December 1987 — Vol 9 No 12
Source
Open original PDF • December 1987 • Vol 9 No 12 • 100 pages • $2
Overview
Tom Warrick continues as President — closes Vol 9 / Calendar 1987. ★★★★ BILL ATKINSON VISITS PI — "HyperCard Author at Special Meeting" (Cynthia Yockey, p56) + "Q & A with Bill Atkinson" (Robert C. Platt, p57). Bill Atkinson — original Macintosh team member, author of MacPaint, creator of HyperCard — visited Pi at a special meeting late 1987. This is one of the most historically significant Pi guest appearances (alongside Wozniak 1981 + 1986, Mossberg ongoing, Andy Hertzfeld bylines). ★ "A Simple Script for HyperCard" (Rick Chapman, p60) — Chapman's hands-on HyperCard programming. ★★ "CMS SD-80 Group Buy: A Review" (Eric Rall, p81) — Eric Rall's first Pi byline. Rall becomes Pi President August 1990 - 1991 (per 1990-08 — V12 N08 "Picking up the reins/reigns/rains") and famously launches the System 7 Hitchhiker's Guide series. This is his entry point. ★ "AV-SIG News" (Jay Williams, p52) — Audio-Visual SIG column launches. ★ "On-Line Offerings" (Pat Kirby, p36) + "Computer Learning Month: Oct. 24 Meeting" (Pat Kirby, p37) — Kirby education focus. ★ "Volunteer Profiles" (Peter Combes, p46) — Platt's series continues with Combes profile. "C and the Apple ][" (John T. Bell, p26) — first sustained Pi C-language piece for Apple II. "Print Shop for the Apple //gs: A Review" (Chuck Ward, p22). "Sensible Grammar (Apple II)" + "Printrix (Apple II)" + "Ramup 3.0 (Apple II)" — three Bob Oringel reviews (pp 24-25). "Tech Tidbits: A Reprint from Apple, Inc." (p18). "GameSIG Suggestions for Santa" (Steven Payne, p38). "Historical Chronology of Computers" (Joseph A. Hasson, p42) — Hasson's computing-history piece. "A Long Word Wiser" (John A. Love III, p64). "dPub SIG Meeting Report" (Cynthia Yockey, p52) — Yockey continues from Nov. "MacMoney Part 3: Version 3.0" (Chuck Sicard, p83). "MacNovice: Macintosh Filing Maze" (Ralph J. Begleiter, p54). "Excelling on Your Mac: Part 16" (David Morganstein, p72). "View from the Hill" (Rich Norling, p80). "Apple II News and Notes" (Walt Mossberg — present in Vol 9 N12 per pattern).
Table of contents (selected)
| Article | Author | Page |
|---|---|---|
| President's Corner | Tom Warrick | 4 |
| IIGS Stuff | Ted Meyer | 8 |
| IIGS SIG Meeting Report | Ted Meyer | 9 |
| Q & A | Robert C. Platt & Bruce F. Field | 14 |
| Tech Tidbits: A Reprint from Apple, Inc. | — | 18 |
| Print Shop for the Apple //gs: A Review | Chuck Ward | 22 |
| Sensible Grammar (Apple II): A Review | Bob Oringel | 24 |
| Printrix (Apple II): A Review | Bob Oringel | 24 |
| Ramup 3.0 (Apple II): A Review | Bob Oringel | 25 |
| PI-SIG News | Robert Golden | 25 |
| ★ C and the Apple ][ | John T. Bell | 26 |
| The Musical Apple | Raymond Hobbs | 28 |
| Music SIG News | Raymond Hobbs | 31 |
| Best of the Apple Items from TCS | Alexander Barnes | 32 |
| On-Line Offerings | Pat Kirby | 36 |
| Computer Learning Month: Oct. 24 Meeting | Pat Kirby | 37 |
| GameSIG News | Steven Payne | 38 |
| GameSIG Suggestions for Santa | Steven Payne | 38 |
| On the Trail of the Apple /// | David Ottalini | 39 |
| Historical Chronology of Computers | Joseph A. Hasson | 42 |
| Views and Reviews | Raymond Hobbs | 44 |
| Stock SIG News | Andrew D. Thompson | 46 |
| Volunteer Profiles | Peter Combes | 46 |
| WAP Acrostic | Dana J. Schwartz | 51 |
| dPub SIG Meeting Report | Cynthia Yockey | 52 |
| ★ AV-SIG News | Jay Williams | 52 |
| MacNovice: Macintosh Filing Maze | Ralph J. Begleiter | 54 |
| ★★★★ HyperCard Author at Special Meeting | Cynthia Yockey | 56 |
| ★★★★ Q & A with Bill Atkinson | Robert C. Platt | 57 |
| ★ A Simple Script for HyperCard | Rick Chapman | 60 |
| A Long Word Wiser | John A. Love III | 64 |
| Softviews | David Morganstein | 68 |
| Excelling on Your Mac: Part 16 | David Morganstein | 72 |
| Bits and Bytes | Lynn R. Trusal | 76 |
| View from the Hill | Rich Norling | 80 |
| ★★ CMS SD-80 Group Buy: A Review | Eric Rall | 81 |
| Developer's View | Bill Hole | 82 |
| Pascal News | Robert C. Platt | 83 |
| MacMoney Part 3: Version 3.0 | Chuck Sicard | 83 |
| Best of the Mac Items from TCS | Bill Baldridge | 84 |
| Mac Disketeria News | Marty Milrod & Dave Weikert | 91 |
Highlights
★★★★ Bill Atkinson visits Pi
Bill Atkinson — original Macintosh team member, author of MacPaint, creator of HyperCard (just released August 1987) — visits Pi for a special meeting. Yockey writes the meeting recap; Platt does the Q&A. This is one of the most historically significant Pi guest appearances; alongside Wozniak (1981-06 — V03 N06 + 1984-01 — V06 N01 + 1986-08 — V08 N08) and Hertzfeld (multiple 1985-1986 bylines), Atkinson rounds out Pi's direct connections to the original Mac team.
★★ Eric Rall debuts
Rall's first Pi byline is a CMS SD-80 (hard disk) group-buy review. He becomes recurring contributor through 1988-1989 and President August 1990 - 1991 — famously authoring the System 7 Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy (Jun-Aug 1991) and the "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish" farewell (1991-09 — V13 N09).
A Simple Script for HyperCard — Rick Chapman
Chapman shows working HyperTalk script. HyperCard had launched Aug 1987; Pi's HyperCard SIG launched Oct (1987-10 — V09 N10); by Dec the working-script tutorials begin.
AV-SIG News — Jay Williams
Audio-Visual SIG (mentioned Oct 1987 1987-10 — V09 N10) gets its first column.
Entities
People: Tom Warrick, Bill Atkinson, Cynthia Yockey, Robert C. Platt, Rick Chapman, Eric Rall, Jay Williams, Pat Kirby, Peter Combes, John T. Bell, Joseph A. Hasson, Walt Mossberg, Ted Meyer, Chuck Ward, Bob Oringel, Robert Golden, Raymond Hobbs, Alexander Barnes, Steven Payne, David Ottalini, Andrew D. Thompson, Dana J. Schwartz, Ralph J. Begleiter, John A. Love III, David Morganstein, Lynn R. Trusal, Rich Norling, Bill Hole, Chuck Sicard, Bill Baldridge, Marty Milrod, Dave Weikert, Bruce F. Field, Arthur Baron Topics: Bill Atkinson at Pi, Eric Rall at Pi, HyperCard SIG, Pi Audio-Visual SIG, Computer Learning Month, Pi Original Mac Team Connections References: HyperCard, CMS SD-80, Print Shop IIGS, Sensible Grammar, MacMoney 3.0, Tech Tidbits
Connections to other issues
- ★★★★ Bill Atkinson visit — most historically significant Pi guest of late 1987
- ★★ Eric Rall debut — becomes Pi President 1990-1991
- HyperCard SIG (1987-10 — V09 N10) + HyperCard News (1987-11 — V09 N11) + A Simple Script (this) — HyperCard trifecta closes Vol 9
- Closes Vol 9 / Calendar 1987; Vol 10 opens Jan 1988 (1988-01 — V10 N01) with HyperCard SIG + Anomalies as established