The following computer terms appeared in ZX Computing (Feb/Mar ’85, page 40). The author is Jim Lock of Surry, Great Britain. Larry Chavarie sent a copy of the list to TS Horizons and we picked out our favorites.
Array – what you shout when your program works first time.
Artificial intelligence – what you think your com- puter has and it thinks you have.
BASIC – a standard language most suitable for newcomers to computing as it uses simple words and instructions such as ABS, OPEN #, LPRINT, USR, DEF FN and CHR$.
Computer tape – used to attach a Sinclair RAMpack to a ZX81.
Cursor key – what you often do when you accidentally move your laser base in the wrong direction.
DIM – how you feel when you see programs written by you seven year old daughter.
FOR…NEXT – short extract from conjuror’s patter, “For my Next trick”.
IF…THEN – conditional statement, as in “IF you try to copy this program THEN your computer will explode.”
LEN and VAL – the married couple who live around the corner.
Listing – what your computer is doing to one side, having lost one of it’s rubber feet.
Microdrive – car-racing arcade game for your computer.
NOT – used to tie two STRINGs together.
RAMpack – device you plug in to the back of your computer so that it can unplug itself whilst you are typing in the last line of a very long program.
REM – put at the beginning of a line to REMind you to remember it and the computer ignore it.
Screwdriver – instrument for invalidating guarantees.
Sound chip – good golf shot.
STRING – used to attach a Sinclair RAMpack to a ZX81.
Uncopiable cassette – blank cassette.