Spectrum Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner

Author: William Tang
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 1789829534
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Book Description
First published in 1982, William Tang’s Spectrum Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner is generally considered to be the best introduction to 8-bit machine code programming ever written. With many great game writers crediting this as the book that got them started, there still is no better way to learn the language at the heart of the ZX Spectrum. * * * As the original publisher Melbourne House wrote: If you are frustrated by the limitations of BASIC and want to write faster, more powerful, space-saving programs or subroutines, Spectrum Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner is the book for you. Even with no previous experience of computer languages, you will be able to discover the ease and power of the Spectrum's own language. Each chapter includes specific examples of machine language applications which can be demonstrated and used on your Spectrum as well as a self-test questionnaire. At the end of the book, all this is brought together in an entire machine language program - from design right through to the complete listing of an exciting, original arcade game. * * * Acorn Books is proud to present its Retro Reproduction Series, a collection of classic computing works from the 1980s and 90s, lovingly reproduced in the 21st century. From standards of programming reference no self-respecting microcomputer programmer would be without, to obscure works not found in print anywhere else, these modern reprints are perfect for any connoisseur of retro computing.

ZX Spectrum Games Code Club

Author: Gary Plowman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780993474453
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 128

Book Description
This book is ideal for beginner coders of 7+ years or ZX Spectrum fans that want to learn or practice building simple games. The book contains 20 fun games to type-in specifically created for this book, from Arcade classics to more wacky game ideas.

The ZX Spectrum ULA

Author: Chris Smith
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780956507105
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
This book takes the reader through the design and implementation of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum's custom chip, revealing for the first time the decisions behind its design and its hidden secrets. By using it as case study, the techniques required to design an 8-bit microcomputer are explained, along with comprehensive details of the Ferranti ULA manufacturing process. If you have ever wanted to design your own computer or wondered what was behind the most successful microcomputer of the 1980s, then this is the book for you. For the first time, the inner working of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum's custom chip and heart of the computer, the Ferranti ULA, is exposed in minute detail. Packed with over 140 illustrations and circuit diagrams, this book takes the reader through the cutting edge technology that was the Ferranti ULA and the design of the ZX Spectrum home computer, illustrating the principles and techniques involved in creating a cost effective computer that required nothing more than a television set and a cassette recorder. The ZX Spectrum ULA is an essential read for the electronics hobbyist, student or electronic engineer wishing to design their own retro-style microcomputer or anyone with an interest in historical micro-electronic and digital design. All topics are explained in simple yet precise terms, building on their careful introduction towards the full functionality presented by the Sinclair computer. Some of the topics covered are: The architecture of the standard microcomputer, Ferranti and their ULA, manufacturing process and structure, The functional layout of the ZX Spectrum ULA, Video display generation, Memory contention and timing, ZX Spectrum design bugs such as "The Snow Effect," Hidden features, ULA version differences.

The ZX Spectrum on Your PC

Author: Colin Woodcock
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 147169612X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 205

Book Description
Thirty years on from its original release, the best selling Sinclair ZX Spectrum is now one of the most emulated computers in the world. Far from dead and forgotten, a thriving community of enthusiasts has kept the spirit of this little machine alive through an enormous range of emulators for just about every modern computer platform there is. For the PC in particular, the complexity of these emulators is simply amazing. Focusing primarily on the two most user-friendly Windows emulators, Spectaculator and ZX SPIN, The ZX Spectrum on Your PC explains all the main features of these applications. Illustrated walk-throughs will teach you everything from how cassettes are emulated to how to print from your virtual Spectrum. In no time at all, you'll find yourself enjoying all the old games and activities of your youth... on your PC! New revised Second Edition includes emulating the Spectrum on your mobile device.

The Micro Kids

Author: GARY. PLOWMAN
Publisher: Gazzapper Press
ISBN: 9780993474460
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Book Description
It is November 1983 and young Billy Twist and his friends are about to discover the exciting new world of microcomputers. A nostalgic story of ZX Spectrums, Commodore 64s, Amstrads and Ataris.

Help Your Kids with Computer Coding

Author: DK
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1465431020
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 220

Book Description
Coding is covered completely in this best-selling guide for kids. Scratch and Python programming soon become child's play, thanks to vibrant visuals, simple steps, and easy explanations. Whether you're an absolute beginner wanting to try your hand at basic programming or already a computer whizz looking to develop further, this one is for you. It starts from Scratch, showing how the programming language works and explaining universal coding concepts. Soon you'll be following numbered steps to create exciting games for you and your friends to play. Next, you'll pass on to Python, building on the basics learned in Scratch to develop and modify new games in more detail. With more than 250,000 copies sold worldwide, Help Your Kids with Computer Coding is the number one resource for clever kids keen to crack coding. Series Overview: DK's bestselling Help Your Kids With series contains crystal-clear visual breakdowns of important subjects. Simple graphics and jargon-free text are key to making this series a user-friendly resource for frustrated parents who want to help their children get the most out of school.

Grand Thieves & Tomb Raiders

Author: Rebecca Levene
Publisher: Aurum
ISBN: 1781311072
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 376

Book Description
Gaming: it’s the greatest British invasion of them all. Lara Croft is an international icon and the British-born Grand Theft Auto and its spin-offs have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. The UK’s games industry is now bigger than either its cinema or its music. Yet the medium’s birth in Thatcher’s Britain was almost accidental. While politicians championed computers like the BBC Micro and the ZX Spectrum as engines of learning, it was left to a grassroots culture of amateur programmers to unlock their true potential. And from bedrooms and classrooms across the country, a brilliant profusion of innovative and idiosyncratic games soon emerged – propelling their young creators to fame, riches and, eventually, a place on the world stage. This is the story of those teenage coders – tracing their journey from the first home computers to the age of the smartphone. A mix of oddball characters, programming miracles and moral panics, Grand Thieves & Tomb Raiders reveals how the unique history of British computing led to some of the greatest games of all time.

Code the Classics Volume 1

Author: David Crookes
Publisher: Raspberry Pi Press
ISBN: 1912047217
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Book Description
Code the Classics Volume 1 not only tells the stories of some of the seminal video games of the 1970s and 1980s, but shows you how to create your own games inspired by them, following examples programmed by Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton. In this book, you'll learn how to run and edit the games in this book by installing Python, Pygame Zero, and an IDE. You'll also: Get game design tips and tricks from the masters Learn how to code your own games with Pygame Zero Explore the code listings and find out how they work You'll meet these vintage-inspired games, and learn from their code in between rounds of play: Boing!: all it took was a couple of lines and a dot, and gamers would be queuing up to play. Cavern: Enduringly popular, the platform game genre is still packed with creative possibilities. Infinite Bunner: Play around with the benefits that a top-down perspective can lend to the classic platform genre. Myriapod: Some shooters confine the gameplay to a single screen while limiting the player's movement. Restrictions can build challenge and difficulty, making for truly addictive gaming. Substitute Soccer: Top-down games of pinball-style soccer built a huge cult following and kicked off a sports genre that's still going strong.

Gaming the Iron Curtain

Author: Jaroslav Svelch
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026254928X
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 401

Book Description
How amateur programmers in 1980s Czechoslovakia discovered games as a medium, using them not only for entertainment but also as a means of self-expression. Aside from the exceptional history of Tetris, very little is known about gaming culture behind the Iron Curtain. But despite the scarcity of home computers and the absence of hardware and software markets, Czechoslovakia hosted a remarkably active DIY microcomputer scene in the 1980s, producing more than two hundred games that were by turns creative, inventive, and politically subversive. In Gaming the Iron Curtain, Jaroslav Švelch offers the first social history of gaming and game design in 1980s Czechoslovakia, and the first book-length treatment of computer gaming in any country of the Soviet bloc. Švelch describes how amateur programmers in 1980s Czechoslovakia discovered games as a medium, using them not only for entertainment but also as a means of self-expression. Sheltered in state-supported computer clubs, local programmers fashioned games into a medium of expression that, unlike television or the press, was neither regulated nor censored. In the final years of Communist rule, Czechoslovak programmers were among the first in the world to make activist games about current political events, anticipating trends observed decades later in independent or experimental titles. Drawing from extensive interviews as well as political, economic, and social history, Gaming the Iron Curtain tells a compelling tale of gaming the system, introducing us to individuals who used their ingenuity to be active, be creative, and be heard.

Remapping Cold War Media

Author: Alice Lovejoy
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253062217
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Book Description
Why were Hollywood producers eager to film on the other side of the Iron Curtain? How did Western computer games become popular in socialist Czechoslovakia's youth paramilitary clubs? What did Finnish commercial television hope to gain from broadcasting Soviet drama? Cold War media cultures are typically remembered in terms of an East-West binary, emphasizing conflict and propaganda. Remapping Cold War Media, however, offers a different perspective on the period, illuminating the extensive connections between media industries and cultures in Europe's Cold War East and their counterparts in the West and Global South. These connections were forged by pragmatic, technological, economic, political, and aesthetic forces; they had multiple, at times conflicting, functions and meanings. And they helped shape the ways in which media circulates today—from film festivals, to satellite networks, to coproductions. Considering film, literature, radio, photography, computer games, and television, Remapping Cold War Media offers a transnational history of postwar media that spans Eastern and Western Europe, the Nordic countries, Cuba, the United States, and beyond. Contributors draw on extensive archival research to reveal how media traveled across geopolitical boundaries; the processes of translation, interpretation, and reception on which these travels depended; and the significance of media form, content, industries, and infrastructures then and now.