want to convert these decimal values
to hexadecimal for easy reference.

Following the REM token is the end
of the line indicator. This is always 00. At
location 0807 and 0808 are the bytes for the
address of the next line, 080F. As you
recall, the first line started with the byte
pair for the address of this line which
started at 0807 (whew). Addresses 0809
and 080A are the line number of this line, 2.
The bytes 58, DO, and 31 represent the
ASCII value for X, the token for =, and the
ASCII value for I. The end of line 00 byte
is at 080E. Note that a table of ASCII
values can be found on pages 138 and 139
in your Applesoft manual. You will find
that a HEX 80 has to be added to the
characters so the output will be in normal
video when the value is printed on the
screen.

The last line starts at addresses 080F
and 08 1 0. These bytes point to the next line
address at 0815. In this case, the bytes at
this address are the end of program bytes,
0000. At address 08 1 1 and 08 1 2 are the line
number bytes, followed by the token for
PRINT, then the end of line byte, 00. As
mentioned before, the end of program
bytes 0000 are at addresses 08 1 5 and 08 16.
At the beginning, we said the end of the
program was at 0817. This we determined
by listing the contents of 69 and 6A.
Actually, this is the address of the
beginning of the variables table. Now,
press the<CTRL>C combination to get
back to Applesoft. Make sure it's C or the.

176

CREATIVE COMPUTING

I TREE

CATALOGS

D Software. Lists 400 pro-
grams on 70 tapes and
disks. For education, recre-
ation, and personal use.

O Books. Lists 100 books,
games, records, prints, etc.
for educational and per-
sonal users of small compu-
ters.

□ Peripherals. (ALF music
synthesizer and Versa-
Writer for the Apple II).

Send 3 15 C stamps for
either catalog or 5 for both.
Or send $2.00 for a sample
issue of Creative Computing
and both catalogs.

creative
computing

P.O. Box 789-M

Morrlstown. NJ 07960

Be A Hero!

Cross swords with a band of dastardly
robbers in their mountain lair in the
Datntonn of Rin You explore the
caverns shown on your video display and
vanquish the monsters in real time. You
have just 20 minutes to recover the pre-
cious Dateslones before time itself stops.

Monsters— Melees — Magic !

The Dateslones of Kin introduces you
to the superlative DUNJONQUEST game
system. Other games in the series may pit
you against an evil wizard or the frightful
insectoid monsters of the god Apshai. In
the Dateslones your main opponents are
human, but look out for other nasty critters
urking in the darkness. You have 14 different
commands ranging from moving (as fast or
as slow as you like so long as you don't tire
yourself out) to searching the walls for
secret doors.

For just $14.95 you get the Dateslones of
Ryn on cassette ready lo play, and a superbly
illustrated booklet that tells you all about the
game. Please specify the version you want
TRS-80 (level II. Ir.h I. PET ( 16K old or new
ROMS), or APPLE (32K Applesoft).

Ask your dealer or send today to:

AUTOMATED

SIMULATIONS

Dept.DDI
P.O. Box 4247
Mountain View, CA. 94040
California residents please add 6 "., sales lax.

NOW YOU ARE A PART OF THE
GREATEST STORIES EVER CREATEDI

INTERACTIVE HCTtON'"

What Is It? Interactive Fiction is story-telling using a computer, so that
you. the reader can actually take part in the story instead of merely
reading it.

How does It work? The computer sets the scene with a fictional situa-
tion, which you read from the CRT. Then, you become a character in
the story; when it's your turn to speak you type in your response.
The dialogue of the other characters and even the plot will depend on
what you say.

Is It a game? No. in a game the situation is rigidly defined and you can
select from only a limited number of responses. But in Interactive Fiction
you can say anything you like to the other characters. |Of course if your
response is too bizarre they may not understand you.)
What Is available now? Robert Lafore. writer, columnist and pro-
grammer, has created a series of works in Interactive Fiction. Each is
available on a 5 'A " diskette for use on a TRS-80* LeveHI with at least
32K memory and one disk drive. Requires user to have a copy of
TRSOOS 2.2 or 2.3.

Six Micro Stories offers a good introduction to Interactive Fiction. Six
very short stores involve you. the reader, in a variety of situations: you
are an American spy in Hitler's Third Reich, the pilot of a doomed 747.
and more. $14.95

Local Call for Death is a detective story in the style of Lord Peter
Wimsey. Considerably more challenging than the above program, this
one will put your analytic skills |and social savoir-faire| to the test. S 1 9.95
Two Heads of the Coin is a psychological mystery set in the London of
Sherlock Holmes. Most challenging of all. this program will tax your
observational skills and above all your imagination S 19.95

TO ORDER: Send your payment to: Adventure International, P.O.
Box 3435, Longwood, FL 32750. Florida residents add 4% sales tax
D MasterCharge □ Visa □ Check U COD. A,

M.C. or Visa Number <^5

Signature

•TRS-flO n a trademark of the Tandy Corporation

■ CIRCLE 108 ON READER SERVICE CAROsssssssst

CIRCLE 110ON READER SERVICE CARD

September, October Super Special

Apple II 16K

$950.00 .....

INTEGRAL DATA
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.-SAT. I

CIRCLE 122 ON READER SERVICE CARD

THERE'S NO
PLACE LIKE
HOME FOR...

New! INTRODUCTION TO Tl

BASIC (Inman. Zamora. & Albrecht)
Covers essential programming
statements and machine features of the
Texas Instruments' Microcomputer
Discusses animation on the screen, color
graphics, sound, music, screen editing,
and much more Each chapter concludes
with review questions #5185-9. $9.95

New! HOME COMPUTERS

CAN MAKE YOU RICH

(Weisbecker) Introduces the home
computer owner and non-owner to the
microcomputer industry and the people
involved in it Discusses money-making
opportunities in freelance writing,
programming, consulting, inventing, and
much more. #5177-8, $5.95

New! WHAT TO DO AFTER

YOU HIT RETURN (The People s
Computer Company) A potpourri of
games and creative activities that also
serves as an educational tool
Jam-packed with quips, illustrations, and
cartoons, the book offers puzzles,
brain-teasers, math concept games,
graphics, and games for the 2 1 st Century
#5476-9. $14.95

Available at your local
computer store!

Or write:

Hayden Book Company, Inc.

50 Essex Street. Rochelle Park. NJ 07662

Price subject to change without notice.

program will be wiped out. (Can you
figure out how to restore the pointer to the
end of the program yet?)

Variables Appear!

Because we have not run the program,
the variables table has not been placed in
memory. This is an important thing to
remember. If you are going to make any
changes to a program, don't run it until
you have made all the changes you intend
to make. Now, let's run the program:

3LIST

1 REM
? X « 1
3 PRINT

1MJN

TCALL-151
•800. 81F

0800- 00 07
0808- 08 02
0810- 08 03
0818- 00 81

08
00
00
00

00 BZ
DO 31
00 00
00 00

00 OF
00 15
00 38
FF FF

Now go back to the monitor once again.
Notice that the interpreter has now placed
the variable table at the end of the
program. Only two of the Fs are left.

Signifying What?

Suppose you wanted to change line
number 3 to something else. By changing
the values in memory locations 081 1 and
08 1 2 to FF you would change line number
3 to 65535. Or, something that makes using
machine language simpler, tack the code
on the end of your Basic program.

• First, write the Basic program

• Second, determine the address of
program end

• Next, load the program into memory

• Start it at the address of program end

• Remember this is at the location
indicated by 69 & 6A

• Change the contents of 69 and 6A to
the end of machine language

• Now go back to Basic and save the
program.

Remember, don't run the program until
after you have saved it.

When the machine language program
is written, make a note of its length. Also,
be sure it is written to run in the memory
space where it will be included in your
Basic program. Make sure to add the end
of program 0000 bytes to your program
too. There! Now doesn't that start your
imagination humming? □

3LIST

Listing I
Applesoft Catalogcr

100
110

120
130

140
200
210

220
230
240
230

TEXT : HOME CD* = CHR» (4): PRINT D«"CATAL0G" :B « PEEK (

37) - 2: IF 8 > 22 THEN B • 22
T • OICH • 4: FOR CW • TO 23: GOSUB 1000: IF C < > 160 THEN
PuKE P - 1.219: POKE P.T ♦ 193: POKE P ♦ 1.22KT • T ♦ i:

S - CV

NEXT CU: UTAB Z4:A» - "TYPE LETTER TO RUN. OR LOAD-1 LOCK-

2 UNLOCK-3 DELETE.4 EXIT-5 ■

B* " "RUN": HTAB i: PRINT LEFT* <A».39>;:A» • HID* <A».2>
♦ LEFT* <A».1>:K - PEEK < - 18384): IF K < 1Z8 THEN FOR

K • 1 TO 73: NEXT K:K « FRE <0K GOTO 130

POKE - 16388. 0:K « K - 176: IF K < 1 OR K > 5 THEN 300

HTAB i: CALL - 868: IF K • 3 THEN END

PRINT " PRESS LETTER' YOU UISH TO "i: IF K « I THEN 8* -

"LOAD"

IF K « Z THEN B* • "LOCK"

IF K • 3 THEN B* « "UNLOCK"

IF K ■ 4 THEN B* • "DELETE": FLASH

PRINT B*:: CALL - 198: NORMAL : GET K»:K * ASC <K«) - 48

194 AND <B» ■

3o0 IF K < 17 OR K > T ♦ 16 THEN 130

310 ch » i:cu • s - t + k - 16: gosub tooo: IF C

"RUN" OR B« • "LOAD") THEN B« = "B" ♦ B»

320 for ch • 6 to 39: gosub iooo:e» ■ B« ♦ CHR» (o: NEXT ch:

HTAB i: CALL - 868: PRINT B»: PRINT D*:B«: GOTO 100

iooo ci • int <cy / b>:cz ■ cu - ci • b:p « ioz4 ♦ izs • cz ♦
40 • ci ♦ ch:c ■ PEEK <p>: RETURN

I isting 2
>LJST Integer Catalogcr

L0MEM:Z04B: POKE -16Z98.0: POKE -16300.0: text

io dim a*<4o>.b»<e>:d**"": print d»:"nomoncio": call -936: print

d»: "catalog"
20 i«i*z: if scrn(4,i-1)=10 then z0:p«i/z
30 htab p + u: tab 4: print "c j " :q*b*1 :r« 1*0*2-2 : color .(0+ 128

>/lg: plot 4.r-1: color. <q+ 128) mod 16: plot 4.r-2
40 if scrn(4.r+1)#10 then 30:t« peek <37): print "run ? lock-1 u

n10ck-2 delete-3 exit.4" : :b»" "run"
30 k> peek (-16384): if k>176 and k<180 then 60: if k-180 or

k>182 and k< 193*0 then bo: goto 50
60 if k«177 then b*""l0ck": if k"178 then b«""unl0ck": if k"

179 THEN B»" "DELETE": UTAB T+i: TAB i: CALL -868
70 PRINT " PRESS "LETTER" YOU WISH TO " : ! IF K-179 THEN POKE

5u.i27: print b»:: call -isb

80 POKE 30.255: POKE -16368.0: IF K>176 AND K 180 THEN 50: IF
K 180 THEN END :i"I*(K-193)«2-2: IF SCRN(l,I).2 AND B*-"RUN"
THEN B*'"BRUN"
90 FOR X>7 TO 39: POKE 2046+X . SCRN(X.I)* SCRNtX. 1+1 )«16: NEXT

x: print : print d*:b»:a«: goto o

CIRCLE 141 ON READER SERVICE CARO

178

CREATIVE COMPUTING

SPACE

You re m command in SPACE WAR' Destroy your

nent's ship by fo'ong him to collide with the sun or to

> .; le - re entry from hyperspace or challenge him

(ace I la >• with missile fire You re in command ot the speed

and direction ot your ship You control the timing of your

You select the game mode Irom live options.

including Reverse Gravity, and the battle begins Accel-

erate I ice .our shols-and escape into hyperspace before

your opponent comes within range But be wary he (or she 1 )

may circle out of sight and reappear on the opposite side o<

. i !■,' (This is the classic MIT game redesigned

espe 1 3 1 1 y lor the Apple )

imtTri

ETUi

super inyfisiori

• Super Invasion is the original invasion game, with the original
moon creatures and faster action than any other invasion game.

• Features superb high resolution graphics, nail-biting tension and
hilarious antics by the moon creatures!

• Self-running "attract mode" of operation for easy learning and j J
demonstrating of the game '

• As good in every way as the famous Invaders arcade game. L

High speed action ' • Sound effects 1
Runs on the Apple II and the Apple II Plus

■••.•.' hi -scl?e -oeoeo i

Fifty-five aliens advance and shower you with lethal writhing
electric worms As you pick off the aliens, one-by-one, they
quicken their descent They whiz across the screen wearing away
your parapets, your only defense, coming closer and closer to
your level Super Invasion is the original invasion game with the
original moon creatures and taster action than any other invasion
game on the market

Super Invasion is available for only $19 95 on cassette
(CS-4006) for a 32K Apple II Space War is $14 95 on cassette
(CS-4009) for a 16K Apple II Space War and Super Invasion are on
one disk (CS-4508) for a 48K Apple II for only $29 95

Send payment plus $1 00 shipping and handling to Creative
Computing Software, P.O. Box 789-M. Morristown, NJ 07960 NJ
residents add $1 00 sales tax Bankcard orders may be called in
loll free to 800/631 -81 12 In NJ call 201/540-0445

sensational
software

creative

computing

software

CIRCLE 300 ON READER.SERVICE CARD

Learning at Atari Academy

Atari takes the educational market
seriously, with a wide selection of educa-
tional courses. Among the courses an-
nounced are:

U.S. History (Secondary Level)

U.S. Government (Secondary)

Supervisory Skills (Adult)

World History (Secondary)

Basic Sociology (College)

Counseling Procedures (College)

Principles of Accounting (College)

Physics (College)

Great Classics (Elementary Secondary)

Business Communications (Adult)

Basic Psychology (College)

Effective Writing (College)

Principles of Economics (Secondary)

Spelling (Adult)

Basic Electricity (Technical)

Basic Mgebra (Secondary)

The ranges indicated arc only general,
based upon Atari's advertising and my
own initial reactions. For example. Atari
claims a level of elementary, secondary and
adult college for the U.S. Government
course. My own reaction to it is that, while
it is certainly understandable by a
reasonably intelligent fourth grader and
helpful to an adult, it is most reasonably
aimed at high school level.

Each course consists of four cassette
tapes, which contain both digital and
audio information. You need the educa-
tional system master cartridge, supplied
with the Atari 800, $30 extra for the Atari
400. to use the course material, as the
master cartridge allows the processing of
the audio and digital tracks at the same
time.

The instructions for each course are
quite simple. You put the educational
system master cartridge in the computer
and turn it on, put the cassette in the
recorder and press play, press the start
button on the computer, and when the
computer asks a question, answer by
pressing 1 , 2 or 3. The instructions, which

George Blank. Foster Road. Milford. NH 03055.

George Blank

are the same four-page brochure for all the
courses, also list a brief outline of each
course. I would like to see more explan-
atory material, perhaps a booklet with
supplementary readings, with each course.

Each lesson consists of text which is
displayed on the screen accompanied by
narration, essentially the same as the text.
At regular intervals throughout the lesson,
questions are asked, two or three answers
are displayed on the screen, and the tape
recorder stops. The student answers the
question by typing I to select the answer on
the left. 2 for the answer in the middle of
the screen, or 3 for the answer on the right.
If the wrong answer is selected, the
computer beeps to indicate the need to try
again. When the right answer is selected,
the tape starts again and continues,
frequently with a comment such as "That is
correct." "Yes." or "Right." Because the
tape recorder is starting, the first word is
often slurred.

The material is well written and well
narrated, and occasional limited graphics
break up the text. The effect is one of a
talking book that stops to ask questions
and waits for the right answer before
continuing. Each lesson lasts about half an
hour.

I did not review the whole series, but
tried selected lessons from several of them.
Here is a summary of my impressions.

In the Great Classics series, each tape
contains lessons on two books. The books
are Julius Caesar and Macbeth by
Shakespeare, Ivanhoe. Treasure Island.
Mutiny on the Bounty, A Tale of Two
Cities. Robinson Crusoe. Last of the
Mohicans. Moby Dick. David Copper-
field. Don Quixote. The War of the
Worlds. The Three Musketeers. 20.000
Leagues Under the Sea. The Red Badge of
Courage, and William Tell. In each case,
the basic story is told in half an hour, along
with questions to help emphasize turning
points and key ideas. Important quotes are
included in the lesson.

I can remember as a child that the way

to "cheat" in English literature was to read
the Classic comic book for the current
book to be read. As a confirmed booka-
holic from the age of six, I was never
tempted to avoid the book by such a
summary. In the case of Treasure Island. I
read the book, saw the movie, read the
comic book, and studied the Atari lesson.
The book was by far the most satisfying
experience, and I dwelt for hours over the
Wyeth illustrations. The movie was less
satisfying, and the comic much less
satisfying. The lesson was work, not joy,
although it did emphasize the main
features of the course. My impression of
the course is that it is equivalent to an
unsophisticated imitation of the Cliffs
notes series.

I did complete the Supervisory Skills
course, more out of duty than enthusiasm,
and found that the lessons seem pedantic
after a few hours of exposure. The material
was reasonably well organized, informa-
tive, and useful, but not stimulating.
Philosophically, those who believe that
learning ought to be work and not play
should feel satisfied with the lessons.

The educational series uses a different
cassette loading format, and it is not as
reliable as the standard format. A number
of times during the lessons, the computer
lost track of the digital track, and
continued on with the audio lessons
without writing to the screen. Usually I
could restart the digital by resetting the
computer and hitting the start button
again.

These courses will probably prove to
be an excellent resource for pupils who
have difficulty reading, summarizing the
core content of the material and providing
drill right afterwards. For those with good
reading skills, a good book on the subject
would probably be a better investment. I
would much rather see a good historical
simulation, such as a game requiring you
to play the part of a ship captain in the
rum, molasses, and slave trade of the
1 700s, than have someone tell me the story
and ask me questions afterwards.

180

CREATIVE COMPUTING

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CIRCLE 12S ON READER SERVICE CARD

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF TIME SERIES
STOCK, BUSINESS. EXPERIMENTAL DATA

ANAr (ANALYSIS 1) is a set ot BASIC Programs which enables the user to
perform analyses on any lime series data From 26 to 260 data points 15 years
weekly. 1 year daily) can be plotted on the entire screen in one ot 5 colors using
Apples High Resolution capabilities The data can be transformed into different
colored graphic representations called transforms They are user specified
moving averages, a least squares linear fit (best straight line), fillers for time
magnitude, or percentage changes, and user created relationships between
the data, a transform or a constant using ♦ .-.«./ operators Colored lines can
be drawn between graphic points Graphic data values or their weekly dates ol
occurrence can be displayed in text on the screen Any graph or text can be
oulputted lo a users printer The Grid Scale is automatically set to the range of
the graphs or can be user changed As many colored graphs as wanted can be
plotted on the screen and cleared at any time The user can code routines to
operate on the data/transform data or create his own disk file data base ANA1
commands can be used with his routines or data base An Update program allows
the user lo easily update his file with current data Data Base included OJI weekly
average 1897 to date

The ANA1 two letter user commands are CA ■ Calculate no graph CG ■ Clear
Graphs leave Grids CK ■ Checking out program known dala CO = Color ol next
graph (red. green, violet white bluel CS ■ Clear Screen DL ■ Draw Line between
points Fl = Filter dala tor lime magnitude or percent change FU ■ Data trans-
form, or constant Function with • ■ «./ operator GD ■ Graphic mode display
all Graph Oata on screen GR ■ Graph data lo screen GS ■ Set Grid Scale HE ■ Help
summary ol any commands usage LD ■ Load Data Irom disk file from inputted
date to memory LG = Leave Graphs automatic Grid rescaling LO ■ Look select
a range ol the LD dala and GR All commands can now be used on this range
LS =Leasl squares linear tit ol the data MA ■ Moving Average ol the data NS -
No Scale next graph on screen does not use Grid Scale NT ■ No Trace PR ■ User
imphmented Printer routine TD ■ Text mode display Text Data on screen Tl =
Weekly lime number to date or vice versa TR = Trace IS ■ Text Slop tor number
ol lines oulputted to screen when in TD U1/U2 = User 1/2 imphmented routines
VD ■ Values of Dala outputted in text VG - Values ol Grid low/high/della VT >
Values ol Transform outputted in text

APPLE- II. 48 K. APPLESOFT
ROM CARD. DISK II DOS 3.2
ANA1 DISK A MANUAL . . . S49.9S
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' Software Reviews in Call-A P P L E 12/80). Apple Orchard (3/80): Into World
(6/80). Creative Computing

CIRCLE 145 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The ATARI 8 Tutorial

CQIYIPJTEH

Calligraphy?

Well, not really' But with the FONTEDIT program in IRIDIS *2 you can design
your own character sets (or the AT AH I For example, you can create a Russian
alphabet, or API characters, or even special-purpose graphics symbols These
special fonts can be saved on disk or tape for later use by your own Baste
programs FONTEDIT is a friendly, easy-to-use program: just grab a joystick and
start designing With our KNOTWORK program, you can design patterns of Ce/ffc
interlace (a technique used by 7th century Irish monks to illuminate manuscripts)
After you have produced a pretty pattern on the screen ot your ATARI, you can
save it on disk or tape

Best of all. IRIOIS «2 comes with a st page User s Guide, which gives deer
instructions on how to use the programs The guide also provides detailed, line-by-
line descriptions ot how the programs work IRIDIC programs are written to be
studied as well as used ) Hackers Delight presents useful explanations of many of
the important PEEK and POKE locations in your ATARI.

The IRIOIS *2 tutorial for the ATARI is available now from your local ATARI
dealer You get the UWt Guide and a cassette (or disk) with FONTEDIT.
KNOTWORK. and a routine to allow your program to load a custom font
ATARI is a trademark of ATARI, Inc.

To The Code Works. Box $50 Goleta CA 93017

Please send me IRIOIS *2 for my ATARI immediately

D $15 95 Cassette (needs 16K) D$l8 95 Disk (needs 24 K»

Name

Address ____
City State- Zip .

□ VISA Card Number

D MaslerCharge Expires

Phone: (805) 967-0905

Programs tor your ATARI"
CIRCLE 217 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Atari, cont'd...

Programming Feature - Real Time Clock

A real time clock can be very handy as
a programmer's tool. Many clock func-
tions can be done with timing loops, but
the computer can only do one thing at a
time, and it is very touchy programming to
use timing loops with complex tasks. If you
own an Apple, you can buy a real time
clock for $200. If you own a TRS-80. you
can spend $300 for the expansion interface
and get one. If you are handy with
electronics, you can probably connect a
digital watch to almost any computer.
However, if you own an Atari, keep your
wallet in your pocket and your soldering
iron on the workbench, for the Atari has
not one. but five built-in timers.

All you need for an Atari real-time
clock is software to use these timers. The
timers are a two-byte serial input output
timer located at memory location 536,
three two - byte countdown timers at
locations 538. 540. and 542, and a three-
byte video-display frame counter at
memory location 18. All values given are
decimal. The countdown timers are
preempted by some interrupt actions, so
the other two are best for keeping accurate
time. The easiest to use is the frame
counter, which also has the advantage of
an extra byte of information.

The frame counter is organized with
the most significant byte at location 1 8 and
the least significant byte in location 20.
Location 20 is updated 60 times each
second, location 19 every time location 20
reaches a count of 256. and location 18
everv time location 19 reaches a count of
256.'

Thus each count in location 20
represents I 60th of a second, location 19
represents 256 60ths of a second, and
location 18. 65536/60ths of a second. To
use the clock, we need merely multiply the
contents of 1 8 by 65536, 1 9 by 256, and the
contents of 20, add the contents of 20, and
then divide the resulting count into
seconds, minutes, hours or other units of
time.

If we want a timer, we can POKE
zeroes into the three locations to start the
count. If we want a clock, simply calculate
the number of sixtieths of a second since
midnight and POKE that number into the
three locations. Here is a short program
that uses the frame counter for a timer:
100 POKE 20,0 : POKE 19,0 : POKE

18,0
110 GRAPHICS 17
120 A-PEEK(20) : B-PEEK(19) :

C-PEEK(18)
130 TIME - (A + B*256 + C*65536) /
140 POSITION 0,6

150 PRINT#6;INT(TIME) ;" SECONDS"
160 GOTO 120

Notes:

GRAPHICS 17 is the same as
GRAPHICS I (20 rows of 20 double

wide text characters) except that the

split-screen format is overridden.
POSITION 0.6 prepares to print

at the start of line 6.

PRINT #6 tells the computer to

print to the graphics window instead

of the text window.

If you want to be careful about
accuracy. POKE location 20 first to time
an event that takes place before the POKE,
and last foran event that follows thePOKE
Then add or subtract 60ths of a second to
A in line 120 to adjust for timing
inaccuracy. For example, if it took one
third of a second to calculate and print the
result after our PEEK statement in line
120. we could add 20/60ths of a second in
this fashion:
120 A«PEEK(20) + 20 : ...

There is still one serious limitation on
accuracy. It is possible that location 18 or
19 could be updated in between PEEKs
and throw the calculation off by 18.2
minutes or 4.3 seconds, respectively. If this
is a major problem, the solution is to use a
USR routine in machine language.

Image Computer Products

We are starting to see companies with
experience in consumer marketing offering
products for the Atari. One such entrant is
Image Computer Products, with an initial
offering of six packages that will work in
the Atari 400 or 800.

Mind Master is a version of Bagels
and the name is reversed to avoid someone
else's trademark. The 8K version is for two
players. The 16K version allows one to
four players, and the computer can be one
of the players.

All Star Baseball is for two players
The I6K version uses joy sticks and
includes the option of curving the ball back
and forth on the pitch, and a graphic
fielding routine. Both versions suffer
severely from the computer recognizing
input from the wrong player. In the 8K
version, if either player holds a key down,
the other cannot move. This makes it easy
to strike a batter out by denying him a
chance to swing. In the I6K fielding
routine, the computer responds to both
joysticks, so the batter can prevent the
other from fielding the ball properly.
Despite these weaknesses, this is a favorite
of my 6-and-7 year-old sons.

Wall Street Challenge is a stock
market simulation giving stock with
different personalities and charting of the
market index. Players buy and sell in an
attempt to make the most money. Two
players are allowed in the 8K version, and
up to eight in the 16K version.

Strategy Pack I contains two games.
Roman Checkers is a computer version of
the game CBS sells as Othello. If two
people play, the computer flips all the
counters and keeps count. You can also
play against the computer, though it plays

a weak game. Frame Up is a strategy
number game in which each player in turn
selects a number from a grid. One player
must select from the same horizontal row
that the other player selected from, and the
second player must choose from the
remaining numbers in the vertical row of
the last pick. The computer can play, and is
a tough opponent.

The other two packages are Skill
Builder I with two number games for
children and Strategy Pack II with four
variations on moving line games. AH
programs are written in Basic, and come
attractively packaged with an instruction
manual. The two Strategy Packs and Skill
Builder cost $ 1 9.95, while the single games
cost $14.95.

Buying Memory

If you are using your computer for
anything other than the ROM pack games
like Star Raiders or the Educational
Series, you will probably find that the 8K
of memory in your computer is not
enough. Graphics Modes 8. 9. 10. II. 24,
40, and 56 all use 7900 bytes of memory
just for the screen display. You could make
room for more program by using mode 2,
which only uses 261 bytes, but you can
pretty much count on adding memory. 1
recommend the I6K cartridges as a better
buy than the XK ones. The disk operating
system takes up another I0K of memory
for disk users.

My prediction is that most cassette
system owners will end up with 24K of
memory (one additional cartridge) and
most disk users with 40K (two additional
cartridges). This is important, as people
who write programs need to gear their
programs to the potential market. People
who arc currently writing I6K programs
will probably lose out to those writing
more sophisticated programs for 24K. Of
course, the present market is for good 8K
programs, but that will not last.

Do NOT put more than 40K of
memory in your Atari 800. Not only is it
extravagant to discard an 8K module to
buy a 1 6K , it also is a useless task. That last
8K of memory is preempted by the left
ROM cartridge, so that you cannot have
more than 40K of memory with Basic or
the Assembler. In the future, when
cartridges arc available for the right hand
slot, they will preempt another 8K of
memory, limiting the user to 32K.

New Englanders Arise!

Any Atari owners in the Boston area
who are interested in a User Group are
invited to write to me. The Boston
Computer Society is forming an Atari
User's Group. Just send a postcard or 3 by
5 card with your name, address, and
phone number and mention that you are
interested. 1 prefer a card because it is
easier to file. D

182

■

CREATIVE COMPUTING

You can be more than a mere spectator
of the presidential campaign. Hail to the
Chief lets you step into the center of the
1980 election and manage your own
campaign. You hammer out your own
strategy, week by week. As you watch
your progress in the weekly polls you
appear on television, travel and advertise
your positions, raise funds and hold
debates and news conferences

The object of the simulation is
to become president-elect when
the final election results are in.
Refinements of the simulation
such as the influences of in-
cumbency, campaign finance and
spending limits are introduced in
increasingly complex models.
Each model can be played at ten
levels of difficulty— a level 10
opponent is tough to beat.

This is a straightfoward sim-
ulation, without scenarios of
blatent corruption, but tempta-
tions to compromise your ideals
are still realistic and powerful...

Will you change your positions
to capture the financial support of
labor of Big Business? Or play
down your unpopular positions to
capture the votes of a particularly
important and sensitive region?
As in real life, the presidency can
be captured by integrity or guile.
Only the candidate knows the
price of his, or her, success.

The ten pivotal camgaign is-
sues in Hail to the Chief include
Energy Policy, Unemployment,
Mid-East Policy and Strategic
Arms Limitations. Your positions
are chosen from a nearly two
hundred degree numerical scale
which ranges from "Bleeding
Heart Liberal" to "Middle-of-the-
Road" to "Reactionary". For ex-
ample, strong conservative and
liberal statements on Strategic
Arms Limitations are:

Our enemies understand only
strength and they have proven
that they will not honor any treaty
obligation that stands in their
path toward world domination.

An uncontrolled arms race is
more likely to lead to war then
any other policy the U.S. can
follow; it is also a waste of our
resources and puts too much
power in the hands of the military
industrial complex.

Hail to the Chief has been used
as a teaching aid in Political
Science, Computer Science and
Voting Behaivior courses at the
University level since 1976 Its
authors are Associate Professors
at the Eastern Kentucky Uni-
versity; Phillip W. Brashaer in
Mathematics and Richard G
Vance in Political Science A
comprehensive manual, discus-
sion questions and background
materials have been prepared by
the authors and accompany the
fun and educational package.
Hail to the Chief is available for
the TRS-80 level II on a 32K
cassette (CS-3205) and a 48K disk
(CS-3701), for the Apple II and
Apple II Plus on a 48K disk
(CS-4704), for the Atari 400 and
800 on a 32K cassette (CS-7201 )
and for the Atari 800 on a 40K disk
1-7701). All are $24.95.

Your local computer store
should carry Creative Computing
Software. If your favorite retailer
does not carry the software you
need, have him call in your order
to 800-631-8112. Or, you can
order directly from Creative Com-
puting. Creative Computing Soft-
ware, Dep't. AHGG, P.O. Box
789-M, Morristown, NJ 07960.
Include $1.00 for postage and
handling. For faster service, call
in your bank card order toll free to
800-631-8112.

sensational
software

CIRCLE 300 ON READER SERVICE CARD

For TRS-80 column 22, let's look at
what a reader considers as good program-
ming practices, a note on how to disable
the BREAK key, Microsoft's Typing
Tutor program, a reader's programs that
( 1) print full error messages and (2) print a
3D plot, a program for playing music on a
TRS-80 keyboard in real time without
programming. Dick Fuller's RF-1II
control center, a letter about the Fuller
1 PRIM I I 1ST plug, and Fuller's Scrip-
sit index.

Good Practices

Steve Smith, of Cleveland. Ohio, sent
the following after reading the August
1979 TRS-80 column (page' 1 26):

"I would like to make a couple of
comments about \our graphic random-
square generator. A listing of my modified
version of this program is enclosed. [Sec
following. Ed.]

5 REMARKABLE 80UARES Prooram
by Bt*»h*n M. Snithf bascrd on a

sue 6 est ion
b« Stephen B. Gray in 'CREATIVE

Copipotimi" 8/79
10 DEFINT A-Z: RANDOM: CLS
17 PRINTet7. , « * * « MAGIC SOUA
RES x * » *•

20 H-»<<RM0C9)-l>*l4)+3: W=<(RNO<
6>-l>»7>*4

35 FOR K=l TO RND<RNDC2A> )-l t SE
T(RNO(10>*HfRND(5)+V): NEXT
40 FOR K*l TO RN0(RN0<26) )-i: RE
SET(RND<10)*HiRN3(5)+U) t NEXT
68 IF INKEY»=*" THEN 20 ELSE RUN
70 END

"First, good programming practices
and conventions are encouraged by good
example in published programs, even very
short ones. A REMark at the beginning of
the program serves to identify its function.
The RANDOM statement re-seeds the
random-number generator. A DEFINT
statement will conserve core requirements,
even though there is no visible evidence of

this apparent during execution. Elimina-
tion of spaces in the program source also
reduces memory required, but alas,
readability suffers.

"Since the statements SET and
RESET accept expressions as parameters,
the call to the random-number generator
can appear within the SET or RESET
statements, obviating the need for separate
variables to store these values in. In my
modification to the program, the coordi-
nates for the square to be manipulated arc
calculated first. Then the offset is calcu-
lated within the SET or RESET statement
call.

"In the programs which illustrate your
column, the square to be RESET is figured
:is an offset from the square which was just
SET. You went to lengths to illustrate the
different patterns that would result if the
offset RESET(s) were calculated in
different ways. Another approach is to use
the RND function to calculate values for
both the SET and RESET functions.

"My modification of the program
selects a square on a nine-by-six grid at
random, SETsa random number of points
(up to 25, weighted toward the lower
numbers) whose positions are picked at
random, and then RESETs an equally
random number of randomly selected
points in the same square. The INKEYS
function is used so that the program can be
re-initialized. It would be quite simple to
modify the program so that the SET and
RESET operations would not be con-
strained to functioning on the same square
every time.

"The program that you presented in
your column was modified in order to
make more use of the random-number
generator in the TRS-80 Level-2 Basic. A
logical extension for this program would
be to randomly decide the size and number
of squares internally. However, the human
esthetics of this type of pattern is not suited
to computer simulation, the availability of
random-number generation or not!"

Steve's program is shown above as
close as we can get to the original 32-
column printout, which was made on a
Quick Printer II. and which is too faint to
reproduce directly.

The program creates, one by one.
small groups of randomly-generated
graphics blocks. Each group is up to 10
blocks across and five down. Eventually 54
of these groups are created, nine groups
across and six down.

From time to time, a group is written
over by a new group. Each group is
different. This is similar to my program in
the August 1979 issue, displayed at the top
of the center column on page 127.

Disabling The BREAK Key

If you're RUNning a program such as
Steve's graphics program at a science fair
or a computer show, and want to prevent
passersby from stopping the program by
depressing the BREAK key. just add this:

5 POKE 16396.23
which will disable the BREAK key.

Once this is added, the BREAK key
acts like any other key in Steve's program,
restarting the display.

To stop the RUN, you have to hit the
reset button at the left rear of the
keyboard. To re-enable the BREAK key,
you don't just delete line 5, because you've
disabled the BREAK key internally. You
have to change line 5 to read:

5 POKE 16396.20
and once you've run the program with that,
you can delete line 5, and the BREAK key
will work normally again.

This is a handy trick to use any time
you want to make the keyboard totally
inactive, to keep wandering fingers from
halting a RUN. Just remember how to
reactivate it.

Microsoft Typing Tutor

Although produced by Microsoft, this
I6K Level II program was written by The

184

CREATIVE COMPUTING

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CIRCLE 248 ON READER SERVICE CARD

DISK DRIVE WOES? PRINTER INTERACTION?

MEMORY LOSS? ERRATIC OPERATION?

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CIRCLE 142 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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APPLE® and TR5-80®

SEPTEMBER 1980

NEWDOS/00

Powerful Disk Operating System for the TRS-80 8 designed for ihe sophisticofed
user ond professional programmer

NEWDOS/80 is nor meant fo reploce the present version of NEwDOS 21 which
satisfies most users, bur is o corefully ptormed upward enhancement

e New BASIC Commonds with variable record lengths up to 4005

e Mix or march drives 35. 40. 77. 80TK

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185

CIRCLE 151 ON READER SERVICE CARD

TRS-80, cont'd...

Image Producers Inc., of Northbrook. IL.
which has special software, called Time
Response Monitoring (TRM). that is the
basis of Typing Tutor.

TRM monitors the keyboard 20 times
a second, fast enough to catch the slight
pause that occurs when you look at the
keys instead of keeping your eyes on the
screen.

The program is divided into two parts.
The first. Typing Tutor, "is a series of
lessons that are continuously adjusted by
the computer to help you learn keys you
don't know. The program automatically
inserts new letters as you gain speed and
accuracy." according to the 20-page
manual.

The second part. Practice Paragraph,
"generates a paragraph drill that lets you
tvpe longer passages, then evaluates your
skill."

Your first four lesson keys are A. S, D
and F. The display shows two groups of
four letters, such as
SFDA AFDS
which you type, keeping your eyes on the
screen and your fingers over the "home"
keys.

When finished, you press ENTER,
and another combination of the four
letters appears. Each new "lesson." or two
groups of four letters, includes keys from
the previous lesson that you haven't yet
mastered, plus new keys to replace any that
the computer puts on the FAST list, up at
the top left of the screen.

"As you type each lesson." the manual
says, "the program checks to see if you arc-
typing any of the lesson letters fast enough
to indicate that you know where they are.
When your reaction time on any letter is
equivalent to 20 words per minute, that
letter is added to the FAST list and a new
key is selected for your next lesson." Your
speed is monitored on each key indi-
vidually.

After each group of ten lessons, you
get a progress report that shows your
average accuracy and speed. You then
have four choices: ask the computer for a
slower response (if you want to cover all
the keys more quickly), the same response,
or a faster one (to build speed faster), or
move on to a Practice Paragraph.

In an ingenious bit of programming,
the Practice Paragraph is constructed
"based on your response time in the
lessons," the screen says. So if you decide
to try typing the paragraph after only a
couple of lessons, the paragraph includes
only a half dozen different letters, in
random combinations of words of one to
four letters, taken from DATA lines. (The
random combinations are better for
teaching typing than text that makes
sense.)

At the end of the paragraph, an
analysis is displayed, including how many

1 DIM ER«<23>

2 FOR X«l TO 23

3 READ ER*<X>

4 NEXT X

5 ON ERROR GOTO 10000

9999 END

10000 IF ERL=A5533 PRINT ER»<ERR/2*1 > t RESUME NEXT
10020 PRINT ER*(ERR/2+l)l' IN LINEMERL

10030 EDIT.

100*0 DATA NEXT WITHOUT FOR. SYNTAX ERROR

10050 DATA RETURN WITHOUT GOSUBf OUT OF DATA

10060 DATA ILLEGAL FUNCTION CALL* OVERLOAD

10070 DATA OUT OF MEMORY . UNDEFINF.D LINE NUMBER

10080 DATA SUBSCRIPT OUT OF DIMENSIONS

11090 DATA RE DIMENSION-ID ARRAY . DIVISION BY ZERO

10110 DATA ILLECAL DIRECT COMMAND

10120 DATA TYPE MISMATCH ERROR

10130 DATA OUT OF STRING SPACE

10110 DATA STRING TOO LONG

10 ISO DATA STRING TOO COMPLEX TO HANDLE

10160 DATA CAN'T CONTINUE* NO RESUME

10170 DATA RESUME WITHOUT ERROR

10180 DATA UNPRINTABLE COMMANO. MISSING OPERANG

10190 DATA BAD FIILE DATA, DISK BASIC COMMAND

keystrokes you missed and on which
letters, which keys you were slower on.
your percent of accuracy, and your rate in
words per minute.

In what may be a unique section, the
manual tells what lines to list "if you wish
to see how Typing Tutor is teaching you."

The program also teaches numbers
and symbols, and is one of the cleverest
and most useful I've ever seen. It's even
better than Hayden's excellent Micro-
typing program (April 1980. p 132).
because it keeps presenting you with letters
you don't know, while leaving out those
you've learned.

As with Microtyping. the touch-
typing skill you learn from Typing Tutor is
transferable to a typewriter, although the
symbols will, of course, bea little different.

Typing Tutor is $14.95 at your local
computer store or, for an additional S2.50
for postage and handling, from Microsoft
Consumer Products. 10800 Northwest
Eighth. Suite 819. Bellcvue. WA 98004.

ERROR MESSAGE

Jordan M. Corn, of Denville, NJ.sent
in two short programs of more than minor
interest, for Level II 4K systems.

The first is useful to anyone who has
trouble remembering the meanings of BS,
TM, LSand most of the rest of those 23 all-
too-brief Level II error messages, and that
probably includes most of us.

"The first program, ERROR
MESSAGE, is a simple utility program
that replaces abbreviated error messages
with full-length messages. The name of
each error is read from data into the ER$
array. When an error occurs, program
control branches to statement 10000,
where the corresponding message is
printed, and the EDIT mode is entered for
the 'offending' line.

"Once run, the program will also
function if an error occurs in the command
mode. If no other program is in memory.
ERROR MESSAGE can be enabled

simply by typing RUN. If another program
is in memory, a temporary END state-
ment, say at line 6, can be inserted if
desired. The program requires under IK
and uses only the ERS array."

"This program has two apparent bugs
which I cannot explain. First, occasionally
when the program is enabled, the first error
that occurs does not transfercontroltoline
10000. Second, every other error, for some
reason, fills 7 bytes of memory. If too much
memory seems to get used, typing
CLEAR: RUN will restore memory to its
original condition and re-enable the
program."

The ERROR MESSAGE program
has been altered slightly to fit these narrow
columns. It won't work if RESUME
NEXT is put on line 10010, so I put it back
on line 10000.

To check out this utility, add lines
such as am of these

100 NEXT

I00PPRINTZ

100 RETURN

100 GOTO 635

100 PRINT 3/0

and then try to RUN.

3D PLOT

"The second program is an adaptation
of 3D PLOT, which appeared in Creative
Computing's Basic Computer Games:

186

CREATIVE COMPUTING

The world's most popular microcomputer, with 16K of
memory and Level 1 1 basic for only$685, complete with
full 90 day Radio Shack warranty. We accept check,
money orderorphoneorders with Visa orMasterCharge.
(Shipping costs added to charge orders).
Disk drives, printers,
peripherals, software
and games . . . you
name it, we've got it
(Both Radio Shack ft
other brands). Write
or call for our
complete price list.

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CIRCLE 119 ON READER SERVICE CARD

COMPUTERWARE

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BUSINESS

Our 6800/6809 software is doing the Job for:

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Write, call, or come see us at work!

CIRCLE 125 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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If you arc an

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please call:

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CIRCLE ISO ON READER SERVICE CARD

CP/M®2 +

Magic Wand" +

TRS-80 M Model II =
a great word processing team!

The Magic Wand, CP/M 2 and your TRS-80
Model II team up to give you professional
word processing at a micro price. The Magic
Wand includes a full screen editor and a
print processor with these functions

Boldface
Pagination
Underlining
Justification

just to name a

Super & subscripting
Page headers & footers
True proportional spacing
Line centering

few. You can even read
names from a mailing list to generate form
letters or produce camera ready copy (like
this). At $350 (plus $175 for P&T CP/M 2,
if you don't already have CP/M), Magic Wand
gives you more word processing power per
dollar than any other system available.

For more information
contact:

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CIRCLE 1790N READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1980

187

TRS-80, cont'd...

1»0 CLO

110 PRINT TAB(28) '30 PLOT*

121 PRINT

130 PRINT TA8(17) 'ORIGINAL AUTHOR! HARK BRAHHALL*

140 PRINT

ISO PRINT TAB (20) 'HOD IF I ED FOR THE TRS-80'

160 PRINT! PRINT

170 PRINT 'FUNCTIONS ARE DEFINED IN THE FORH'

180 PRINT ' 230 F«=. . .FUNCTION IN TERNS OF N...'

i»o print: print

200 FOR X-l TO 1000 : NEXT X: CL8

210 FOR X— 30 TO 30 STEP ,8i L-0

220 Yl«3»INT<SOR(»00-XmX)/3>

230 FOR Y-Yl TO -Yl STEP -5

240 N«SQR(X«X+Y*Y>

230 F-30>EXP(-NaN/100>

260 Z-INT<23*F-.7*Y>

270 IF Z<-L THEN 290

280 L-Z: SET(<X+30)»2.48-ZH7/61>

290 NEXT YtX

300 GOTO 300

Microcomputer Edition. It has been
rewritten to utilize graphics, and the axes
have been set so the third dimension rises
•up.'

"The function to be graphed is defined
in line 2S0 is the form

130 F=. ..FUNCTION IN TERMS
OF N...
The author of the original program is
Mark' Bramhall of DEC. One final note:
This program takes several minutes to
produce a graph."

In Creative's version (which is also in
the TRS-80 edition), the curves are plotted
with asterisks. The Microcomputer edition
gives some other functions that "work
nicely." Modified to fit Corn's version,
they include:

250 F=SQR(900.0l-N»N)».9-2

250 F=30-30*SIN(N/I8)

250 F=30»EXP(-COS(N/ 16))-30

(Bessel function — Summerfield's
integral)

250 F=25*SIN(N/ 10)

Both editions note that "3D PLOT
will plot the family of curves of any
function," and that the function "is plotted
as 'rising' out of the x-y plane with x and y
inside a circle of radius 30."

Corn's original program, with only a
CLS on line 200, gives no more than a
glimpse of the "credits," so a time-delay
was added.

ORGAN

With ORGAN, a clever Level II
machine-language program for 4K and
larger machines, you can play music on
your TRS-80 keyboard in real time. No
programming is required.

The cassette is $ 14.95 from Micropute
Software, Box 1943, Rock Mount. NC
27801. The program was written by James
F. Williams, assistant professor of music at
North Carolina Wesleyan College, who
has been developing a "series of music-
tutor programs for the TRS-80 which are
now in use by the music-theory classes at
N.C. Wesleyan."

The display shows a two-manual
organ keyboard overlaid with the cor-
responding TRS-80 keyboard characters.

1911199991

I | i g i y I | l| I T I « || I I l|lt l |i , i , i
i ' ' ' ' 'JL' ' ' ' ' ' • '

ohm* <c> n?» rr jpomiociias too; tm
moovTc » !» «rr am, ic mi *u «u

dhj aw

When a key is pressed, an asterisk appears
on the corresponding displayed organ key.

You can record your performance
directly onto cassette tape, but to hear in
real time what you're playing, you should
connect the AUX plug to an audio
amplifier, or to a cassette recorder that has
a monitor.

The instructions say you can play the
keyboard "as though it were a two-manual,
three-octave electronic organ." Well, not
quite, because no two (or more) notes can
be sounded simultaneously.

If you press R and Y together, you get
a warbling effect, as the C and E notes
sound alternately. If you press R, Y and I
together, you get the same warbling effect,
but at a slower rate, and the sound is less
musical than with two notes, especially in a
lower octave.

The program provides two "stops"
(loudness and timbre) and two controls
(tremolo value and timbre value). Press
ENTER, and the loudness changes from
loud to soft, or vice versa. Press CLEAR,
and the timbre changes from a nasal sound
to a clear tone, or vice versa.

The tremolo and timbre values can
be varied between and 9. The higher the
tremolo value, the slower the two notes
alternate from one to the other. The higher
the timbre value, the less nasal the sound.

This isn't really meant to be played as
a two-manual organ, because if you press
more than two notes, you may produce
more notes than wanted, because of the
ambiguities of the matrix keyboard
arrangement. So perhaps it's better to
consider this as a 3-1/3 octave single-
keyboard organ, divided into two parts for
display convenience.

Instructions show how to hook up
and operate the organ, tell how the
program works (using a flowchart), and
end with this caveat:

"A typewriter keyboard does not lend
itself to easily accomplished performances.
Single-note tunes can easily be picked out
and simple two-part arrangements work
very well with a little practice. However, if
you are interested in performing Bach's
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, even the
most accomplished keyboardist would
find severe limitations. More than a
serious musical instrument, ORGAN is a
demonstration of the flexibility of Z-80
software and the TRS-80 to perform
unusual tasks with a little programming
ingenuity. And it's a lot of fun for $14.95."

A very candid statement that just
about says it all, for what may be the only
real-time organ program for the TRS-80.
However, I've suggested to one of the light-
pen companies that a displayed organ
keyboard could easily be played in real
time with a light pen, so they may be
working on it.

I/O & Auxiliary Control Center

Dick Fuller has come up with another
useful device for the TRS-80. His first was
the Rl -II. a dual-cassette switchbox
( March 1 979, p 1 28), which I keep plugged
into my machine all the time.

The RF-III is an I/O auxiliary control
center. For $39.95 (plus $2 for shipping,
from Fuller Electronics, 7465 Hollister
Ave.. Suite 232, Goleta. CA 93017), you
can control lights, video recorders and
appliances, with on/ off times ranging from
fractions of a second to months (if you
want to leave your TRS-80 on that long).

Basically, the RF-III is a TRS-80
controlled beeper and relay, with access
provided to the relay's contact points. You
simply plug the subminiature plug from
the TRS-80 into the RF-III. and the plug
on the RF-III cable into the REMOTE
jack on the cassette recorder.

The RF-III is small, only 2 by 4 by I '/$
inches in size. A two-position switch
(BEEPER and RECORDER) permits the
unit to be used either with programs that
feature the beeper, or for "normal"
operation.

The RF-III's beeper operates under
software control, using either Basic or
assembler. The beep can be used for sound
effects in games, or to signal the end of a
long sort, etc. The duration of the beep and
the interval between beeps are program-
controlled.

188

CREATIVE COMPUTING

COMPUTER

BATTERY

■I'M*

->W I TCH

The RF-UI comes with instructions
that include directions and a parts list for
constructing a 100-volt appliance con-
troller for about $30.

Also, programs are provided in Basic
for adding a beep to your programs, and
for a telephone dialer, beep on program
error, on/ off (up to 20 times) for appliance
control, random on off for appliances (for
lights when you're away. etc.). and a timer
"for those without an interface or disk."

Once you've learned basic beeping,
you can move into advanced areas such as
using different numbers of beeps to signal
what part of a program you're in.

The relay in the RF-1U handles up to
1,000 mA. so you could control a reel-to-
reel tape recorder, "or perhaps CSAVE on
up to six cassette recorders." according to
the instructions.

The RF-III's relay is battery-powered,
and "protects the small relay within the
computer itself. This means, when using
the CTR-4 1 or CTR-80, instead of 160 mA
going through the computer's relay, only
about 16 mA actually does. Our computer
has been to the repair center when thereby
in the computer froze because the relay just
couldn't handle the load of the cassette
recorder."

If you own a solid-state relay for
protecting the computer's relay, you can
"remove it entirely from the system. The
Rl -III will do much more than the buffer."

The instructions also note that the
RF-II1 "will only do one thing at a time . . .
if it is controlling your coffee pot, you can't
use it for other purposes."

LPRINT/LLIST Plug

Another of Dick Fuller's devices, his
LPRINT/LLIST plug (June 1980, p 170),
has brought comment from Eric Hazen of
Ann Arbor, MI. He notes that the plug
"prevents lockup when a printer command
(LPRINT or LLIST) is issued with the line
printer turned off or disconnected."

The problem arises when disk or
expansion interface is connected.

Eric continues, "I would find this very
useful as I make extensive use of a printer.
After a few minutes of experimentation, 1
discovered that the same feat can be
accomplished in software by typing the

•J.0.

CAPS.

following commands from Level II Basic.

"To disable printing (printer may be
left connected):

POKE 16421,0

to return to normal operation:
POKE 16421,6

"These commands simply enable and
disable the printer device control block in
reserved RAM. With all respects to Dick
Fuller, a one-line command is certainly an
easier way for TRS-80 users to disable the
printer port than spending SI 1. 95 for his
plug."

Dick's comment on this letter is "most
of the things you can do in hardware, you
can also do in software. The thing about
this plug is that it's handy." He also noted
that LPRINT and LLIST can be changed
to PRINT and LIST (and vice versa) with
Scripsit, using a simple global change.

The "raw cost of the plug." which has
gold-plated contacts, is the main part of
the $ 1 1 .95 price. The rest of the hardware is
wiring.

Scripsit Index

Another Fuller Electronics product is
an index to the Scripsit word processor
(June 1980. p 166). which Radio Shack, as
usual, didn't include in the manual.

This three-page computer-generated
index, with two columns per page,
contains over 200 items, and covers both
the Scripsit manual and the reference card.

The index is $3; no tax or shipping
charge. D

'v.zii

\ J I

AtmL^

"Ed, I moved your computer into the
living room. That 's the microwave oven
you're trying to program. "

finally!!!

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EDUCATIONAL

SOFTWARE

SCHOOL
MICROWARE

Over 500 programs/packages for

TRS-80, PET, APPLE

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FIRST EDITION SEPT. 1980

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CIRCLE 164 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1980

189

TRS-80™ SOFTWARE

PACKER Automatically edits all or part ol your Basic
program to ease editing, run taster, or save memory
Has 5 sections UNPACK-unpacks multiple statement
lines into single statements maintaining program
logic inserts spaces and renumbers lines lor easier
editing SHORT— shortens your program by editing out
all REM statements, unnecessary words and spaces
PACK-executes UNPACK and SHORT, then packs lines
into multiple statement lines, maintains program logic
RENUM— renumbers program lines including all
GOTO s etc You specify increment MOVE— moves any
line or block ol lines to any new location in the program
and renumbers lines Written in machine language;
supplied on tape in 3 versions lor 16K 3?K. and 48K
For Level II or Disk Basic $29 95

DISASSEMBLER Read, write, and copy system tapes
Display and modify memory contents Disassemble
ROM DOS. and system tapes into Z-80 mnemonics
Search lor strings in memory Much more" Includes
32 pages ol documentation and information
For 16K Level II $1995

SYSTEM TAPE DUPLICATOR Copy your system lormat

tapes Includes verity routine

For any Level II $14 95

CHES0ISK Transfers your copy of Microchess to disk

for quick and easy access

For any Level II Disk system $195

CASSETTE LABEL MAKER A mini-word processor to
print cassette labels on a line printer Includes manual
and 50 peal-and-stick labels on tractor leed paper
For 16K Level II and printer $15 95

INSTRUCTION MANUALS lor any Cottage Software
original programs available tor 20*. ol program list
price Refundable when program purchased

TRS-80" repairs and modifications Call or write lor

mfo MANY MORE items available Call or write for

catalog DEALER inquires invited

Kansas residents add 3\ sales tax

Foreign orders in US Currency only

Call our 24 hour phone (316) 683-481 1 or write

COTTAGE SOFTWARE

614 N. Harding
Wichita. KS 67208

TRS-80 is a trademark ol Radio Shack A Tandy Corporation
CIRCLE 201 ON READER SERVICE CARD

IVrsoqal

Electronic
Transactions

by Gregory Yob

I am happy to hear from you. and encourage
your correspondence I will try to acknowledge all
correspondence, and a SASE makes things easier
tor both ot us Please send your letters to
"Personal Electronic Transactions" c/o PO Box
354. Palo Alto. CA 94301

Why I Have Been Away

If you are a reader of our competition
(Kilobaud Microcomputing), perhaps you
have noticed the full-page ad by Exatron.
extolling the "Stringy Floppy." The
Stringy Floppy is a miniature cassette tape
dri\e which can load and save programs
about 10 times faster than the PET's tape
unit. Well. Exatron asked me if I could
produce a version of the Stringy Floppy
for the PET. and the last few months were
fully occupied by this.

The Stringy Floppy

I will now describe to you the
capabilities of the PET Stringy Floppy.
(Exatron is located at: 181 Commercial
Street. Sunnyvale. CA 94086 and the
Stringy Floppy costs about S300.)

The Stringy Floppy comes in a case
about 6" x 4" X 3" with a ribbon cable
leading to a small 2" x 3" card which plugs
into the PET's User Port. The card has
extension fingers to permit other User Port
devices, including other Stringy Floppy*
up to a total of lour tape drives. Junipers
inside the Tape Drive's case are used to set
the drive number from to 3. (0 is the
default drive number.) A small trans-
former unit similar to those used for
calculators leads to the I lOv wall socket lor
power.

The tape cassettes are called "wafers"
and are about the si/c of a business card
and '/»" thick this is a very compact size,
and many users store their wafers in the
plastic binder inserts used for business
cards. Wafers come in different lengths,
from 5 feet to 50 feet in length. An 8K
program will fit on a 10 foot wafer. (This is
a true 8K, not the 7167 bytes free).
Physically, the tape runs at about lOips.
and an 8K program will be loaded in under
IS seconds.

Also provided with the unit is a 2K
ROM which plugs into the $9000 slot in the

PET's ROM. (Various other methods of
attaching ROMsareavailable if youcan
put a Programmer's Toolkit on the PET.
you can mount the Stringy Floppy ROM.)
Once you are set up per the User's
Manual, starting the Stringy is simple — a
SYS 36864 does the trick. A sign-on
message appears, and the Stringy is now
"wedged" into the PET. that is, all Stringy
Floppy commands can be executed
directly or as part of a Basic program. Let's
look at the commands:

@END — This is the "rewind"
function for a wafer. Stringy wafers arc
endless tapes with an end marker. @END
will run the tape at Fast Forward and leave
the tape positioned just following the end
marker. If vou have more than one tape
unit. <5>ENDI.@END2.and@END3 will
apply to these. (The same convention is
true of all other commands.)

" NEW This "formats" a wafer.

Since most wafers come with a lest pattern
on them. @NEW isn't really needed
however, it is a good way to erase an old
waler.

@>LIST Since several programs may
be stored on a wafer, this provides the
"directory" function. The wafer is rewound
and then scanned for file headers. The
filename and filetype (Basic. 6502 or
DATA) arc shown, and the wafer stops
just after the end marker. @LIST may be
given two parameters, drive number, and
any number (i.e.. @LIST 0.1) to only show
the files remaining on the tape.

@ LOAD — To load a program.
in I ( >A 1 ) will look for a fileheaderand then
load the program. Files may be named in
exactly the same way as normal PET tapes
and will be searched for in exactly the same
way. For example, @LOAD "FOOT-
BALL. 1 ^ will look for "FOOTBALL" on
Drive #2.

@RUN — Thisperformsthc"loadand
go" function of loading and then executing

190

the program. @RUN is permitted in Basic
programs and will perform the "chaining"
functions of the PET's LOAD. If the new
program is larger than the current
program, the message "OVERFLOW" will
point this out. @RUN will also load and
execute machine language programs.

@SAVE — In normal use, @Save willl
save your Basic program in the usual
manner. For machine language, you can
specify the addresses in either decimal or
hexadecimal, and if you want, the starting
address as well. Some examples will clarify
this:

@SAVE "MUGWUMP" - Saves
MUGWUMP on Drive #0 as a Basic
program.

@SAVE "MEM TEST".0.I024.2400
Sa\es MEM II SI as a 6502 program
from addresses 1 024 to 2399 in decimal.

If no starting address is given, the first
save address is used instead.

@THI V In normal use. error

messages like "FILE NOT FOUND" are
printed on the screen and the program
halts, (a I HEN provides four options for
error messages:

— Show error & halt program.

1 — Don't show error & do halt

program.

2 — Show error & continue running

program.

3 — Don't show error, keep running.
(5 I 111 \ will not stop normal Basic
messages like SYNTAX ERROR and their
effects — only Stringy errors arc handled.
To detect errors when you want to keep
running, the Basic "status" variable is set
by an error to a value from I to 8 to
indicate which error is present.

@VERIFY is the last command and
performs the normal VERIFY function for
programs.

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CIRCLE 247 ON READER SERVICE CARD

PET, cont'd...

One important detail all numbers
and strings allow any Basic expression
instead, for example.

@SAVE A$+".EXT".A+7.
42*SIN(3.8),$55
is a legal command. One exception — hex
quantities can't be expressions (which
won't bother anybody I know . . . )

If you wish to abort an operation,
pressing the RUN/ STOP key will do the
trick in all cases with a BREAK IN xxx
message.

In about 6 months, a "Level II"
version will arrive with these additional
commands:

@DEF — Define data buffer storage
areas.

@PRINT# — Print sequential data.

@INPUT# — Read data.

(5>GET# — Read one character.

@OPEN — Define a data file (one per
drive unit).

@CLOSE — Undefine a file & write
last buffer to tape.

The Stringy Floppy is pretty nifty — I hope
you like it.

Product Reviews

During the time spent on the PET
Stringy Floppy, about 10 products were
sent to me for review in this column.
There's no problem with the ones 1 don't
like — I say so and move on. The ones I like
take longer, for I like to do a few examples
which don't come with the product to get
the "feel" of it. Let's get on with it . . .

Microphys Programs

Our preconceptions often delay the
development of good things when a new
tool comes along. and this is especially true

i in the field of education. Back in the days
of yore, a Dr. Skinner discovered how to
i train simple-minded creatures. like
• pigeons, to execute complex patterns of
! behavior hy giving them small rewards and
j punishments at the right time. I hus began
I "Behavioral Psychology" which had a
! large influence on the concept of learning.
i especially the one seen by academia.

The essential idea was to break a task
down into an almost innumctahlc quantity
of smaller ones, and to teach each task, or
"frame" individually and to then build up
into larger blocks of behavior. The parallel
between this and programming computers
is obvious (Consider "Structured Pro-
gramming" and "Top-Down Design" for
example), and "Programmed Texts" with
"frames" and branches to other frames,
etc.. soon appeared. This method is now
applied to small computers and goes by the
name CAI. for "Computer Assisted
Instruction."

Building good CAI is rather a Tine art.
and when it is ineptly done, the skilled
students are bored stiff and the not-so-
skilled simply get frustrated.

(An Aside . . . )

I have noticed in the world of bleepo-
computers (sorry about that, Ted . . . ) the
"dancing bear" phenomenon. It doesn't
have to work very well, but if it even exists,
that's a sufficient miracle. At this point,
some really nice software, especially tools
and simulations, are available, which leads
to two kinds of personal software:

1. Truly personal the stuff you do
for fun. or to get some particular job done,
and who cares if it is messy and has some
bugs?

2. Software for sale, which in my
book, must work, preferably perfectly, do
something useful, fun or of interest, and
not cost more than its media's weight in
gold.

I have no compunction about raking
Software #2 over the coals, for lousy
software take time, money, and adrenalin.

Back to Microphys

Microphys (2048 Ford Street, Brook-
lyn. NY 11229) sent me a demonstration
disk and a folder with Xerox copies of one
and two sheet descriptions of the demo
programs. Also enclosed was a catalog
listing about 100 programs at the high
school level in Physics, Chemistry, Math
and Vocabulary.

The first program on the disk is a
"disk utility" which handles such things as
formatting, directory, disk history, etc.
Then follows 12 demo programs, and I
took a look at the first one. The program
asked my name, displayed a definition
from physics and then drew a graph. As I
continued pressing "C" for Continue, the
graph went away and a question appeared.
(Now I had to go back to the graph to find
the answer.) After going between the graph
and the question several times, the graph
ami the question finally appeared on the
screen at one time. We marched onwards
through acceleration and a few other
matters. About this time it becomes clear
that the PET has been "STOP-prooled"
and the only way to get my PET back is to
plug on through the lesson.

The other lessons were very similar,
falling into two classes, "lessons" and
"reviews." In each case a fixed sequence
with few branches was applied, and the
explanations for incorrect answers were
scanty and condescending in tone.

I do not recommend the Microphys
programs from the examples I have, and
though Microphys is the first (and possibly
only) vendor for high school level CAI. 1
respectfully suggest that you make your
own lessons instead.

So What Should Be Done?

A beautiful way to teach a subject is to
incorporate the material in a simulation.
The BAT program by Cursor is a very nice
example of how the physical forces of

acceleration, reflection, drag and energy
combine in your efforts to keep the bat in
the air and catching enough bugs to stay
alive. Once the "feel" of a situation is
present, then move on to the math.
Starting with the bat in spot A with speed,
energy, etc., and the bug at B, what is the
best course of action? A modified version
of BAT could permit a "freeze" followed
by entry of your calculations and suggested
moves. "Unfreeze" then shows what
happens.

The better computer simulations
always give you some situation and role,
like keeping the bat alive and you are the
batpilot. There's no reason to keep
repeating the same dull inanimate ideas for
computers in education.

Two Anti-Glare Screens for the PET

1 am sure you have seen those dark
plastic-covered screens for CRTs which
improve their visibility, especially in a
brightly lit room. These screens work by
polarizing the light which passes through,
resulting in a 40% transmission for the
light coming from the screen to you. and
only about 10' I for the light coming from
the outside and reflecting back to you.

The Plexi-Vue screen cover is made by
Competitive Software. 21650 Maple Glen
Drive. Edwardsburg. Ml 49122. This cover
is shaped in the trapezoidal form of the
PET's bezel and comes with some adhesive
foam strips. Installation is very easy, just
remove the protective plastic films and the
paper over the adhesive strips and press
into place. One nice thing about this is you
have the illusion of a larger display screen.

The instructions are clear and de-
tailed, and mention a fix for those PETs
which may have had their be/els waxed or
made otherwise hard to stick to.

Two minor cautions: I) If you use a
lightpen. the Plexi-Vue will force the pen
to be about '/;" from the screen and to
work with much less light. One solution is
to make a hinge along the top of the PET
with adhesive tape to permit flipping the
screen upwards when lightpens are in use.
2) Be sure to completely clean your PET's
screen before installing the Plexiv tie. as it is
rather hard to remove cleanly.

The normal price of the Plexivue is
$14.95. but if you mention this column
within 30 days, the price is $1 1.95. (Note:
and SI. 00 for shipping.)

The other anti-glare screen is made by
Pf Research, 866 Hummingbird Drive.
San Jose. CA. The price is SI 1.49 postpaid.
and a SI. 00 discount per screen for 5 or
more. The Pf screen is the same size as the
PET's CRT and is pressed into the center
of the PET's bezel. Two rubber inserts on
each side of the screen keep it from falling
out. The Pf screen looks a bit more
"natural" and can be removed (with the
help of a table knife) as needed. (Note: I
also own the H-19 terminal, and Pf makes
a screen for H-I9s as well.)

192

CREATIVE COMPUTING

PET TWO-WAY RS-232

and PARALLEL
OUTPUT INTERFACE

SADI - The microprocessor based serial and parallel
interface for the Commodore PET. SADI allows you to
connect your PET to parallel and serial printers,
CRT's, modems, acoustic couplers, hard copy termi-
nals and other computers. The serial and parallel
ports are independent allowing the PET to communi-
cate with both peripheral devices simultaneously or
one at a time. In addition, the RS-232 device can com-
municate with the parallel device.

Special Features for the PET interface include:

Conversion to true ASCII both in and out

Cursor controls and function characters

specially printed

Transfers programs between PETs

over the phone line using a modem.

Selectable reversal of upper and lower case

PET IEEE connector for daisy chaining

Addressable • works with other devices
Special Features for the serial interface include:

Baud rate selectable from 75 to 9600

Half or full duplex

32 character buffer

X-ON, X-OFF automatically sent

Selectable carriage return delay
Special Features for the parallel interface include:

Data strobe - either polarity

Device ready - either polarity

Centronics compatible
Complete with power supply, PET IEEE cable, RS-232
connector, parallel port connector and case. Assembled
and tested.

SADIa(110VAC)$295

SADIe (230V AC) $325

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t ffMnsQtmont ayttawtta Thoty tn c*v<

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$12 «5 oacn u*>rtg MQuomteJ floppy **» Morogo lor dot*

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CIRCLE 193 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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CIRCLE 249 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1980

193

Pet, cont'd...

I personally do not operate my PET
in a well-lit area, so my need for anti-glare
screens is not too great. If your PET lives
on the kitchen table that's another story.

A 1 7- Program Grab Bag

Competitive Software also offers a
disk of programs called SOFTPAC-I for
$29.95 (+$l for shipping) provided you
mention this column. The disks (2 of them,
one as a backup!) arrive in a white plastic
binder with notes for each program and
listings for the "hello" and "serious"
programs. Eight games and 9 utility
programs are offered.

The games are a typical lot, i.e.,
CHASE. BREAKOUT, OTHELLO.
TANK. These arc done in a workmanlike
manner — not very zippy, but most of
them work reasonably well. Some pro-
grams, like TANK, wouldn't load from the
"hello" program — I would get the "OUT
OF MEMORY" error instead. The
repartee in STRATEGY had a misspelling.

The utilities had one interesting
program — a memory test which went at a
moderate speed. The others, like HOME
UTILITIES did the usual (yawn) loan, gas
mileage and electric bill pseudo-useful
programs. These did not check for bad
entry data (I got a negative gas mileage)

THE
COMPUTING TEACHER

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interested in the instructional use of
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and I prefer to use my calculator for these
things as it is handy and much more
portable than my PET. All in all. a year's
subscription to CURSOR is by /ara better
buy!

Please, all you software entrepreneurs
out there, send me programs with some life
to them, and with original ideas, and no
bugs! Am I asking the impossible? Surely I
almost fell asleep looking at these
programs — do you want to have the same
fate?

A Phonetasy

If you look at a telephone dial, some
of the numbers also have letters too. For
example. 266-7883 can be dialed as COM-
PUTE. An interesting exercise is to find
out which combinations of letters corres-
pond to your phone number. Some
numbers are easy to do — and others, like
mine, are quite difficult. The program
below provides an exhaustive list of the
letter combinations for a 7 digit phone
number. When I searched my list, my
phone number became FANIZEY.

10 PRINT"clr PHONE NUMBER WORDS

20 PRINT"clr WILL PRINT A LIST OF THE

POSSIBLE
30 PRINT"LETTER COMBINATIONS FOR YOUR
kO PRINT'TELEPHONE NUMBER.
50 OPEN U,U
60 PRINT#4,CHR$(30)
70 PRINTS, "PHONE WORDS FOR: sp";
80 DIM D$(9),D(9),P(7).W$(7)
90 F0RJ-BT0 9: READ D$(J): D(J)-LEN

(DS(J)):NEXT
100 DATA 0Z.1,ABC,DEF,GHI,JKL,MNO,

PQRS.TUV.WXY
110 INPUT"dn dn YOUR PHONE NUMBER

DDD-DDDD";P$
120 REM GEN A STRING
130 IF LEN(P$)<>8 THEN 110
HO IF MID$(P$,■^,1)<>• , -' , THEN 110
150 PRINT#l4,P$: PRINT! 1 !
160 PS-LEFTSCPS.SJ+RIGHTSCPS.Ii)
170 FOR J-1 TO 7
180 PS(J)-ASC(MID$(P$.J))-'i8
190 NEXT J
200 PRINT PS
210 REM HAKE A WORD
220 FOR A - 1 TO D(P(1))
230 W$(1)-MIDS(DS(P(1)),A,1)
2^0 FOR B - 1 TO D(P(2))
250 W$(2)-MID$(D$(P(2)).B,1)
260 FOR C - 1 TO D(P(3))
270 W$(3)-MIDS(D$(P(3)).C,1)
280 FOR D - 1 TO D(PC0)
290 WSW-MIDSfDSfPCn.D.I)
300 FOR E - 1 TO D(P(5))
310 WS(5)-MID$(D$(P(5)),E,1)
320 FOR F - 1 TO D(P(6))
330 W$(6)-MID$(D$(P(6)),F.1)
3k0 FOR G 1 TO D(P(7))

CIRCLE 133 ON READER SERVICE CARD

350 W$(7)-MIDS(DS(P(7)).G.D

360 W$-"":F0RJ - 1 TO 7: WS-W$+W$(J) :

NEXT
370 PRINT W$
380 PRINTdCi.WS" sp ";
390 NEXT G,F,E,D,C,B,A
l|00 PRINT* 1 *

The program asks for your number in the
form DDD-DDDD, turns on the printer,
and then fills about six pages with possible
combinations of letters for your number. If
you don't have a printer, make these
changes:

Lines 50,60 delete.

Line 70 change the PRINT#4,

to a PRINT.
Line 1 10 change to line 50. delete

the old line 110.
line 150 change PR1NT#4.

to PRINT (two of them).
Lines 130.140 change THEN

1 10 to THEN RUN.
Then enter these lines:

370 PRINT W$"sp";

380 T-T+1:IF T>89 THEN <t00

395 END

It00 PRINT:PRINT"PRESS KEY TO CONTINUE"

MO GETAS : I FAS-""THEN MO

WO T-0:GOTO 390

In Line 80. array DS holds the letters
for each digit 0-9. The array D holds the
number of letters in each case some
values, like I , only hold one letter ( I use " 1 "
since there aren't any letters on the phone
dial for "I") and most hold three letters.
The array P holds the individual digits of
the phone number, which are computed in
Line 180. The preceding lines check the
phone number string PS for gross errors
and remove the "-" character.

Lines 220 through 350 comprise a
gigantically nested FOR-NEXT loop
which goes through each possible letter
combination. The rightmost digit is the
innermost loop, so the letter combinations
end up printed in alphabetical order. The
letters arc accumulated in the array W$
and combined into the string W$ in Line
360. and printed in Line 380.

The changes for non-printer owners
remove the PRINT84 lines and pauses the
display every 90 combinations to permit
your inspection of them. Note that Line
390 terminates all of the loops in one
NEXT statement.

Below is a short sample of my printer's
output for this program to give you an idea
of what to expect. (If some of you like to
try numbers such as Commodore or
Creative Computing, let me know and I
will mention the interesting ones.) Q

PHONE HORDS FOR

! 3Z6-4B39

DAMGBDW

DRMGBDX

DflnCBDY

DANGBEU

DAMGBEX

DANGBEY

DAnCBFH

DAMGBFX

DAnCBFY

DOnGZDW

EJAMGZDX

DANGZDY

DAMGZEH

DRneZEX

DAMCZEY

DAMGZFW

DAMGZFX

DAMGZFY

DAnHBDM

DANHBDX

DAMHBDY

unriHBi w

DOMHBEX

danhbey

DfldHBFW

LM VI II mar >%

DAMHBFY

DAI1HZDM

DAMHZDX

DAMHZDY

DAMHZEW

DAMHZEX

DANHZEY

DAMHZFH

DANHZFX

DAHHZFY

DAH1BDH

DAM1BDX

DRM1BDY

DAHIBEU

dambex

DAM BEY

DAMBFU

DAMBFX

DAMIBFY

DAMZDW

DANIZDX

DftfllZDY

DAMIZEW

DHMIZEX

DAH1ZLY

DAHIZFM

DAMZFX

DAH1ZFY

DftNGBDW

DANGBDX

DHNGBDY

DANGBEH

DANGBEX

DANGBEY

DANGBFW

DANGBFX

DANGBFY

DANGZDN

DANGZDX

DANGZDY

DANGZEM

DRMGZEX

DANGZEY

DANGZFH

IlANGZFX

DANCZFY

DANHBDW

DANHBDX

DANHBDY

DANHBEM

UHNHMt X

DANH0EY

UMW1W N

DANHBFX

DANHBFY

DANHZDW

DRNHZDX

DANHZDY

DANHZEH

DAMHZEX

DANHZEY

DANHZFH

DANHZFX

DANHZFY

DAN1BDM

DANIBDX

DANIBDY

DAN1BEM

OAN1BEX

DAN1BEY

DAN18FH

UANIBFX

DAN1BFY

DANIZDH

DANIZDX

DANIZDY

DAN1ZEM

DAN1ZEX

DANIZEY

DANIZFM

DHN1ZFX

DflHlZFY

DAOGBDM

DAOGBDX

194

CREATIVE COMPUTING

A New Type of Game fe)

Welcome to an astonishing new experience! ADVENTURE is one of
the most challenging and innovative games available for your personal
computer. This is not the average computer game In which you shoot at,
chase, or get chased by something, master the game within an hour, and
then lose interest. In fact, it may take you more than an hour to score at
all, and will probably take days or weeks of playing to get a good score.
(There is a provision for saving a game In progress).

The original computer version of Adventure was written by Willie
Crowther and Don Woods in Fortran on a PDP-10 at MIT. In this version
the player starts near a small welihouse. Upon entering the house, he
finds food, water, a set of keys and a lamp. Armed with only these items,
he must set out to explore the countryside in search of treasure and other
objects of play. He must also confront dwarfs, snakes, trolls, bears,
dragons, birds, and other creatures during his quest. The game accepts
one-or two-word commands such as GET LAMP" SOUTH' or KILL
DWARF. Of course, if you don't have the proper tool to carry out an
action, or If you do something foolish, you may find yourself in big
trouble.

In playing the game you wander thru various 'rooms' (locations),
manipulating the objects there to try to find 'treasures'. You may have to
defeat an exotic wild animal to get one treasure, or figure out how to get
another treasure out of a quicksand bog. You communicate thru two-word
commands such as 'go west', 'climb tree', 'throw axe', 'look around'.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE ADVENTURE (by Scott Adams) - Good
Morning, Your mission is to... and so it starts. Will you be able to
complete your mission in time? Or is the world's first automated
nuclear reactor doomed? This one's well named, its hard, there is
no magic but plenty of suspense. Good luck

THE COUNT (by Scott Adams)- You wake up in a large brass bed in
a castle somewhere in Transylvania. Who are you, what are you

I doing here, and WHY did the postman deliver a bottle of blood?
You'll love this Adventure, in fact, you might say it's LOVE AT
FIRST BITE

ADVENTURELAND (by Scott Adams) • You wander through an en-
chanted world trying to recover the 13 lost treasures. You'll en-
counter WILD ANIMALS, MAGICAL BEINGS, and many other
perils and puzzles. Can you rescue the BLUE OX from the quick-
sand? Or find your way out of the maze of pits? Happy Adven-
turing

VOODOO CASTLE (by Scott Adams) - Count Cristo has had a
fiendish curse put on him by his enemies. There he lies, with you
his only hope. Will you be able to rescue him or is he forever
doomed? Beware the Voodoo Man

dvgniure

For Apple, TRS-80, Sorcerer, PET, CP/M

ORIGINAL ADVENTURE (by Crowther, Woods, Manning and
Roichel) - Somewhere nearby is a collosal cave where others have
found fortunes in treasures and gold, but some who have entered
have never been seen again. You start at a small brick building
which is the welihouse for a large spring. You must try to find your
way into the underground caverns where you'll meet a giant clam,
nasty little dwarves, and much more. This Adventure Is Bl-Lingual
— you may play in either English or French— a language learning
tool beyond comparison. Runs in 32K CP/M system (48K required
for SAVE GAME feature). Even includes SAM76 language in which
to run the game. The troll says "Good Luck."

PIRATE ADVENTURE (by Scott Adams) - "Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of
rum..." You'll meet up with the pirate and his daffy bird along with
many strange sights as you attempt to go from your London flat to
Treasure Island. Can you recover LONG JOHN SILVER'S lost trea-
sures? Happy sailing matey

seissafcioRal software

TRS-SO Level II (16K) Machine language

cassettes for only $14.95

CS-3007 Adventureland

CS-3008 Pirate Adventure

CS-3009 Mission Impossible Adventure

CS-3010 Voodoo Castle

CS-3011 The Count

TRS-SO Disk (32K) Menu driven machine
language routines for only $24.95
CS-3506 Adventureland and Pirate

Adventure
CS-3507 Mission Impossible Adventure

and Voodoo Castle

Sorcerer (16K) Machine language cassettes
for only $14.95
CS-5003 Adventureland
CS-5004 Pirate Adventure
lCS-5005 Mission Impossible Adventure

CS-5006 Voodoo Castle

CS-5007 The Count

CP/M 8" Disk (48K) Includes special Sam

76 language in which to run the game

$24.95

CS-9004 Original Adventure

Apple II (18K) A night-
mare simulation program $7.95
CS-4005 Haunted House
Apple II and Apple II Plus (32K)
Adventures for your 32K Apple on
cassette, $14.95
CS-4011 Adventureland
CS-4012 Pirate Adventure
CS-4013 Mission Impossible Adventure
CS-401 4 Voodoo Castle

(48K) Adventures for your 48K Apple on
disk, $24.95

CS-4509 Adventureland and Pirate

Adventure
CS-4510 Mission Impossible Adventure

and Voodoo Castle

Pet (24K), $14.95 turns your Pet into a land
of enchantment.
CS-1009 Pirate Adventure and
Adventureland

Sensational Savings) Take advantage
of the one dollar discount certificate on
page 135 redeamable at your local
computer store. Or you can order
directly from Creative Computing Soft-
ware Dept. AFGG, P.O. Box 789-M,
Morristown, NJ 07960. Send payment
plus $1 shipping and handling. For
raster service call in your bank card
order to (800) 631-8112. In NJ call (201)
540-0445.

For a FREE Sensational Software Catalog of over 400 programs for eight popular systems circle reader service #300.
SEPTEMBER 1980 195

A Visit to

California Computer Systems

California Computer Systems of Sunnyvale, CA manufac-
tures a complete line of S-100 and Apple computer boards. In
addition, part of their modern manufacturing facilities are
used to make boards and subassemblies for other companies
such as Microsoft and Prolog under contract.

On their own products, their strategy is to first survey the

existing products on the market and then design one that has
as many features as possible of all the competitors and sell it
at an economical price. Examples of this design strategy
include their line of S-100 boards: a Z-80 CPU for $300, a disk
controller with CP/M 2.2 on the board for $400 and a 64K
dynamic RAM for $700.

1 . Designing the mask.

2. The engineering area has posh wood work tables and
carpeting.

3. Component insertion.

4. Touch-up line after wave soldering.

5. Trace analyzer in operation.

6. Manufacturing flow is monitored by an advanced Xerox
timesharing MRP system.

Photos by David Ahl.

196

CREATIVE COMPUTING

CALIFORNIA

The Computer Store— 820 Broadway,
Santa Monica 90401; (213) 451-0713. 10
am-8 pm Tue-Fri, 10-6 Sat. The Original
One! Apple/Vector Graphic.

D.E.S. Data Equipment Supply— 8315

Firestone, Downey 90241. (213) 923-
9361. 7 days. Commodore PET spe-
cialists. Hardware Software, Books,
Mags, Supplies, In House Maintenance.

PC Computers— 10166 San Pablo Ave,
El Cerrito 94530; (415) 527-6657. 9-5:30
Mon-Sat. Commodore Pet, Compucolor
and Atari.

Omni Unlimited— 105 So. Los Robles
(across from Hilton), Pasadena 91101.
(213) 795-6664 or 629-1277 (LA). M-F:
9-5, Sat. 10-4. Billings and Commodore
computers and supplies and forms plus
peripherals.

CONNECTICUT

The Computer Store— 63 S. Main St,
Windsor Locks 06096; (203) 627-0188.
10-6 MTWF, 10-8 Thu, 10-4 Sat.

Computerworks — 1439 Post Rd. East,
Westport 06880; (203) 255-90%. 12-6
Mon-Sat., 12-9 Thurs.

FLORIDA

AMF Electronics -11158 N. 30th St,
Tampa 33612; (813) 971-4072. 10-6
Mon-Sat. Apple Computer Sales &
Service; TRS-80, Apple Software &
Peripherals; S-100 boards, computer
parts & books.

GEORGIA

Atlanta Computer Mart— 5091 Buford
Hwy, Atlanta 30340; (404) 455-0647.
10-6 Mon-Sat.

ILLINOIS

ComputerLand/Downers Grove— 136

Ogden Ave, Downers Plaza 60515; (312)
964-7762. 10-6 Mon-Sat, 1^8 Tue, Thu.

The Computer Room — 106 E. Oak St,
Chicago 60611; (312) 337-6744. 11-7
Mon-Fri, 11-6 Sat.

Data Domain of Schaumburg— 1612 E.
Algonquin Rd, Schaumburg 60195;
(312) 397-8700. 12-9 Tue-Fri, 11-5 Sat.
Largest book & magazine selection.

Farnsworth Computer Center— 1891 N.
Farnsworth Ave, Aurora 60505; (312)
851-3888. M-F 10-8, Sat. 10-5 Apple,
Hewlett-Packard, Corvus, HP Calcu-
lators, IDS-440C printers.

KENTUCKY

ComputerLand of Louisville— 10414

Shelbyville Rd, Louisville 40223; (502)
245-8288. 10-5:30.

MASSACHUSETTS

Computer Mart, Inc.— 1395 Main St,
Waltham 02154; (617) 899-4540. 11-6
Tue-Sat. Atari, Heath, NEC, SWTP &
S-100 bus systems; Word Processing
Specialists.

Neeco— 679 Highland Ave, Needham
02194; (617) 449-1760. 9-5:30 Mon-Fri.
Commodore, Apple, Superbrain,
Tl 99/4.

NEW JERSEY

Computernook— Rt. 46, Pine Brook
Plaza, Pine Brook 07058; (201) 575-
9468. 10-6:30 MTWS, 10-8 Thurs., Fri.
Apple/Commodore Authorized dealer.

Stonehenge Computer Shop— 89 Sum-
mit Avenue, Summit 07901; (201)
277-1020. 10 am -6:30 pm Mon-Sat.
Apple/Bell & Howel I/Commodore
Authorized Dealer, Sales and Service.

NEW YORK

The Computer Comer Inc— 200 Hamil-
ton Ave, White Plains 10601; (914)-
WHY DATA. 106 Mon-Sat, 10-9 Thu.

OHIO

The Basic Computer Shop— 2671 W.

Market St, Akron 44313; (216) 867-0808
10-6 Mon-Sat.

Micro Mini Computer World, Inc.— 74

Robinwood Ave., Columbus 43213;
(614) 235-6058. 5813. 11-7 Tue-Sat.
Authorized Commodore dealer-Sales/
Software/Service/Support.

PENNSYLVANIA

Artco Electronics— 302 Wyoming Ave,
Kingston 60145. (717) 287-1014. 10-7
(except Wed, Sun). TRS-80 Specialist.

VIRGINIA

ComputerLand/Tysons Comer — 8411
Old Corthouse Rd, Vienna 22180; (703)
893-0424. 10-6 MTWF, 10-9 Thu, 10-5
Sat.

Computer Plus, Inc— 6120 Franconia
Rd, Alexandria 22301; (703) 971-1996.
10-9 Mon-Fri, 10-6 Sat. Micro special-
ists, books, classes, software, main-
tenance. "The PLUS makes the dif-
ference."

To Include your von In Cntatlvt Computing*
«•!•// Rotltr. ell Iho Aavniilng DtDtnmmt 1
1201)540-9188

SEPTEMBER 1980

197

Conripleat

Computer
Catalog

APPLICATIONS
SOFTWARE

RECREATIONAL, GAMES

Tuesday Night Football for the Apple
II simulates NFL action between the
player's Houston Oilers and the com-
puter controlled Pittsburgh Steelers.
The game includes 17 plays from offense
and 6 defenses. Cassette, $13.95; disk,
$17.95. Shoestring Software, 1235
Candlelight. Houston TX 77018. (713)
688-2105.

CIRCLE 301 ON READER SERVICE CARD

AppleRoots is a genealogy software
package that can be used for conven-
tional genealogy as well as animal
breeding. It has 17 user-definable fields.
Written in Applesoft, the program
requires a single disk drive with 24K
RAM. $39.95. CDS Corp.. 695 East 10th
North. Logan. UT 84321. (801) 753-6990.

CIRCLE 307 ON READER SERVICE CARD

California Software has released a
four-voice Software Music Synthesis
System that uses a parallel port of the
computer to output waveforms. Music
written for the original Music System
from Software Technology is compatible
with the system. Available for most
CP/M systems. Northstar DOS and
Cuter cassettes, the system features a
line editor, ML/1 music language com-
piler and programmable synthesizer.
$79.95. California Software, Box 275, El
Cerrito, CA 94530. (415) 527-7730.

CIRCLE 302 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Three programs for the PET using an
Atari joystick have been announced by
Programmatics Software. Galacti-
Target is a real-time hand-eye coordina-
tion game in which the player pilots a
ship around the galaxy. Space Race is a
starship race in which the object is to
gain speed and make better time.
Streets and Alleys is a game of tag in a
maze played against the computer.
$4.95. Programmatics Software, 71
Sargent Ave., Providence, RI 02906.

CIRCLE 303 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Acorn Software Products announces
Pinball, a real-time; arcade game for the
TRS-80 Level II written in machine
language. It includes flippers, bumpers,
rollovers, runs, and bonus points. $14.95.
Acorn Software Products, Inc., 634
North Carolina Ave., SE, Washington,
DC 20003. (203) 544-4259.

CIRCLE 304 ON READER SERVICE CARD

In Labyrinth Run for the TRS-80 from
Manhattan Software the player runs
through a labyrinth with sharp turns,
reverses and slaloms, racing for a record
time. It features high-speed graphics and
three skill levels. $9.95. Manhattan
Software, Inc., P.O. Box 5200, Grand
Central Station, New York, NY 10017.

CIRCLE 305 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Comco announces six games on cas-
sette for the Ohio Scientific C1P, C2-4P
and C8P computers. Lunar Lander is an
8K color program in which the pilot
directs a spacecraft to a landing on the
moon. The Game of Life is a 4K
simulation of an ecology. In Auto- tank
(8K) the player controls one tank and the
computer controls the other. Space
Rebel allows players to control the
imperial klingon cruiser as it tries to
destroy the federation starships. Space
Shuttle Simulator (8K) is a self-
prompting program which allows the
user to generate CAI programs on
cassette. Comco, 2214 Phelps Rd., Suite
208, Adelphi, MD 20783.

CIRCLE 306 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Dungeon Explorer 2.0 is a single
player game of combat and adventure in
which the player tries to become a
superhero by battling the monsters in
the Dungeon of Xanadu. Cosmic Trader
is a game of interstellar trade in which
up to four players try to amass a fortune
by commanding star freighters in quad-
rants consisting of nine star systems
with nine categoris of trade goods. Both
games are for the TRS-80 Level II with
16K RAM. $12.95. Simulation Software,
P.O. Box 1368. Warren, MI 48090. (313)
758-0798.

CIRCLE 308 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Cosmic Intruders is a machine lan-
guage space game with sound effects for
the TRS-80 Level II, 16K. In this
real-time game, the player must destroy
the alien space creatures which appear
in his gun sight. Alien Invasion is a
TRS-80 version of Space Invaders. $9.95.
Software Innovations, 320 Melbourne
Rd., Great Neck, NY 11021.

CIRCLE 300 ON READER SERVICE CARD

198

CREATIVE COMPUTING

•cQWRfTHOMicsi EVERYTHING

SO N. PASCACK ROAD
SPRING VALLEY. NEW YORK 10977

« APPLE IS A TRADEMARK OF THE APPLE CORP

FROM COMPUMAX BUSINESS SYSTEMS

The COMPUMAX business applications programs are written with the novice
computer user in mind They are saay to use yet powerful in their capabilities Further.
COMPUMAX supplies the BASIC source coda Thus the programs are easy to modify

MICROLEOOER
This General Ledger system performs the essential functions of dual entry bookkeeping
and matches revenues and expenses:
MICROLEDGER includes the following programs

LEDGER 1- builds and maintains the CHART OF ACCOUNTS hie This file contains
both current and accumulated totals for each •«ount

LEDGER 2 - builds and updates the JOURNAL TRANSACTION file

LEDGER 3 - SS5 , bott thVtfSVOURNAL file and the CHART OF ACCOUNTS

LEDGER 4 - computes the TRIAL BALANCE and executes POSTING of t ournal trans-
actions into the CHART OF ACCOUNTS An AUDIT TRIAL of all transaction is output

LEDGER S - produces the PROFIT AND LOSS STATEMENT.

LEDGER 6 - produces the BALANCE SHEET Assets, liabilities and owners •«"'''••»'•

shown by account and by totals $1e0.00

MICROPAV
An Accounts Payable system. MICROPAY includes the following program a functions:

PAY 1 - initializes both Transaction and Master files, then begins the Accounts Payable
process by inputting and adding records in the Transaction file

PAY 2 - allows tor changes and deletions of Transaction and Master records

PAY 3 - reports outstanding Accounts Payables in four categories, under 30 days. 31 -60
days. 61-90 days, and over 90 days

PAY 4 - reports all outstanding Accounts Payables for a single customer or for all custo-
mers, and computes Cash Requirements

PAY 5 - reports all outstanding Accounts Payables for a single date or for a range of
dates and computes the Cash Requirements

PAY 6 - lists both the Transactions and Master files

PAY 7 - prints checks and accumulates and lournalizes Accounts Payables This pro-
gram simultaneously creates entries for the MICROLEDGER file $140.00

MICROREC
An Accounts Receivable system. MICROREC includes the following programs and
functions:

REC 1 - initializes Accounts Receivable files, adds A/R record and prints invoices

REC 2 - accepts receipt of customer payments and changes or deletions of A/R Trans-
action or Master tile records «_«• m

REC 3 - reports outstanding Accounts Receivables in four categories, under so days.
31-60 days. 61-90days. and over 90 days

REC 4 - reports all outstanding Accounts Receivables tor a single customer, or tor all
customers and computes Cash protections

REC 5 - produces reports lor all outstanding Accounts Receivables for a single date or
for a range of dates and computes Cash projections

REC 6 - lists Transaction and Master files and accumulates and lournalizes Accounts
Receivables creating JOURNAL entries which communicate with the MICROLEDGER

JOURNAL tile $140.00

MICROINV
This Inventory Control system presents a general method of Inventory Control and pro-
duces several important reports Its program includes

INV 1 - initializes Transaction and Master files and adds and updates Transaction and
Master records . _. ,

INV 2 - handles inventory issued or received, creating inventory records This program
also accumulates and journalizes transactions, producing JOURNAL entries which
communicate with the MICROLEDGER file

INV 3 - lists both Transaction and Master files

INV 4 - produces the STOCK STATUS REPORT, showing the standard inventory stock
data and stock valuation, and the ABC ANALYSIS breaking down the inventory into
groups by frequency of usage

INV 5 - gives a JOB COST REPORT/MATERIALS, showing allocation ol materials used
year-to-date by each |ob or work code (This is complemented by the Job Cost Report/
Personnel in the MICROPERS program )

INV 6 - computes and provides the E O Q (Economic Order Quantities) $140.00

MICROPERS

This is a Payroll/Personnel program whose functions include
PERS 1 - initializes the Master tile and allows for entry and updates of Master records
PERS 2 - initializes the Payroll file and allows lor entry and updates of payroll records
PERS 3 - lists an Employee Master Record or the entire Employee Master file, lists a

single Payroll Record or the entire Payroll file _

PERS 4 - computes Payroll and prints the PAYROLL REGISTER Prints PAYCHECKS
and creates JOURNAL entries to be ted into the MICROLEDGER JOURNAL file
PERS 5 - produces the JOB COST REPORT/PERSONNEL . computes the quarterly 941

bank deposit, and the Annual W-2 run $140.00

All COMPUMAX programs available in machine readable format (diskette form) for the
following machines _._.

TRS-80" Model I Micropohs 1053/1 1

APPLE II Microsoft under CP/M

PET CBASIC under CP/M

Cromemco

* All orders processed
uif hin 24-Houn

* 30-Day money bock guarantee-
on all Software (Ins a S3
penalty for handling)

Mpfr

5 THE COUNT - You wake up in a large brass bed in a castle somewhere in Tran-
sylvani Who are you. what are you doing here, and WHY did the postman deliver
a bottle of blood' You'll love this Adventure, in fact, you might say its Love at First
Byte

6 STRANGE ODYSSEY - Marooned at the edge of the galaxy, you've stumbled on
the ruins of an ancient alien civilization complete with fabulous treasures and
unearthly technologies Can you collect the treasures and return or will you end
up marooned forever? .

7 MYSTERY FUN HOUSE - Can you find your way completely through the strangest
Fun House in existence, or will you always be kicked out when the park closes?

8 PYRAMID OF DOOM - An Egyptian Treasure Hunt leads you into the dark re-
cesses of a recently uncovered Pyramid Will you recover alt the treasures or more
likely will you |om its denizens for that long eternal sleep?

9 GHOST TOWN - Explore a deserted western mining town in search of 1 3 treasures
From rattlesnakes to runaway horses, this Adventure's got them all 1 Just remem-
ber, Pardner. they don't call them Ghost Towns for nothin' (Also includesnew

bonus scoring system') $14.95 Pec Adventure

* Note: Apple requires 24K and has no lower case.

t Recommended for the novice adventurer, with many built-in HELPS'

FROM PERSONAL SOFTWARE INC.

VISICALC $150.00

Take virtually any problem you would explore using calculator, pen, and paper,
working in rows and columns Apply VisiCalc and you'll see why every reviewer of this
product has said the same thing VisiCalc is the most useful, most important program yet
developed for personal computing.

With VisiCalc. you work with an electronic worksheet of up to 63 columns and 254
rows At the juncture of any column and row you can type in words and numbers VisiCalc
automatically performs all arithmetic functions, net present value, and transcendental
functions - instantly'

FROM ADVENTURE INTERNATIONAL (By Scott Adams)

I t

ADVENTURELAND - You wander through an enchanted world trying to recover
the 13 lost treasures You'll encounter wild animals, magical beings, and many
other perils and puzzles Can you rescue the Blue Ox from the quicksand? Or find

your way out of the maze of pita? Happy Adventuring

PIRATES ADVENTURE - Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" You'll meet up with the
pirate and his daffy bird along with many strange sights aa you attempt to go from
your London flat to Treasure Island Can you recover Long John Silver's lost

treaaurea? Happy Sailing, matey

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE ADVENTURE • Good morning, your mission is to and so
it starts Will you be able to complete your mission in time? Or is the world's first
automated nuclear reactor doomed? This one's well named It's hard, there Is no
magic, but plenty of suspense Good luck

VOODOO CASTLE - Count Cnsto ha* had a liendish curse put on Mm by hia
enemies There he lies, with you his only hope Will you be able to rescue him or is
he forever doomed? Beware the Voodoo Man

CCA DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM $74.9$

DMS Features

File Creaton and Maintenance

• Fields may be alphanumeric, numeric, integer, floating point, or fixed decimal with
commas

• Fields may be COMPUTED FIELDS DMS will compute any field within a record,
using constants or other fields in the same record Functions include add. subtract.
multiply, divide, and raise exponential powers

• Records are easily located, using the SCAN feature SCAN for records with a field
over below, or between a range of values.

• Records are easily added and updated DMS "prompts' you with questions

• Multi-diskette capabilities for larger tiles - up to 85.000 characters per file'

• Sort the records into almost any order, using up to 10 fields as "keys" So you can
sort for customer numbers: within zip code, for instance

• Delete records, "compact" files, and backup tiles on data diskettes easily
Report Features

• Print reports with records in any order

• Select fields to be printed

• Print mailing labels

• Numeric totals and subtotals can be specified when a value in an unrelated field in
the same record changes For example, sort, subtotal, and print according to depart-
ment, or month, or customer number, or model number

„-r«*D PROFIT W |NS _-„. AVERAGE PROFIT

A«ANTEED»^ g-|0/ ptAcj, 32% AT ALL TRACKS-1978

SHOWS

THE HORSE SELECTOR II (FLATS) (By Or Hal Davis) $50 00

New simplified version of the original Horse Selector The first Horse Selection System

to actually calculate the estimated odds of each horse

HIGHER PROFITS (OVER 100%) POSSIBLE THROUGH SELECTIVE BETTING ON

• Rates each horse in 10 seconds

• Easy to follow rules

• Can be used with any Apple II Computer

• 100% money back guarantee (returned for any reason)

• Uses 4 factors (speed rating, track variant, distance of the present race, distance of
the last race)

• Using the above factors, the Horse Selector calculates the estimated odds. BET on
horses whose actual payoff (from the Tote Board or Morning Lines) is higher than
payoff based on estimated odds

• Using the above factors, the Horse Selector calculates the estimated odds BET on
any selected horse with an estimated payoff (baaed on Tote Board or Morning Lines)
higher than calculated payoff (based on Horse Selector II)

• Source listing for theTRS-80•". TI-59. HP-67. HP-41. Apple and BASIC Computers

• No computer or calculator necessary (although a calculator would be helpful tor
the simple division used to calculate estimated odds)

FREE OutcMng Tablss allows betting on 2 or more horses with a guaranteed profit.

__ \ HOUR

' " (914) 425-1535

ADO $2 00 FOR SHIPPING UPS AREAS
ADO13 00FORCOO OR NON-UPS AREAS
ADO U 00 OUTSIDE U S A. CANADA * MEXICO

NEW TOLL-FREE

ORDER LINE

(OUTSIDE OF N.V. STATE)

(800) 431-2818

CIRCLE 239 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1980

199

This Weekend:

STIK

IT....
••to your

That's right! Esmark s VlCMET STIK light pen has
the TRS-80 CONNECTION for LEVEL I & II Your
4K to 48K TRS-80 System will come alive under
your VIDIET STIK within minutes ot its arrival
That's because there are no wires to solder or
traces to cut. You're up and running as fast as
you can plug the interface into your system's
cassette EAR-jack. CLOAD our custom LIGHT
WAVE demonstration software and RUN And
because the interface has a plug for your re-
corder, you won't have to unplug it again when
loading your other software tapes. The inter
face allows them to pass right thru whenever
you're not using the pen. h's exclusive "switched
tip" design means the pen's electrically iso-
lated from your system when it's not in use
Just point & press! It's that simple. Plug,
CLOAD and RUN And have we got the software
for you to RUN with! Our demonstration tape
includes a calibration program (used to adjust
the CRT's brightness and contrast) plus STIK
T AC- TOE. AWARI and TOWERS. Two challeng-
ing games and a puzzle that will keep grown-
ups and children Stik'ing it to your TRS-80 for
hours. And there are instructions provided so
you can begin writing your own light pen pro

Rrams (lightware) for fun or profit (Level II) Or,
ist sit back and enjoy our LIGHT WAVE tapes
each month. Esmark s unmatched commit-
ment to lightware can bring you up to five new
games, puzzles, drills & educational quizzes
or simulations each month. Our current LIGHT-
WAVE releases are:

LIGHT-PAK2 LtGHTPEG (4 peg ,ump puzzles)

ENORUN (Othello with a twist)
(LEVEL II) LIFE9 (Conway's LIFE with

mutations)

Price: $19.95 (including postage

& handling)
LIGHT-PAK 3- UTEGAMMON (Backgammon

you'll Stik with)
(LEVEL It) STIKWUMPUS (Caves with a

tittle lite)

MAZEMASTER (Maze after

maze to poke thru)

Price: $19.95(including postage

& handling)

Order yours now and we'll include a free copy
of FLASHBACK. Esmark's newsletter dedicat
ed to the latest news in lightware applications
And don't forget to tell your friends. The
VIDIET STIK can also be ordered for use on
most other micro systems using the following
processor chips:

S
i

8
O

8060

ZSO

6800

6502

All that's required Is a standard cassette lack
leading to Ground and a readable single bit in-
put port. Driver software is provided along with
instructions tor writing lightware applica-
tions. And tell your local Dealer that Esmark's
got a Dealer package he won't want to miss
out on. Delivery is 3 to 6 weeks from receipt of
your order COD'S are $3 00 extra but will be
shipped within 2 weeks. All prices are FOB
Mishawaka. Indiana Indiana residents add
4% tales tax.

ALSO COMING FROM ESMARK:

•TRS-80 Printer Interface (Cassette AUX-jack

interface for all RS232 prints Includes LUST

a LPRINT software)

•TRS-80 RS232 Communications Interlace
(Makes your TRS-80 a full I/O terminal to time
sharing systems the world over. Gives you
Intelligent or dumb terminal capabilities at
1 10 or 300 BAUD Also includes Printer inter-
face above with 20 mA current loop & TTL
level I/O options.)

— TRS-80 is a trademark of Tandy Corporation—

ESfN/l ARK 'incorporated
507 vi e Mckinley hot. mishawaka. in «bs*4

(21.1KS.30M $62.»5

PLUS SI SO

•ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS MARKETING ™JH*°**

HANDLING

CIRCLE 195 ON READER SERVICE CARD

GAMES, RECREATIONAL

Stratagems Company an-
nounces Starcruiser, a two-player
game of interstellar exploration and
conquest in which the players
maneuver spacecraft through a
cluster of 42 solar systems in search
of planets with which to form alli-
ances. The game is played with TRS-
80 and two paper playing surfaces
called star maps. $10. Stratagems
Company, Box 786, Taylor, MI 48180.

CIRCLE 310 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Softpoint has introduced the
following software for the Apple II
and Apple II Plus: Function Plot,
Blockade, Speed Reading, Hang-
man, Blackjack and Road Race.
Prices range from $5.95 to $9.95.
Softpoint, Dept. D., 103 Clinton Ave.,
Terry ville, NY 11776.

CIRCLE 311 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Midway Campaign gives the
player charge of the entire U.S. Naval
Force in the Pacific during World War
II. In North Atlantic Convoy
Raider, the computer controls the
British fleet and the player is the
captain of the Bismarck. In Nuke-
war the computer controls a major
power whose sole objective is to
annihilate the good guys. Planet
Miner offers one to four players a
chance to compete with each other
and with the computer to stake
valuable mining claims throughout
the solar system in the year 2050. B-l
Nuclear Bomber places the player
in the cockpit of a supersonic bomber
on a mission to bomb a Soviet city. All
games are for Apple, TRS-80 and
PET. $15. Avalon Hill Game Com-
pany, 4517 Harford Rd., Baltimore,
MD 21214.

CIRCLE 312 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Strategic Simulations an-
nounces Computer Ambush for
Apple II or Apple II Plus. The game
features everything needed to simu-
late World War II squad combat,
including a hi-res display of a French
village. $59.95 on disk. Strategic
Simulations, 450 San Antonio Rd.,
Suite 62, Palo Alto, CA 94306.

CIRCLE 313 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Musicraft is a CP/M-compatible
screen editing music interpreter
which produces up to four voices,

each with a seven octave range and a
different musical sound. It supports
measures, musical line numbers,
repeats, refrains, key signatures,
accidentals and microtones. It re-
quires an S-100 bus computer with
addressable cursor and the Newtech
Model 6 Music Board. $79.95. New-
tech Computer Systems, Inc., 230
Clinton St., Brooklyn, NY 11201.
(212) 625-6220.

CIRCLE 314 ON READER SERVICE CARD

EDUCATIONAL

Computer Systems Design Group
announces Grow, an extensible
system for authoring creative CAI
programs, adventure games and
dynamic knowledge networks. The
manufacturer claims that the system
can be used by people with little or no
programming experience. Available
on disk for Apple II and Northstar,
$35. Computer Systems Design
Group, 3632 Governor Dr., San Diego,
CA 92122.

CIRCLE 31SON READER SERVICE CARD

Program Design announces four
titles to help students with vocabu-
lary and reading skills. Word Skills
2 and Word Skills 3 cover common
prefixes and suffixes. Word Mean-
ings teaches synonyms, homonyms,
antonyms and troublesome words.
Nouns covers common and proper
nouns on a high school level. The
programs are available on cassette
for Apple and PET, $14.95, and on
Apple disk for $19.95. Program
Design, 11 Idar Ct., Greenwich, CT
06830. (203) 661-8799.

CIRCLE 318 ON READER SERVICE CARD

MuMath for the TRS-80 with
single disk drive is a symbolic math
package designed for educational,
scientific and engineering applica-
tions. It provides the facilities to do
algebra, trigonometry, calculus, inte-
gration, differentiation and other
symbolic math operations accurately
and efficiently, MuSimp, the lan-
guage in which the program is
written, is included. $74.95. Microsoft
Consumer Products, 10800 Northeast
Eighth, Suite 507, Bellevue, WA
98004. (206) 454-1315.

CIRCLE 317 ON READER SERVICE CARD

200

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Addmaster
paper tape

readers and
handlers /

X ADDMASTER

416 Junipero Drive

San Gabriel, California 91776

Telephone: (213) 285-1121

CIRCLE 243 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Dysan

•/corporation

Solve your disc problems,
buy 100% surface tested
Dysan diskettes. All or-
ders shipped from stock,
within 24 hours. Call toll
FREE (800) 23S4137 for
prices and information.
Visa and Master Card ac-
cepted. All orders sent
postage paid.

PACIFIC
EXCHANGES

100 Foothill Blvd
San Luis Obispo. CA
93401 (InCal call
(805)543-1037)

A CompuBridge* A
~ Contract Bridge Series^

Programs That Work
▼ Presently available for JL
APPLE II ~

(No special hardware needed)

Elementary Course Cassette
For16Kor32K $19.95

Complete Course Cassette
For16Kor32K $29.95

Complete Course Diskette
For48K $39.95

Each court* Includes a series of pro-
grammed lessons plus tha unique
OUIZMAKER which da.lt random
hand* for axorclaaa on point count,
opening blda, responses and robMa,
than chocka your answers and
quizzes you or supplies tha corract
anawor. Tha complete couraa In-
cludai popular cenvontlona auch mt
Stayman and Jacoby Transfers.

Avallabl* from your Appla Daalar or
CompuBrldga Division, Barclay
Bridge, Port Chaatar, N.V. 10573.

for 16K 32K 48I

Check Encloaad or charge to
VISA MC Card No

Name

CIRCLE 215 ON READER SERVICE CARD

N.Y. Residents add Sale* Tax

CIRCLE 1 15 ON READER SERVICE CARD

EXCITING MAILORDER DISCOUNTS

jcipplc computer II

16K

CASH PRICE

APPLE II 32K >1050

APPLE II 48K 4100

•COLOR •GRAPHICS •SOUND
APPLE II ACCESSORIES

CORVUS 10 MEGABYTE DISK DRIVE $4650 "
PASCAL LANGUAGE SYSTEM 445"

GRAPHICS INPUT TABLET 57S"

MSKHwmi CONTROLLER CARD 49ft**

DISK II arllhowl controlled 440 "

APPLESOFT FIRMWARE CARO 1S4"

INTEGER FIRMWARE CARD 1SS"

PARALLEL INTERFACE CARD 1*5"

SERIAL INTERFACE CARD 1*0"

COMMUNICATIONS CARD 1*0"

SUP-A-MOO RF TV MODULATOR 2S~

SUP-R-TERM SO COl CARD J4»~

DAN PAVMAR low*' case kit 45**

SVAB DISH CONTROLLER CARD 349-

CCS ARITHMETIC PROCESSOR CARD 349**

WE SELL APPLE

CLOCK'CALENDARCARD

INTROL K 10 SYSTEM

SUPERT ALKER SPEECH SYNTHISIZER

ROMPLUS CARO

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DC HAYES MtCROMOOCM N

ALF MUSIC SYNTHISIZER

SSM AIO CARO (KIT)

SSMAIO CARO (AST)
NOVATION CAT MODE M

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CONTROLLER Gen. Bu» software
CASHIER Retail Man A In* Softwara
APPLE POST Mailing List aoftwara
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SOFTWARE ALSO.

$230
MS-
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199-

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24ft-

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IM « sorcerer - rg" 7 $g g 50 o

-e*ok. <r of 240 • » 1 2 JO anew of 64 characiara S ■ a do*

«***■ Fu4A9Caa*ntuOpar*rd>t>eie»cawe>i ptjaaajnaara
grapnc aymbole Lhw <*>av deane up to 12acrw*ciera K*r
Doard stJ», data tvocoeaeie iyp» v* «'«>»■. •*•*••*«

ilK IUIH 4*H l,19S.««

MONITORS

LEEDEX VIDEO 100

12" BLACK & WHITE MONITOR
•VIDEO BANDWIDTH 1 2 MHz ♦ 3db
• COMPOSITE VIDEO INPUT

$139

SOROC IQ 140 SI 195 • S0ROC IQ 120 $735
SANYO 9 *• B W Monitor $169 • SANYO 15" B/W Monitor $259 • ZENITH 13" Color I

S399

PAPER TlGI

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CCNTFtOWCS 730 1
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•QUAD DENSITY DESIGN -4 TIMES STANDARD CAPACITV!

ATARI 400 COMPUTER M»»

ATARI 120 PRINTER 499

ATARI 810 DISK DRIVE 59*

ATARI 410 PROGRAM RECORDER 69

ATARI 16K RAM MODULE 149

. TO ORDER .

Phone orders invited using credit cards Or send cashiers
check or money order that draws onaUS bar* Pie— a add
2S ($5 00 Minimum) tor handling shipping (air service) and
insurance, or equipment w*1 be shipped freight collect
California residents add 6% sates tax AH equipment is m
factory cartons with the manufacturers warranty Equipment
■ft subject to price changbe and avaiabiMy without notice

IOMPUTER SPECIALTIES

6363 EL CAJON BLVD., SUITS 303,
SAN DIICO. CA. 91113 • (7 1*1 37*03 30

SEPTEMBER 1940

CIRCLE 129 ON READER SERVICE CARD
201

EDUCATIONAL

New from Math Software is a
series of programs for the Apple
designed to aid in the teaching of
mathematics. Titles include: Taylor
Series, Function Grapher 48K, Arith-
metic of Functions, Binomial Multi-
plication, Rational Function
Grapher, Solids Revolution, and
Polar Graphing. Prices for disks are
$15 for 32K programs and $25 for 48K
programs. Math Software, 1223
Blackthorn PL, Deerfield, IL 60015.

CIRCLE 31S ON READER SERVICE CARD

PERSONAL

APF Electronics announces the
Personal Business Machine pro-
gram for its Imagination Machine.
The program allows the user to
calculate financial status and com-
pute loan amortization, interest and
principal payments interest rates,
etc. Prices range from $19.95 to
$29.95. APF Electronics, Inc., 444
Madison Ave., New York, NY 10022.
(212) 758-7550.

CIRCLE'31 9 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Market Charter is a technical
analysis package for following stocks
and commodities which features hi-

lo-close charts, negative and positive
volume indicator charts, volume
charts and comparison charts.
Written for the Apple II, it includes a
file maintenance program which
allows for the creation and updating
of the data base and adjusts for stock
splits. $99.95. RTR Software, P.O.
Box 12351, El Paso, TX 79912. (915)
544-4397.

CIRCLE 320 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Money Manager is a 48K disk
program for the Apple II which
handles all of the user's financial
affairs and creates a permanent data
base for planning, evaluating and
verifying all expenditures. Time
Manager is a 32K personal data
system that acts as an automatic

reminder, electronic notebook and
personal history file. Image Com-
puter Products Inc., 615 Academy Dr.,
Northbrook, IL 60062.
CIRCLE 321 ON READER SERVICE CARD

E.S.P. Lab for the TRS-80 Level
II 16K has been designed by Man-
hattan Software as a program for
serious research into possible extra-
sensory phenomena, as well as for
casual testing of the possibility of
telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition
and telekinesis. $9.95. Manhattan
Software, Inc., P.O. Box 5200 Grand
Central Station, New York, NY
10017.

CIRCLE 322 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Nutri-Paek for the Apple II is a series
of programs and a data base designed to
evaluate the nutritional quality of a daily
diet. It contains information on the
caloric, fat and protein content and the
levels of eight vitamins and minerals in
the 600 listed foods. $39.95. Micro-Comp
Incorporated, 2015 NW Circle Blvd.,
Corvallis, OR 97330.

CIRCLE 323 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Do
Computer

Enthusiasts

Have

Fun?

The Colossal Computer Cartoon Book

The best collection of computer cartoons ever is now in
its second printing, and sports a bright new cover. The
fifteen chapters contain hundreds of cartoons about
robots, computer dating, computers in the office, home,
and lab, and much more. 36 cartoonists share their views of
man's ultimate machine.

Keep this book with your reference works. When
needed, the right cartoon can say it all for you. When you
need a break from debugging a good laugh can give you a
welcome lift. Recommended for hours of fun and comic
insight.

Edited by David Ahl, mastermind behind the April Fool's
issue of Dr. Kilobyte's Creative Popular Personal Re-
creational Micro Computer Data Interface World Journal,
this cartoon book contains much of that same incurable
zaniness. [Want this issue? Ifs April 1980 and only $2.50
postpaid].

A large 8Vi x 11" soft bound collection of 120 pages, it still sells for only $4.95.

The

Colossal

Computer

Cartoon

Book

Edited try David H. AN

Order 6G by sending $4.95
plus $1.00 shipping to Crea-
tive Computing, PO Box 789-
M, Morristown N) 07960.
Visa, MasterCard or Ameri-
can Express orders are wel-
come by calling toll-free to
800-631-8112 [In N| call 201-
540-0445]. Or use the handy
order form bound into this
magazine.

CIRCLE 350 ON READER SERVICE CARD

202

CREATIVE COMPUTING

CIRCLE 144 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Huntington
Computing

First time on computer

ACANTHOPTCRYGIAN FORTUNE-TELL INC has tS

' ;t-nds emanating from analysis of
ancient, spiny-finned flth. Unlike any other
fortune-tel I ing, method known to men. AF-T
Mill give you a yes or no answer to any
question. Further more, it will place the
likelyhood of your question coming true on a
continuum. Highly recommended for parties and
targe gatherings. Made for the Apple* ,

Applesoft and needs 22K memory. AF-T
will be sent on DISK unless cassette is r«-

S 1 5

Also available at 15? off list, all App i -
ware by EDU-WARE. PERSONAL SOFTWARE. SOFTAPE.
CREATIVE COHPuTISi. INSTANT SOFTWARE. *(l

We take HasterCharge or VISA (include
card * and expiration date), checks,
money orders. No cash or C.O.D. Calif,
residents a- ide 51- 50 fo»

postage and handling. Hail
HUNTINGTON COMPUTING, Dept .CC-9
2020 O i )J2'2

LE IN ON READER SERVICE CARD

The
Mean Little Kit

New compact 24-piece kit of electronic tools
tor engineers, scientists, technicians,
students, executives. Includes 7 sizes
screwdrivers, adjustable wrench, 2 pair
pliers, wire stripper, knife, alignment tool,
stainless rule, hex-key set, scissors, 2 flex-
ible files, burnisher, miniature soldering
iron, solder aid, coil of solder and desolder-
ing braid. Highest quality padded zipper
case, 6 x 9 x ^W inside. Satisfaction
guaranteed. Send check, company purchase
order or charge Visa or Mastercharge We
pay the shipping charges.
JTK-6 Tool Kit $82.00

Free Catalog!

Page after page of hard
to-find precision tools.
Also contains complete
line of tool kits and tool
cases. Send for your free
copy today!

JENSGN TOOLS INC.

1230 s. pricst dr Tempe. az 85281

CIRCLE 203 ON READER SERVICE CARD

campuTER

PROGRflmmiNG

BASIC tor Microcomputers

STEP-BY-STEP Instructions

SOUND FILMSTRIPS

A systematic,
sequentially-devel-
oped approach to
the essentials of
programming
computers in
BASIC language

"This set should be of use to anyone teaching
programming on any machine, and would also
be of value in individual study situations " - The
Computing Teacher, June I960

PART I- GETTING STARTED WITH THE

COMPUTER
PART II- MATHEMATICAL OPERATIONS
PART III- LOOPS AND SUBROUTINES
PART IV- INTRODUCTION TO ORIGINAL

PROGRAMMING
PART V- PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES

AND FLOW CHARTS

FSC 397 — 5 Full Color FILMSTRIPS,
5 CASSETTES.
Teacher's Handbook SM.00

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES. INC.

BOX 87. BALDWIN. NY 11510

Sand for a list of Software Program*.

MATH - SPELLING - LANGUAGE ARTS, etc

Call toll free 800-645-3739

11542-1 KNOTT ST.

GARDEN GROVE,

C A 92641

(800)854-6411

(714)891-2663

LEEDEX

MODEL #100-80

12"

VIDEO
MONITOR

(80) Char/(24) Lines

s 175 oo

74LS244

S-J50.

ea.

L0B0 INT'L

SA800

Shugart8"
Single-Sided/
Double Density

Floppy Disk

Drive, Cabinet &

Power Supply

(1) Drive Installed
S77500

(2) Drives Installed

$ 1250 00

4116's-200NS

ADD-ON MEMORY FOR:

APPLE, TRS-80. HEATH, EXIDY

SD. EXPANDORAM, ETC.

8for S 45°°

CENTRONICS

MODEL #730
Dot Matrix Printer

• 50 Characters/Sec.

• 80 Characters/Line

• 10 Characters/Inch

• 3 Way Paper Handling
System

• 7 x 7 Dot Matrix

• 96 Character ASCII

$ 672

QUME

DATATRAK 8
8" DISK DRIVE

• Dbl. Sided/Dbl.
Density

• 154 Tracks/ 1.2
Mbytes/Disk
IBM Format

• 3MS Access Time
Track to Track

s 525 00

271 6's

5V0LT-0NLY/450NS

"00
i ea.

(HITACHI)

INTEL'S $21.00 ea.

VERBATIAM
5V4" DISK
SOFT-SECTOR

$3.1 5 ea.

box of do) $28.60

MICR0BYTE

16K

STATIC
RAM BOARD

• S- 100 Compatible

• 4K Bank Addressable

• Extended Memory
Management

• No DMA Restrictions

• Assembled & Tested

• 4M Hz Operation

s 240

MICR0BYTE

MZ80A • I/O
CPU BOARD

'Z80A CPU with Serial/

Parallel Interface
>2MHz or 4MHz Operation

Switch Selectable

> Up to 4K on Board EPR0M

> (2) RS232 Serial I/O
(Variable Baud Rates)

> (1)24 Bit Parallel I/O Port
(Programmable)

MANY MORE FEATURES

$280 00

ORDERING INFO

Name. Address, Phone
Ship by: UPS or Mail

Shipping Charges. Add
S2 00 up to (5) lbs.

MICR0BYTE

32K

STATIC
RAM BOARD

IEEE/S-100

4K Bank Addressable

to any 4K Slot within

a 64K Boundary

On-board 8-Bit

Output Port

No DMA Restrictions

Assembled & Tested

4MHz Operation

s 475'

2114L-3

L0-P0WER/200NS
8for S 34 00

MITSUBISHI

2708's

(450NS)
$750

ea.

TERMS

We Accept Cash,
Check. Money Order,
Visa & Master Charge
COD. 'son Approval

(U S Fund-

Tax: 6% Calif. Res

CIRCLE 109 ON READER SERVICE CARD

WORD PROCESSING

A new version of the WpDaisy
word processor software package has
been designed for use with the TRS-80
Model II. The package includes
Infosoft Systems' I/OS Disk Operat-
ing System, a basic operating system
for 8080, 8085 and Z-80 CPUs. Info-
soft Systems, 25 Sylvan Rd. South,
Westport, CT 06880.

CIRCLE 324 ON READER SERVICE CARD

QUJI.KKfH —

Micro Architect announces
Word-M2, a word processing pro-
gram for the TRS-80 Model II which
allows the user to set page length, line
width, skip pages and text, indent,
center text, etc. $49. Micro Architect,
Inc., 96 Dothan St., Arlington, MA
02174.

CIRCLE 32S ON READER SERVICE CARD

Services Unique introduces Disk
Apple II Report Textwrite soft-
ware designed to allow free form file
input without regard to either line or
page length. It assembles text into
physical lines and pages using pre-
defined operator or file parameters.
$19.95. Services Unique, Inc., 2441
Rolling View Dr., Dayton, OH 45431.
CIRCLE 326 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The Spellbinder word proces-
sing system is said to include all the
features found on competitive soft-
ware plus full mailing list/mailing
label, sort/merge and text/merge
capacity, and legal numbering.
Written in 8080 assembly language
and designed to run under CP/M, it is
available in the following formats:
IBM 8" single-density, North Star
double-density, Micropolis quad-
density, Heath WH89 and Cromemco.
California Pacific Computer Com-
pany, 2601 Blackburn, Davis, CA
95616.

CIRCLE 327 ON READER SERVICE CARD

UTILITIES AND
MISCELLANEOUS

A Level II Basic/Disk Basic

utility allows programmers to save,
^ restore and otherwise manipulate one

set of data that may be common to
two or more programs. Varkeep is a
disk-resident machine language pro-
gram which adds the following
commands: name save, name restore,
name delete and name clear. It works
with all TRS-80 disk operating
systems. $19.95. Percom Data Com-
pany, 211 N. Kirby, Garland, TX
75042. (800) 527-1592.

CIRCLE 32S ON READER SERVICE CARD

TRS-80 disk files may be sorted
and merged using Sort-80, a general
purpose, machine language sort
program. It requires a 32K TRS-80
Level II with two disk drives or a
single drive Model II. Small Business
Systems Group, Inc., 6 Carlisle Rd.,
Westford, MA 01886. (617) 692-3800.
CIRCLE 329 ON READER SERVICE CARD

KFS-80 is an Indexed Sequen-
tial Access Method for the TRS-80
which provides keyed and sequential
access to multiple files, with records
of up to 240 bytes. It is a Basic
subroutine which is merged into the
user's application program. Price for
Model I is $49.95, for Model II, $79.95.
Automated Resource Management,
P.O. Box 4353, Irvine, CA 92716.

CIRCLE 330 ON REA0ER SERVICE CARD

Disk-O-Tape for the Apple II
and Apple II Plus enables the user to
transfer an entire disk's data to
cassette tape and back again. It
features comprehensive error detec-
tion and a true read-after-write
verification pass. $12. Dann
McCreary, Box 16435-C, San Diego,
CA 92116.

CIRCLE 331 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Disk Fixer provides experi-
enced programmers with a complete
tool kit for manipulating, repairing
and protecting all data on 13 and 16
sector disks. Monitor Extender
works with the Apple monitor and
displays memory in hex, ASCII or
binary. Image Computer Products,
Inc., 615 Academy Dr., Northbrook,
IL 60062. (312) 564-5060.

CIRCLE 332 ON READER SERVICE CARD

A-Stat 79 is a general purpose
statistical package for the Apple
which is designed for market re-
search, survey analysis, social and
economic modeling, simulations,
teaching statistics or any application
where the data bases are relatively
small. It requires 32K with Applesoft
on ROM or 48K and software Apple-
soft, plus at least one disk drive. $100.
Rosen Grandon Associates, 296 Peter
Green Rd., Tolland, CT 06084.

CIRCLE 333 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Sebree's Computing announces a
3-Dimensional Graphics Pack-
age for the Atari 800. Using one of
four programs, the user learns how to
input any scene he wishes to view.
He may then rotate and view it from
any location in 3-D space. $29.95.
Sebree's Computing, 456 Granite
Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016. (213) 359-
8092.

CIRCLE 334 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The Statistical Package for the
TRS-80 Level II includes its own
Scientific Data Management System
and a battery of programs for curve
fitting, probability, general statistics,
distribution mathematics and test
statistics. The system, also available
for Apple II or Apple II Plus, requires
32K of RAM and at least one disk
drive. $89.95. Charles Mann & Asso-
ciates, Micro Software Division, 7594
San Remo Trail, Yucca Valley, CA
92284. (714) 365-9718.

CIRCLE 33S ON READER SERVICE CARD

Almanac provides Apple users
with functions related to time, the
calendar and general astronomy.
Functions of the programs include
calendar calculations, sidereal time,
sunrise and sunset calculations,
calculation of phases of the moon and
the dates and times of solar and lunar
eclipses, a high resolution graphics
model of the solar system and a
software real time clock. It requires
an Apple II with at least 32K RAM,
Disk II and Applesoft II in ROM.
$29.95. Williamsville Publishing
Company, P.O. Box 250, Fredonia,
NY 14063.

CIRCLE 336 ON READER SERVICE CARD

VTCI-B^-14-
431 aS <oG> I
*■ I3g -1-2.58*?

Quickadd for the TRS-80 Level
II enables an operator to add over
1000 eight-digit numbers through the
keypad as rapidly as skill permits.
During entry, no key needs to be
pressed between numbers. $9.95.
Omni Systems Co., P.O. Box 29347,
Minneapolis, MN 55430.

CIRCLE 337 ON READER SERVICE CARD

204

CREATIVE COMPUTING

The

Maine

Software

Library

We rent games and
utilities for the TRS-80* at a
fraction of their purchase
price.

For catalogue, check
Reader Service. For faster
service send S.A.S.E. to:
The Maine Software Library
P.O. Box 197
Standish, Maine 04084

'A Trade name of the Tandy Corp.

L CIRCLE 206ON REA6ER SERVICE CARO '

FILE DRAWER

File Drawer is a data base manage-
ment system allowing the user
complete freedom in file design, but
once designed allows for very quick
entry of new data.

• create any number of personal-
ized filing systems

• Build or change files with care

• look at files quickly

• search out a line of all records

• search for one line of information
of all files.

• sort your data by each line at the
same time

• make hard copy printouts of data

Manual >10 00

Manual and Northstar Disk
(Single Density) SPI »29' 5

Manual, Source Code List and
Northstar Disk

(Single Density) HP2 '39"

Mailing Label Program

Add MO 00

DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED

MASTERS SOFTWARE COMPANY

P.O. BOX 214 • SANDY. UTAH 84070

CIRCLE 240ON READER SERVICE CARD

MATH SOFTWARE

Take an Apple™ Into the classroom!
Exciting software dramatically demon-
strates concepts which are being taught.
Mathe Software products can help to make
you a better teacher and also provide you
with better studentsl

Taylor Series

Function Grapher 48K

Arithmetic of Functions

Binomial Multiplication

Solving Linear Systems 48K

Graphic Integration Theory

Midpoint & Trapezoidal Rules

Rational Function Grapher

Sine and Cosine Grapher

Solids of Revolution

Limits of Sequences

Polar Graphing

Software Is designed for Apple II Plus or Apple II
with Applesoft firmware. Price Is $15 per 32K,
S25 per 48K disk system program ($8 dlsW
handling fee waived for orders over $50) MATH
SOFTWARE, 1233 Blackthorn Place, DeerfleM. IL
60015. Freecatolog.

CIRCLE 209 ON READER SERVICE CARD

STARFIGHT...a two-player dogfight.

(machine level, req.

16K) $9.95

TV TYPER... turns your Apple into a

TVT. (Applesoft ROM,

req. 48K) $19.95

Send to: Bill Hlndorff
P.O. Box 404
Qlen Riddle, PA 19037

CIRCLE 254 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Wow get the BEST

— The Best of

creative
coiiepatiRg

Volume t

two smashing
volumes

filled with
computer
potpourri

Best of Creative C

iting : Volume 1 Best off Creative Computing : Volume 2.

All the articles, stories, learning activities and
games that appeared in the first year of Creative
Computing. American Vocational Journal says "This
book is the 'Whole Earth Catolog' of computers."
Contents cover the gamut of computer applications in
education and recreation. Over 200 contributors! Now
in its fourth print run with an exciting new cover. 328
pp. 8V2 x 11" Softbound. (6A) $8.95

A staggering diversity of information and activities
culled from the issues of the 2nd year of Creative
Computing. Includes feature on artificial intelligence,
on computers in education, on the arts. American
Libraries says "Non-technical in approach, its pages
are filled with information, articles, games and
activities. Fun layout." 67 pages devoted to puzzles,
programs, and things to do. The reviews alone could
make the book. 336 pp. 8V2 x 11" Softbound. (6B) $8.95.

To order, send a check for books plus $2.00 shipping and handling per order to Creative Computing, P.O. Box 789-M, Morrlstown, NJ 07960. NJ residents add 5%

sales tax. Visa, MasterCard, and American Express orders are welcomed. For faster service, call in your bank card order toll free to 800-«31 8112 (In NJ call

\g)1 -540-0445). Or use the handy order form bound Into this magazine. (

SEPTEMBER 19B0

205

CIRCLE 350 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Quality Software" offers important software to
owners of ATARI 400 and 800 computers. All
programs are on cassette.

ASSEMBLER by Gary J. Shannon Create your own 6502 machine
language programs with this easy-to-use in- RAM editor/assembler. Requires
16K or more of RAM to operate Look at all the features you get for less than
$25!

• Insert delete, edit source code lines

• Save source code on cassette

• Save object code (any part of memory) on tape

• Print out assemblies

• View and modify memory

• Pseudo Ops 0RG.0BJ.EQU.HEX.ASC.DA.DS.EN0

• Printer and video control (P0N,P0F,V0N,V0F)

• All 6502 mnemonics plus BLT.BGE

• Commenting allowed

• Error checking

• Documentation includes notes on interlacing

machine language to BASIC

• Price -$24.95

6502 DISASSEMBLER by Bob Pierce This neat 8K BASIC program
allows you to disassemble machine code and print out the disassembled
listing. If you have more than 8K of memory, programs in RAM can be
disassembled. Operating System ROM and the BASIC ROM can be
disassembled on any size ATARI. Also works as an ASCII interpreter,
translating machine code into ASCII characters S11-95

FASTGAMMON

by Bob Christiansen The most popular
backgammon-playing program for per-
sonal computers is now available for
the Atari This is the best- playing
version so far, and includes the option
to enter your own dice rolls Set the
display speed to your liking— play fast
or slow. Beginners find.it easy to learn

backgammon by playing against the computer, and even very good players
will find it a challenge to beat FASTGAMMON. Includes 12 pages of
instructions that include the rules of the game. Written in machine language.
Requires only 8K of RAM. SI 0.95

QlWLny SOFTWARE

6660 Reseda Blvd.. Suite 105. Reseda. CA 91335
Telephone 24 hrs . 7 days a week: (213) 344-6599

WHERE TO GET IT: Ask your nearest Atari dealer to see Quality Software's Atari
programs Or. if you prefer, you may order directly from us. MasterCharge and
Visa cardholders may telephone their orders and we will deduct $1 from orders
over $19 to compensate for phone charges. Or mail your order to the address
above California residents add 6°n sales tax Shipping Charges Within North
America orders must include $1 50 for first class shipping and handling Out-
side North America the charge for airmail shipping and handling is $5 00,
payable in US currency

ATARI AIARI400 and ATARI800 have been Irxfemarktd by Alan Personal Computet Systems a Warner
Communications Company

CIRCLE 178 ON READER SERVICE CARD —

UTILITIES & MISC.

Disk Keyphu is a collection of utilities
that can be enabled directly from the
keyboard of the TRS-80. It supports
auto-repeat, lower case video, resto-
ration of lost Basic programs, single key
stroke user definable strings, Basic
shorthand, direct graphic character
input and typewriter style input. $19.95.
SJW, Inc., P.O. Box 488, Huntingdon
Valley. PA 19006. (215) 947-2057.

CIRCLE 338 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Lifeboat Associates offers VSORT, a
high speed sort-merge system which can
be used as a stand-alone utility or as an
assembly language subroutine to CBasic.
It requires a CP/M compatible operating
system and a minimum of 32K RAM.
Also available is Reclaim, a CP/M2
utility program which tests floppy and
hard disk systems for error prone parts
of the disk and allocates those parts to
files which are "invisible" to the user.
$175. Lifeboat Associates, 1651 Third
Ave., New York, NY 10028.

CIRCLE 339 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Tidewater Software has announced a
group of utility packages for the Heath
H8 and H89 disk systems. Programs run
in absolute binary code and are self-
prompting. The company also markets a
Relative Loader, a Relocatable Debug, a
Disassembler with disk output and an
ACM Library containing 17 subroutines.
Prices range from $15 to $25. Tidewater
Software Inc., P.O. Box 4465, Virginia
Beach. VA 23454.

CIRCLE 340 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CLFIXand TCOPY are designed to
eliminate cassette loading problems for
TRS-80 users. Once loaded, CLFIX stays
in memory with other Basic programs
giving three new Basic commands: save,
load, load? TCOPY is a program which
is insensitive to volume level and allows
System or Basic tapes to be duplicated.
Both programs are available on one
cassette for $14.95. Emmanuel B. Garcia,
Jr. & Associates, 203 N. Wabash. Rm.
2102, Chicago. IL 60601. (312) 782-9750.

CIRCLE 341 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Suprdump is an interactive disk/
modify utility for the TRS-80. It is
designed to expedite the debugging of
programs utilizing disk files and to
create disk file test data. $29.95. Defini-
tive Micro systems, 20 Glenwood Cres.,
St. Albert, Alberta. Canada T8N 1X5.

CIRCLE 342 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Exciting, entertaining software for the Apple II and Apple II Plus'

II you liked "Invaders" you'll love ASTEROIDS IN SPACE by Bruce Wallace Your space ship is traveling in the middle ot a shower ot asteroids Blast the asteroids
with lasers, but beware — big asteroids fragment into small asteroids' The Apple game paddles allow you to rotate your space ship, fire its laser gun, and give it
thrust to propel it through endless space From time to time you will encounter an alien space ship whose mission is to destroy you. so you'd better destroy it first'
Hich resolution graphics and sound effects add to the arcade like excitement that this program generates Runs on any Apple II with at least 32K and one

. b . fin MtcLatta tlQ OK

disk drive

On diskette — $19.95

FRACAS'" by Stuart Smith A fantastic adventure game like no other
— up to eight players can participate in FRACAS at the same time
Journey in the land of FAROPH, searching for hidden treasure while
warding off all sorts of unfriendly and dangerous creatures like the
Ten Foot Spider and the Headless Horseman You and your friends
can compete with each other or you can |Oin forces and gang up on
the monsters Your location is presented graphically and sound
eftects enliven the battles Save your adventure on diskette or
cassette and continue it at some other time Requires at least 32K
of RAM Cassette: $19.95 Diskette $24.95

BATTLESHIP COMMANDER'" by Erik Kilk and Matthew Jew A game
of strategy You and the computer each start out by positioning five
ships of different sizes on a ten by ten grid Then the shooting starts
Place your volleys skillfully — a combination of logic and luck are
required to beat the computer Cartoons show the ships sinking and
announce the winner Sound effects and flashing lights also add to
the emoyment of the game Requires at least 32K of RAM
Cassette: $14.95 Diskette: $19.95

FASTGAMMON" by Bob Christiansen
Sound, hi res color, and cartoons have
helped maked this the most popular
backgammon-playing game for the
Apple II But don't let these entertaining
features fool you — FASTGAMMON
plays serious backgammon Requires at
least 24K of RAM
Cassette $19.95 Diskette $24 95

• »poie II" ind Apple II Plus" aft
trademarks ol Apple Computer Inc

SEPTEMBER 1980

QUTILITy SOFTWARE

6660 Reseda Blvd.. Suite 105. Reseda. CA 91335

WHERE TO GET IT: Call us at (213) 344 6599 for the name ot the Quality Software dealer nearest you If necessary, you
may order directly from us MasterCharge and Visa cardholders may place orders by telephone and we will deduct $1
from orders over $19 to compensate for phone charges Or mail your order to the address above California residents add
6 sales tax SHIPPING CHARGES Within North America orders must include $1 50 for first class shipping and handling
Outside North America the charge for airmail shipping and handling is $5 00 — payable in US currency

207

CIRCLE 178 ON READER SERVICE CARD

^^m

•IX PERSONAL
ATARI' COMPUTER
SYSTEMS

* Warner Comr-
Co"XM"y^9

ATARI 800™
List $1080

ONLY $849 J

ATARI 400™, List $630
OUR PRICE ONLY $499

820 PRINTER, List $599.95 $499

810 DISK DRIVE, List $699,95 $589

HP-85

Call for Price

• Extended BASIC Language

• Advance Graphics

• CRT Built In Display

• Magnetic Tape Cartridge for Storage

CALCULATORS BY

HEWLETT Jm

?£>

HP-41C Calculator, "A System" . . $289.95
HP-32E Scientific w/ Statistics ... $ 53.95
HP -33C Scientific Programmable . . . 99.95
HP-34C Advanced Scientific

Programmable 123.95

HP-37E Business Calculator 58.95

HP 67 Handheld Fully Advanced

Programmable Scientific for

Business & Engineering 298.95

HP 97 Desktop w/Builtin Printer . . 579.95

APPLE II, 16K, List $1 195 $ 989

32K, List $1395 *<I169

"8K 1259

COMMODORE PET Call for Prices

Prices do not include shipping by UPS. All
prices and offers are subject to change without
notice.

ersonal

omputer
ysterns

609 Butternut Street

Syracuse. N.Y. 13208

(315) 478-6800

JN READER SERVICE CARD

BUSINESS

The Project Boss for the TI
99/4, Apple and TRS-80 is a disk
based system designed to assist the
project manager of construction jobs
or consultants managing engineer-
ing or architectural engagements in
the financial management of indi-
vidual projects. A Business Data
Base System for the TRS-80 allows
the user to define and build data
bases for such purposes as inventory
control, general ledger accounting,
accounts payable and accounts re-
ceivable. It is compatible with
TRSDOS, NEWDOS and 3.0 DOS.
$89.95. Charles Mann & Associates,
Consumer Products Division, 7594
Sam Remo Trail, Yucca Valley, CA
92284. (714) 365-9718.

CIRCLE 343 ON REAOER SERVICE CARD

Datebook from Organic Soft-
ware maintains a record of appoint-
ments for up to three people (or three
rooms) for an unlimited period of
time. It is written in Pascal and is
available to run on CP/M. $295.
Organic Software, 1492 Windsor
Way, Livermore, CA 94550. (425) 455-
4034.

CIRCLE 344 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Inv-M2 is an inventory control
system for the TRS-80 Model II which
allows the user to maintain over 7000
records on a formatted disk used
exclusively for data. It is on-line,
interactive, menu-driven and human
engineered. $149. A simplified ver-
sion for the Model I if available for
$99. Micro Architect, Inc.,96 Dothan
St., Arlington, MA 02174. (617) 643-
4713.

CIRCLE 345 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Data Manager, a program for
Apple disk systems, is a data base
management system and mailing list
which stores up to 96,000 alpha-
numeric characters per disk and
retrieves data from up to 32,000
characters at a time. It features half-
second recovery, a cursor-based
editor and sorts on any key. $49.95.
Hayden Book Company, Inc., 50
Essex St., Rochelle Park, NJ 07662.
(201) 843-0550.

CIRCLE 346 ON REAOER SERVICE CARD

MicroLedger from Compumax
is now available for the Atari 800
with 24K memory, single disk drive
and printer. The program produces
trial balances, profit and loss state-
ments and balance sheets. Basic
source code is included. $140. Compu-
max, Inc., P.O. Box 1139, Palo Alto,
CA 94301.

CIRCLE 347 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The Ultimail Version 5 List
Management System for the TRS-80
uses random disk files and stores 650
records on a mini-disk or 1000 on an
8" disk. Each record consists of a zip
code, an alpha key for directory print-
outs, and three or four lines per
address. The system, designed for a
48K TRS-80 with two mini-disks or
one 8" disk, consists of the Ultimail
program, a machine sort program
and a utility program for printing
three and four up labels. $124.95.
Computer Generated Data, 5541
Parliament Dr., Suite 208, Virginia
Beach, VA 23462. (804) 497-1165.

CIRCLE348ONREA0ER SERVICE CARD

A Job Costing package from
Arkansas Systems consists of three
systems: a Reporting Facility, a Job
Costing Accounts Payable, and a Job
Costing Payroll. The systems are
designed to run on a Z-80 or 8080
processor using the CP/M operating
system and hard or floppy disks.
$700. Micro Software Department,
Arkansas Systems, Inc., Suite 206,
8901 Kanis Rd., Little Rock, AR
72205. (501) 227-8471.

CIRCLE 349 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The Master Accountant Busi-
ness System for CP/M-compatible
computer systems includes accounts
payable, accounts receivable, payroll
and general ledger programs. All
software is written in Microsoft Disk
Basic and is available on 8" diskettes.
$100. Computer Services, P.O. Box
2292, Hickory, NC 28601. (704) 294-
1616.

CIRCLE 351 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The Micro Writer is a report
writing utility which enables users of
Smoke Signal Broadcasting Systems
hardware to catalog report formats
and specifications. The system is
written in 6800 assembler and runs
under DOS68 version 5.1. $249.
Ripley Computers, 126 North Main
St., Souderton, PA 18964. (215) 723-
1509.

CIRCLE 352 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The NWA Statpak is a multi-
function statistics library for users of
microcomputers with CP/M and
MBasic. The package contains files
utilities programs which allow the
user to create, edit and merge data
files and select scale data within files.
The computational section includes
programs for probability calcula-
tions, single variable statistics,
regression analysis, etc. Northwest
Analytic, Inc., P.O. Box 14430, Port-
land, OR 97214. (503) 238-9760.

CIRCLE 353 ON READER SERVICE CARD

208

CREATIVE COMPUTING

TRAFFIC

In Air Traffic Controller

you assume responsibility
for the .

safe /'

flow of ^_

air traffic within a 15x25 ^I^^Q
mile area up to 5,000 feet
in altitude. During your
shift as a controller in ^ V
charge of this airspace, 26 •■aaw
aircraft become active and under
your control. Jets and prop planes
have to be guided to and from the
two airports, navigational beacons
and ten entry/exit fixes. The aircraft
enter the controller's airspace at
various altitudes and headings
whether or not you are ready.

Air Traffic Controller retains the
basic realism of air traffic control.
This program requires the same
steady nerves under pressure and the
same instant, almost instinctive,
analyses of complex emergencies
which are demanded of a profession-
al air traffic controller. But "ATC"
adds the excitement and well-defined
goals of a game. This is just a
simulation, and all passengers left in
air traffic limbo by a panicked player
will live to fly another day.

Your goal is to get all of the aircraft
to their assigned destination before
the shift is completed. At your
disposal are a radar display of the
aircraft positions in the control area;
coded information concerning air-
craft heading, destination and fuel
supply ; navaids enabling you to hold
aircraft or assign them automatic
approaches; and commands to alter
the altitude and heading of the
aircraft Working against you are
altitude and heading requirements,
fuel restrictions and, of course, the
inimitable clock.

CONTROLLER

The most obvious measure of
difficulty of a game is the clock
setting at the beginning. In a 99
minute game you will have time to go
fix a sandwich between the appear-
ance of two successive aircraft, while
in the 16 minute game you may not
have time to swallow before all of the
aircraft have appeared

No two games, even at the same
clock setting, are ever alike As
controller, you must cope with the
unique requirements of each aircraft.
The game will end if you commit a
"boundry error," that is, if an aircraft
fails to leave your area at the proper
altitude and exit fix. ..causing an
unpleasant surprise for the controller
next door The game also ends if you
^^^^ fail to leave a

comfortable
margin of
safety
be-

tween the aircraft as they whiz past
each other. In cases of excessive
delay, fuel supply considerations will
become invested with a particular
sense of urgency.

Successful guidance of all aircraft
to their destination is a heady
accomplishment. This never fails to
thrill ATC enthusiasts at each suc-
cessive level of play.

Your local retail store should carry
Creative Computing Software. If your
favorite retailer does not carry the
software you need, have him call in
your order to (800) 631-8112 Or you
can order directly from Creative
Computing. Write to Creative Com-
puting Software, P.O. Box 789-M,
Mornstown. NJ 07960 Air Traffic
Controller is now available for the
16K TRS-80 (3006), for the 16K Apple
II and Apple II Plus (4008). the 8K
Sorcerer (5008) and for the 4K Sol-20
(8001) All are on cassette for $9 95
Include $1.00 for postage and han-
dling. For faster service, call in your
bank card order toll free on our order
.hotline. (800)631-8112.

Prices are subject to change
without notice

creative

compafcfng

software

sensational software

CIRCLE 300 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SAVE MORE THAN 20% 1

NORTH STAR INTERTUBE MICROTEK

ZENITH RCA-COSMAC ITHACA

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INFOMANAGER 3*9

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ITHACA COMPUTER 2695
8086 CPU 16 BIT 556
MEAS 64K RAH ASM. S99
GODBOUT 16K STAT 285
DISCUS/2D ♦ CP/H 975
2D ADD DRIVE (50

TARBELL CONTROLER 295
INTERTUBE II 725

SUPERBRAIN 2395

ZENITH X-19 A 4 T 739
HEATH Z-89 48K 2495
ANADEX 9500-1 1389

NEC PRINTER 2799

TEXTHHITER III 112

PDS Z-80 ASSEMBLER 89
EZ-80 Z-80 TUTOR 25
ECOSOFT ACCOUNTNG 315
BOX OF DISKETTES 29
Which Conputets arc BEST?

HAILHANAGER 239

GENERALEDGER 799

RRZ-2-32K-Q ASH 2699
NS PASCAL ON DISK 190
COLOR I 1 PHONE
ITHACA RAM 64K 845

SSH Z80 CPU KIT 221
SSM VIDEO BRD VB3 412
SUPERRAM 32K 580

SUPERRAM 16K 290

2+2 ADD DRIVE 975

DISCUS/2+2 1259

HARD DISK 26 Mb 3995
SUPERBRAIN QUAD 2995
ZENITH H-ll 2995

MICROTEK PRINTER (75
ANADEX 8000 8(5

SECRETARY WORD PRO 77
GOFAST SPEEDBASIC 71
NS BASIC COMPILER 77
EZ-CODE IN ENGLISH 71
WORDSTAR 325

BASIC DEBUGGER (9

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ORDER 2 or more COMPUTERS BIGGER DISCOUNTS

WE WILL BEAT OUR COMPETITION'S PRICE

FACTORY ASSEMBLED 6 FACTORY WARRANTY

AMERICAN SQUARE COMPUTERS

KIVETT DR • JAMESTOWN, NC 27282 * 919-889-4577

CIRCLE 10S ON READER SERVICE CARD

$2t}B<w $9«pf

S25°»

APPLE II™
WORD PROCESSOR

An expensive word processor at an
affordable price

FEATURES:

• character and line insert/delete

• full cursor control

• user generated "auto-words"

• automatic page changing

• automatic "wraparound" compensation

• menu generated access to disk/printer

• includes complete manual

Available on 5%" diskette
Applesoft™ (DOS32K)

DEALER INQUIRIES WELCOME

P.O.Box 125
Centuck Station
Yonkers. NY 10710

(212) 652 2437 - (914) 779 2700

CIRCLE 111 ON READER SERVICE CARD

WlHttPteim. N.v. 1M0I

BUSINESS

CDS Corporation announces
Mail List for the Commodore CBM
16K and 32K computers with CBM
2040 disk drives and CBM or ASCII
printers. Program features include
storage of 1050 records per disk, user-
adjustable field length, label printing
by zip code or alphabet and a 30-page
manual. $95. CDS Corporation, 695
East Tenth North, Logan, UT. (801)
753-6990.

CIRCLE 354 ON READER SERVICE CARD

A Master Catalog system that
can keep track of all the files on all
diskettes in use is available on single-
density diskettes for CP/M users. It
produces a listing of file names in
alphabetical order with the name of
the disk containing that file. $10.
Elliam Associates, 24000 Bessemer
St., Woodland Hills, CA 91367.

CIRCLE 3SS ON READER SERVICE CARD

PROFESSIONAL

Tfc

Comp-U-Sky is a high resolu-
tion graphics program which enables
the Apple user to locate, identify and
provide information on stellar ob-
jects. It presents graphic displays for
eight directions, as well as overhead,
for any location on earth. $39.95 on
disk. Scharf Software, P.O. Box
18445, Irvine, CA 92713.
CIRCLE 3S6 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Bluebird's Company introduces
Max/Min-It, which is a linear
programming software package with
documentation that steps through
the how-to of setting up the problem
with hints on what to look for in
defining variables, constraints, and
functions. Detailed examples are
provided. The program is designed to
run on the TRS-80 Level II 16K or
minimum 32K disk system. $29.95.
Bluebird's Company, 2267 23rd St.,
Wyandotte, MI 48192. (313) 285-4455.

CIRCLE 357 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Church Donations for the

Level II TRS-80 with two disk drives
and a line printer is designed to
record the donations for up to 1000
parishioners in four different user
selectable categories. Reports in-
clude: total donations to date by

category, quarterly reports to the
donors and summary of donations for
each collection. $125. Custom Data,
P.O. Box 1066, Alamogordo, NM
88310.

CIRCLE 358 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Plotter is said to turn any
microcomputer that operates under
CP/M and uses CBasic into a
graphics output station. Output,
which may be directed to the console
terminal or the printer, consists of an
X and Y axis plot of coordinate pairs.
$35. HSC Computer Services, Ltd.,
P.O. Box 43, Brooklyn, NY 11236.
(212) 780-0022.

CIRCLE 359 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SYSTEMS
SOFTWARE

LANGUAGES

Lisp, a programming language
designed for artificial intelligence
applications, is now available for
Cromemco Z-80 based computer
systems. It is available on 5" or 8"
floppy disk with complete documen-
tation. Cromemco, Inc., 280 Bernardo
Ave., Mountain View, CA 94043. (4 1 5)
964-7400.

CIRCLE 360 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SYSTEMS

Digital Research has introduced
CP/NET, an operating system for
microcomputer networks. It is de-
signed for OEM and end-user adapta-
tion to a wide variety of network
hardware, and operates with CP/M
and MP/M to support CP/M com-
patible software. Digital Research,
Inc., P.O. Box 579, Pacific Grove, CA
93950. (408) 649-3896.

CIRCLE 361 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The Apple Assembly Lan-
guage Development System is an
assembler/editor/formatter which
includes a cursor-based editor, global
and local labels and disk-based
macros which allow incorporation of
frequently used subroutines into any
program. $39.95. Hayden Book Com-
pany, Inc., 50 Essex St., Rochelle
Park, NJ 07662. (201) 843-0550.

CIRCLE 362 ON READER SERVICE CARD

EZ-Coder is a Basic Precom-
piler for Northstar systems which
features self-documenting Basic and
complete cross-referencing of all
variables, labels user defined func-
tions. $79. Demerco Industries, P.O.
Box 2396, Van Nuys, CA 91404.

CIRCLE 363 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CIRCLE 126 ON READER SERVICE CARD

210

CREATIVE COMPUTING

051

Video Games 1 S15

Head -On, Tank Battle,
Trap!

Video Games 2 15

Gremlin Hunt, Indy
5000, Gunf ight

Board Games 1 15

Cubic , Mini -Gomoku

Dungeon Chase 10
A real-time, DSD, video
game

C1 Shorthand 12

Two key command entry
(C 2/4/8 ready soon)

One tape supports all
ROM models. Color A
sound on video games.
Some programs on disk.
Send for free catalog

Orion Software

Associates, Inc.

147 Main Street
Ossining, N.Y. 10562

nnouncing

software

from the authors ot
An Invitation to Programming

exciting games and

educational programs for kids, teenagers and

adults featuring sound and

color graphics.

availaPle on guaranteed-to-load cassettes

at fine computer dealers in your area

or, write us directly for descriptive materials

CIRCLE 166 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Program Design Inc Department CA 11 War Court Greenwich. CT 06830
203 661-8709

CIRCLE 219 ON READER SERVICE CARD

TRS-80

SAVE

10%, 15% and More on ALL Computers,
Peripherals, Software, and ALL other fine
Radio Shack" products.

Offered Exclusivefv By

PAN AMERICAN ELECTRONICS, INC.

Radio /hack

Authorized Sales Center
1117 CONWAY MISSION, TX. 78572

TOLL FREE ORDER NUMBER ^^^

ITIUfft 800 531 7466 flHH

•HHItexas and main number I I

51 2 '581 2765

NO TAXES collected on out-of-state ship

Iments. FREE delivery available on minimum
orders. WARRANTIES honored by Radio
Shack

Software and Hardware for
Business Education Entertainment

Recent Arrivals

AfraUMTMH rne defmttrve Hi-ffet cotor verston of trie classic
Starve* game Three different Kiingon opponents Many command
per ogatives from use of weaoons to repair of damages need «8k
Applesoft ROM DtSk $24 «

Add $2 ecus '$5 OT Foreign snipping charges
VffXSAWirfltll A drawing tablet simptyptugsintoyourgamei/O
port Trace, draw, design or color any type of graphic Ados words to
pictures Creates schematics Computes Distance I Area of any figure
Needs 32K Applesoft ROM and Orsk drrve A bargain at $3*rts>

Add SS 00 US I S10 00 Foreign shipping charges

California residents add 6^ Don t see what vou want here, then wrrte
or caii today for your free software and hardware catalog

v*u I MMcrtrurgt WKwm

Garden Plaza Snooping Center

9?19 Reseda wvd Northndge Calif 9i52« oept 7CC

Telephone <?1S> S49-SS60

CIRCLE 253 ON READER SERVICE CARD

R6UP0GE

America's Most Versatile

Line of Customized
Audio Visual Packaging

Audio Cassette
Albums

CA2LL-6
Corrugated Mailers

M-1

M-2

For complete catalog write or phone:

t— 4«— >1 lf\T\^^. Plailict ■

IXdJlTI ILC Packaging Diviiion

106-18 Queens Boulevard

Forett Hill*. N.Y. 11375 (212) 544-9800

CIRCLE 221 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CIRCLE 186 ON REA0ER SERVICE CARD

211

SYSTEMS SOFTWARE

Development Pac Extension

is a co-resident machine language
system that loads on top of the Exidy
Z-80 Development Pac and extends
the ROM-based assembler-editor
with 18 additional commands. In
addition to editor and file commands,
it includes a built-in RS-232 print
driver, the ability to halt and resume
assembler listings and single com-
mand jumps among the DDT80,
Editor or Monitor subsystems. $29.95.
Quality Software, 6660 Reseda Blvd.,
Suite 103, Reseda, CA 91335.

CIRCLE 364 ON READER SERVICE CARD

MUSIC & GRAPHICS

HIGH RESOLUTION
GRAPHICS FOR PET

A high resolution graphic dis-
play board for new or old Commodore
PET computers that provides video
mixing and ROM sockets is intro-
duced by Micro Technology Unlim-
ited.

The MTU K-1008-6 PET Graphic
Interface adds high resolution
graphics to Commodore PET com-
puters. Providing software selectable
PET video, graphic video, or both,
the expansion board features five
ROM sockets that can be set at the
same or different addresses with

software control of which sockets are
enabled. $320.

Micro Technology Unlimited,
2806 Hillsborough St., P.O. Box
12106, Raleigh, NC 27605. (919) 833-
1458.

CIRCLE 365 ON READER SERVICE CARD

DIGITAL MUSIC
FOR APPLE

Mountain Computer Inc. an-
nounces MusicSystem for Apple II
computers. This 16-voice digital
synthesizer permits the creation of
the sounds of real musical instru-
ments utilizing the principle of
additive synthesis. The generation of
sounds is accomplished through fully
programmable waveforms, enve-
lopes, and amplitudes for each mu-
sical voice.

Provided with the hardware
system is software for editing and
playing of musical compositions. The
Editor program permits graphic
input of sheet music utilizing stand-
ard music notation. The Player
program permits polyphonic per-
formance of musical compositions.
Stereo output is to user's stereo
amplifier and speakers, or directly off
card with stereo headphones.

Mountain Computer Inc., 300
Harvey West Blvd., Santa Cruz, CA
95060. (408) 429-8600.

CIRCLE 366 ON READER SERVICE CARD

III!

NINE-VOICE
MUSIC BOARD

Vista Media Products announces
the Music Machine Nine. Using the
latest state-of-the-art LSI technology,
the Music Machine Nine can produce
nine voices.

The board uses three AY3-8910's
and requires only one slot. It can use
software now available to produce
and play back nine voice music
compatible with other music boards.
It will respond to commands for pitch,
amplitude, duration, attack, delay,
etc. It is completely compatible with
the Apple II bus structure.

Advanced Computer Products,
1310 E. Edinger, Santa Ana, CA
92705. (714) 558-8813.

CIRCLE 367 ON READER SERVICE CARO

PASCAL GRAPHICS
COMPUTER SYSTEM

Integrated Research and Infor-
mation Systems Corporation an-
nounces the Ensemble I20GX, a self-
contained computer system.

Standard versions are based
upon the Western Digital Pascal
MicroEngine, high resolution
graphics, a 15" monitor, 12-slot S-100
standard motherboard, detachable
keyboard, double density, double
sized dual floppy disk subsystem, Z80
alternate onboard MPU, memory
parity, 128KB dynamic RAM, UCSD
Pascal, CP/M, constant voltage

Never so fast . . . Never so easy!

Animation for the Apple 1 1

CIRCLE 167 ON READER SERVICE CARD

WithSubLOGICsA2-3D1 high-speed
animation package for your Apple, you
can • generate scenes or drawings

• view them from any distance or angle
and, yes • even rotate them. All you
need is 16K RAM and the creative urge.

116 pages of documentation included
to guide the beginner through scene
creation, storage, retrieval, movement,
and advanced applications.

Special Features: (

• 100-1 50 lines-per-second projection rate '

• Dual page flicker free animation

• Scenes created with standard coordinates

• Easy use with BASIC programs

Cassette $45 or disk $55. See your
dealer or order direct (include $1.75
for UPS or $2.50 for first class mail).
Illinois residents add 5% sales tax.
Visa and Mastercard accepted

The engineering and graphics experts
opening a new era in computer simulation.

LOGIC

Distribution Corp.
BoxV, Savoy. IL 61874
(217)359-8482

212

CREATIVE COMPUTING

rjAt MF

FREEDOM

WITH YOUR PERSONAL
COMPUTER

Or. Alfred Adter builds on his
current stock market articles
through intensive microcomputer
workshops being held nationwide.

SHARPEN your investment decision-
making skills.

Prepare for the upcoming option
market expansion.

CALL NOW FOR DETAILS

Natl (800) 854- 2003 x869
Calif. (800) S22-1S00 x869

MICROSEMINARS

2021 Business Center Dr.
Irvine. CA 92715

Send for FREE guide to
Investment Software

-CIRCLE 165 ON READER SERVICE CARD'

This fall, Apple
owners can call
their own plays.

[Tuesday
Night

iMllKlll

The strategy end graphics

game for 48k Apples

is at your dealers now.

Or. you may order direct Send t 13 95 for cassette
S17 95 tor dish end SI postage and handling to

ShocString Software

1235 Candlelight
Houston, Texas 77018

rf*L«%tt»

CIRCLE 224 ON REAOER SERVICE CARD

OSI QUALITY SOFTWARE

I ALIEN INVADERS 4K $9.95
As waves of aliens march on earth, you run
earth's defense. Machine language routines
make this far superior to other BASIC versions.

ITHE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 8K $9.95

In your rebel ship you travel the galaxy In
search of empire fighters. Incredible action
combining the command control of StarTrak
with the real-time fights of StarWars.

ICASIN0 8KM.9S

This Is perfect for all you gambling fans. Play
blackjack, craps, and slot machine, all with
fabulous graphics.

I HANGMAN 4KSS.9S

rnis age old game is brought to life with full
graphics, an executioner, scaffold, and hang-
man with a fully animated death scene.

I UTILITIES

1. RENUMBER— an absolute mustl $5.96

2. REAL BACKSPACE— finally! $4.98

3. TRACE— a must for debugging $4.96

4. ENHANCED USR— makes multl-usr

easy $4.96

5. MEGA-TEXT convert BASIC to text—

■ edlt-convert back

■ auto line numbers

B lull editing features!! $12.95

6. DATASHEET

This tells exactly how to use your CP1 to
Its fullest. Add v.K with a poke, speed control,
a get as routine, much more!! $5.95

All programs for the CPT

Software Alchemists

4303 N. Charles St.

Baltimore, MD 21218

(301)235-7587

Add $2.00 Postage and Handling

CIRCLE 227 ON READER SERVICE CARD

213

transformer, and printer port for
graphics hard copy output. $9796.

The Ensemble I20GX in its
standard configuration runs under
UCSD Pascal and CP/M.

A low-cost version of the En-
semble I20GX uses the Z80 MPU, a 9"
black and white monitor, and one
5.25" floppy disk drive. Packaging
includes a 12-slot motherboard, CVT
power supply, and built-in expansion
for two more 5.25" drives. $3464.

Integrated Research and Infor-
mation Systems, 10150 Sorrento
Valley Rd., Suite 320, San Diego, CA
92121. (714) 457-3730.

CIRCLE 368 ON READER SERVICE CARD

VIDEOTAPE APPLE
COLOR GRAPHICS

Adwar Video offers two inter-
faces for bridging the difference
between Apple computer graphics
output standards and those of NTSC
video recording and broadcasting
equipment.

The simpler of the two devices,
the Adwar Apple Proc Mod ($800.), is
a circuit board inserted into the Apple
Plug-in slot #7. This brings the Apple
output sufficiently close to NTSC
video equipment tolerances to permit
direct videotaping.

For more exacting applications,
such as combining the Apple color
graphics output, through a time-base
corrector, with other video signals
through a switcher, the more sophis-
ticated Adwar Apple Graphics Inter-
face is required. This device stores an
entire non-standard Apple video
frame in solid state memory. It then
reads out from that memory at
standard NTSC rates required for
multi-source tape editing, special
effects and telecasting on the air.

Adwar Video, 100 Fifth Ave.,
New York, NY 10011. (212) 691-0976.

CIRCLE 369 ON READER SERVICE CARD

COLOR GRAPHICS FOR H-8

The Heathkit H8 computer can
generate high resolution color
graphics with the addition of a color
graphics board.

The board is fully compatible and
may be put in any one of the available
slots within the H8 mainframe. It
also contains 8K of static read/ write
memory, which is address dip switch

selectable. On board rf modulation is
also included. Kit, $379; assembled,
$479.

Owen Phairis, Computer Prod-
ucts, P.O. Box 3400, Big Bear Lake
CA 92315.

CIRCLE 370 ON READER SERVICE CARD

MAGAZINES,
NEWSLETTERS

Nibble Magazine is focused on the
Apple II and Apple II Plus computers.
Each issue features a central theme such
as home finance, games, simulation, or
data base management, and contains
programs of significant size and range,
together with comprehensive articles on
how to use the programs and the
programming methods. $15. for eight
issues.

Micro-Sparc, Inc., P.O. Box 325,
Lincoln, MA 01773.

CIRCLE 371 ON READER SERVICE CARD

fFREE

CATALOGS

□ Software. Lists 400 pro-
grams on 70 tapes and
disks. For education, recre-
ation, and personal use.

□ Books. Lists 100 books,
games, records, prints, etc.
for educational and per-
sonal users of small compu-
ters.

D Peripherals. (ALF music
synthesizer and Versa-
Writer for the Apple II).

Send 3 15 c stamps for
either catalog or 5 for both.
Or send $2.00 for a sample
issue of Creative Computing
and both catalogs.

creative
GompattRg

P.O. Box 789-M
Morrlstown, NJ 07960

WDysan

•/CORPORATION
Call loll FREE (800) 235-4137

PACIFIC EXCHANGES

MEMOREX

DISKETTES

Call toU FREE (800)235-4137

PACIFIC EXCHANGES

DISKETTES

Call toll FREE (800) 235-4137

PACIFIC EXCHANGES

1BASF

DISKETTES

Call toll FREE (800)235-4137

PACIFIC EXCHANGES

CIRCLE 169 ON READER SERVICE CARD
214

MICROCOMPUTERS IN EDUCATION

Now monthly newsletter with software reviews,

new product announcements, Industry news, I

meetings, journals, books, articles, etc. From J

t the publishers of QUEUE. $15 per year.

5 Chapel Hill Drive, Fairfield, CT 08432.

QUEUE'S Catalogue #3

Outstanding comprehensive compendium and I

t description of education software for Apple, J

(Pet. trs-80, Atari from over 40 different!

publishers, grouped by subject matter and I

grade level. $8.95 QUEUE, S Chapel Hill Drive,

Fairfield, CT 06432.

3«tC

3«1C

MIC

3»1C

CIRCLE 220 ON READER SERVICE CARD

RET SOFTWRRE

EDIT: SEQUENTIAL FILE

IN PLACE EDIT/APPEND

LEDGER: MULTIPLE ENTRV
EDIT - APPEND - SORT
FORMATTED HARDC0PV

MASSAGE: FILE DUMP

RANDOM BLOCK EDIT
SEQUENTIAL FILE TRACE

SQUASH (MACHINE LANGUAGES-
DELETES SPACES, REMS
AND UNREFERENCED LINE #'S
FROM BASIC PROGRAMS

SEND FOR BROCHURE
CALIFORNIA SOFTWARE ASSOC.
BOX 969, LAGUNA BEACH, CA.
92652 TEL:<?14> 497-2000

CIRCLE 138 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The
Software

Works;" Inc.

Mountain View, CA (408)736-9438

...and

it
does!

CIRCLE 197 ON READER SERVICE CARD

We don't play ha rd to g et.

POOCH Hgg)OX3J8gD0Ca|

Fast, reliable delivery
on microcomputer
software programs.

If you have an Apple, TRS-80
or PET computer, Minnesota Software
has hundreds of programs, in stock
and available right now.

Choose from games, educational, home and small business programs. All software
is immediately available and features a money back guarantee.

To place your order, or to get a copy of our new catalog, call John West at
(612) 426-0916.

MINNESOTA SOFTWARE, INC.

5422 Fisher St. White Bear Lake, MN 55110

Apple is a refcstrred trademark of Apple Computers. TRS80 is a registered trademark of Radio Shack. A Tandy Corp.

CIRCLE 22S ON READER SERVICE CARD

The Dakin5 12-in-1

Utility Kit gives

your programming

more punch!

PET is a registered trademark of Commodore Business Machines

"^^r,

Mem leach kwrmi m *
ira.su* « rrv base »«« mow

ALSO AS AM AM I

IHi imiamm ><■ a U*1 I HAS* I.N

Caff ■» AaV •%*■■* ftkt *fc>C OS * AaVf*

S&53E&

CIRCLE 230 ON READER SERVICE CARD
SEPTEMBER 1960

DakinS Corporation, a Colorado soft-
ware house, is making available to the
public 12 utility programs on one 16
sector diskette, utilizing the new
Apple DOS 3.3. which provides 23%
more storage.

All of the DakinS Programming
Aids 3.3 programs are also compat-
ible with the Corvus Disk Drive
system.
Features

• Remove REM statements and com-
press code to increase program
speed and save memory ana disk
space.

• Copy any file or program frorr one
diskette to another. Only the name
is needed.

• Print or display a line cross refer-
ence and variable name cross refer-
ence.

• Print or display all or selected
records from a text file.

• Display any sector of a given file or
program, and then update any data
within that sector, or specify the
sector you wish to update, such as
directory sectors and sectors oc-
cupied by DOS.

• Create, print and modify your own
text and Exec files.

• Copy a diskette without DOS: ini-
Apple is a registered tuderrurk of Apple Computer Inc.

The Controller is j registered trjderrurk fit DakinS Corporation

tiali/e without DOS; verify source

diskette; verify copied data is the

same as the original.
• Use a powerful data entry routine

that handles both string and

numeric data-
Phis Many More Utility Programs
for Sophisticated Programmers

Many of these utility programs
have been developed and tested for
in-house use while producing The
Controller™ business package for
Apple Computer Inc.

Suggested retail price for DakinS
Programming Aids 3.3 is $70.00.

Each programming aids package
includes a program diskette and very
complete documentation, all attrac-
tively packaged in a padded, blue
print vinyl 3- hole notebook with sil-
ver lettering. An identifying tab sep-
arates each program for convenient
reference.

See your Apple dealer or contact
DakinS Corporation. P. O. Box 21187.
Denver. Colorado 80221. Telephone:
(303) 426-6090

DakinS
CCHPORATIOH ^^^

CIRCLE 120 ON READER SERVICE CARO

■■M

■■

COMPUTERS

COLOR COMPUTER, TRS-80
MODEL III, POCKET COMPUTER
FROM RADIO SHACK

Radio Shack has announced the ad-
dition of three new models to its line of
personal computers.

The TRS-80 Model III. which sells for
$699 with 4K memory, is expandable to a
32K disk system $2495. The Model III
also offers word processing capability,
including a 50 c.p.m. letter— quality prin-
ter. $3600.

A pocket computer, designed to com-
pete with the recently-introduced Pana-
sonic. Quasar and Lexicon handheld un-
ites, weights 6 oz. and measures 7" in
length. $299.

Watch for feature reviews of these sys-
tems in upcoming issues of Creative Com-
puting.

TURNKEY SYSTEM
FOR SMALL BUSINESS

The Minimax, a complete small
business computing system features
a comprehensive set of business
software programs that are included
with a high capacity hardware
system.

Minimax's business software
consists of: accounts payable; ac-
counts receivable; payroll; general
ledger; a data base manipulation
program; word processing and a
program that gives Minimax data
communications capabilities.

The system includes a micro-
computer with internal memory of
108K bytes, a video display terminal,

a standard keyboard and a floppy
disk system that has capacities
ranging from 800K bytes to 4.8
megabytes.

Computhink, 965 West Maude
Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086. (408) 245-
4033.

CIRCLE 373 ON READER SERVICE CARD

S 100 MICROSYSTEM
FOR BUSINESS

Spinwriter for $7695.

MicroDaSys, P.O. Box 36051, Los
Angeles, CA 90036 (213) 731-0876.

CIRCLE 374 ON READER SERVICE CARD

MicroDaSys announces Millie, a
microsystem which uses the S-100
bus, Z-80 processor, double-density 8"
disk drives and the CP/M operating
system.

The Data Base integration ap-
proach unites all the software for the
microsystem. Included are programs
for word processing, mailing list,
form letter generation, order entry,
inventory, accounts payable and
receivable, payroll, cost accounting
and general ledger.

Prices start at $3995 for a single
8" drive, double-density 48K system.
The Deluxe Millie includes dual
double-density drives and a NEC

MEMORY

ATARI RAM EXPANSION KIT

Mosaic Electronics introduces a
memory expansion kit to upgrade
any Atari 8K RAM board to 16K. The
kit provides five times more program
space in high resolution graphics and
allows access to higher resolution
graphics 320 x 192. $79.95.

Supporting software includes
Plot & Draw which generates
graphics quickly while saving data
for incorporation into a Basic pro-
gram, and computer-assisted instruc-
tion programs.

Mosaic Electronics, P.O. Box 748,
Oregon City, OR 97045.

CIRCLE 375 ON READER SERVICE CARD

ATARI 800
SOFTWARE!

3-DIKNSlrJNAL GRAPHICS PACKAGE
HIRES riLTlCOUF GRAPHICS TUTORIAL
BK-48X ONLY- S29 95 »S1 » t>U>

mmjS WUENTUS- Grvtuc* I found
•M lot (14 95 ♦*! 58 »u

DOWN THE TRENCH Fut tragic*

ums 1 jovttick 8K Of 16K «14 95

BOTTLING TUNG m 2 jOMtiCkf
8K »9 95*1 5t Hh

3-D RED-9AS0N DOGFIGHT 16K

us«* 1 joMtick MS 95 ♦» 75 »U>

BASIC EDIT0F

»8 95 * 75 flh

PROGRAM Sim£R II 4 FROOMnS'

aX-ltSK ONLY- 19 95 ♦$ 75 rtk

HARDWARE 'DIRECT S01N) OUTPUT COBLE
U/SOFTUAK SI4 95 **1 59 r-tfc

SEND FOR YOUR FREE CATALOG TODAY' I

FRYJtl

SEBJEE'SCOmjTIMC DEPT 3S

456 GRANITE AGE

nONKWIA, CA 91B16

213-359-8192

FULL LINE OF BALLY ARCADE SOFTWARE'

CIRCLE 223 ON READER SERVICE CARD

PET/CBM
PERIPHERALS

USE YOUR COMMODORE PET CBM
AS A TERMINAL ALSO CONNECT
TO PRINTERS. PLOTTERS. TERMINALS.
MODEMS. AND TELEPHONE LINES.

RS-232 OUTPUT ONLY $129
RS 232 INPUT OUTPUT $229
RS-232 DUAL CHANNEL $369
TELEPHONE MODEM $389

...AND SOFTWARE TOO!!

FROM TN W CORPORATION

3351 Hancock Si • S»n Oitgo CA 921 10

7U|225 1040 • TWX 910335 11*4 • Sourc. TCB1M

Full One Year Warranty • Visa/ Maslercrtaroe

CIRCLE 236 ON READER SERVICE CARD

216

SOC

30C

3ttC

EDUCATIONAL
SOFTWARE

TRS-80*

8KPET
80+ Programs In :

ELEMENTARY

SCIENCE

GEOGRAPHY

ECONOMICS

FOREIGN LANQ.

GAMES

MATH

BIOLOGY

HISTORY

ACCOUNTING

BUSINESS ED.

MAILING LABELS

Programs are grouped Into packages ol 4
to 7 program* priced at $14.96 per
package including shipping and han-
dling. Available on disk or tape.

Write lor catalog:

MICRO LEARNINGWARE BOX 2134

N. MANKATO MN 56001, 507-625-2205

Visa & MasterCard Accepted

* "TRS-80 Is a registered
trademark of TANDY CORP."

30C

3DC

30C

3HC

CIRCLE 212 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CREATIVE COMPUTING

Teach

Yourself by
Computer Software

Educational Software on ALL suDrecfs

lor horn* and achool

(lor Apple* and TRS-80"!

Wr.ia (o» tree brochure lo

Teach Yourself by Computer Software

40 Stuyvasant Manor

Genesao. New York 14454

716 243 3005

■-*■■ ■• * »-i. cam

CIRCLE 234 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CdmpuCquely

COVER YOUR INVESTMENT

• Ctoth Sec*M Nauoaittrd* *

• Waterproof A Duatproof

• Longer Lira

• improuM R. ,.- M,

• Thr m Oacorator Color*
Sadd* Tan • Eletira Blue* Bitch

MWraiim

nt *»

Sand check or money-order to
include Si 00 tor poatageand handling
DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED

PO Box 324 (Dept Ml
Mary Esther. FL 32960
Phone (904) 243-5703

CIRCLE 244 ON READER SERVICE CARD

WE WILL TRY TO SELL THE

following product
at the lowest

ADVERTISIED PRICES
IN THIS MAGAZINE

PET APPLE
ATARI

CROMEMCO

MISSISSIPPI MICROS, INC.

Mart 51. Jackson, MS. 39204

(601) 948-7846

CIRCLE 211 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The Missing U^

that help» you convert program torn magazines
and other computers lo RUN on yours Written by Itie
author ot the widely acclaimed TRS-80 Users/
Learners Manual, it explains m detail over 250 BASIC
words, st a tement s and symbols used in over 75
micros, minis and mainframes Already m its third tug
printing 360 pages sottcover

At your dealer, or send $14.95 + $1.35
PAH (CA add 6%) to:

CompuSoft a Publishing

1050E Pioneer Way — CC
El Cajon. CA 92020

CIRCLE 117 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The "DATA rXIBBER" /

TRS-80

DUPLICATES ANY
PROGRAM TAPE

Yes, even those in machine language! Feed your cassene into the Data Dubber and
get out exact replicas of the TRS-80 CSAVE data pulses Obtain perfect CLOAD s even
from tapes with hum. distortion, or minor dropouts. - and without constantly adjusting
the volume Connect a second cassette to the Data Dubber' and make perfect
reproductions, just as if the data had come from the TRS-80

The Dubber works with Level I or N and costs only $49.96 postage paid. Start your
own software business Pays for itself in time saved and reduced tape cost- Order the
Data Dubber today* If you are not completely satisfied with its performance simpry
return it for full refund

P.O. Box 524-CC

THE PERIPHERAL PEOPLE PO Box 524, Mercer Island. WA 98040

CIRCLE 216 ON READER SERVICE CARD

IMAGINE.

A computer game that has drawn

the attention of the national

news media.

A computer game that has people
around the world clamoring for it.

A computer game that turns your

love life into a menage a trois...
you, your mate, and your computer!

That's Interlude-the hottest new
software program for personal
computers.

But it's more than just a game.
It's an experience that will tantalize
you . . . romanticize you . . . fantasize
you. ..and often surprise you.

Interlude begins with a unique
computer interview of the partici-
pants to determine their mood.
Then it searches its memory to
select the best Interlude for the
occasion. You may be referred to
the instruction manual which de-
scribes most of the 106 Interludes,
or your instructions may appear
on your screen if you've chanced
to hit upon one of the many sur-
prise Interludes buried within the
program. (When you discover
secret Interlude #99, your love life
may never be the same again!)

Interlude. ..it's fun. ..it's fanciful...
it's fantastic. It's the computer game
for adults. Are you ready for it?

Interlude

The Ultimate Experience.

INTERLUDE Dept C-8 1 0428 Westpark. Hous-
ton, TX 77042. Rush me my copy of Interlude.

Name
Address

Age

City

State

Zip

DApple II' (16K) DTRS-80" (Level II-
16K) D*I4.95 for cassette D*I7.95 for
diskette. Add *1.50 for shipping. Texas
residents add 6% sales tax.

□ My check (payable to Interlude) is enclosed.

Charge my □ Mastercharge DVisa

Account No

Expiration Date ,

MasterCharge Bank Code-
Signature—

(Charge customers must sign.)

CHARGE CUSTOMERS: Order by phone toll-
free! 1-800-327-9009 Ext. 306 (FLA
1 -800-432-7999. Ext 306)

I trademark ol Apple Computers. Inc
" Rt rte nn d trademark of Radio Shack « Tandy Co.
AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY.

SEPTEMBER 1980

217

CIRCLE 200 ON READER SERVICE CARD

■>«■

TERMINALS & I/O

DOT MATRIX PRINTER

The DIP-81 is a dot-matrix im-
pact printer, designed for continuous
duty cycle. It features 7x7 or ex-
panded 14x7 matrix printing, upper/
lower case character set, 100 charac-
ters per second bi-directional print-
out, "finger clean" ribbon cartridge
loading, and a low profile. It uses
ordinary bond paper in sheets, roll or
fanfold form.

Centronics compatible parallel
interface is standard. Serial RS232C
or 20ma current loop is optional. $499.

DIP, Inc., 121 Beach St., Boston,
MA 02111. (617)482-4214.

CIRCLE 376 ON READER SERVICE CARD

GREAT BRITISH SOFTWARE!

Southern Software has two com-
pilers for TRS-80®. Both give com-
patible execution with improved per-
formance for correct, properly-
sturctured BASIC programs.

ACCEL Level 2 BASIC only $45.95

ACCEL 2 Disk BASIC (incl.

Level 2) $89.95

U.S. dollar checks welcomed.
Other systems programs available.
You'll want to know more from :

Southern Software, PO Box 39,
Eastleigh. Hants, England.

CIRCLE 228 ON READER SERVICE CARD

BOOKS AND
BOOKLETS

BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

"Children's Books for Computer
Awareness and Literacy" is a list of
current books about computers for
elementary school children (grades 2-5).
Compiled by Betty Wall, media special-
ist, the list is a resource for parents and
teachers.

For a free copy, send a stamped,
self-addressed envelope marked "list" to,
Bayshore Books, P.O. Box 848-B, Noko-
mis, FL 33555.

CIRCLE 377 ON READER SERVICE CARD

DIRECTORY OF
EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE

Dresden Associates announces
School MicroWare, a directory of
instructional microcomputer soft-
ware, for pre-college instructional
computer users.

The first edition will feature over
500 instructional programs and
packages. TRS-80, Commodore PET,
and Apple II. The main section of the
directory will include four-line items
for all products organized by major
discipline and within that by subject
area.

The first issue is scheduled for
late September, 1980. Quarterly
updates will be published in Decem-
ber, February, and April. A regular
subscription will be $20 per volume,
including the current directory and
three updates.

Dresden Associates, P.O. Box
246, Dresden, ME 04342.

CIRCLE 378 ON READER SERVICE CARD

GUIDE TO
MICROCOMPUTERS

The 1980 edition of MicroShopper
80: The New Computers, a 192-page
business and personal guide to
microcomputer hardware and soft-
ware, has been announced by P.G.I.
Publishing.

Published in a standard 9" x 12"
book format, the fifth edition of
MicroShopper features 150 detailed
photographs of microcomputer sys-
tems, peripherals and accessories,
including industry literature, from
more than 100 manufacturers repre-
senting over 500 products. $9.95.

P.G.I. Publishing, 1425 West 12th
Place., Tempe, AZ 85281. (602) 967-
1421.

CIRCLE 379 ON READER SERVICE CARD

PUBLICATION LISTS
COMPUTER MAGAZINES

The DP MagList describes over
40 current computer and data proc-
essing magazines. Of these, 32 are
offered free of charge to qualified
professionals, business persons,
executives, managers, engineers,
educators and computer hobbyists.

The list includes the magazine's
publisher, address, telephone num-
ber, publication frequency, audience,
primary topics and subscription price
if any. $4.

MagList Co., Dept DP-17, P.O.
Box 364, Larchmont, NY 10538.

CIRCLE 380 ON READER SERVICE CARD

OHIO SCIENTIFIC USERS

SOFTWARE - GAME AND UTILITY PROGRAMS FOR AS LOW AS SI .OO. ALL
WITH LISTINGS AND COMPLETE DOCUMENTATION.

KITS - UPDATE YOUR COMPUTER TO PLAY MUSIC, INCREASE OPERATING
SPEED, HIGH RESOLUTION GRAPHICS AND MUCH MORE. KITS INCLUDE
PARTS AND COMPLETE ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS. LOW AS S3.00.

OUR SI. 00 CATALOG INCLUDES OSI PROGRAMMING TIPS PLUS DESCRIPTIONS
OF AVAILABLE PROGRAMS AND KITS.

MITTENDORF ENGINEERING 905 VILLA NUEVA DR. LITCHFIELD PARK,AZ 85340

g?JS

CIRCLE 213 ON READER SERVICE CARD
218

CREATIVE COMPUTING

^PERSONAL COMPUTER

SHOW AND FLEAMARKET — 80

Saturday, Sept. 27
9:00 AM — 6:00 PM

. Sunday, Sept. 28, 1980
10:00 AM — 4:00 PM

COMMERCIAL EXHIBITS ■ OUTDOOR FLEAMARKET ■ USER FORUMS

HOLIDAY INN (North) CONVENTION CENTER

at Newark International Airport

(Exit 14 NJ Turnpike— Take Service Road)

ADMISSION $4.00 in advance— $5.00 at Door

FOR REGISTRATION. EXHIBITOR OR FLEAMARKET INFORMATION CONTACT

N.J.P.C.S.

Kengore Corporation
9 James Avenue
Kendall Park. NJ 08824

Here is a huge sourcebook of ideas for using
computers in mathematics instruction. There are
sections on:

•Thinking Strategies and How to Solve Problems
•How to Buy a Microcomputer System
•Art, Graphics, and Mathematics
'Computer Assisted Instruction
'Computer Simulations
* Programming Style
•Probability
'Magic Squares and much more.

Computers in mathematics:
A Sourcebook of Ideas

One section presents over 250 problems, puzzles
and programming ideas, more than are found in most
"problem collection" books.

Pragmatic, ready to use, classroom tested ideas
are presented for everything from the most basic
introduction to binary numbers to advanced tech-
niques like multiple regression analysis and differen-
tial equations. Every item discussed has a complete
explanation including flowcharts, programs, and
sample runs.

The book includes many activities that don't
require a computer. And if you're considering
expanding your computer facilities you'll find a
section on how to select a computer complete with
an invaluable microcomputer comparison chart.

Although much of the material has appeared in
Creative Computing, many of those back issues are
no longer available. Consequently this book meets
the demand of making available that popular informa-
tion.

Edited by David Ahl. Large format paperbound,
224 pages, $15.95. (12D)
To order use handy postcard order from inside back cover.

CIRCLE 350 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1980

219

TRS-80' PROGRAMS
32K 2 Disk Drive Min

WORD WIZARD I $19.95

Full upper and lower case characterization. Up to 3 pages
memory at a time. Store up to 30 pages of text per diskette. Load
bave. Print-out (single or multicopies) Insert , Delete lines, char-
acters, or blocks oi text. Block Move Delete Copy lines. Typesetting
and variable length page. Type in the text sloppy, clean it up on the
screen and print out a perfect copy.

MATRIX MANIPULATOR $19.95

All information can be manipulated by columns and rows: adding,
subtracting, multiplying and dividing columns by other columns
and putting the results in a third column with statistical analysis.

BUILDER JOB COST $29.95

Complete job cost analysis package for home builder. 189 user-
defined cost categories. Automatic invoice control to actual cost oi
the home under construction. User input for estimated costs of
home. Computer generated cost-to-cost comparisons. Up to 47
homes under construction per data diskette.

WORD WIZARD II $29.95

48 K updated version of Word Wizard I. 26 user-defined keys to
speed typing chores. Word oriented with automatic wrap around
capabilities. Variable printout formatting. Easy to use.

WORD WIZARD I & MAIL LIST COMBINATION $29.95

Word Wizard I as above with bOO mail listings per diskette. Com-
puter personalizes letters to selected recipients of letters, forms
etc. using variable select codes.

Please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery on Disks only

Send $1.00 for full catalog of Hardware & Software

Computer Programming Unlimited

6712 Langs ton Drive

Austin, Texas 78723

(512) 928-2626

MasterCard and VISA Accepted
TRS-80 is a Registered Trademark of Tandy Corp.

CIRCLE 148 ON READER SERVICE CARD

LEARN MATHEMATICS THE FUN WAY!

Programs that develop mathematical reasoning

and estimation skill

Beyond drill and practice! !

All ages will enjoy these games that teach

The Estimation Game (Animated!)

Cassette

Diskette

The Distance Game

Cassette

Diskette

$9.95
$14.95

We take Visa or Master Charge (include card# and
expiration date), checks, money orders.

ieVie

Steve Gray, et al

Getting down to BUSINESS with your MICROCOMPUTER,

by James A. Gupton, Jr. Sourcebooks, 1 8758 Bryant St..
Northridge. CA 9I324. 254 pages, paperback S9.95. I979.

The title is misleading, because this is not a book about
how to use a small computer in business. Instead, it "explains
what a microcomputer is, how it functions, and its many uses."
as the back cover puts it.

On that basis, it succeeds pretty well, with a down-to-earth
text that tells a little about what a microcomputer is, and a lot
about what's on the market (or was at the time of writing).

Gupton puts a lot of emphasis on three computers: the
Radio Shack TRS-80. Heathkit H8 and HI I. and the Altair
8800b. Each gets a chapter, and the chapter on "how to build
your own" is about building the Heathkit computers.

Other chapters are on the basics, peripherals, mass data
storage peripherals, home applications, jeven other systems
(Apple, Cromemco, Ohio Scientific, Southwest, etc.). control
applications, business applications and, finally, a seven-page
chapter on "selecting a microcomputer system for your
business." This last tells what would be in a system in various
price ranges, and ends with a single page on "how to select a
system."

The book is half illustrations, the majority from Radio
Shack, Heath, and M1TS Pertec. They help give an idea of
what it's all about, although they sometimes seem used to fill
space.

Some readers would undoubtedly prefer more on "how to
select a system." and less photos of computers and block
diagrams of microprocessors, but this book is certainly better
than the little mass-market paperbacks.

CIRCLE 171 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Computer Graphics Primer, by Mitchell Waite. Howard W.
Sams & Co.. Inc.. Indianapoiis, IN. 184 pages, paperback
$12.95. 1 979. (Available fromCreativeComputing Book Service.)

The back cover says "this book shows you how to create
your own video graphics on the new personal computers ... It is
oriented toward the Radio Shack TRS-80. the Commodore
PET 2001, and the Apple II home computers." However, it's
almost entirely about the Apple II when it comes to showing
how to create graphics.

The book's high price is due in part to the 20 color photos
of various graphics displays, and to the yellow overlays used on
the 30 Apple II graphics programs.

After some nifty photos and an introduction to what can be
done in graphics, Waite gets into the intricacies of stroke and
raster-scan graphics, memory mapping, character generators,
video generators, and then presents a catalog of 1 1 "low-cost
graphics computers" such as the Apple II. Sorcerer, and
TRS-80. and of five "high-cost graphics computers." including
the HP 2648. Tektronix 4051. and Chromatics CG series.

Peripherals such as plotters and printers are discussed
next, followed by an entire chapter of 74 pages on Graphics
Programming, showing how, with complete programs,
(highlighted with yellow overlays), to draw lines, curves,
rectangles, polygons, gaming figures (birds, tie fighters),
mandalas. and several examples of "graphics art with shape
tables." ^

The chapter ends with three detailed and very instructive
sections, on writing Pong games in Basic, detailed drawing and
digitizing tables, and moving-figure animation.

Although expensive, this book is recommended for the
beginner who wants to get into computer graphics and doesn't
know where to start. But if you already have a computer and it's
not an Apple II. this book may only make you drool, unless you
happen to have a Chromatics or Intecolor computer.

Interactive Computer Graphics in Science Teaching, edited by
John McKenzie. L.R.B. Elton. & R. Lewis. Ellis Horwood
Ltd.. Chichester. Sussex. England; Halsted Press, div. of John
Wiley & Sons. New York. 248 pages, hardcover $25.00. 1979.

This book, intended for teachers of undergraduate science,
"records the substantial experience of a computer-assisted
learning (CAL) project, sponsored by the National Develop-
ment Programme, whilst the Group (originally from University
College. Chelsea College. London, and the University of
Surrey) was still bound together in a working collaboration."
according to the inside front cover.

The text covers hardware (graphical displays, computers,
software) and subject-specific material for physics, chemistry,
and biology teaching packages: educational technology of
design, evaluation and transfer; and costing and trends.

The three dozen CUSC (Computers in the Undergraduate
Science Curriculum) teaching packages that are discussed are
available from Chelsea College in London.

The book is full of screen photos showing plots such as
"successful solution to the wave equation for an eigenvalue of
42.1 eV." "electron density for a bonding orbital in
HF(CI5:MLORB4)." and "cardiac output determination
(BMLDYE)." picking one from each of the three disciplines
involved.

Because these packages are designed for a UK curriculum,
their main interest to science teachers in this country may be in
showing how such software is used in another country.

Programming the /.HO. by' Rodnay Zaks. Sybex Inc.. 2020
Milvia St.. Berkeley, CA 94704. 626 pages, paperback $14.95.
1979.

This is one of the more detailed books on Z80
programming, and has a very good, detailed (60-page) chapter
on Basic Programming Techniques, which follows chapters on
Basic Concepts and on Z80 Hardware Organization.

The chapter on programming techniques provides a very
careful introduction to the use of several instructions described
in the previous chapter, starting with short programs on 8-bit
addition and 16-bit addition, then adding new instructions and
working up to more complex programs such as multiplication
and division, meanwhile introducing concepts such as register
management, loops, and subroutines.

The longest chapter in the book, 284 pages on The Z80
Instruction Set. provides as detailed information on each
instruction as possible within a book of this scope.

The remaining chapters are on Addressing Techniques.
Input Output Techniques. Input Output Devices. Application
Examples (code conversion, checksum computation, bubble
sort, etc.). Data Structures, and Program Development. These
are all written with great attention to detail, providing a vast
amount of information to the reader who is interested enough in
Z80 programming to plow through all 600-plus pages.

One of the few drawbacks is that some of the drawings are
poorly done, or use lettering too small to read comfortably, or
both. These arc minor objections in a book whose author has
taken great pains to provide a readable and highly instructive
text in a subject that is inherently dull to most readers.

3«C

3CIC

30C

EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE
PACKAGES FOR SCHOOL USE

-0

A series of twenty-four iasiructional packages for Maih and Enfjfah SiikIoiiIs
in grades 1 through 8.

* Mathematics

* Letter Writing

* Vocabulary Building

* Sentence Structure

and more

For Information call or write.

AM programs currently utilize
the CP/M operating system
and are written in microsoft
Basic. Programs may be
converted upon order for
operation on any major micro
system.

140 Sylvan Ave. Rt. 9W Englewood Cliffs. New Jersey 07632

one

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CIRCLE 222 ON READER SERVICE CARD

EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE
for the APPLE II and APPLE II PLUS

VERBAL SKILLS

Diskettes with Applesoft Programs and data base can be used to Im-
prove verbal skills Interactively Intended as study aids for college board
type eiams (E.G.. SAT. GRE. I SAT. ACT. (DAT. ETC). Programs Include a resi-
dent editor for expanding or modifying data lists. Realistic multiple choice
questions are generated with several options. Requires no computer ex-
perience making it Ideal for students.

Vocabulary Bullder-

finalogy-

Sentence Completion-
Verbal Skills Pak-

Over 1600 entries with op-
tion of matching synonyms
or antonyms - J19.95
Over 1200 word relation-
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Equivalent to 6 SAT tests
-119.95

All three diskettes for just
944.95

SLIWfi ENTERPRISES

EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE DEPARTfTIENT

POST OFFICE BOX 7266

HAfTIPTON VIRGINIA 23666

' Apple Is a registered trademark of Apple Computer. Inc.

CIRCLE 226 ON READER SERVICE CARD

sUb^sHH

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ARE YOU
WORKING TOO HARD?

If you're writing programs in Apple-
soft BASIC without our program

'APPLE-DOC' then you probably
are!
Imagine being able to edit the ENTIRE
basic listing to rename variables,
change printed text or printer/drive slot
values and more in a single high-speed pass. With APPLE-DOC
its a breeze! No need to convert your program to text files or
other difficult procedures. A few keystrokes and it is ready in
seconds to do global editing on any Applesoft program.

Customizing a program from an outside source? You need
APPLE-DOC!

Want to make a list of EVERY variable in a program — and
store your own description of its function? You need
APPLE-DOC!

Tired of looking for all the references to a given sub- routine
in a 20 page listing? You need APPLE-DOC!

APPLE-DOC is written as a hybrid of Applesoft and
machine language for the ultimate in speed and flexibility.
Thousands of copies sold in the U.S. and over a dozen
countries world-wide attest to its reliability and use as an
invaluable programming tool.

Stop by your local dealer for a demonstration, or write
directly to us at the address below. Remember, if you don't
have APPLE-DOC you ARE working too hard!

Another qualify product from

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DATA SYSTEMS

P.O. Box 582-C2; Santee. Ca 92071; (714) 562-3670 ,

\. (diskette version APPLE DOC: $24.03 plus 6\ for Cal. Res.) J

CIRCLE 184 ON READER SERVICE CARD

AT LAST!

STOCK

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a powerful, volume based analysis program to compute
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also available: apple ii ' or apple i pius* version imin 32k ram.
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6502 Software Gourmet Guide & Cookbook, by Robert
Findley. Scelbi Publications. 20 Hurlbut St., Elmwood, CT
06110. 204 pages, paperback SI0.9S. 1979.

Why is it called a cookbook? The back cover asks, and then
answers, "Because it's a book of recipes. It contains routines,
subroutines and short programs. These are the ingredients. All
you do is take a pinch of this, a pinch of that. Combine the
ingredients, and voila — your own masterpiece! Just the
program to suit your taste."

After two introductory chapters on the 6502 instruction set
and programming techniques, the book has four chapters on
routines: for general purposes (clearing a section of memory,
multiple precision, time delays, random numbers, etc.),
conversion (ASCII to/ from Baudot, decimal to binary, binary
to decimal), floating point (add, subtract, multiply, divide,
input, output), and decimal arithmetic (the four functions).

The chapter on Input/Output Processing (lighting LEDs,
generating serial data, handshaking, interrupts, etc.), is
followed by a last chapter on Search and Sort Routines (fixed-
format tables, free-format search, ripple sort).

If the 6S02 programs you want to concoct can be whipped
up from the contents of this book, which is written very clearly,
you may And it of use. But the introductory material is of
necessity rather short in a book of only 200 pages, so this would
be more useful to a person already familiar with programming
than to a novice.

PIMS: Personal Information Management System, by Madan
L. Gupta. Scelbi Publications, Box 133 PP STN, Milford, CT
06460. 87 pages, paperback S9.95. 1979.

"Improve your life style," says the front cover of this book,
just below the photo of a handsome young couple, in a come-on
that sounds more like an ad for a car or boat.

However, the cover soon dispels the consumer-goods-ad
look with "Learn how you can unleash the power of a personal
computer for your own benefit. A ready-to-use data base
management program."

Improve your life style with a DBMS? The author insists
you can accomplish more in less time with a computer, by doing
things you ordinarily "skipdoing because it's too much bother."
Things like balancing your checkbook, and maintaining lists of
department-store charges, household valuables, tax-deductible
expenses, and mailing addresses.

"Tasks such as these take a significant portion of any
person's time." says Gupta. "A better organized individual is a
more efficient individual. If you have a convenient way of doing
these tasks rapidly you could get more things accomplished in
your life."

Two chapters describe what a computer can do for you,
two more deal with information management and how to use
PIMS, and a very long chapter presents IS typical applications,
including recipes, mailing lists, accounts receivable, sales
analysis, etc.

The last chapter tells how to load PIMS into your
computer and includes the DBMS program, seven pages long,
about 360 lines of Microsoft Basic. The program was tested on a
Level II 16K. TRS-80 and a I6K PET 2001, and should run on
almost any system using Microsoft Basic.

The book could have been made two inches narrower by
eliminating the several dozen key phrases in the margins. But
then again, they help make this a fairly painless introduction to
a DBMS, aimed at "the computer novice with no previous
experience," as the promo sheet puts it.

It is hoped the novice will soon discover that some data is
much easier to store on 3-by-5 Hie cards, including recipes,
inventory of household valuables, maintenance records, etc.
Unless he enjoys loading program tapes and data tapes for
rather trivial uses of a computer.

Beating the Races with a Computer, by Steven L. Brecher.
Distributed bv BITS Inc.. Box 428, 25 Route 101
Peterborough, NH 03458. 100 pages, paperback SI4.95. 1980.

It should first be noted that this book contains no program.
The author told me he's "cautious about supplying what the
public ma\ -tern to making a fortune." The

last sentence in his book says "no one is going to get rich quick."
\ertheless. he did say that "if there is interest among the
readers in obtaining the program," he may provide it. But he
noted that "there's an order of magnitude of difference in
supporting a fairly large and complex software product."

• I he program was much too long to put in the book, so this
is a sourcebook of ideas." said Brecher. The program, he said.
was written in Fortran for a Data General 200, and the database

urn on an NCSS time-sharing system.

The tone of the book is set by thetitle of Chapter2. "Horse
Racing is a Stochastic Process." In other words, you'd better
know what that means, as well as understand Multiple
Regression (the title of Chapter 4). Data Weighing and
Normalization (Ch 6). and generating model equations (Ch 7).

Appendix A is an annotated bibliography. B is on
regression coefficients and statistics, and C is a database
description, which includes several dozen items for "each starter
in each sample race." and several do/en more for "race data."

This is a book for th< unputer experts who bet the

races, experts who can appreciate one of the concluding
sentences: "Simulated wagering on the sample races yielded
profits of from - per unit bet. depending on the degree

ol sophistication and selectivity of the wagering strategy."

Creative Growth Games, by Eugene Raudsepp with George P.
Hough, Jr.. Harcourt, Brace. Jovanovitch, New York. NY. 195
pages, paperback $3.95.

This is not just another collection of familiar old games.
Raudsepp, President of Princeton Creative Research, Inc., and
Hough, a journalist, have assembled an exercise manual for the
mind. The introduction discusses creativity, stressing the need
for creative thinking in a world of rapid change. In the words of
the authors, the book is designed to: " 1 . Revitalize, develop, and
strengthen in you all the important components of attributes ot
creative behavior and innovative problem solving, and 2. Give
you repeated insights into the kinds of difficulties you face as a
problem solver, and how they can be overcome."

Does it fulfill these promises? That depends on how you
use the book. The exercises, which range from word games to
story writing, are not meant for casual browsing. Each is
designed to develop a specific aspect of creativity; looking at
things in a new way. turning a problem around, lateral thinking,
etc. One problem asks you to find hidden words, another asks
for suggested captions for a cartoon. While browsing is
entertaining, it will not lead to any increase in your creativity.
But. if tackled in the suggested manner, the book can show you
new ways to think, and new methods for dealing with problems.

A brief conclusion gives guideposts for creativity, both in
specific areas such as problem solving, and in general areas such
as lifestyles. It you ever find yourself stuck for a solution, or lost
for words, this book might be of help. At worst, it will provide a
few hours diversion.

SEPTEMBER 1980

BACK TO SCHOOL

with the ATARI™

WORD- SCRAMBLE

(8K BASIC) Reading and spell-
ing aid A robot prints the letters
for the child to unscramble.
Contains the most frequently
used words in Primary Readers
(grades 1-4) cass. $15.00

WORD-MATE

( 1 6K BASIC) Build compound
words with the words that have
been dealt to you. Try to make
more compound words than
the computer. Don't get stuck
with the last card,
(grades >6) cass. $15.00

FISHING for HOMONYMS

(16K BASIC) Play the popular
game of FISH with the compu-
ter. This time ask for homonyms
to the word-cards that appear in
your hand.
(grades 3-6) cass. S 1 5 00

WANTED

(16K BASIC) Be a detective
and track down the words that
have escaped your vocabulary.
Clues appear on the screen in
the form of a WANTED' poster,
(grades 4-8) cass. $ 1 5.00

GUESSWORD

(8K BASIC) Based on the TV
show Password, the computer
gives clues to the secret' word
The sooner you can guess the
word, the higher your score. For
one or two players,
(grades 6+) cass. $15.00

PRESCHOOL FUN

(I6K BASIC) ■ Two programs
with several individual modules
that help develop color, shape
and letter recognition, counting
and directions.
(Preschool- I) $15.00

1XH.E.S.I.S.

P.O. Box 147

Garden City. Ml 48135

or call (3 1 3) 5954722 for C.O.D.

Please add $ 1 .50 for shipping

WRITE for FREE FLYER

DEALER INQUIRIES

WELCOME

CIRCLE 23SON READER SERVICE CARD

NEW DAPPLE

REALIZE THE POWER OF YOUR APPLE

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control video and other hardware with the micro-
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Prices start at $44.95
Call or write for more information
* Ask us about CAI applications
VISA & MC accepted

CUM

P.O. Box 2367
Reston. VA. 22080

(703) 620-2444

CIRCLE 159 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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a 101
= 243

a 1 ? 8

§ 104
a 105
= 241
5 106
= 103
= 249
= 109
S 116
a 107
a 110
a 115
= 112

{- 111
254
- 114
a 123
a 138
a 143
a 119
= 118
a 124
a 113
a 253
a 244
a 121
a 117
a 126
a 127
a 148
a 128
a 122
a 129
a 131
a 132
a 125
a 201
a 133
a 239
a 238
= 137
a 134
= 149
a 130

= 159

Aardvark Technical Services

Acorn Software Products

Addmaster

Adventure International

ALF

Alpha Byte Storage

American Square

APF

Applejack

Apple Computer

Apple Shoppe

ASAP

ASCII

Atari Personal Computers

Automated Simulations

Barclay Bridge

Basics & Beyond

BID Decisions

Bill Hlndorff

California Computer Systems

California Micro Products

California Software Associates

CAP Electronics

C & S Electronics

Cavri Systems

Centurion Industries

CLOAD Magazine

Complete Business Systems

Compucover

CompuServe

Compusoft

Computer Corner of White Plains

Computer Design Lab

Computer Programs Unlimited

Computer Shopper

Computer Stop

Computer Specialties

Computer Systems International

Computers Wholesale

Computerware

Cottage Software

The Computing Teacher

Computronics

Computronlcs

Conduit

Corvus

Creative Software

Cromemco

Connecticut

Microcomputer

CJM.Inc

Page

201

177

175

210

12-13

24-25

193

203

171

8-9

177

201

210

205

22-23

214

103

187

145

109

103

217

210

220

181

177

201

141

142

187

189

194

199

114-115

Cover 3

149

138.139,193
223

Reader
Service

Advertiser

120 Dakln5Corp.

247 Data Equipment Supply
160 Data Soft

182 Discount Software Group
181 Discount Software Group

248 Disk 3/ Mart

164 Dresden Associates
136 Dynacomp

203 Educational Activities
171 Educational Programs
176 Edu-ware

189 80-U.S. Journal

191 Electronics Book Club
142 Electronic Specialist

139 Emtrol Systems

195 Esmark

192 Exatron

1 40 Frederick Computer Products

145 Galaxy

196 Hard Hat Software

141 Hayden Book Co.
135 H i H Trading Co.

146 Heath Company

197 Howard W. Sams Company
144 Huntington Computing
246 Integral Data Systems

217 Iridis

199 Jensen Tools, Inc.
252 Krell Software
* Lifeboat

204 Lobo Drives

205 Macmillan Book Club, Inc.

206 MalneSoftware Library

147 Mallbu Electronics

208 Marway Products
240 Masters Software

150 Matchless Systems

209 Math Software

154 Micro Ap

210 Micro Computer Service

151 Micro Computer Technology

156 Micro Lab

212 Micro Learnlngware

163 Micro Management Systems

155 Micro Power & Light
165 Micro Seminars
158 Microsoft

168 Microsoft Consumer Products
225 Minnesota Software

157 Mini Micro Mart

211 Mississippi Micro

Page

215
101
187
55
55
185
189
161
203
220
67
149
33
185
163
200
69
181
181
77
178
222
15
19
203
31
181
203
169
29,161
71
49
205
35
163
205
77
205
121
163
185
123
216
147
57
213
21
11
215
5
217

a lav wm, inc. ZZ3 *> i Mississippi Micro 217

S "" "'""'IH'milMIMUIMIMMMMIMMMMIIMIMMMIMIMIIMIMIMIM MIMMII milllllMMmilMMIMIMMIIM IIIHIIUj

Puzzle Answer*

Pyramid Power: Kirst move: Invert pyramids 2
and 3. Second move: Invert pyramids 3 and 4.
Third move: Invert pyramids 4 and 5.

Money Talks: Form a star with two coins at each
point.

A Cigar Puzzle: Six cigars. He first makes 5
cigars out of the original 25 butts. After smoking
these 5 cigars he will have 5 more cigar butts
which he can now make into a sixth cigar.

The Perfect Score: You can score 100 bv using
six arrows: 16. 16. 17, 17, 17, 17.

The Square Puzzle: You will find 19 different
squares indicated in the drawing below. There
are 9 squares of the four A s type, four squares of
the B's type, four squares of the C's type and two
squares of the D's type.

©©0® ©©

©O© ©® O

©©

(O©

To render the cross "squareless," remove

the circles marked "E." It will then be impossible

to form any of the above squares.

The Choo Choo Puzzle: The answer is 75 miles
per hour. After running two fifths of the tunnel,
one of the boys and the front of the train are at
one end (since he just makes it out). Since both
boys run at the same speed, the other boy has I
also run two fifths of the tunnel. At this point he
has another fifth to go. In the time it takes him to
run the last fifth the train covers the entire tunnel
(five fifths). He exits the tunnel jusi as the train
does. Since the train covered five fifths as he
covered one fifth, the train is going five times as
fast. 5 x 5 = 75.

A Groovy Problem: One spiral groove.

A Common Problem: The one thing that they all
have in common is that each one contains three
consecutive letters of the alphabet in a row.

Reader

Service

Advertiser

Page

213 Mittendorf Engineering 218
152 Monument Computer Service 169

161 Muse Software 51

162 Muse Software 127
National Computer Show 39,157
National Small Computer Show 89

* N.J. Personal Computer Show 219

214 NRI Schools 129

172 Ohio Scientific Cover 4

174 Omni Communications 213
250 Omnico 72

166 Orion Software 211

167 Osborne/ McGraw-Hill 151

215 Pacific Exchanges 201

169 Pacific Exchanges 214

1 77 Percom Data Cover 2

216 Peripheral People 217
207 Peripherals Plus 74
180 Personal Computer Systems 208

1 70 Personal Software 2

218 P.O.I. 101

219 P.D.I. 211
1 79 Pickles & Trout 187

173 Programma International 99

175 Program Store 83

178 Quality Software 206,207

220 Queue 214
188 Racet Computes 173
242 Radio Shack 87

186 Radio Shack Sales Center 211
253 Rainbow Computing 211

221 Reliance Plastics 211

222 Resource Software International 221
Retail Roster 197

251 Rochester Data 169

223 Sebree's Computing 216

224 Shoe String Software 213

226 Sliwa Enterprises 221
194 Small Business Applications 69

227 Software Alchemists 213

183 The Software Exchange 108-107

* The Software Works 215

228 Southern Software 21 8

232 Southwestern Data Systems 213

184 Southwestern Data Systems 222

185 Spectrum Software 153

229 Steketee Educational Software 66

230 Stoneware 215

187 SubLOGIC Distribution Corp. 212
190 Synergistic Software 171
200 Syntonic Software 217

231 System Software 171

233 SZ Software Systems 153
202 Tarbell Electronics 153

234 T.Y.C. Software 217
245 Texas Instruments 17

235 T.H. E.S.I. S. 223
193 Total Information Services 193

236 TNW 216
198 Transnet Corp. 161

* United Software of America 73

237 W.I.C. Systems 79

Creative Computing

350 Best of Creative Computing 95

350 Tales of the Marvelous Machine 37
350 Computers for Kids 111

350 Colossal Computer Cartoon Book 202
350 Best of Creative Computing 205

350 More Basic Computer Games 91

132-133

118-119

214

159

195

143

209

160-167

179

183

219

135

350 Educational Books
350 Katie and the Computer
350 Back Issues
300 Free Software Catalog
350 Computer Music Record
350 Adventure
300 Apple Software
300 Air Traffic Controller
300 Educational Software
300 Space War/ Super Invader
300 Hail to the Chief
300 Stock & Option Analysis
300 TRS-80 Educational Software
350 Computers in Math
Warehouse Sale

:iiMiMlliMimiiiMiiMmMMiiiMiMimmimimmmiimiimm

224

CREATIVE COMPUTING

MOVING DATA AT A SNAILS PACE
BECAUSE YOU'RE FLOPPY BOUNOP

Let Corvus Systems put you back in the race!

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For TRS-80t, Applet (including Apple
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Fully compatible hardware/software.
10-million byte disk: IMI-7710
Proven Winchester technology.
■ Z-80 based Corvus disk controller.
Comprehensive disk diagnostics.
Up to 4 disks per system.
System $5350 (LSI-11 $5950),
add-on disk $3690.

Corvus offers a complete systems solution
to the mass storage problem of micro
computers. In a package smaller than a
briefcase, we provide an intelligent
controller, disk, and personality module.
Call or write today for additional information.
Get up to speed with Corvus.

Now; Corvus speaks Apple" Pascal"!

'TRS-ao w a registered trademark o» Radio Shack, a Tandy Co
: Apple is a registered trademark of APPLE Computers. Inc

CORVUS SYSTEMS, Inc.

2029 O Toole Avenue

San Jose, California 95131

408 946-7700 TWX 910-338-0226

CIRCLE 134 ON READER SERVICE CARO

^^m

The Challenger small computer.

The ultimate
educational tool.

Today computers touch every part of our
lives. Even the checkout counter at the
local store is becoming computerized.
Personal computers are rapidly finding
their way into homes, small businesses
and schools.

The increasing dependence on computers
by our society indicates that students
should have some exposure to the basics
of computers as part of their normal cur-
riculum. Thousands of schools ha\<e
recognized this need already and have im-
plemented computer literacy programs as
part of the normal curriculum. These pro-
grams which present the fundamentals of
computers, their capabilities and limita-
tions, logical thinking, flowcharting and an
introduction to programming are typically
implemented with personal computers.
Many schools are also offering introduc-
tory programming courses as electives.

Back to the basics with a small
computer.

Small computers were first used to teach
computing, but they have been found to be
a tremendous aid in teaching other sub-
jects including the fundamentals: reading,
writing and mathematics.
Today's small computers have graphics
display capability which allows animations
and cartoons. This makes interesting and
even exciting educational tutors and
games a reality. Exercises and "games"
that improve mathematical proficiency,
spelling and reading while they entertain
can dramatically increase the attention
span of poorly motivated students and pro
vide an interesting and entertaining
challenge for discouraged slow learners.

Which small computer is for your
school?

The low cost personal computers avail-
able today seem like a natural for
education, however, most models
were designed primarily for home
use, not institutional use.
Many models lack the mechanical
durability and operational
features that are almost

a necessity in an educational environment.
Ohio Scientific offers four models of small
computers ideally suited for educational
use ranging from under $500 to under
$2000. Even our lowest cost model, the
Challenger 1P at $479, includes these im-
portant features for education:

• Full typewriter style keyboard with long
life sealed contacts and lower case
capability

• Standard video interface which allows
the connection of large TV monitors for
class or even auditorium viewing

• Upper and lower case alphabetic and
graphics display

• Unique "dual mode" display which pro-
vides 48 character lines for individual
use and larger characters on the screen
for classroom viewing

• Unique easy to use and reliable cassette
interface for program storage which
allows the student to view the program
loading process

• 8K of program workspace — enough for
computer literacy directly expandable to
more memory and floppy disk storage

• Printer and modem interfaces standard

• Full feature 8K BASIC-in-ROM suitable

for teaching the programming
language "BASIC".
^^^^ The C1 Pis also available
M factory configured

with a mini-floppy disk at a far lower price
than any other disk based computer.
Ohio Scientific also offers the C4P, a more
advanced model featuring color
jisplay and PASCAL and FORTRAN
language capabilities.
For more information and the name of
your local dealer call 1-800-321-6850 toll
free. Please indicate your interest in
educational applications.

OHM SCIENTIFIC

1333 SOUTH CHILLICOTHE ROAD
AURORA, OH 44202 • [21 6) 831 -56

*CLE 172 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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Full text of "Creative Computing Magazine (September 1980) Volume 06 Number 09"

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