Interviews

Scott Ballantyne: Blazin' Into Forth

Jim Lawless
Originally published in Commodore Hacking electronic magazine #15, April 1998 In the early 70’s, Charles Moore designed one of the most powerful computing languages known. This language, Forth, was very different from the traditional procedural languages. Forth is a language which allows the programmer to change most any facet of the language they wish ( including syntax extensions ). Forth’s rapid acceptance on 8-bit microcomputers stemmed from the fact that it took a relatively small amount of memory to properly implement the language.

An Interview with Tom Zimmer: Forth System Developer

Jim Lawless
This post was formerly hosted at a couple of my other blogs. I’ve moved it here. It was originally posted in 2000. If you’ve ever used a Forth compiler, chances are you’ve heard the name Tom Zimmer. Tom’s been a staple in the Forth community for a few decades. Tom developed a number of Forth systems for popular 8-bit microcomputers that dominated the home-computer market in the 80’s. Tom is the creator of the freeware Win32Forth system.

Jim Butterfield : The Commodore Guru

Jim Lawless
Originally published in the Commodore Hacking (C=Hacking) electronic magazine #14, November 1996. This post has been reprinted in Commodore Free magazine and other e-magazines. Jim Butterfield passed away on June 29th, 2007 after a long battle with cancer. I grieve with the family and the legions of techies who looked upon Jim as a mentor via his articles and ongoing contact with the Commodore community. Rest in peace, Mr. Butterfield.

Speaking with Don French : The Man Behind the French Silk Assembler Tools

Jim Lawless
Originally posted 5-21-2004. In the early days of 8-bit computing, a programmer’s most often-used tool was the assembler. Due to memory constraints, many of the early 8-bit machines could not run a full assembler. At best, one could hope for some sort of machine-language monitor that would include a mini-assembler and a disassembler. That was … until Don French came along and implemented a symbolic assembler on the unexpanded VIC-20.

An Interview with Game Developer James Hague

Jim Lawless
This post was originally published in 1999. Being a bit of a video-game and classic computer enthusiast, I recently purchased the electronic book Halcyon Days - Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers. Note: In 2002, this book was made available to read freely here: https://www.dadgum.com/halcyon The author of the book, James Hague, is himself a game developer. Since I noticed that his complete bio was missing from the text, I asked if he’d permit me to interview him.