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General Category => Programming => Topic started by: ervin on 13:26, 14 December 22

Title: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: ervin on 13:26, 14 December 22
Hi everyone.

Way back in the day, my first exposure to any form of computer programming was the wonderful manual that came with my (green screen) CPC464, and also the listings in ACU magazine. These no doubt planted the seed for what I was to become as an adult (software developer).

But there was also one particular book, https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Sixty_Programs_for_the_Amstrad_CPC_464 (https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Sixty_Programs_for_the_Amstrad_CPC_464)
I loved that book so much that 14 years ago I scanned the whole thing and uploaded it to cpcwiki.  ;D

Anyway, my favourite listings in the book were Evolution 1,2 and 3.
They are of course laughably simple to modern eyes, but to a young child taking early steps into a new world, they were fascinating.

So I thought I'd type them in and make them available.
Part 1 is included on the attached dsk, with parts 2 and 3 to come soon.

It's amazing to think that when I first typed these listings in all those years ago, BASIC was like an alien language. I didn't really understand what any of it meant. But now I can figure out what the program is going to do as I am typing it in. Progress eh?  8)
Title: Re: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: VincentGR on 16:27, 14 December 22
Wow thanks 

:)
Title: Re: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: Sykobee (Briggsy) on 18:30, 14 December 22
I'll wait for Xyphoe's longplay!
Title: Re: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: ervin on 23:49, 14 December 22
Yeah I think he'll need to use several snappies to get through it!  :laugh:
Title: Re: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: ervin on 00:08, 15 December 22
Quote from: VincentGR on 16:27, 14 December 22Wow thanks

:)
I know it's tremendously exciting innit?  :laugh:
Title: Re: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: VincentGR on 00:16, 15 December 22
Dunno if it is because I will check it tomorrow, but you did a hard task to type all of these.

Title: Re: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: ervin on 00:44, 15 December 22
Well, I've still got parts 2 and 3 to do, but typing in part 1 wasn't too bad.

In addition to scanning the entire book many years ago, I also ran each page through OCR, so they were converted to text files. There were many mistakes in the text files that were generated, but it didn't take too long to go through the text file for part 1, compare with the scanned listing, and fix the mistakes. Maybe 1.5 hours.
Title: Re: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: VincentGR on 00:49, 15 December 22
I used ABBYY FineReader for this task with English and Basic as language, yeap too many mistakes.
Title: Re: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: ervin on 00:52, 15 December 22
Yeah I thought that OCR would recognise old printer fonts more accurately.
Some parts are very good, others... not so much!
Title: Re: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: ervin on 13:06, 15 December 22
Hi everyone.

Part 2 has now been typed in and added to the attached dsk file.
(I don't seem to be able to edit the original post in this thread, so I'm adding a new dsk file here).

The caveman attack phase actually isn't too bad for such a simple little type in!
Title: Re: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: ervin on 14:29, 16 December 22
Hi folks.

Here is the 3rd and final part.
A nuclear war to determine the superpower that will rule the earth.
:o

The idea is a good one, though of course rather grim.
With a few tweaks it could be made into a really playable little game.

All 3 games are on the attached dsk file.
Enjoy!
Title: Re: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: ervin on 14:47, 16 December 22
Does anyone know how I might be able to submit these to cpc-power?
Title: Re: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: VincentGR on 14:54, 16 December 22
Quote from: ervin on 14:47, 16 December 22Does anyone know how I might be able to submit these to cpc-power?
https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=contact
Title: Re: Evolution (from Sixty Programs for the Amstrad CPC 464)
Post by: ervin on 15:05, 16 December 22
Message sent.
Thanks!
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