
Computer Spacegames (1982) [pdf] - zeepzeep
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxv0SsvibDMTNlMwTi1PTlVxc2M/view
======
avmich
Here is an extremely influential game, from 1985:

00.ИПА 01.ПА 02.ИП7 03.- 04.Fx<0 05.12 06.ИПВ 07./-/ 08.÷ 09.П2 10.БП 11.36
12.ИП4 13.ИПА 14.÷ 15.F√ 16.ИП7 17.× 18.XY 19.С/П 20.П9 21.П8 22.П2 23.÷
24.ИПД 25.ИП8 26.- 27.Fx≥0 28.00 29.ПД 30.ИП5 31.+ 32.÷ 33.ИП6 34.× 35.П8
36.ИП0 37.ИП8 38.ИП9 39.Fsin 40.× 41.ИПВ 42./-/ 43.ПП 44.89 45.+ 46.П0 47.ПП
48.93 49.9 50.0 51.× 52.Fπ 53.÷ 54.ИПА 55.÷ 56.ИПС 57.+ 58.ПС 59.Fcos 60.Fx<0
61.61 62.Fx≥0 63.63 64.С/П 65.ИПВ 66.ИП8 67.ИП9 68.Fcos 69.× 70.ИП7 71.ИПА
72.÷ 73.Fx2 74.ИП4 75.× 76.- 77.ИП0 78.ПП 79.89 80.+ 81.ПВ 82.ПП 83.93 84.2
85.÷ 86.ИПА 87.+ 88.В/О 89.ИП0 90.× 91.ИПА 92.÷ 93.+ 94.ИП2 95.× 96.В/О

And a story which tells what it's about:

[https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/silicon-
revolution/ho...](https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/silicon-
revolution/how-programmable-calculators-and-a-scifi-story-brought-soviet-
teens-into-the-digital-age)

~~~
app4soft
What calc needed for this game?

~~~
avmich
The article explains the details; basically, B3-34 family - like B3-34, MK-54,
MK-56, MK-61, MK-52 will all work.

There are some emulators. A good hardware one is here:
[https://github.com/sergev/mk-61](https://github.com/sergev/mk-61) .

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themodelplumber
This book and others also found here, for those who prefer reading without PDF
download:

[https://archive.org/details/Computer_Space_Games](https://archive.org/details/Computer_Space_Games)

[https://archive.org/details/folkscanomy_computer?and%5B%5D=l...](https://archive.org/details/folkscanomy_computer?and%5B%5D=languageSorter%3A%22English%22&sort=-publicdate)

If using a smaller screen, be sure to try out the full screen, single page,
and zoom controls.

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schoenobates
During the 80's there was a great weekly magazine series published the UK
called Input Magazine. It's browsable via archive.org -

[https://archive.org/details/inputmagazine](https://archive.org/details/inputmagazine)

~~~
danielrpa
+1 to Input. I learned programming from the Brazilian version of Input, a
straight translation from the original AFAIK, which you could bind in a
branded Input hard cover (for a fee) and create a mini programming
encyclopedia.

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codeulike
These Usbourne books were great, and they really got me started. They've
released most of them for free now, see the bottom of this page:

[https://usborne.com/browse-books/features/computer-and-
codin...](https://usborne.com/browse-books/features/computer-and-coding-
books/)

e.g. Introduction co Computer Programming

[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxv0SsvibDMTUXdYTnRaTy1LLVE...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxv0SsvibDMTUXdYTnRaTy1LLVE/view)

------
tsumnia
I've actually been collecting the Usbourne books for the past couple years!
For my research on providing typing exercises to CS students, I like to use
the books as a physical prop to point out how "this was how they used to do
it" [1]. This is actually one of the issues in modern CS learning resources -
it's too easy for novices to simply copy and paste the code, so they never
really refine the mistakes made from simple syntax errors. By forcing students
to retype code, you are making them more comfortable with the keyboard and
they don't have to worry about juggling technical literacy with problem-
solving skills.

[1]
[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338659877_Typing_Ex...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338659877_Typing_Exercises_as_Interactive_Worked_Examples_for_Deliberate_Practice_in_CS_Courses)

~~~
musicale
> NB these programs don't work on modern computers.

BBC BASIC runs on most modern computers, notably the Raspberry Pi running RISC
OS (which includes BBC BASIC)

or Linux/BSD/Windows running Brandy BASIC and derivatives

or Linux/Windows/macOS/Android running the free BBC BASIC for SDL 2.0:
[http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcsdl/](http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcsdl/)

or in a web browser: [https://bbc.godbolt.org](https://bbc.godbolt.org)

~~~
xenomachina
And also on Twitter:

[https://twitter.com/bbcmicrobot](https://twitter.com/bbcmicrobot)

------
adhoc32
And kids, this is how I learned to program.

~~~
kar1181
And just look at how much simpler it is compared to modern kids programming
materials. The code is denser but there's less of it, and far far less
bootstrapping.

I think that is the killer right now, the amount of barriers to moving pixels
on the screen is very high relative to how it was for us on the 8bits.

~~~
jansan
Another killer is that kids expect much more from a computer nowadays. Being
able to move around a block on the screen was something that you could impress
your nerd friends with, but today, what can you possibly program in a few
lines of code to impress kids?

~~~
Moru
Actually kids can be pretty impressed if they did the program themselves. They
think it's all magic until they try it on their own, also makes them more
understanding for others work and bugs. Less acidic when it comes to judging
others work on the play-store.

------
DonHopkins
I sure would have loved this as a kid! It's even more fun and colorful than
Creative Computing (although it's not a monthly publication). I really used to
look forward to every issue of CC each month.

------
mrspeaker
I also loved these books as a kid. A while ago I started making a game - BASIC
Instincts - that was going to be about type-in listings and modifying your
world with code
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwBiJR_rj_w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwBiJR_rj_w))

I got the interpreter working and started creating the world... then the game
Else Heart.Break() came out and took the wind out of my sails - it did what I
was planning to do, only much better. Though it might be time to revisit it
now!

------
wzdd
One of my favourite programming books for its anyone-can-get-into-programming
optimism and for including the timeless advice "Remember, when you are trying
to work out a game, not to include anything which your computer won't be able
to do" (p38).

It's also amazing that this short volume supports (at least) 8 dialects of
BASIC. Much respect to the authors for writing mostly-portable code and then
tweaking and testing it 8 times.

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fit2rule
I had an Oric-1 in those days and cut my teeth porting the games in this book
to the Oric. The cassette tape with my work is long since perished, but I do
still have the drawings from those books burned in my brain, like a searing
brand. ;)

If I recall, the same artist also illustrated a kids "Spy" book, which was
also another favourite .. although in hindsight, a bit spookier now than it
should be.

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jimmcslim
I really wish they would release as free PDFs the Usborne Book of the Future
series. I'd also love to get my hands on PDFs of the Neil Ardley 'World of
Tomorrow' series as well!

------
aswanson
I remember the commodore blue book christmas. I went through that book in a
weekend. I could never get the sprite/gaming stuff working as they were laid
out in the book, though. Very frustrating as an 11 year old.

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CocoaGeek
This looks super familiar, I think I used the french edition back in '83!

Thanks for sharing, brings back lots of good memories!

~~~
zeepzeep
If you want to read more check out this post
[https://www.zapread.com/Post/Detail/6204/space-retro-
gaming/](https://www.zapread.com/Post/Detail/6204/space-retro-gaming/) (That's
where I stole the link.)

------
AgentME
There was a book on computers I found in my childhood that inspired me to get
into programming, and I'm really interested in finding it again. I'm convinced
it was either an Usborne book or was somehow related to the Usborne books, and
there's a lot of fans of those books around here, so I figure this thread is
probably a good place to ask around to see if anyone recognizes it.

The book had qualities in common with the books "The Usborne Young Scientist:
Computers (1992)"/"Usborne Guide to Computers (1981)" (near-identical span and
even order of topics, but this book was much less cartoony and was more
technically in-depth) and "The Usborne Book of the Future" (it contained some
pages like
[https://miro.medium.com/max/1920/1*M9yzYC6k154ODT0k0SiYMg.jp...](https://miro.medium.com/max/1920/1*M9yzYC6k154ODT0k0SiYMg.jpeg)
with same style of illustration and lots of descriptions about the items in
the illustration) but the book was none of those. The book wasn't dedicated to
showing off program code, but it did have a bit of BASIC on one page, it
contained descriptions of logic gates, and it even had a half-adder circuit,
which I remember copying each of into my notebook and simulating on paper. I
think the book was either based on or was a precursor to "Usborne Guide to
Computers (1981)", but I haven't been able to get any further than that. I've
written a lot more of a description from what I remember at
[https://tildes.net/~talk/is4/whats_one_thing_you_havent_been...](https://tildes.net/~talk/is4/whats_one_thing_you_havent_been_able_to_find_online_no_matter_how_hard_you_tried#comment-446k).

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mysterydip
Look at all the art in that book. It makes programming look so exciting and
fun!

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NovemberWhiskey
I had this exact book; remember typing some of these in on my Spectrum!

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teddyh
Hmm, I think I own this book. _rummages_ Indeed, here it is.

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elvyscruz
Great book, Thank you..

