In the spring of 1980, I suffered two brainstem strokes. The legacy of the apoplexy was very little physical damage, but mostly mental, e.g., aphasia, apraxia, ataxia (impairment of speech, coordinated movements, and involuntary muscles), and loss of equilibrium. Thirteen days in the local VA Medical Center and six weeks convalescence at home let prepared me to return to my work as a teacher in Florida State Prison.
In October 1980, a fellow teacher purchased the world’s first computer under $200.00 the ZX80 for me. My condition would not let me make the purchase myself. This was the start of putting my mind back together.
As time and money dictated, I acquired the ZX80 upgrade, a 64K ram pack, the ZX81, the SPECTRUM, the TS2068 and other goodies ever seeking the THE COMPUTER. In January of 1983, the stress of the job finally disabled me with “poststroke syndrome” and I had to quit work.
I was learning computing to communicate. Word and math games were a must. Over the years they have ‘rewired’ my brain. Word processing seemed a must. I search high and low for information, for programs, for anything that would aid in my recovery.
My attention was taken by a short math program in the SYNC magazine. I toyed with it, I dreamed of it, and played with this program through the ZX81 up and finally on the TS2068 I developed a program for the SUM magazine, i.e., SMILY FACE ARITHMETIC.
I purchased several word processors(?) as they were being developed for the ZX computers. Most left a lot to be desired, but Bob Fingerle‘s processor was the best up to that time. As a matter of necessity, in a term paper in December of 1982, I used LPRINT and the statement for each line to print a two page term paper for my college class. It was slow but it worked.
When Tasword II, with its embedded printer commands, made its debut it became my mouth piece. When Sir Clive made the Quantum Leap, that was Ice Water to a thirsty man. Unless you have been deprived of use of some of your faculties you will never understand how exuberant I became with my new QL and its Psion software; out of this world!
When I was elected editor of the stroke club bulletin, I said, “You are all out of your trees.” The first one page bulletin took me three months and looked like the first letter a grade school student wrote. I edited the stroke club bulletin for four years, each one an improvement on the previous one. I made a minor data file of the member’s names, addresses, phone numbers, spouses, and birthdays.
When it came to making address labels, it was easier for me to figure out how to print the three across label from QL Spread Sheet than it was to figure out how DUMP works on the QL Data Base, so I print all our mailing labels by using the QL spread sheet.
I also needed a good Checkbook Balancer. To me the only near good one was the one for the ZX81 after I had modified it. Don’t get me wrong. I am not a programmer. All I know about the computer is what I have learned from necessary since I had my strokes. My brain does not always give me the information I need for the job at hand. I have to keep the manuals handy so I can refresh my memory on how to or what does the present job. I am not crying over spilt milk. I am proud of the fact that the Good Lord gave me enough gumption to get in there and scratch for the knowledge to make this computer do as I say do.
After eight years of digging I am still digging and thankful to have the energy to keep at it. I am glad that Bill Fischer has given me the room in his QLUSA to place my commercial. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE MEAL or a computer that runs itself as you wish it to do. I know what you are experiencing when you sit down to the computer and stare at the keyboard and the cursor blinks back at you.
I am going to try to remember the times I have wondered to myself, “Which key do I punch to get this thing started?” Then I will write out an article about WHAT DO I DO AFTER I TURN ON THE SWITCH.
I have had to buy software, firmware and hardware to get my computer to get my computer to obey me. I am still in the novice class after eight years. I am not afraid to ask questions, or to have anyone to show me how to do something. Most of what I work with was developed or inspired by others. Two operations that are a must in computing is to SAVE and BACKUP frequently. 1)DO NOT LEAVE YOUR COMPUTER, EVER WITHOUT SAVING WHAT YOU ARE WORKING ON! 2)DO NOT QUIT FOR THE DAY WITHOUT BACKING UP YOUR DISK OR MICRO CARTRIDGE. When you have worked for hours and failed to SAVE or BACKUP and had a sudden lightning strike and your monitor looks like finger painting by Gargantua you will wish you had both SAVEd and BACKUPped! Believe me.
So I put my Bank Statement Reconciliation ideas to work on the QL spread sheet. See the results on the front page of QLusa Vol.1988/ ISS #1. A normal programmer should write that in couple of hours, but it took me several years. Each idea had to be developed and tested to see if it did the work that I needed. Some ideas came to me in the middle of a deep sleep and by the time I was awake they had vanished but returned at a later date. Since my strokes, I have had to remove the word FRUSTRATION from my vocabulary and replaced it with the word INSPIRATION. Now when something will not work, instead of getting hot and blowing up I remain calm and use the cause of my failure as an incentive to correct the problem. I was warned to stay out of all STRESSFUL situations.
The beauty of the QLSS is the fact that you only have to fill one square at a time, and it is very easy to see what you do as you modify the ‘program’ and you can see the result of each change as you make it. More on this later.
The QL with Quill and Abacus became my work horse. All of my correspondence is on the word processor and all my doodling is on the spread sheet. From what I have heard no other computer has all the ease of operation as the QL with the Psion programs.
IF
Have you ever wondered what you would do IF the command IF was suddenly obliterated from the computer languages. If IF was not available to the computer hobbyist it would have had to be invented.
In the Check Book Balancer I needed a way of differentiating between debiting a check amount and crediting a deposit amount. QLUG ABACUS Page 44 IF(expression,true,false). Remember, in its native tongue, binary, the computer speaks only two ciphers, 1 & 0, true and false, or as a switch on and off. In cell E10 we placed the formula IF(D10,G9+D10,G9-E10). Translated into English this reads IF cell B10 contains a number add the amount in cell D10 to the total in cell E9 and put it in E10, or if cell B10 does not contain a number subtract the amount in cell D10 from the total in E9 and put it in E10. In ABACUS you can link together or concatenate many IF statements to make the computer choose among many alternatives, e.g., IF(B10,E9+D10,IF(C10,E9*D10,IF(A10,E9/D10,E9-D10)))
In BASIC this expression, IF..THEN..ELSE, also gives us a way to program the computer into making a choice. The statement reads IF the statement is true THEN the computer will do this; IF the statement is false it will do ELSE.
We have one more IF statement, QLUG ARCHIVE page 44 IF n.exp :…[ : else :…] : endif. Without ELSE If the expression is true the following statements are executed. IF false execution transfers to the statement following endif. With else if true the statements between IF and else are executed. Otherwise the statements between else and endif are executed.
These are a few of the ways this little insignificant(?) IF can be used. I have only scratched the surface to show you that with a little ingenuity and perserverance you can work wonders with the Psion software.