Posts by archie99

The 12 KB that Windows just can't seem to quit

Re: I like

The games have got better. The gameplay.....not always.

Memory Lane

Procomm and Foxbase were my daily tools. Fond memories.

Time to make C the COBOL of this century

Spot on!

Whilst we can debate what is a better alternative than C, and the relative merits of COBOL, this article is spot on, and everything I have thought about C since 1981. Very powerful, very flexible, very easy for inexperienced programmers to make mistakes, and for some reason academic programmers have some kind of perverse desire to want to make their code as cryptic as possible. Fine as an academic exercise, but cryptic showing off is not for mission critical apps which will outlast the egotistical programmer by many years. I have both programmed in C (and many other languages) and tested C programs written by others and had to make enhancements to other's code, which sometimes has resulted in an almost reverse-engineering exercise as they have been written so tersely. I wonder if the disciplines of programming (defensive programming/programming with security in it's core etc.) are ever taught. Mine was because I had a good mentor and was working on military projects which have long maintenance cycles, but it seems to be hit & miss as to whether others are taught with this in mind and therefore are, in a sense, ignorant of good practice. The Elements of Programming Style by Kernighan and Plauger was mandatory reading before I even wrote my first line of C. It is a massively outdated book but its principles remain relevant.

Former Fujitsu engineer apologizes for role in Post Office IT scandal

But for a nail....

I have been watching this inquiry every testimony, usually watching them at the end of the day as some of us have a day job. I wouldn't normally comment on this case, as it is nuanced, complicated and there are many moving parts and the vast majority of people (outside of the Reg) haven't got a clue what's going on technically. However as this is an audience who should, I suggest you search for document POL00028838 and read it. If you have ever worked on a database project, keep the words "transaction integrity" in your thoughts. The very sad thing about this report, is that it appears that at one point the deficit may have only been roughly £35K to swallow, plus change costs to put it right. How many lives have been ruined and how much money & time has been spent since that report was written for £35K to sound a cheap cost to pay. "..but for a nail"

The chip that changed my world – and yours

NSC800 anyone

I was working with the NSC800 which was a CMOS 5V version of the Z80 in 1984. It was great for creating low-power embedded control units. I'm surprised it doesn't get a mention

CLIs are simply wizard at character building. Let’s not keep them to ourselves

I always found Beginner Reconfigurable Interactive Editor (BRIEF) or b to those that know it - to be way ahead of it's time, intuitive and still the tool I use to mark and select columns rather than lines.

The programmatic support for C and Clipper when I used it was an even better invention at the time - now other editors can do the same and more, but I just like its simple interface, use of buffers, split screen and column select.

Thanks, Sir Clive Sinclair, from Reg readers whose careers you created and lives you shaped

Re: Beep

I only ever bought one computer. ICL's One Per Desk. I never needed another computer. :-)

Re: Beep

You can be my PET but you'll never make COMMODORE.

:-)

Beep

Poke 23609,255

Think you can solve the UK's electric vehicle charging point puzzle? The Ordnance Survey wants to hear about it

Sir, your "Fickle wind and solar" comment is a bit "last century" - It now accounts for 43% of the UK's energy demands overtaking fossil fuels - reference (otherwise it is just heresay): https://www.offshorewind.biz/2021/03/25/renewable-energy-outperforms-fossil-fuels-in-uk/

talk to ZapMap

Rather than getting on my personal hobby horse about EV's I will attempt to answer the question in a commercially sensible manner.

The OS should go and talk to ZapMap (https://www.zap-map.com/live/) they seem to have a world of data the OS could mine. At a price, I'm sure.

New mystery AWS product 'Infinidash' goes viral — despite being entirely fictional

Re: So lame

I've head that they are not going to use 2.0 as they don't want to damage 1.0/1.1 sales, so the new product will be called Omega.

Chromebook boom won’t outlive COVID-19 pandemic, says IDC

It is not just kids that benefit from Chromebooks. The elderly, some of whom get very confused with operating system updates, viruses, etc. find ordinary laptops a minefield and need help all the time to keep it spinning. Chromebooks are a simple concept, turn on, browse facebook to keep up with the family news, messenger or hangouts to keep in touch via videoconf. Docs for the occasional document and a battery that means they don't have to charge every 5 minutes. My IT support time for my parents has reduced signficantly!

Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 Gen 8: No boundaries were pushed in the making of this laptop – and that's OK

When reviewing a laptop in this COVID-19 era of Zoom, Teams, Hangouts etc. some review of the camera performance and specification would be helpful. Happy new year to all at TR.

ZX Spectrum prototype ROM is now available for download courtesy of boffins at the UK's Centre for Computing History

Re: Published

I have The Complete Spectrum ROM Disassembly too. I also have The Spectrum Operating System by Kramer which taught me how to use Z80 assembler to interface to the Spectrum ROM, the 8K Interface ROM to talk to Microdrives, the RS232 interface and the ZX Printer. We used to joke, that's no LDA that's my DEFW 1F. Oh we could pull any girl in a nightclub back then.....:-)