Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ucf-cs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!akgua!mcnc!duke!ucf-cs!giles From: giles@ucf-cs.UUCP (Bruce Giles) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: Computer Magazines Message-ID: <1173@ucf-cs.UUCP> Date: Fri, 3-Feb-84 23:30:42 EST Article-I.D.: ucf-cs.1173 Posted: Fri Feb 3 23:30:42 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 8-Feb-84 08:07:19 EST References: <4701@rochester.UUCP> Organization: University of Central Florida Lines: 80 [Benediction: UN*X, give us the strength to resist temptation ...] [ Loathsome thoughts of wombats, begone! ] [Side note: I wrote this before reading the net so as to check spelling ] [ (shock!) -- Imagine the shock (:-)) when I saw another micro ] [ magazine article posted! (Where has the ground-hog been?) ] Is anyone else disgusted with what is happening to the computer magazines? I realize that Sturgeon's law is a strong force in rapidly expanding fields (i.e., where the money is), but this is getting putrid! It seems that nearly all articles fall into two categories: `Gee, aren't you dumb', and `Gee, aren't I smart'. The `Gee, aren't you dumb' category covers the 23rd variation of paccritter for the Timex 1000, the 107th typing tutorial for *any* system, and all other software which should be within the reach of anyone who takes the time to read their manuals and work through a `Be a PROGRAMMER in 3 days' book (by Tab, no doubt). The `Gee, aren't I smart' category has been prominent in *Byte* recently. You know the type, you read it in excitement because it is just what you bought a computer for, and when you get to the end you find out its just a PR piece for a company you've never heard of before (and never hear of again). Worst yet, no references are given to similar material available on the micro market. Honestly, how many people expect the next issue of *Byte* (as I am most familiar with it), to contain the following articles: *Building a Hard Disk Drive* by Steve Ciarcia *My Dog ate My Floppy at Chaos Manor* by Jerry Pournelle *Organizing your Computer with Software* by the R1 development team *'Missle Command' on the Arpa-net* by Dr. Strangelove *'Breakout' on a Cray-1* by who-cares? Not to be left out are all of the specialty magazines. Does anyone know if either the IBM rags or the Apple rags (or both!) have discussed the high-speed links available? After all, to discuss the link would require that they mention (GASP) the other machine! They are so *SPECIFIC* I expect anyday to see a *IBM with 48K and 1 Disk without Printer Magazine* Sanity returns.... I realize that there are many computer owners who do not have any background with computers, and these magazines are their primary way of learning about this mysterious machine that is brain-damaging their kids (how else could they sit still for more than 10 minutes without asking for a cookie?) but in that case these magazines are doing a very poor job (in my humble opinion) of showing good programming techniques. Afterallwhoeverhearofaprofessionprogrammerstuffingentiresubproceduresonto onelinewithoutanycommentsorselfdocumentingnames? Oh, do I long for the old days of *Byte* when they discussed machine- independent programs and moderately advanced programming techniques (i.e., write your own dissassembler), modest hardware expansions which were simple enough for anybody with a good sense of electronics to build, and provide useful applications of the same (i.e., A/D & D/A converters, parallel & serial ports), and an occasional advanced topic which could be done by anyone *really* interested (i.e., generating various map projections from a data base). I know that I learned far more about computers from reading *Byte* in high school than I did in my first year of computer science courses. ave discordia going bump in the night ... bruce giles decvax!ucf-cs!giles university of central florida giles.ucf-cs@Rand-Relay orlando, florida 32816