╔═══════════════════ ═══════════════════╗
║Section:Users; ║
║Article:Software review;║
║Music:KURT; ║
║Text: V. Alexander, B. Stanislav. ║
╚═══════════════════ ═══════════════════╝
There are thousands (according to some estimates)
up to ten thousand) programs and packages for
ZX-SPECTRUM, of which more than 90 percent
tov - gaming. Full of this abundance,
probably no one has. Only a few
Soviet Sinclairists can boast
a collection of two to three thousand programs.
True, it has been growing rapidly lately
number of firms, for a reasonable fee they distribute
wounding software for
ZX-SPECTRUM.So you can probably do it
find something that interests you after
reading this review.
Let's start with a relatively small one, but
most interesting for programmers
groups - system programs.
First of all, let's talk about languages
programming. For those who are not satisfied
satisfy the capabilities of standard syn-
Klerovsky BASIC, developed various
its various extensions. The most powerful of
them - BETA-BASIC from BETASOFT. The first
its versions 1.0 (1983) and 1.8 (1984)
complement Sinclair BASIC with more than 20
new commands and functions and occupy
total 5K and 8K respectively.Nextversions - BETA-BASIC 3.0 and 3.1 (1985),
providing the user with more sophisticated
new capabilities, require 19K each,
which somewhat narrows the scope of their application
niya.Finally, the latest version is 4.0
(1988), already from another company REAL TIME,
designed for ZX-SPECTRUM 128, in which
and this is its main advantage.
From other BASIC extensions you can
interest two slightly different
versions of MEGA-BASIC 1.1 and
3.0 (1985), each occupying 20K.
MEGA-BASIC allows programming with
using procedures, has additional
editing and debugging tools
ki programs, own monitor for
viewing and changing the contents of the memory
ty.In addition, it contains two built-in
font, any of which is quite easy
replaced by Russian.
Among Sinclairists it is often mentioned
graphic package LASER-BASIC company
OASIS SOFTWARE.It consists of three self-
components: interpreter, computer
lator and sprite generator. Interest in
LASER-BASIC is understandable - skillfully used
package, you can write a pretty decent
dynamic toy
However, many adherents remain among
standard Spectrum BASIC. For
there are a lot of them in auxiliary
funds. The most famous packages are SUPER-
CODE I, containing 100 functionally
finishedsubroutines in machine codes,
and SUPERCODE II (120 subroutines). Necessary
subroutines are extracted from the package and used
used in conjunction with BASIC programs
mine.
There are helper programs
expanding the capabilities of the synchronization editor
Lerovsky BASIC. With their help you can,
for example, automatically number lines
ki, move and delete blocks BASIC -
programs, etc. For these purposes it is very
the ZXED program from DK'TRONICS is convenient,
occupying 4.5K of machine memory and several
k lines at the end of the BASIC program. She
provides a choice of 12 auxiliary
ny functions.
The next group of auxiliary programs
Ramm are BASIC compilers. They are pre-
form a program written in Basie
ke, into machine code, which suggests increased
solving its speed. The earliest of
compilers - MCODER (1983) and ULTRA-
KIT (HI-SOFT, 1984). The most powerful -
BLAST in a package with the TOOLKIT utility, drive-
converting a BASIC program into a convenient form
for compilation. Please note that
The LAZER BASIC compiler is capable of processing
run programs written not only in
LAZER BASIC, but also on a standard syncle-
rovsky BASIC. True, practical
the use of BASIC compilers is hampered by
vue their imperfection - one of them
"do not digest" fractional numbers, others -
do not support data arrays, etc.Compiled programs are usually
do not work without the presence of sa-
my compiler or part of it. So
often the game is not worth the candle.
Of course, in addition to various dialects
Comrade BASIC for Speccy versions developed
and other high-level languages. So, in
1983 - 1984 released by HI-SOFT
several variants of Pascal. They meet-
are also available with modifications to which the company does not
has nothing to do with Pascal on ZX-
SPECTRUM can be indulged in, but no more.
Write a decent program on it before
quite difficult - difficulties arise due to
data with low speed, lack of
memory, etc.
Also in 1984, HI-SOFT released
two versions of the C language compiler - 1.0 and
1.1.You can try to write bo-
more or less serious program. But for
this is often lacking in system libraries
tech STUDIO.H and STUDIO.LIB, which are
someone's stupidity often disappears from the pa-
chum salmon
You may come across others, more ec-
zotic programming languages.Existence-
There are, for example, several different ver-
this language FORT from ABERSOFT, ARTIC COM-
PUTING,CP SOFTWARE (the latter released
version supporting floating operation
comma); two or three options
serious language LOGO from different companies; one by one
new version of very specific languages
LISP (SERIOUS SOFTWARE, 1983) and MICRO-
PROLOG.Kthe latter is accompanied by additional
nificant libraries, but, unfortunately, sa-
the most useful of them, called SIMP-
LE could not be found in the Union.
Directly to high-level languages
assemblers and disassemblers are adjacent,
allowing you to communicate with a computer
assembler command language.Disassemblers
often also perform a debugging function
chica programs. Programming in language
low level - extremely labor-intensive,
but, unfortunately, the only possible
way to create programs on ZX-SPECTRUM
high level. Typically, assembler and
a disassembler from one company works with file-
lami of the same format and make up
single software package. First in 1982
year, the EDITAS assembler and pa-
ULTRAVIOLET-INFRARED, designed for
ZX-SPECTRUM with not only 48K RAM,
but also 16K. Of the later developed many
numerical assemblers and disassemblers
It is worth mentioning an interesting macro package
assembler with monitor SPECTREMAC-SPECT-
REMON from OASIS SOFTWARE, for which,
unfortunately, details have not yet been discovered -
th description. Absolutely fantastic in
the LASER-GENIUS package to its capabilities
the same company remained in the shadows also due to
lack of description. Very interesting
MON2 debugger, but there is no compatibility for it
assembly language. Enduring popularity
popular among Sinclairistspackage
GENS-MONS from HI-SOFT (original
package name DEVPAC).In the Union the most
versions of it from the second are often found
the fourth in various sub-variants.
Let's move on to the description of another group of programs.
ramm "for business" - application programs:
text, graphic, music editing -
torov, etc.
The most typical representatives of applied
programs - text editors. Of these
the most developed family of editors
TASWORD from TASMAN SOFTWARE.First
version of TASWORD is now practically unused
uses it, but based on TASWORD 2
many countries, including ours, have created
numerous modifications have been given, adapting
compiled into national alphabets,
new printers and disk systems.TASWORD2
allows you to edit lines of length 64
symbols, and they can be displayed on the screen
read both in full (in small print) and
fragments of 32 characters (normal
Sinclair format).This editor you-
fulfills everything that anyone is capable of
or a less decent word processor:
formats the text (with justified lines or
with torn edge), moves blocks of text,
searches for a word using a pattern and multi-
other things.TASWORD2 has significant
disadvantage - every line of text, not
depending on how many characters it contains,
padded with spaces up to 64 characters.
small free memory (about 20K)
this isgreatly limits the text size -
the editor can only process 320
lines.
There are many "national" variants
TASWORD2 comrades, including several Russian-
formalized, for example, Tasword Avp (or
RusTas), working only with Russian al-
favit, and TASWORD RL, which has full knowledge
new sets of Russian and Latin alphabet
Vitov. But, unfortunately, they are made extremely
unprofessional and working with them
almost impossible.
The latest version of "tasvor" known to us
yes" - TASWORD 128 (1986) calculated
for working on ZX-SPECTRUM 128. In addition
increasing text width to 128 characters
and eliminating "idle" spaces at the end
lines, a serious advantage of this ver-
This is an expansion of free memory
up to 64K.
Among other text editors we mention
the SPECTRAL-WRITER program. It was developed
in 1984 by SOFTEK, clearly under the influence
TASWORD2, but at the same time has a
expanded up to 22K free memory and non-
which other attractive especially
benefits.
Text deserves special attention
editor of TLW (The Last Word) firm
MYRMIDON SOFTWARE (1986), excellent
depriving his fellow men in almost all
parameters. The most common is slightly
version TLW2 modified by the company. One of
significant advantages of the editor -
large amount of free memory (up to 25K).
But the sizethe document being created is not
limited by this volume - TLW2 when withdrawing
to the printer can chain together non-
limited number of files.Notable
The special feature of TLW2 is its way -
the ability to display text on the screen 4 times -
personal formats: from 40 to 80 characters per
line. Regardless of this, when outputting to
printer line length can reach 144
characters. But the variety of output formats
makes Russification difficult for the editor. Many
Attempts were made to "build" Russian into TLW2
Chinese alphabet, but usually they ended
failure. Russification at best
was achieved by replacing the character generator,
without the possibility of simultaneous work with
Russian and Latin letters.
From programs that work with letters and numbers
rami, let's move to another area - tell us -
Let's talk about graphic editors. Diverse
their gap is quite large, and constantly
more and more advanced developments are appearing
boots. We will not describe in detail
capabilities of graphic editors.
I only know that there are three main
operating modes of graphic editors:
creation and editing on screen
computer pictures, sprites and sets
characters. The presence of all three modes is not
required, but can be edited
the entire picture - a distinctive prize -
This is what a graphic editor is like.
So, what graphics packages are forSpeccy can you find? As has already happened
in this review, we will approach the issue of historical
cheski.The first graphic editor, belt-
appeared on the market in 1983, and in its own way
quality is still not the last - this
MELBOURNE DRAW by MELBOURNE HOUSE.
A real sensation for that time would have been
la implementation in this program of the mode
editing fragments of a picture with 4- and
16x magnification.
Also in 1983, programmer Joe Gil-
Lespi from PRINT'n'PLOTTER PRODUCTS
wrote a pretty average for today-
At times, the PAINTBOX program in the computer
lecture with a demonstration part. He is also on
the next year produced a package
SCREEN MACHINE and then the PAINT- package
PLUS, after which, thank God, forever use-
chasing from the Spectrum horizon. His
programs, taking into account their obvious shortcomings and
even mistakes can hardly be recommended
for use against the backdrop of that abundance
graphic editors that appeared
later. This is, firstly, the DYNAMIC GRA package -
PHICS, focused mainly on
editing sprites with the ability
animation.Next,ICON GRAPHIX - trans-
new editor controlled by joystick -
the selection of functions in it is carried out by
by moving the cursor to symbolize them
icons.Use in the LEO editor-
NARDO traditional control method
(using keys) with a large numberfunctions led to the need to use
to steal almost the entire keyboard, that
makes working with the program very difficult.
Taking this into account, in the fairly powerful Swedish
com editor THE ARTIST (XCELENT company
SOFTWARE), also controlled by multiple
with the dedicated keys, the work is made easier by
presence of hints on the screen. But most
our popularity immediately after its
appearance in 1985 began to use
graphic editor ART STUDIO (company
OCP SOFTWARE) and, first of all, the benefit
giving something new to the editors of the time
management principle.
This control method is also used
and in the second version of the ARTIST editor -
ARTIST II, which, thanks to the expansion
capabilities, successfully competes with ART
STUDIO. Moreover, the developers
ARTIST II implemented several
unique functions not found in other
some graphic editors for ZX-SPECT-
RUM.For example, it is possible to insert
add an arbitrary fragment to the picture
another screen file, as well as editing
transfer the image “under a magnifying glass” with one
by watching it on a real scale
tabe.
You may also find programs useful
allowing manipulation of three-dimensional
graphic objects. There is little in this
the numerical group is most familiar with the program
frame VU-3D, released by PSION in
1982. According to given projectionsthree-dimensional
of any object, it allows you to build and
transform its image on the screen
(for example, rotate, zoom in and out)
center of projection, etc.). Unfortunately,
the program only works with segments
straight - curved contours come -
be described with broken lines. This is not
the CAD + 3D PLOT program is deprived of prosperity,
representing some semblance of a professional
nal CAD/CAM system developed
for “large” machines, CAD + 3D PLOT oriented
focused mainly on building
orthogonal projections of the object, that is,
essentially, it makes it possible to receive
his drawing.
Western general education programs
for ZX-SPECTRUM, if they are interesting, then
only for special schools with in-depth study
English. However, after the appearance of Spec-
cy in our regular schools these programs
began to be translated into Russian, although
and not always successfully. In addition, already in
The Union has written very decent educational
programs.
* * *
Share your thoughts about the article