August 1979 — Vol 1 No 7

Overview

Pi gets a PO Box (PO Box 34511, Washington DC 20034). President Moon devotes his column to modems and computer bulletin board systems (CBBSes) — his recent purchase has him "playing telepong instead of writing articles." He lists three local CBBSes: AMRAD CBBS (281-2125, 24/7 on a SWTP 6800), Bruce Thompson's part-time North Star-based CBBS in Silver Spring, and Lee Hausman's home-grown CBBS running on his Apple with APPLESOFT, DOS, and a D.C. Hayes Micromodem. Andrew Rose surveys publishing houses paying for Apple programs. Nicholas B. Cirillo patches Beneath Apple Manor to support save-and-resume. Moon writes a long stylistic essay on Apple BASIC programming structure. NOVAPPLE meeting notes include Bill Kennedy's talk on structured programming.

Table of contents

Articles

President's Message (page 2) — John Moon

Moon's first foray into telecommunications. Describes calling AMRAD CBBS (281-2125) — running 24/7 on a SWTP 6800 — and using the standard commands (summary/enter/read/delete messages, H or HELP for help). Notes Bruce Thompson's part-time North Star CBBS in Silver Spring (games playable on-line) and Lee Hausman's Apple-based CBBS written in APPLESOFT with an IDS Printer, DOS, and a D.C. Hayes Micromodem. Mentions CORVUS Systems' "Winchester" hard drive ($5,300 first drive, $2,900 each additional) interfaced via patched DOS that uses the VOLume parameter to address sectors. Also mentions an upcoming demo of The Source at Tysons Corner Computerland (Sept 12), and a tidbit from Electronics News: Apple committed to buy 10,000 H-Plot digitizer pads — graphics emphasis coming. Software exists to make the Apple emulate a Tektronix graphics terminal.

Minutes (page 2)

Short business meeting; hands-on at GWU after. Items: - IDS 440 printer demo planned - New Auto ROM available locally (Computerland Tysons has stock) - The CA Driver's Test from Apple's user-contributed software needs HIMEM=32000 to work on larger machines - PO Box established - A European visitor compared Apple availability and pricing

NIBBLES (page 2)

Promotes the Washington Amateur Computer Society (WACS): meets last Friday of each month at Catholic University; chair Chuck Patten; on-line journal accessible at (635-5710 110 baud / 635-5730 300 baud), command HELP WACS. Message box at (202) 281-2125 (same as AMRAD).

3-D Graphics & AMPER-SORT (page 3)

Mentions an upcoming assembly-language 3-D graphics package from SubLogic (Savoy IL; A2-3D1; $45 cassette / $55 disk): 150 lines/sec unclipped, 100 lps clipped, 5 frames/sec for 20-line drawings, orbit/zoom/page-control for "Ping-Ponging" between screens. Corrected code for AMPER-SORT (Alan Hill, MICRO July 1979) to be available at next meeting.

MODEMania — members with modems (page 3)

6502 Information Resources (pages 3–4)

Reprinted from MICRO Magazine #13 (June 1979), by William R. Dial, updated by Mark Crosby. Page-long directory of Apple/6502 publications (40+ titles): Call-A.P.P.L.E., 6502 User Notes, MICRO, Kilobaud/Microcomputing, Stems from APPLE, The Cider Press, Dr. Dobb's Journal, BYTE, Creative Computing, Recreational Computing, Apple Seed, Appleseed, Personal Computing, IEEE Computer, Interface Age, Popular Electronics, 73 Magazine, QST, Polyphony, Pet User Notes, On-Line, Rainbow (Apple), CONTACT (Apple user group newsletter), Southeastern Software Newsletter, Computer Music Journal, Popular Computing, Mini-Micro Systems, Digital Design, Electronic Design, etc. — a remarkable snapshot of the late-1970s personal-computing press.

"Making Money From Your Programs" (page 4) — Andrew Rose

Andy Rose surveys publishing houses paying for Apple software: - APPLE Software Bank — one-time $25 gift certificate or 4 pay-for programs - MUSE — royalties on high-class software (Tank-War, Mazegame) - Instant Software (Kilobaud) — royalties; mostly TRS-80/PET, only 3 Apple programs - NewWare — business software (DBMS, ledger, inventory) - Software Central — word processors, index files - Softape — publisher of Bob Bishop programs; high-quality games/demos, $25 on acceptance - Appleseed — 20% royalties (probably games)

Vendor addresses included.

"Changing 'Beneath Apple Manor'" (pages 4–5) — Nicholas B. Cirillo (NOVAPPLE)

Family vignette intro: Cirillo's son and neighborhood boys are obsessed with Beneath Apple Manor by Don Worth (Software Factory), a Dungeons-and-Dragons-style game. They needed to write down their character attributes between sessions to continue play; Cirillo's patch automates save and resume. Provides lines 16–155 to add to the front of the program (asks for the player's name, opens BAMUTILITY<NAME>, reads PS/PSM/PI/PIM/PD/PDM/PB/PBM/EXP/GOLD/BANK/BSS/BSI/BSD/BSB/BSE, then 7 MI() values), plus lines 20530–20580 in BAM1 to write the same fields out. The name "BAMUTILITY" allows multi-player saves. Warning: save BEFORE descending so monsters get a fair chance.

"APPLE Programming With Style" (pages 5–6) — John L. Moon

A reflective programming-style essay. Topics: - Program structure model for Integer BASIC: line 10 GOTO 30000; 100–19999 subroutines; 20000–29999 main; 30000+ data init; 31000 GOTO 20000; 31100+ end-of-program REM documentation - Subroutines first for speed; main last because user input dominates anyway - Menu interpreters: reserve option 0 for "return to BASIC"; validate input; avoid GOTO 1000+I (breaks on renumber); prefer IF I=1 THEN GOSUB nnn chains - For single-keystroke menus, use a Monitor Get-Character routine (his earlier ML interface article) rather than PEEK(-16384) for portability - String-input menus (matching prefixes of ZHELP$, etc.) as a friendlier alternative - Document inside the program as end-of-file REM comments referencing line-range and function (REM 110-130 SUB TO INPUT AND CONVERT TO HEXADECIMAL)

A nice piece of 1979 software-engineering thinking aimed at hobbyists.

Minutes of NOVAPPLE 8/8/79 (page 6) — Gerald Eskelund

Jim Nielson (NOVAPPLE president) announces: - Aug 23: assembly-language programming - Sep 12: demonstration of The Source - Starting October: meetings alternate between Computerland Vienna (2nd Wed) and Computers Plus Franconia (4th Thu) - Elections in October - Dues: $6 per half year

Program: Bill Kennedy on Structured Programming. Kennedy traces the 60s/70s emergence of structured programming, the 75–80% maintenance burden, the rising cost of software vs. falling cost of hardware, and the proof that all programs can be reduced to three constructs (DO list, branch, loop), or the extended set of six (with IF-THEN, CASE, DO-UNTIL). "It is not easy for persons with bad habits to program using structured methods, but after being thoroughly frustrated by problems, one can be convinced of the need and utility of such methods."

Editors' Cage (page 6)

"WE NEED ARTICLES, CARTOONS, NEWS ITEMS, IDEAS, ETC." Membership reminder: $6/6 months/6 issues, +$2 postage outside US, payable to Robert Peck (Treasurer) at PO Box on cover. Plans to publish 1st week of each month going forward.

Club news / events / announcements

• PO Box 34511 Washington DC 20034 established
• The Source demo scheduled for Sep 12, Tysons Corner Computerland
• Next Pi meeting: August 25, GWU
• NOVAPPLE elections coming October

Notable advertisements

None this issue; the publication-list article is editorial, not paid placement.

Key quotes

• "I spent the night calling up computer bulletin boards and playing telepong instead of writing articles for this newsletter as I had promised Bernie (sorry Bernie, I already gave you my apologies on that score)." — John Moon (page 2)
• "I was discussing other possibilities with Rod Clarke at a NOVAPPLE meeting when he suggested I buy BENEATH APPLE MANOR by Don Worth (Software Factory)." — Nicholas B. Cirillo (page 4)
• "Obviously, if your purpose is to make your program so confusing that no one can figure it out, don't do any of this!" — John L. Moon (page 5)
• "It has been proven mathematically that all programs could be reduced to these 3 functions [DO list, branch, loop]." — Bill Kennedy via Gerald Eskelund (page 6)

Entities

People: John Moon, Bernard Urban, Mark L. Crosby, David Morganstein, Susan Eickmeyer, Sandy Greenfarb, Andrew Rose, Nicholas B. Cirillo, Bruce Thompson, Lee Hausman, Chuck Patten, Don Worth, Rod Clarke, Jim Nielson, Bill Kennedy, Gerald Eskelund, Alan Hill, William R. Dial, Bob Bishop, Jim Manley, Hersch Pilloff, Hayden Porter, Howard Richoux Topics: Modems and Telecommunications, Computer Bulletin Board Systems, Apple Programming Style, Structured Programming, Saving Game State, Hard Disk for Apple, Apple Software Publishing References: AMRAD CBBS, D.C. Hayes Micromodem, The Source, CORVUS Systems, SubLogic, AMPER-SORT, MICRO Magazine, Washington Amateur Computer Society, Beneath Apple Manor, Software Factory, MUSE, Instant Software, Softape, Appleseed, NewWare, Software Central, Auto ROM, IDS Printer

Connections to other issues

• Continues telecom thread from 1979-06 — V01 N05 (Cluster/One, Applenet)
• NOVAPPLE structured-programming theme echoes Moon's "Programming with Style" piece (same issue, same theme)
• Cirillo's Beneath Apple Manor save-resume builds on his PIMS conversion technique in 1979-06 — V01 N05

Open questions

• Will any of the three local CBBSes survive into the next year's coverage? Watch for follow-ups.
• Did Lee Hausman ever come to a Pi meeting to present his Apple CBBS as Moon hoped?