For Christmas 1981 I received a Sinclair ZX81, I went downstairs and there it was, plugged into the telly with the words 'Merry Christmas Andrew Love Mum and Dad' on the screen screen.  Shit.  My mum could code!

A friend who was older than me (called Big Matt to differentiate him from my younger brother, Little Matt) told me he'd come round and we'd make a game on it.  Pac Man was the game of the moment - my son is amazed at how good I am at PacMan ;) - so he said he'd show me how to code that.  We sat down and he went to write 'A small round yellow ball with a mouth eating ghosts', believing (obviously utterly naively) that the computer would interpret this into a game of PacMan.  Of course when we pressed the A button the ZX81 wrote 'NEW' on the screen.  So we had to pick up the manual and thus began the first lessons in BASIC.

 By the time I got a Spectrum a couple of years later me and Big Matt were coding kings.  Saturday's favourite passtime was being dragged around town by Mum and Dad.  At the time Boots sold computers, so whenever there was an opportunity I'd sneak to the computer section and tag the machines, trying in as little time as possible to make as many computers as you could flash, make psychedelic noises and show graphics of flying saucers blowing up cities or writing my name ad infinitum:

The only time I really ever got hit by a teacher was because of a computer too.  We had a library lesson and our progressive headmaster had bought a bunch of Sinclair QL's and Spectrum+'s (computers were the future you know).  WIth 10 minutes to kill at the end of the lesson I asked Mrs Webster if I could play on the computer and was told there wasn't time.  Now I knew there was plenty of time, so I figured **** Mrs Webster, I went and did it anyway.  Of course in 5 minutes I was making colour and noise and had attracted the attention of half the class.  WHACK! Mrs W delivered a world class smack to me around the back of my head.  I must have been 10 or 11 years old.  (I got my revenge a year later when she was caught speeding outside the school gates and my friend and I quickly published a school magazine with that news as front page story.)

At 12 (in 1985) I was handing in computer animations for homework assignments.  The sentiment of MJ Hibbet's awesome Hey Hey 16k was true; "It made a generation who could code".  The internet kind of came along for 'normal human beings' as I was leaving university in '96.  In my very first half decent job I hacked the company website together from instructions in a magazine article.  When I went for a really good multimedia designer's job at Brand New Media (no, not that one, this one) the fact that I'd actually published a commercial website at all was more than most.  There I started working with a bunch of people who were using computers to make creative things and because we understood them, from the ground up, we were never afraid to experiment.  In fact, the restrictions of the world wide web, with its web safe pallets, tiny file sizes and limited resolutions (640x480 - remember the Spectrum was 256×192, the ZX81 64x48, no kids, that's NOT a typo) we were right at home.  Those adults who in 1980 were insisting that 'computers were the future' could not have dreamed that in 20 years time there'd be a global network of supercomputers that has pervaded our lives the way that it has. 

I think Big Matt sold his Spectrum to buy a fishing rod, but I do remember his mum insisting that he write one big game or program before she allowed him to do it.  Fishing, she must have thought, is not the future.

Just for fun: The World's Smallest Pac Man Game

Tendré 22 años... pero toy viejo. Tengo miedo de emboliarme o morir en el sueño.
Acabo de hacer lo que hacen los viejos. Me compré un antiácido.
Ello me quitó 10 millones en mi carné. (Solito dice que es más joven).
Aparte, tengo 5 canas. 4 en el mechón blanco de siempre, y una al otro hemisferio. (Solito dice que no tiene canas).
Toy viejo. Cuando me agacho, me suenan todas las articulaciones. (Solito dice que corre todos los fines de semana sin sonido alguno, haciendo la Devil Bat Ghost).
Las placas ateromatosas me tapan toas las venas, y el mal de la vaca loca se asoma como una amenaza bastante probable. De hecho, si paso agosto, será una gran proeza, considerando que hoy me inyecté casi medio litro de aceite a la vena... mediante papas fritas en cantidades... no industriales... más bien cerdas.
El antiácido salió justamente por ello. Toy casi seguro. Mis hábitos alimenticios no son muy saludables (hay semanas en que como puros tallarines), y en lo que va de la semana, la 'dieta' ha consistido en papas fritas, arroz, y tortillas del arroz que sobra. Ayer mi organismo, en un estilo de protesta bolchevique, me empezó a pasar la cuenta mediante una acidez a la hora de ir a acostarme... Ahora también.
Eso sí, es como primera vez. No estoy seguro siquiera si es una acidez. Siempre dicen que uno siente como que quema la garganta o was así. No tengo idea si es lo que siento o es por tanto que he comido. No tengo idea si es acidez... pero me compré el antiácido. Aún está guardado. Me resisto a envejecer.

Incluso me resistí a comprarlo. Y la compra fue como algo prohibido. Me acerqué a la farmacéutica de manera casi clandestina...

-WnFeliz: "Pss..."
-Drogo: "Eh?"
-WnFeliz: "Psssss! Usté... el facilitador."
-Drogo: "Buenos días. ¿Que quiere?"
-WnFeliz: "Eso."
-Drogo: "ESO?" *TCHUM!*
-WnFeliz: "ESO" *TCHUM!*
-Drogo: "Mmm... Efervescente o masticable?"
-WnFeliz: "Efervescente."
WnFeliz le entrega el dinero a la comerciante, quien asiente y se va a lo oscuro de la farmacia a buscar la mercancía. Vuelve con un sobre con polvo blanco en su interior. WnFeliz toma el ilícito y comienza a marcharse.
-Drogo: "ESPERE!"
-WnFeliz: "! Mierda!"
-Drogo: "Su vuelto."

Así fue como me hice del polvito de la felicidad. Pero me resisto a abrirlo. Ya siento esa sensación incómoda en la tráquea, y el sobrecillo me dice "Bébeme!", "Envejezcamos juntos!", "Te ayudaré a morir sin molestias hipergástricas"...

Creo que debo dejar de luchar contra esas cosas. Es mi pecado. Por comer mal, por comer feliz tanta porquería, por tener un horario tan desastroso de comida a lo largo de ya 5 años. Estas cosas terminan por pasar la cuenta.
Trataré de combatirlo sin tanto antiácido y con más voluntad. No quiero convertirme en esa clase de gente que depende de los remedios para cosas que pudieron solucionar con una simple bufanda o con un poquito de ejercicio. No me gusta eso de reparar un vidrio quebrado con un cartón. Hay que esforzarse un poquito más. Un poquito más de orden en mi vida me vendría bien. Creo.

Aunque mi vida se definiría como un desorden. Nunca la he planificado. Las cosas salen de repente. Y me gusta vivirla así. Nunca me he proyectado tan a futuro. Mi futuro siempre me es tan próximo, que el sentido de la vejez es bastante impreciso para mí. Puedo ser viejo mañana. O quizás ya lo soy... Y todo este vagabundeo de pensamientos no tiene sentido...
22 años no es mala edad para jubilarme.

Eh, tidak berselang lama, ”Crottttttt....crootttt....crottttt.....”

”Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.....”, kita berdua berteriak bersama.

Yup, dapat menebak apa yang terjadi kan? Iya, kita berdua kena kotoran burung koak. Wah, tentu saja kami langsung buru-buru pulang, ya jam satunya kami kan harus kuliah lagi.

Aku sempat marah-marah. Kenapa si No2 ngomong sembarangan gitu...Ya, karena ternyata, kami berdua memang sama-sama tidak QL di malam harinya.

Duh, aku langsung tersadar, jangan coba-coba lewat jalan Ganesha kalo belum QL. Untungnya teguran itu langsung ditunjukkan. Terkadang aku tertegun, ya Allah, bumiMU ini kan luas, kenapa harus kami berdua yang terkena kotoran koak itu???
Tapi itu cerita dua semester kemaren, sekarang koaknya juga udah pindah ke mana... Nah, tapi koak sudah mengajarkan pelajaran penting kepadaku...Bekal ruhiah itu penting, penting sekali. Ya, walaupun aku tahu istiqomah itu susah, tapi kan kita semua sedang belajar, belajar menjadi manusia yang lebih baik lagi...Kan kita semua sepakat ya, ada suatu kekuatan Maha Dahsyat di alam semesta ini yang mengendalikan segala urusan...

El programa forma part del Pla de Foment de la Lectura, per iniciativa de la Institució de les Lletres Catalanes.

Què llegeixes (QL)

[HR. Ahmad, al-Hakim, dan Abu Nu`aim]

.
La benvinguda a un nou espai de xerrada, organitzat en blocs d'aproximadament infantil, juvenil i adults:

«T'agrada llegir?
T'agrada escriure sobre el que llegeixes?
Has arribat al bon lloc!

Què Llegeixes? és la comunitat virtual en català sobre llibres, lectures i literatura. Hi podràs escriure sobre els teus llibres, les teves llibreries, els teus autors. Què Llegeixes? també està ple de concursos sobre llibres i literatura.»

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO computer reminds me of some of Sir Clive Sinclair's computers. Not, as you might think, because of the XO's rubber-membrane keyboard, which both of Sir Clive's most popular computer, the ZX Spectrum, and his only portable, the Z88, shared. Rather, it is that one of core aims of the OLPC XO project is to encourage children to learn about the computer they are using: "Children program the machine, not the other way around." [see http://laptop.org/en/laptop/] In the same way, Sinclair always intended his computers to be used as educational tools. Indeed, his earliest mass market machines, the ZX80 and ZX81 were both available in kit form, requiring the user to really get to grip with how things worked. While it's probably true that these kits only appealed to a limited hobbyist market, they did emphasis the accessibility of the machines. That accessibility remained important to Sinclair - even the hugely popular ZX Spectrum and later the Sinclair QL came with hefty manuals detailing everything about each computer as well as comprehensive programming guides. These were machines designed to teach as well as be used to perform specific tasks.

Although many people didn't use these Sinclair computers as educational tools, preferring instead just to play games or run business applications written by others, many did go on to learn and write software for these machines; and some went on to become very successful, setting up and running their own software companies. Others built various pieces of hardware to attach to and extend these machines. For example, I remember one contemporary at my school building an interface that connected his Spectrum to a Scalextric track so that track times could be recorded. Many other interfaces were designed and sold commercially.

Of course, computers have come a long way since Sinclair's heyday, and as computers have moved closer to being appliances they have brought with them significant benefits - not least the fact that you don't need to be some kind of technical genius just to get the things to work. Yet as they have become easier to use, they have also become significantly more complicated to understand, in particular in terms of how they work.

We certainly can't go back to the days of Z80 processor, where it was possible for one person to understand nearly everything about the computer he or she was programming, and on the whole that's probably a very good thing. Yet I can't help but feel that children are missing out by not having their own Sinclair computer to explore. That's why I hope the OLPC project is a success. To date, OLPC have been focusing on selling the XO computer to the developing world, but I think their goal of providing "children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves", applies equally to the developed world. I hope it becomes more widely available soon, and that the current Give One Get One initiative in the US and Canada, where individuals can effectively pay for two machines and donate one of them to a child in a developing nation, is the first of many.