Atari Users

By Ray Tufft

Atari users are thin on the ground but I am fortunate in knowing five stalwarts who still use the machine; two use STFM's, two the basic STE and one a 4MByte STE. I asked them just what they used their machines for. The disparity of their replies was interesting.

User 1

Games, games and more games. Simple programming was a waste of time and more involved programming was too complicated. Purchased game programs were usually 'good', but he didn't think much of the 'PD junk'. His opinion of PC's is unprintable and is certainly based on his abortive attempts to use one in the same manner in which he uses his Atari. He bought all the glossy ST magazines (which have now 'bitten the dust') regularly because their games coverage was 'super' but their cover disks were 'a load of crap' most times. INTERNET? 'Sure, I'd like to have a go, but my old man says he isn't prepared to foot the bill. I suppose the money I pay towards my keep isn't enough to pay for the 'phone costs as well.'

It transpired that he is totally addicted to games and I asked why he didn't have one of the Games Consoles, to which he replied: 'They aren't much use for serious stuff which I might have a go at some time.' I asked what he meant by 'serious stuff' to which he replied, 'You know. All sorts of things like... Uh... Uh... well... something like when it asks questions and you try to guess the answers.' I asked what sort of questions? After some 'umming and ahhing' he answered, with a frown, 'Can't think of one at the moment but something like 'How hard do you want the machine to try to beat you? - that sort of thing.' I pointed out that he was talking about playing a game but he disagreed, telling me, with the help of several strong adjectives, plus a few good old Anglo-Saxon nouns, that 'No. A game is different 'cause that's when you use the mouse or the sticks.'

So! Take note that when you Atarians use a mouse then you must be playing a game, because I have had that direct from an expert's mouth.

User 2

Another STFM'er. This user used his machine simply for writing letters and nothing else. He had invested in several word processor packages and had also hooked up a laser printer, with no real problems. His selection of fonts was fantastic but, unfortunately, he made full use of them and if he wrote a letter which failed to use at least five or even six different fonts then he promptly proceeded to add a few extra to his letter. His telephone number was emphasised with a small icon which showed a 'stick man' holding a 'phone in his hand, and his address used a different font for each line. I sometimes wonder how much difficulty the Postal Services have trying to decipher his Post Code which uses the most weird fonts of a 'home brew' variety. I thought it was sacrilegious to submit both a computer and a first class laser printer to such torture.

User 3

Now we come to what I consider to be slightly nearer to a true computer user. He has no interest in knowing why - or how - a computer operates, only that if you carry out the correct sequence of operations then you get what you want. In one respect he is a games player but with one difference: he has a top-class database program and he uses that in conjunction with a spreadsheet to 'play' the stock exchange; the emphasis being on the word 'play'. He gives himself, usually, £250,000, this being a figure loaded into his software, and then weekly or daily he 'purchases' stocks and/or shares using the information gleaned from pages of the Financial Times. Then over days or weeks or months he monitors how much he has 'gained' or 'lost'. To date his results have been very much up and down, usually the latter, although on one occasion he did manage to increase his holding to over £600,000, but then he crashed totally because most of his 'assets' had been in an organisation which floundered - yes, Barings Bank. He had clearly been very disappointed although he had not lost a penny in real terms. I must admit that he talks like a financial wizard, at least that is what it sounds like to me, and knows the value of stocks intimately. I did ask him if he ever had thoughts of playing the Lottery but he answered that it was too much a game of chance with odds of millions to one and that made it a 'waste of time'.

User 4

Yes. He plays games on occasions but his real interest is programming using Power Basic or very simple machine code. He says that he would like a good book which deals with machine code from basic concepts up to more advanced levels. By profession he is a mathematician and so dealing with binary notation, octal, hexadecimals and the like are unlikely to be a problem. However, he seems to lack the ability to visualise the basic steps which are essential for any programmer and often assumes that a computer will 'look after' what to him appears to be obvious. He is a classic example of a clever individual who has failed to fully appreciate that a computer is a 'total idiot' unless it is instructed in terms that it understands at the correct time.

User 5

I have purposely held this character to the last. He is what I would describe as a computer buff - he thinks and talks in terms of a computer. He has a total grasp of machine code and it is rare for him to become balked by a difficulty. Unfortunately his program offerings can only be described as 'rubbish' because they very rarely have any true practical need and can only be described as something which shows his expertise in writing programs which no-one wants or needs.

* * * * *

I have tried, but failed, to integrate the five individuals into a working group because collectively I am sure that they would then be very effective; isn't this fairly typical of the computing fraternity? Joe Bloggs wants a program to do something and he goes first for a PD offering which might be suitable; later he might go for a commercially available program - and he might not; seeing the price might convince him that he doesn't need it anyway. Looking through the pages of ST Applications makes it very apparent that few of its readers are truly 'into' computing, otherwise, surely, more of them might have made a few offerings to share with their fellow readers. I acknowledge that occasionally someone puts pen to paper (not normally a pen) when they pass on to the rest of us what they have programmed or devised or whatever but these seem to be few and far between. Isn't there anyone out there who is able to offer something constructive?

Let's assume someone has written a small piece of software, in Basic, and which seems to work reasonably well, and let's also assume that its purpose is, for example, to select Lottery numbers (I know that such a program is already advertised in STA), and let us also assume that each week you are able to load in the current winning numbers and then the program will apply weighting to those numbers so that they are less likely to be selected for a week or so. I accept that with a true random selection the chances of any number coming up are the same but odds tend not to repeat numbers too frequently. This statement does not 'kill' the fact that over a sufficient length of time all numbers will have been drawn an equal number of times - I emphasise the word sufficient. Such a program is not difficult and is easily carried out with virtually any form of Basic. The purpose? Let other readers see how someone has tackled the writing of the program and then let others add their mods and improvements and, who knows, we might end up with a first class piece of software. To give others a chance I suggest that the more expert programmers keep out of it, initially, but finally their constructive criticism should be of interest to everyone.

I picked on the Lottery because it is more likely to have a general appeal but other programs might be of similar interest if we keep in mind that it is the programming technique which is being shown. I suggested Basic for the simple reason that most readers - I think - will be familiar with one form or another of Basic; the precise Basic is not very important because most are very similar both in construction and application. I have not detailed the specification of the program, so that leaves things wide open.

Ray Tufft
62, Admirals Court, Sowerby, Thirsk, North Yorks. YO7  1RR