14 new games from Bearsden Primary School

[PeteProdge]

Crystal Tipps and Alistair, early seventies as I remember it.

£2.99 from Hi-Tec Software, right?

(Probably not, but sounds like the thing they'd have done.)

[flange]

I don't think it was ever made into a game I just remember it being shown at 5.40 on BBC just before the early evening news, early 70's.
(Now I'm showing my age)

[PeterJ]

(Now I'm showing my age)

Don't worry @flange, I remember it too.

[PeterJ]

No apparently that's what we call our kids now. Nice painting, Miracle.

Working in schools and Colleges all my working life, I've come across increasing number of students with names such as Champagne and Chardonnay. Just changing trends I suppose.

[flange]

I thought I was badly done to being named Fred. (a nice safe fifties thing apparently) If my Mother had had her way I was going to be called Basil!

[equinox]

Working in schools and Colleges all my working life, I've come across increasing number of students with names such as Champagne and Chardonnay. Just changing trends I suppose.

Did RISC OS win? They said it was hot shizz in 1994.

[equinox]

I thought I was badly done to being named Fred. (a nice safe fifties thing apparently) If my Mother had had her way I was going to be called Basil!

the great microdrive detective

Unrelated: I just re-read a 1950s copy of Bronte's "Shirley", and was really confused where one page had a mysterious mark, it was like: Q*123. I work with a historical archive and I am pretty familiar with printing bullcrap (and various "stone" printing symbols) but I really couldn't work out what this symbol was supposed to say. It was not a catchword ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catchword ) and I am 90% sure it wasn't a signature mark ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_mark ). Maybe just a typo? printo? If you know it, tell me. SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING.

[flange]

In what context was the mark? I have a lot of spare time on my hands these days and could do some searching for you.

(Sorry for veering off topic)

[Lee Bee]

Tragic to think that today's primary school kids are deprived of the simple pleasure of having a big TV set wheeled slowly into the room where they can watch delights such as Look and Read, Watch, School & Colleges countdowns, Dark Towers, The Boy From Space, Picture Box, Noseybonk, Chocky [shudder] and all kinds of odd things which (fingers crossed) won't scar anyone for life

No apparently that's what we call our kids now. Nice painting, Miracle.

Sounds like someone's been doing IT work for Bob Geldof.

[equinox]

In what context was the mark? I have a lot of spare time on my hands these days and could do some searching for you.

(Sorry for veering off topic)

PM me if you feel bright. Might scan it.
ON TOPIC ("OT" as we used to say in the 90s on Usenet): I will actually RZX these cuties.
REALLY ON TOPIC: I'm laughing because some day they are gonna google their own name (or probably something rather different -- I think privacy laws will make it harder to stalk your ex) and they'll be like "oh thank god some freaking nerd recorded a solution to my game".
You're welcome honey.

[equinox]

Tragic to think that today's primary school kids are deprived of the simple pleasure of having a big TV set wheeled slowly into the room

TODAY WE WILL BE DISCUSSING DATA COMPRESSION
remember: using USSR compressors might be 20% better, but it's politically unacceptable

[flange]

@equinox PM me the scan I'll do the rest (at the moment I'm veering towards a Cambridge University readers library number)


The so called children's programs of my youth give me the creeps even now ( google images of Torchy the battery boy or Mike Mercury supercar for an idea)

However Re Clive Sinclair and his computers I can envision a time when the computers, the people behind them etc will be or should taught in schools in the same way we were taught about the Tudors and Stuarts for example, given the impact in the UK both socially, economically and in terms of how they affected home computing and our perceptions of it in the main. Something still felt forty odd years down the line.

It would be nice to know that as well as doing some game programming, the lads and lasses of Bearsden Primary are being taught some background of the Spectrum, in of course, a way suitable for younger minds.

I'm willing to wager that a lot of the people here do something in the way of computing for a living and that Sinclair's machines were possibly a prime mover in that regard. To write then off as "toys" as some critics do is myopic in the least.

[equinox]

I survive by programming. But I'm really not that great at it. Every time I hang around the frekaing ZX Discord where people are building their own circuit boards. Also I run Windows which is certainly a career move and not a utility move. However I seem to connect with the business nicely, so I guess we dig our hole, and then we get small amounts of money forever after because people want us to maintain our cute thing.

It's important that we talk about this crap on this thread. I promise I'll do the RZXes tomrrow -- well -- maybe next week -- I'll get it done -- I think they are very cute. The point is that programming used to be just "turn it on, type some code" whereas now you need to install god knows what number of containers, platforms, etc.

The "make programming easy" has been done any number of times. Even C# has done a stupid cheesy "remove the namespace and class" (we know C# was really a Java ripoff) ... but uh yeah. people who know how to "script" are sysadmins, they aren't programmers. Those people don't care about future maintenance, they only care about sharing xkcd comics.

I love all of you, I really do.

[flange]

Just while I think of it the game "Barbara's Run" has a worrying premise, Insofar as George is trying to get away from Barbara, his deranged ex!
I would love to be a fly on the wall in that house!


(Mods please remove if this over steps the U thingy )

[equinox]

@equinox PM me the scan I'll do the rest (at the moment I'm veering towards a Cambridge University readers library number)

incoming, always a pleasure, lol

[ParadigmShifter]

Obviously I got into programming and games programming because of the speccy (although I could only really program in BASIC back in the day).

Then I had no computer for ages but after doing my degree in Maths and couldn't get a job let alone an interview (thanks John Major) I did an employment training scheme for C programming (I already knew a bit of Pascal from A level Computer Science and we had a course on Pascal first year of Maths degree as well - which I obviously skived all lectures for since I already knew how to code in Pascal). C is pretty similar to Pascal really.

Then I accidentally got a job in the games industry writing PS1 games. My first boss did the speccy version of Little Computer People lol. I only found out about that recently! He had given up doing code years before (I think he was responsible for a version of Thundercats which got canned and Gargoyle Games were drafted in last minute to do another one?).

[equinox]

Obviously I got into programming and games programming because of the speccy [...]

Accidental PS1 job. Not doing the cool stuff like MAKING THE GIRL POLYGON SHOOT THE GUY POLYGON, but rather "we are concerned about the general increase of memory usage"

Someone last night said "I remembered a thing called BASICA but I can't find it".
Search engines.

[flange]

All this in some part due to the little black box, and to this day still finding pleasure in coding, improving and just general messing about with same.
I find this really interesting how it affected a slice of the 80's generation I honestly do and I hope these Primary school kids find a similar impetus in their career choices.

[R-Tape]

(Mods please remove if this over steps the U thingy )

Nah you're fine. I think the horse has bolted anyway!

@equinox I've edited a few posts and sent you a PM.

[ParadigmShifter]

It's hard to teach programming these days I expect since PCs are so complicated.

I expect if they teach you anything it will be Python (which is used loads by mathematicians) or something like C# or even (yuk) Java (worse version of C#) or Javascript (worse version of Java but with added nonsensical weirdness).

Python is probably easiest out of those 3 and it is a useful language (mainly cos of the maths/AI thing). C# is a professional standard programming language and a good intro if you are forced to program in C++ (ouch). Javascript runs on any browser so many online tutorials are available.

Obviously C or Pascal are other options but Pascal/Delphi is hardly used these days and C has pointers so easy to crash your program (but it is very small language so not hard to learn everything about it quicker than other choices).

As long as they don't still teach BASIC or Perl they should be ok.

[flange]

Forth-79 for me ( amateur dabbler)

In short it looks like we are heading, if not there already, towards a generation of "users" with little or no understanding of what goes on under the bonnet so to speak. A rough timeline being say 80's the age of gamers, coders and techies who could do wonders with the board and add on devices to say the late 90's onwards where we have users with no knowledge or even interest of how it's all done.

Progress yes I have to concede and whilst it's not important to know just how my washing machine works, I take some inner comfort from the fact I do along side things mechanically similar and would imagine that's how lads like your self feel about Sinclair computers and 8 biiters in general.

I do feel a little sad it may be lost to posterity one day.

[equinox]

Then I accidentally got a job in the games industry writing PS1 games. My first boss did the speccy version of Little Computer People lol.

In about 1993 I phoned up Microprose and asked if I coudl talk to Pete Cooke. (I was thirteen.) They were like -- nope, not sure who that is.
What would I have said to him anyway? "HEY DUDE I THOUGHT ZOLYX WAS A NICE PORT"

[equinox]

and whilst it's not important to know just how my washing machine works

what they did in the old days
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotland- ... s-13057167

[ParadigmShifter]

In about 1993 I phoned up Microprose and asked if I coudl talk to Pete Cooke. (I was thirteen.) They were like -- nope, not sure who that is.
What would I have said to him anyway? "HEY DUDE I THOUGHT ZOLYX WAS A NICE PORT"

Reason it was accidental was because after finishing my C programming course (was apparently worth 2 A levels - level 3 NVQ - it was nowhere near as difficult as 1 A level let alone 2 lol), I then got dumped and then went to job centre to do a search for C programming vacancies anywhere in the country. There was 1 job advertised lol. I had no idea it was a games company when I got offered the interview, sounded like a concrete manufacturing company to me from the name lol. I got offered the interview because I said I liked cricket on my CV lol Also having a degree in maths helped as well.

I took along my printouts of the Minesweeper conversion I did at lunchtimes on my C programming course (which was quite well done even though it was running on a Xenix terminal so you had to type A6 to uncover cell A6 lol - and had stuff like recursion for when you click on a cell with no neighbouring mines). That was enough to get me my first job!

[equinox]

They said "look at this guy, he solves puzzles for fun, EWW GROSSSS"
hired

sounded like a concrete manufacturing company

.....topical

i've never actually seen "how would you solve a newspaper puzzle" in reality, but I think it would be very wise and a good question. I personally love the "train tracks" puzzle... hmmm... would be a good q to ask your potential hire "how would you solve this". It just demonstrates that you understand algorithms and backtracking.