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.
I was a little choked up when I read Andrew Binstock’s post Farewell, Dr. Dobb’s :
http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/farewell-dr-dobbs/240169421
The articles in the magazine were a powerful influence on the quality of my technical skills.
In early 1987, I was in the final quarter of a vocational/technical programming curriculum. I would soon be out looking for gainful employment as a computer programmer. I read a fair number of computer magazines at the time, but most specialized in the Commodore 64 family of computers.
When I first began using microcomputers in the late 1970’s, development tools for 8-bit machines were precious and mysterious commodities. Most of these sorts of tools that looked to be useful were very expensive. My usage of most of these tools was driven by budgetary constraints.
The Gateway Drug : BASIC
All it really took to pique someone’s interest in microcomputers was to show them a simple program such as:
My introduction to the world of electronic bulletin-board systems ( BBS’s ) began in the mid-1980’s.
One evening, my friend John called to say that he’d gotten a modem for his Commodore 64. On a whim, I went to Sears and spent over $60 for the same 300 baud “dumb” VIC-1600 modem. This modem was marketed for the VIC-20, but it worked with the C64 as well. It lacked the auto-answer/auto-dial features that were present in the 1650 modem.
I was a senior in high-school in the mid-1980’s when I first encountered a dialect of the Forth programming language. I was quite familiar with BASIC and Z-80 assembly-language and was just beginning to hand-assemble some 6502 code.
One of my instructors brought in King Microware Tiny Forth for the Commodore 64 computer in her lab.
I was intrigued, at first, and tried to tinker with Forth. The booklet that came with Tiny Forth described the following line of code that I was supposed to enter at the OK prompt: