User`s guide
Dear
Rick and
Temy:
I had
hoped
to
write this
letter
in
an
optimistic
mood,
with
constructive
comments,
inputs
of my
own, or
maybe even
a
new
article
(yes,
I'm
still-
thinking
of
that!).
But over the
last
few
months, I have
read each new issue
of VIPER
with a
growing
sense of dissatisfaction;
with
the
arrival of
the February
issue,
those
feelings turned
into
dismay.
Whether you
reali-ze
it or not,
the
VIPER
has largely turned
into
something
that
I. cannot use,
and neither ean
other
people
like
rl€o
As
a
relative
beginner,
I
passed
up the
opportqnity
for the
PIPS
seriesi I wasntt
interested
in
becoming
a
programmerr
and
in fact am
just
now l-earning machine
language
progranming.
But
now I
find
that the
VIPER
is
shifting
so that
PIPS
FOR VIPS
is
a
necessity
if
Irm to
use
the
VIPER material.
The
perfect
example
of this
is
the Ki]Ier Robots
game,
which
uses many
of
the
routines from
PIPS.
But I canrt
use it,
and
neither can
anyone
else who didn't buy
PIPS.
I think
you
have
some
hard decisions
to
make.
Either
continue
,
as
you
seem
to be
going,
turn the
VfFER
into
a
programmer's
newsl-etter, and accept the
inevitable
shrinkage in circulation
as
people
decl-ine to
renew.
Or
sh.ift
the VIPER back to
nmning,
a
respectable
amount of
general
interest
articles and
information
that
are
usable
to
all
your
readers,
not
just
the
programming
elite. By definition,
this would mean
that
some articl-es and
prograrns
must
be
revisi.ons
or extensions
of
previously published
material
(Vfpnn
or RCA manuals)
r
or they must
be
complete
and
self-containedq Care to
put
the
vote
to
your
readershrp??
Note that
you
run
the
same
risk
in
printing
programs
for
the
accessory
boards
such as super sound.
That would also bother
rrrer but I havenrt noticed enough
of that
to be
real1y
objectionable.
There
usually
was somethi.ng
in
that issue for
me
also.
I
guess
my
basic beef
is
that the something
for me
has
gotten
l-ess.
and
less
lately.
Enough
of
ine
negative
stuff
--
time
to
think
positive.
I
basically
like
the
newsletter in
its
present
form,
with contents
out
front
and'regular
features.
I do
have
reservations
about
Tom
Swan
as the
editor
the newsletter
may lean even
more
toward
programmers
as a
result;
the newsletter's
also
in very real
d.anger
of becoming a
one
man showt
and
I
basically feel that editors.
should
mainly editorial-ize
and only
occasionally
write.
But I'm
more than wil-ting
to
wait
and
see
how it
works
out.
To
get
back on
the
positive
trackr
l-et.me
hit
you
(and
whoever
else
you
care
to
invite
to
the
"party")
with
a
couple
of
ideas
(or
downright
challenges, if
that's
what it
takes to
get
someone
interestedl.
1;
"It's
about
time
that
the
VIP became
useful for
something
other
than a toyr
galrei
or hobby.
The
next most logical
thing
to
d.o with t[e
VIP
is
to make it into
an
educational
device, especi-a1Iy
for math
--
why not
now? The
software
multiply
anO Aivihe
routines
are
avaiLabLe; so are
routines
for
disbfaying
any combination
of
di-gits
"
Conversion
'
,
2.OB/O9.oB