Greetings to New Readers
This special issue of SYNC is being published to introduce you, as a new owner of a Sinclair ZX81 computer, to our magazine and to invite you to become a subscriber.
SYNC is the only magazine devoting its entire content to the Sinclair computer series. It is one of four magazines published by Creative Computing (the others are Creative Computing, Microsystems, and Small Business Computers). SYNC is published bi-monthly about the middle of the cover date period (that is, the Jan/Feb issue would be published at the end of January). Each issue has 48 pages of articles, features, departments, and ads to help you get the most out of your computer in learning and enjoyment. Nearly all our content comes from Sinclair users who have written up the results of their study, work, and play with the Sinclair computers for their fellow users.
As a result, we have a wide variety of articles which will help you to solve practical problems with your computer, to write programs, to build hardware, to develop software, to make informed choices of products through our reviews, and to have fun through games. We try to have articles that will be useful to beginners and to those further along the way. Learning involves some work, but it can also be fun. The great challenge is to make your computer do what you want it to do, and success in meeting that challenge gives great satisfaction. Then, when you have learned something new from SYNC, we hope that you will use it to do more with your computer and that you will write that up for other SYNC readers.
This special issue of SYNC is just like a regular issue except that it is not quite as long. We have selected articles from past issues of SYNC which we feel will not only give you a sample of SYNC but also be immediately useful to you as a new ZX81 owner.
In addition to articles, we have a number of departments:
Letters to the Editor. We regret that we cannot answer individual letters, but we will print letters which we feel will be of interest to our readers. Questions raised in letters will be referred to some of our authors who are willing to answer questions in their fields. If you send us a letter for publication, address it “Letters to the Editor” and keep in mind that it should be typed doubled spaced on one side of a sheet of paper if at all possible. We prefer letters that are short and to the point.
Glitchoidz Report. In this column we print program errors which affect the running of the program. If you find any, you can send a card or letter addressed to “Glitchoidz Report.” Do not include here suggestions for program improvements; these go to “Letters.”
Perceptions is a regular column written by David Ornstein. David deals not only with the hardware but also the software side of your computer. Topic suggestions are welcome.
Kitchen SYNC is regular column written by Alan Groupe, Michael Tardiff, and Ivan Zatkovich. They work with the big computers all day and have taken a “vow” to apply their backgrounds to exploring the basic 1K RAM Sinclair computer to see how far it can be pushed. They also welcome topic suggestions.
Try This is a short column for short programs to amaze, mystify, and impress your friends. Contributions should be addressed to the column.
The World of Compukid is a cartoon series looking at the world through the eyes of the young people who are growing up in a world of personal computers. Ideas are welcome.
Resouces is a page on which new products are reported. We list the product, a brief description, ordering information, and the address. If you find a product we have not yet listed, either send us the information addressed “Resources” or tell your supplier about SYNC so that he can contact us directly. There is no charge for a one time listing.
Finally you will be able to keep up with the flow of products and services available to Sinclair users from our advertisers. If you know of a supplier who has not advertised with us or if you yourself have a product or service, we will be glad to send information regarding advertising in SYNC and the other Creative Computing publications.
All correspondence should be sent to:
(name of department or column)
SYNC
39 East Hanover Ave.
Morris Plains, NJ 07950.
SYNC Program Listings
Readers should note the following conventions used in the program listings in this issue:
# or • = Used in PRINT statements to show necessary spaces.
“A” (shift) = Used in PRINT statements to indicate graphics; in this case use the graphic on shift A.
INPUT = Used in PRINT statements to show that the keyboard key or token should be used instead of spelling out the word (Richard McDaniel’s article in this issue).
Writing for SYNC
If you have material you want us to consider for publication, we are very much interested in looking at it. If it fits our editorial needs at that time, we will send you a “Transfer of Copyright Agreement” to sign and payment for your article. On the average we pay about $20 per printed page in SYNC. When you submit material, we ask that you keep the following in mind:
1) Type your manuscript on standard typing paper (one side only) with at least one inch margins all around.
2) Use the double space setting for your text throughout.
3) If you want your manuscript returned, enclose a self-addressed stamped (do not use a postage meter) envelope. If you want to be sure that we have received your work, enclose a self-addressed postcard.
4) Be sure to put your name, address, and phone number on the top of the first page in one corner. In the other corner put the machine requirements of your article or program (for example, 8K ROM; 1K RAM. 8K ROM; 16K RAM. 4K ROM; 1K RAM). Remember that our readers have a variety of ROMs and RAMs and they are not happy to find out after they have entered a program that it does not fit their machine. Put the title or a short form of the title on each page in the upper left corner. Paginate on the upper right corner.
3) Show necessary spaces in PRINT statements with a # mark.
4) Program notes which help the reader to understand what is going on are helpful. These may be given as side notes on the same line as the program line or at the end of the program with line numbers for matching. In either case keep the width of the notes the same as the program listing.
5) If you use graphics, be sure to specify in the notes which key to use to get the graphic.
6) If possible, make suggestions for adapting your program to fit other machine requirements. For example, if you have a program that takes 2K RAM, tell the reader where to shorten it to squeeze it into 1K if possible. If you are writing for an 8K ROM, supply the changes necessary for the 4K ROM if possible. Readers like to know where they can make changes in the programs to vary the results. Point these out also.
7) Type your program single spaced.
8) Be sure to indicate in your article how to RUN the program and what the reader should expect to see on the screen when he has done so.
9) Follow the emerging conventions for ZX80/81 programs: a) number program lines by 10’s unless you have a reason to do otherwise; b) avoid using letters that can be confused with numbers and vice versa; c) use consecutive designations for strings and variables; d) identify your program with a REM statement.
10) Provide the SYNCSUM (see the Perceptions column in this issue). Other checksums may be used if there is a good reason to do so, but the process for finding them should be explained.
Photos, illustrations, charts, and diagrams usually add to an article. Again, we prefer copy that we can use directly without redrawing. Illustrations can be larger than the expected final form because we can reduce them, but they should not be smaller. All charts, diagrams, listings, illustrations, photos, tables, and programs should be labeled such as Figure 1, Listing 1, or Table 1 and referred to in the text in that way rather than as “the table below” or “the following lines” because we may not be able to do it that way in our layout. It is even helpful to put all the figures, tables, etc. at the end of your article.
If you can supply your text and program listings on disk, include the information on the type of disk system you have. We would prefer that form if it is compatible with our equipment.
Following these suggestions will help us a great deal in using your material.
5) Type with normal use of capital and lower case letters. Do not type everything in capitals in your text (in programs, however, do use capitals since that is what your computer uses). This applies also to headings and subheadings. Show subheadings by leaving extra space above and centering.
6) Underlining means that those letters should be italics when printed. So underline only when you mean “Use italics here.”
7) Paragraphs must be indented (5-8 spaces is usual). Do not use extra lines to show paragraphs.
If your article includes programs or listings, please keep these items in mind:
1) We prefer camera ready copy of programs and listings whenever possible because this substantially reduces the risk of typographical errors. Carbon ribbon typewriters make excellent copy. Printers and regular typewriters which give a sharp, clear image usually can be used, but make sure that the ribbon is dark. Of course, when the ZX Printer becomes available in the U.S., printouts from it will be acceptable. In addition, we would like to have the programs submitted on cassette with several saves, especially if the program is over 1K.
2) Type the program so that it will look just like the screen display including all spaces that are necessary or that the computer puts in automatically. Do not use extra spaces where the computer does not use them. This is a big help to the reader in checking whether he is entering the program correctly and helps him reduce copying mistakes.