December 1988 — Vol 10 No 12

Cover note: "Congratulations On Your Tenth Anniversary, Washington Apple Pi" — year-end cover honors the Feb 1979 founding.

Overview

Robert C. Platt President. Year-end closing of Vol 10; cover congratulates the Pi on its Tenth Anniversary (formal anniversary issue follows in 1989-01 — V11 N01). Strong roundup of Mac and Apple II features. Articles (the page-2 ToC uses topical sections, not author-first): Computer Programs and Cognitive Learning Styles: Pt 2 (Linda Van Zee, 17) — concludes the 1988-11 — V10 N11 series. Foxbase+/Mac (31) — review of Microsoft's Mac port of FoxBASE (xBase). Taylor Pohlman and GS Basic: Pt 2 (68) — concludes the Pohlman Apple-Cupertino interview from Nov. Exploring Fractals and Chaos: Six Programs Reviewed (72) — one of the largest single Pi pieces this year; six fractal/chaos titles reviewed (likely Raymond Hobbs / Larry Feldman area). Software Reviews section: GEOS (27), GAP/Publish II Revisited (28), AppleWorks GS Pt 1 (30), Mathview Professional ("In Search of a Little Number Crunching", 55). Hardware Reviews: Cirrus 60 MB Hard Disk (27), PC Transporter (22) — Applied Engineering's IBM-emulator card for the Apple II family. Games: Sargon 4 (25), GS Hardball (26), Wizardry 5 (29), Balance of Power — 1990 Edition (38). Comment: FirST, LaST, or GliTZ (24); How to Think of a Catchy Title (24); Macinations: What's NeXT Apple? (58) — Robb Wolov on Steve Jobs' new NeXT Computer launched October 1988. Tutorial section: HyperCard Scripting Error Correction (34), On HyperCard Part 5: HyperCard and CASE Tools (Kenneth Knight, 50), Writing XCMDs in Lightspeed C (52), MacNovice (62), Mac Q&A (64), Apple Q&A (48). Regulars: The Musical Apple: Symphony Orchestra in a Box (19) — early Apple-as-music-workstation piece. Best of the TCS (40, 60), IIGS Stuff (41), Bits & Bytes (47), On the Trail of Apple /// (66), Disketeria (80).

Highlights

Cover congratulations — Pi turns 10

The Dec 1988 cover is a hand-drawn art piece thanking the club. Formal 10th Anniversary content runs in 1989-01 — V11 N01 with Platt's history article and full officer roster.

★ Macinations: What's NeXT Apple? — Robb Wolov

Wolov reflects on Steve Jobs' NeXT Computer (launched Oct 12, 1988) and what it means for Apple. The Pi's first sustained NeXT mention; given Pi was Steve-Wozniak-friendly territory (Woz was a regular Pi guest), the Jobs/NeXT framing carries weight.

Exploring Fractals and Chaos: Six Programs Reviewed

A 6-product fractal/chaos roundup — Pi was actively covering Mandelbrot-set math in the late 80s/early 90s. Mandelbrot was a household name after the 1986 BYTE August issue made fractals popular.

PC Transporter

Applied Engineering's IBM-PC-on-a-card for the Apple // family. The Apple II's continued relevance into 1988 hinged partly on such hybrid hardware (and was a Pi members' favorite given mixed-platform offices).

HyperCard Tutorials (Knight Pt 5)

Knight's "On HyperCard" continues with CASE Tools coverage. Writing XCMDs in Lightspeed C (THINK C / Symantec) puts Pi at the tooling cusp of HyperCard plug-in development.

Cognitive Learning Styles (Pt 2)

Van Zee concludes the two-part series with the practical/instructional-design payoff.

Entities

People: Robert C. Platt, Linda Van Zee, Kenneth Knight, Robb Wolov, Taylor Pohlman, David Ottalini, Ralph J. Begleiter, David Morganstein, Marty Milrod, Raymond Hobbs, Larry Feldman Topics: Pi Tenth Anniversary, NeXT Computer, Fractals and Chaos at Pi, HyperCard XCMDs, GS BASIC References: Foxbase+/Mac, PC Transporter, GEOS, AppleWorks GS, Mathview Professional, Wizardry 5, Balance of Power 1990, NeXT Computer, Lightspeed C

Connections to other issues

• Tenth Anniversary arc: announced 1988-11 — V10 N11 → Dec cover congrats → 1989-01 — V11 N01 10th Anniversary Issue (with Robert C. Platt history + officer roster)
• Cognitive Learning Styles: Pt 1 1988-11 — V10 N11 → Pt 2 here
• Taylor Pohlman / GS BASIC: Pt 1 1988-11 — V10 N11 → Pt 2 here
• NeXT Computer first sustained mention; recurs in Mac coverage through 1991-92
• Closes Vol 10 — Vol 11 begins with the 10th Anniversary Issue 1989-01 — V11 N01