20 Goto 10 - BookWyrm

English language

Published Oct. 25, 2023 by Unbound.

ISBN:: 978-1-80018-274-5

(1 review)

A numerical adventure through the history of retro computers of the 1980s and 90s

Do you know what secret messages were hidden in Commodore BASIC? Why the highest score possible in Pac-Man is 3333360? That Steve Wozniak set the price of the Apple computer at $666.66? Or why the Amstrad CPC 472 had an 8K chip that was never connected?

From 0 to 2147483647, and from Acorn Atoms to VIC-20s, 20 GOTO 10 takes us on an adventure through the history of retro computers and games consoles – one number at a time.

By following the 'GOTO' instructions at the end of each entry, you'll create a unique journey through this treasure trove of forgotten geek lore and fascinating trivia. With any luck, you'll discover the number used to grant infinite lives in Jet Set Willy on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the reason a single digit might require seven bytes …

A numerical adventure through the history of retro computers of the 1980s and 90s

Do you know what secret messages were hidden in Commodore BASIC? Why the highest score possible in Pac-Man is 3333360? That Steve Wozniak set the price of the Apple computer at $666.66? Or why the Amstrad CPC 472 had an 8K chip that was never connected?

From 0 to 2147483647, and from Acorn Atoms to VIC-20s, 20 GOTO 10 takes us on an adventure through the history of retro computers and games consoles – one number at a time.

By following the 'GOTO' instructions at the end of each entry, you'll create a unique journey through this treasure trove of forgotten geek lore and fascinating trivia. With any luck, you'll discover the number used to grant infinite lives in Jet Set Willy on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the reason a single digit might require seven bytes of memory, and how – through numbers – we can understand more than just the internal workings of our favourite retro machines.

1 edition

Soh Kam Yung reviewed 20 Goto 10 by Steven Goodwin

A retro-computing book, where you can follow the GOTOs of interest.

3 stars

An interesting book on retro-computers. Unlike other book on retro-technology, this one presents trivia on the machines: lots and lots of trivia on lots and lots of early home computers, some of which I later had to look on up the internet as I've never heard of them before.

The book also presents trivia on numerous games and on the idiosyncrasies of the machine themselves, both the operating systems and the tape based systems used at the time to save programs, and on the BASIC usually found on the machines. Some bring back memories of some of the POKES and PEEKS done in the past to 'bypass' game protection systems or to hack games.

The chapters, with a numbering system that starts with 0 (zero) repeatedly, and then jumps to other entries via GOTOs, are not meant to be read in sequence (although you can do that). Instead, you are …

An interesting book on retro-computers. Unlike other book on retro-technology, this one presents trivia on the machines: lots and lots of trivia on lots and lots of early home computers, some of which I later had to look on up the internet as I've never heard of them before.

The book also presents trivia on numerous games and on the idiosyncrasies of the machine themselves, both the operating systems and the tape based systems used at the time to save programs, and on the BASIC usually found on the machines. Some bring back memories of some of the POKES and PEEKS done in the past to 'bypass' game protection systems or to hack games.

The chapters, with a numbering system that starts with 0 (zero) repeatedly, and then jumps to other entries via GOTOs, are not meant to be read in sequence (although you can do that). Instead, you are meant to start with an entry of interest (computer, game related) then follow the appropriate GOTO until the end of the journey, like a 'pick-your-adventure' type book.

But whatever way you use to read the book, those who have used early computers and those who are now into retro-computing will probably find lots of entries of interest in the book.