8 BIT SOFTWARE
Constructive comments on programs
published by 8BS are always welcome.
Here are a few:
From : 3PM (DP-J)
Program: Ftblpls by Roy Dickens
A nice approach- can never be bothered
with pics. myself!. Line 1810, why 101
elements? Delete it and put Line 1945
DIM B%(selections). Thats all the
elements needed for that subtle
algorithm at Lines 1990 to 2060. Add
en=dr to line 2030 ie
....THENen=dr:dr=dr-1:l=1
to curtail excessive looping within the
FOR/en loop after a duplicated random
no. has been detected. I know these
points don't matter for this particular
prog. but it demonstrates that even
simple loops are not always what they
appear at first sight. Ive done an
extract from the prog to play with. CH.
"Ftbl" ......
See "What's in this issue" for further
details
From : 0E7
Program: Various
Issue 27 On !BOOT the heading states issue 25
(Yes I looked a few times to verify
this.) and on the menu header issue 27.
Digitised pictures
These were not of very good quality on
my TV screen and being in B&W did not
enhance them.
Graphics curves The curves that can be obtained from
mathematical formula are way beyond
what the figures themselves ever did/do
for me. I could watch them all day just
as I can the formulae except they do
not move.
Graphics spin Nice masses of colour in the initial
stages but it is a pity that once the
colours start to revolve that we seem
to loose so much colour.
Train Always wanted to control one of these.
Now at the press of a key it is within
my power. DON'T YOU JUST LOVE BEING IN
CONTROL.
Mazes
I have a similar prog to this out of a
mag and this one is on a par. I do not
think that much variation in these
programmes can be achieved as the
subject matter is too fixed. The only
improvement I can think of to this one
is that the map is in constant display
so that players like myself can easily
achieve what is otherwise virtually the
impossible.
Snake Another well worked theme that is very
difficult to add any originality to.
Supreme I expect that this is a SUPREME
programme but far too many key options
for me to be able to play without
having an f-key strip and about six
weeks learning time.
Comic Strip I got a bit bored with the snakes but I
think the end piece is the piece de
resistance I would get rid of the
snakes and just keep the boids and of
course the car.
CanCan
I like the clear cut graphics and sound
of this musical etude very much. Very
clever but what a let down when the
programme is 'RUN'. Where oh where are
Les girls. I wanna see Les girls. How
about it?. If that could be achieved
you have a world wide winner and if
they can do the CanCan Ooh la la!!!!.
Time Tester This is the best of its class I have
seen. What a pity I dont have sound. I
would just love to hear the time.
Eoff! An excellent effort you have saved me
days of retyping.
Sort One of many demos of this kind but of
top quality. I like the menu
presentation and the printout of the
time taken. I find it very easy to
compare different sort times with this
programme which is a plus over its
competitors.
From : 15A
Program : Comic Strip
I thought this was excellent. The only
problem was that the FOR-NEXT loop
around PROCtwinsnakes had its NEXT
command inside PROCtwinsnakes (line
2030). Perhaps this was intentional,
and it ran fine except under BASIC V on
the Archimedes, which is how I noticed
it. Was it just a slip, or does it do
something I haven't noticed?
From : L1L
ISSUES 26 & 27 Sound Envelopes Explained by the Brown Envelope Thankyou for the explanation, in simple
terms. Points clarified like this are
most welcome. That is, the small but
initially hard to grasp concepts and
ideas for the novice programmer. The
Envelope Editor by C.J.Richardson was a
very appropriate piece of complementary
software. The inclusion of several
instruments should prove quite useful
to those with musical interests.
Perhaps a library of instruments and
sound effects could be created for the
TBI pool.
Guess Who A good and simple layout. A good
implementation of the common board-type
game. Smooth flowing gameplay also.
Program Parachute A good idea but needs improvement. Can
the movement of the rower be made
slightly faster. As is, one cannot
easily reach the parachutist even in
the early stages of the game. Perhaps
there could be two skill levels - one
fast and one slow game.
Battleships
This is the best version I have seen.
Having a QUIET tune running in the
background for the preliminary screens,
is an excellent touch and quite
enjoyable. It also plays a decent game.
One problem is that the computer
accuses you of cheating if you
accidentally say it hit your ship when
it has actually been sunk. I don't know
how this can be fixed but it is only a
slight fault in an otherwise great
game.
Joker 1.10 HA! HA! I enjoyed this program. I
didn't have the patience to wait for
the jokes to load in the original
version. Now, with greatly reduced
loading time I have been able to delve
into this program. A new and original
idea, well done. Perhaps a future
update with a whole new batch of jokes.
Wordsearch Solver 1+2 These both worked on my Model B (under
DFS). They complement the earlier
wordsearch creation programs rather
nicely.
Function Key Strip Programs There are some real gems here. Good,
simple and SHORT, but useful utilities.
I have made use of the utility that
gives the values for use in defining a
graphics screen using VDU 28, .
Comic Strip
I liked this. It is much better than a
lot of other text based humour found on
computers because it makes use of the
graphics capabilities of the computer.
Apart from large quantities of jokes
such as found in Joker, text only based
jokes may as well be on paper.
Raytraced pictures from Issue 27 These do look good on a TV with the
colour turned down! More of such
screens would be welcome. An article on
exactly how such pictures are ported
from other computers would also be
interesting.
Clock Very nicely presented and it uses
SPEECH! Are there any other utilities
or programs using SPEECH! lying around
out there. ...EDITOR.... 3 ON CJR-01!
From : 20G (Roy Dickens)
Program : Various
Presenting Programs 5 More good menu programs and ideas from
Steven. I like the way alternative
ideas are shown and the for and
against.
Warrington Music.
Nice collection of tunes on one menu
but I think I shall have to study John
Ilsley's (27N) Sound Control article a
bit to quieten it down!
Time Tutor. (2J3) Clever program with a lot of thought.
Would be OK with a collection of
programs on a disc for children
commercially.
BLAM!