My Journey To Here

iPhone Gaming Article 2

In my previous article I was discussing my beginnings with the personal computer and the Sinclair ZX-81. Last article we discuses the hardware side of the ZX-81. Now we will discuss the software side of the computer and how it relates to the iPhone and game programming. In the ZX-81 or ZX there is one processor that does the graphics, IO, memory management and IO. The programming in the computer that does all this work in memory is called the monitor. Now the amount of total memory that is available in the computer is 1k bytes (1,024) of memory. But with the memory expansion module you now have 16k or 16 thousand bytes total to work with. So the amount of memory required limits the size of the monitor and the program. Also the processor has to do a sort of tasking to get input from the keyboard and save and output it as a program.

One way to limit the programming language is to use a sort of compact instruction set that is part of the monitor that you write programs with. We'll get. back to this in a minute. Now another feature at that time, there was another programming language monitor based on the Forth programming language. This was another nice monitor for the ZX-81 which allowed for multitasking. Multitasking allowed you the feature to run multiple programs at the same time, just like UNIX. Now getting back to the programming language, it was a special form of Basic. Instead of typeing the word "Print", you would type using the key mode K and type a P for print. So anyway that was one of my exposures to Basic programming languages. With this I could write games, programs for astronomy, do calculations and make crude blocky graphics. By blocky graphics I mean like the old Atari game machine graphics! So this was how I programed for a while until I could afford some sort of computer. But I learned Basic pretty well at that time. Your probably wondering why I'm telling you all this, and it is because this exposure to multitasking and Basic allowed me to understand programming in general.

Now my further entry into computers came with when I learned about Linux. Now Linux is a free multitasking op system that is available for almost anything. My studies in Linux got me interested into Unix, because it was a Unix clone. Now it just so happens that the Apple computers are based on UNIX or Lion OS, with a phone version called IOS. Well it just so happens that the iPhone4s op system is also IOS5. What makes the iPhone so different is that it has a version of IOS which is a full blown multitasking op system! Apple just made it smaller to fit the phone in only 7 months! Listen to Steve Jobs 2007 keynote video for what in the iPhone, great stuff.

So now I've came full circle to tell you why I like the iPhone, plus my learning experiences. Next article I will discuss what is available for iPhone gaming and programming! Hope to hear you soon and leave a comment if you enjoy these ramblings.

Barry