July-August 1981 — Vol 3 No 7

Overview

First combined summer issue in Pi's history (a pattern that will dominate the bimonthly era from 1995 onward). Howard Lefkowitz returns as Advertising Manager (joins masthead alongside Dick Elkins on Group Purchases). Sandy Greenfarb heads to the Far East "with plenty of apple seeds in his pocket." Big technical content: Dana Schwartz's HUFFIN (Pascal → DOS text-file conversion); a "Puffin" piece by Dr. Wo promised next month for the reverse; Hersch Pilloff's Exponentially Weighted Moving Average as Digital Filter; Sara LaVilla's review of Mindstorms by Seymour Papert (Logo + children); and a notable family contribution: "Edu-Apple" by Tom Van Flandern, Brian Van Flandern, and Kevin Van Flandern — father and two sons.

Table of contents

Articles

Editorial (page 3) — Bernard Urban

"Shameless! Absolutely shameless!" Urban jokes about the "Huffin" and "Puffin" title pair. Huffin (Pascal → DOS text) by Dana Schwartz in this issue; "Puffin" (reverse direction) by Dr. Wo coming in August. Rumor: Dr. Who? has "Wheezin" in the works. "Literature, if that's what this is, surely mirrors life."

Continues last month's farewell to outgoing officers. Sandy Greenfarb heads to the Far East "with plenty of apple seeds in his pocket." Hersch Pilloff continues as contributor (FFT/digital-filter article in this issue). Robert Peck continues as Membership Chair after time as Treasurer — "a special 'thank you' for all those hours keeping the club's books and initiating our group purchase program."

Officer / staff update (page 3)

Howard Lefkowitz returns as Advertising Manager — previously had been Group Purchases coord (now Dick Elkins's role).

"TXFiler Program Correction" (page 5) — Bruce F. Field

Correction to a previously published Field utility.

"President's Corner" (page 6) — David Morganstein

Morganstein's second column. Likely covers summer outreach, library refresh, IAC connections.

"An Apple Cooler" (page 6) — Jay M. Thal

Cover-highlight area. A DIY cooling solution for the Apple II — heat issues being a real concern with packed peripheral cards.

"HUFFIN (Pascal to DOS Text File Conversion)" (page 7) — Dana Schwartz

Cover-highlight. Utility to convert Pascal text files into DOS text files — solving a real interoperability headache. Dr. Wo's "PUFFIN" (reverse direction) coming in the August issue.

"Edu-Apple" (page 12) — Tom Van Flandern, Brian Van Flandern, Kevin Van Flandern

Cover-highlight. Father-and-sons family contribution — likely an educational software piece or family Apple usage report. The Van Flanderns join the Hodder, Urban (Eric/Greg), and Philipp families as multi-generational Pi contributors.

"DOS Track/Sector to Pascal Block Conversion Chart" (page 14) — Dana Schwartz

Quick-reference chart for the DOS↔Pascal disk-format conversion problem.

"Binary Word Pattern Printer" (page 15) — Howie Mitchell

Cover-highlight. Pattern-printing utility — likely for visualizing binary data.

"The Exponentially Weighted Moving Average as a Digital Filter" (pages 19–22) — Hersch Pilloff

Companion to Bruce Field's FFT article (Sept 1980) — Pilloff's EWMA digital filter treatment for Apple-based signal processing. Builds on his stock-market data work.

"Book Review: Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas" (page 23) — Sara LaVilla

Review of Seymour Papert's seminal Mindstorms — the book that introduced Logo to a mass audience and argued for computers as "objects to think with." A landmark publication; LaVilla's review brings it to Pi's educational community.

"Apple Related Publications" (page 25) — William Dial

Update of Dial's recurring directory of Apple-related publications (last seen August 1979 in Pi).

Classifieds (page 3)

• Dan Paymar Chip $30 (Fred Schultz)
• Donation: 300-baud acoustic coupler wanted for Fort Howard VA Hospital (Carl Bauer)
• Apple Comm Card $125, AJ acoustic coupler $125 (Hersch Pilloff)

Club news / events / announcements

• Combined July/August summer issue
• July meeting: July 25; August meeting: August 22
• Sandy Greenfarb departs for the Far East

Notable advertisements

• Computerland Tysons Corner (page 2)

Key quotes

• "Shameless! Absolutely shameless! Imagines a pair of articles entitled 'Huffin' and 'Puffin'." — Bernard Urban (page 3)
• "Sandy Greenfarb is on his way to the Far East with plenty of apple seeds in his pocket." — Bernard Urban (page 3)

Entities

People: David Morganstein, Mark L. Crosby, Dana Schwartz, Jesse Wagstaff, John Moon, Nancy Philipp, Rich Wasserstrom, Bernard Urban, Genevie Urban, Bob Peck, Dick Elkins, Howard Lefkowitz, Sandy Greenfarb, Hersch Pilloff, Bruce F. Field, Sara LaVilla, Jay Thal, Howie Mitchell, William Dial, Tom Van Flandern, Brian Van Flandern, Kevin Van Flandern, Fred Schultz, Carl Bauer Topics: Pascal-DOS File Conversion, Apple Cooling, Digital Filters on Apple, Logo and Mindstorms, Edu-Apple References: Mindstorms Book, Seymour Papert, Dan Paymar Chip

Connections to other issues

• Hersch Pilloff's digital-filter piece extends the FFT line from Field's Sept 1980 article (1980-09 — V02 N09)
• "Puffin" companion to "Huffin" announced for August
• Mindstorms ties to EDSIG's growing influence
• Van Flandern family follows the family-contribution pattern (Urbans' Eric/Greg, Philipps, Hodders)

Open questions

• Did Sandy Greenfarb continue contributing from the Far East?
• Was "Wheezin" by Dr. Who? actually published?