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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Fri Mar 12, 2021 10:27 am

I’m not a programmer, but code can be beautiful.

1 single line of BASIC code in only 40 columns; happy Friday everyone:



P.S.

A friend of mine here in Seattle refurbished my beloved old 1702 last week. He made it look utterly brand new! Completely cleaned inside and out, and not a moment too soon. Little did I know the Lurking Horror that was waiting to stab me in the heart any day now.

And now, with a full recap, here's to the next several years (hopefully).
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User avatar
JoeUser
Dallas, TX

Posted Fri Mar 12, 2021 10:52 am

Ewww! Glad those caps were caught!

Hmm, reminder to take a quick inspection of my 1084S, and soon...

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Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Mon Mar 15, 2021 7:45 am

Heh, I always loved that one liner. In case you havent seen it there is a book on the subject:

10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10 (Software Studies) by Nick Montfort

I bought a few years back for $18, looks like it has gone up almost double.

👍👍 Two thumbs up for the music in the vid.

As to the 1702, glad to hear yours is refurbed. Man I really need to inspect the caps in mine and my 1084. That is a big job as there are a lot of caps if I recall. I hate working on CRTs for the HV factor, even though I know how to discharge, I still don't like it. Does you friend happen to have a BOM or a caps list for the 1702? I can find it all out myself but it is so much faster if one already exists.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:26 am

It's funny you mention that book, ZZ. I actually saw a picture of a guy holding it yesterday on (iirc) a Thimbleweed Park forum of some sort. I instantly recognized the cover, as it is the commodore blue and that distinctive white pattern! So I started looking around to see who still published it. Best price I could find was $35. So it and one other book are sitting in my cart, which I've left there for now. But I'll probably look to getting them so I have something to read over spring break.

I'm not a programmer - do you think the book would be interesting for me to read?

Fun side-note. I also discovered over the weekend how to add a 2nd line of BASIC to the program to insert random colors to the "walls" which looks really nice.

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Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:34 pm

Yeah it's technical and I am certainly not a first string programmer either but not a novice. I find the book interesting for sure. It really is a discussion of that one line of code including many variants and explorations of it on on other platforms including Apple, IBM, etc. Also in other languages including JavaScript, Perl, etc.

Personally I don't see it as a reading straight through kind of book but it has some cool discussions. And I have only read bits and pieces here and there.

I bought it when it was $18 and mainly because I always remembered the one liner and like you the color of the book and the font were unmistakable. But if it was $35 I am not sure. I think I would probably wait for it to go on sale if it were that price when I first got it in 2016.

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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Mar 15, 2021 4:10 pm

OK I’m glad I asked. Thanks for the insights!

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dddaaannn

Posted Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:09 pm

The book is cool. It's an arty academic text, which is why it's pricey (MIT Press). It's written for a non-technical audience, a collection of articles on tech, art, and history. A couple of the articles walk through program listings but do so at a slow pace for non-programmers. It's meant to be of general interest.

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fxgogo
Twickenham , U.K.

Posted Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:29 am

I picked up a digital copy for free at some point. Not sure where though.

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primitivefunction

Posted Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:08 pm

Ooh, an Eames DCW and a Commodore 1702 in the same shot!

Glad you got those nasty caps out in time. Makes me nervous about my CRTs, none of which have been opened, let alone recapped.





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