Byte (March 1981)

Byte (March 1981)

Computer magazines have been around for a really long time. Or may I should say 'were' at this point as you can find no general computer magazines on the shelf these days. Anyway, Byte was first published starting in 1975. This issue is from March 1981 which was still roughly six months before the IBM PC was introduced. There were still plenty of home computers from Commodore, Atari, Apple and others as well as numerous CP/M based machines and other unique computers. This issue weighs in at almost 400 pages and includes:

Features

• Structured Programming and Structured Flowcharts - An introduction to structured programming which could be accomplished in virtually any language with a goto statement.


• Build the Disk-80: Memory Expansion and Floppy-Disk Control - A do-it-yourself hardware project in which you build an expansion interface for the TRS-80 model I that includes both expanded memory (up to 32K) and a floppy disk controller.


• Three-Dimensional Computer Graphics, Part 1 - The part in a series on generating 3D polygonal graphics. Mostly this goes over the math involved.


• What is Good Documentation? - A guide to producing good hardware and software documentation with minimal jargon.


• A Beginner's Guide to Spectral Analysis, Part 2 - Part 1 introduced ideas behind the Fourier transform. This part extends those ideas into two-dimensional space. Includes examples in 6502 machine-language.

_{Table of Contents from the March 1981 issue of Byte}

Reviews

• The Micro Matrix Photopoint Light Pen - Light pens were once a popular way to interface with a computer. Ultimately, the mouse took over that roll. This review looks at one such light pen and some software that supports it.


• What's Inside Radio Shack's Color Computer? - A detailed and technical look at the then new Tandy Color Computer. The Color Computer featured the partially 16-bit MC6809E CPU and up to 16K. While Radio Shack supported the Color Computer for more than a decade, it never really gained the popularity of machines like the Apple II, Atari 400/800, Commodore 64, VIC-20, etc. There are no good sales numbers but best guess seems to be that about 500,000 units were sold all the CoCo models combined. I had a neighbor that had a Coco 3 back in the day.

Nucleus

• Editorial: Is This Really Necessary? - An editorial on design techniques.


• Letters - Letters from readers about technical writing, Intel's educational products, SuperBrain upgrade costs, muSIMP for the TRS-80 Model I, and more.


• Programming Quickies - Short BASIC programs for computing the determinant of a Matrix and displaying constellations.


• Languages Forum: A Coding Sheet for FORTH - A form for creating a graphical representation of the stack in FORTH.


• Byte's Bits - News bits including an IEEE study on terminals, a computer camp for kids 10-18, an online service for the TI-99/4, research for using computers to aid the handicapped, and more.


• Technical Forum - A BASIC program that converts object code to data statements; a comparison of addition and subtraction operations between the 1802 and Z-80 processors; and a design for a simple video switch.

_{Back cover of the March 1981 issue of Byte}

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