Commodore C64: The Most Popular Home Computer Ever Turns 40

Commodore C64: The Most Popular Home Computer Ever Turns 40

This year marks the anniversary of the most popular selling home computer ever, the Commodore 64, which made its debut in 1982. Note that I am saying “home computer” and not personal computer (PC) because back then the term PC was not yet in use for home computer users.

Some of you have probably not heard of Commodore, which is kind of sad, though there is a simple reason why — Commodore is no longer around to maintain its legacy. If one were to watch a documentary about the 1980s they may see a picture of an Apple computer or its founders but most likely would not see a picture of a Commodore computer in spite of selling tens of millions of units.

To understand the success of the C64 I would first back up and talk about the fabled era of home computers which starts with understanding the microprocessor of the day, the venerable 6502. Check out the video and follow along below.

The 6502

The 6502 was the brainchild of Chuck Peddle and a team of engineers, Bill Mensch, Wil Mathes and others, who were all working at Motorola — we called them the Motorla Five even though there were seven of them.  Chuck’s team successfully shrunk down a full sized PCB known as the main processor board onto a single chip, known now as a microprocessor, the 6800 to be exact.  While this evolutionary step seems whole and natural to someone like you or I, the existence of the microprocessor was deemed a threat to those at Motorola who made their money selling the main processor board for tens of thousands dollars vs the $250 that the 6800 was slated to sell for.  Mr. Peddle basically received a “cease and desist” letter from Motorola to stop work on the 6800 which Chuck took to mean that they were abandoning the project and the intellectual property it represented.  Chuck and company then joined MOS Technology in Norristown PA and subsequently released the 6502 microprocessor which sold initially for $25 and ultimately less than a dollar. The fact that the lawyers disagreed with Chuck is a different story.

KIM-1

KIM-1

The 6502 is at the heart of many of the home computers of the era starting with Atari, Apple, BBC Micro, and of course Commodore.  One of the earliest examples of the 6502 was a system known as KIM-1.  Contrary to popular belief, the KIM-1 was not designed by Chuck Peddle but rather someone from the Calculator Group at MOS lead by John May. When asked about his contribution to computers in general, Mr. Peddle’s response was that he was proud of the Input/Output (I/O) chips of the day as a computer with no I/O is just a processor but add I/O and you have terminals, cash registers, printers, etc.

I cut my teeth on the 6502 as a young bench technician at a company named Pennsylvania Scale Company in the late 70’s, doing processor controlled instrumentation which was

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The popular electronics chain that scammed America

The popular electronics chain that scammed America

On September 13, 1984, as stocks wavered through a bear market, a regional electronics chain held a hyped initial public offering.

If it seems odd that a purveyor of VCRs and stereos could make investors swoon, remember that this was the 1980s, and people were getting pumped about cellular phones that were roughly the size of microwaves. And know that this electronics company was Crazy Eddie, a brand that, in so many ways, was breaking the usual rules.  

The previous fiscal year, Crazy Eddie’s annual revenues were ~$134m, or ~$372m today. More impressively, the 13-store New York City-area chain led the electronics industry in sales per square foot and profit margins.    

Crazy Eddie was also a cultural sensation, rising to fame with absurd commercials that Dan Akroyd parodied on Saturday Night Live. In the 1984 movie Splash, Darryl Hannah’s character watched a Crazy Eddie ad when she first discovered TV. 

That first day, investors purchased nearly 2m shares of Crazy Eddie for $8 apiece, under the ticker CRZY. By the end of the year, the stock would climb 25%, far outpacing a flat market and boosting Crazy Eddie’s plans for greater expansion.

There was just one major problem.

Crazy Eddie had been lying about its numbers since its inception — and the higher the stock soared the further founder Eddie Antar went to maintain the illusion. 

“It was Goodfellas,” one attorney later told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “except they operated with briefcases instead of guns.” 

The insaaaaane rise of Crazy Eddie

Eddie Antar was a 22-year-old high school dropout when he opened his first store in 1969, near the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn. 

He was the classic outer-borough tough guy: almost bald with a scraggly goatee, allergic to wearing anything but sweats, crude yet charming at the same time. 

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Eddie Antar (AP, via New York Times; 1993)

Antar believed people would flock to stores that sold items like speakers, VCRs, and televisions under the same roof — and he was right.

Industry-wide, sales of electronics jumped from $8.5B in the late 1960s to $35B by the mid-1980s. 

By 1979, Antar had 8 stores and shared the success with his family, which was part of a tightknit Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn. His father, Sam M. Antar, uncle Eddy Antar, and brothers Mitchell and Allen Antar all held key positions. 

Meanwhile, Eddie Antar made sure everyone in New York City knew his business by flooding TV and radio with catchy ads shaped by advertising director Larry Weiss.

Weiss was well-connected in the radio and music industries and hired radio DJ Jerry Carroll to be Crazy Eddie’s spokesperson. (Other candidates for the job included the Godfather of Soul, James Brown.) 

Taking inspiration from the humor of Mad magazine, Weiss developed commercials that played off music trends and the cultural zeitgeist. Most commercials featured Carroll

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Mr. Ronald Whittemore, Senior Olympic Athlete and Laptop Programming Analyst is Regarded as a Most popular Specialist Symbolizing the Point out of New Hampshire

Mr. Ronald Whittemore, Senior Olympic Athlete and Laptop Programming Analyst is Regarded as a Most popular Specialist Symbolizing the Point out of New Hampshire

For his accomplishments as a Senior Olympic Athlete and a laptop programming analyst, Ronald Whittemore has been acknowledged by the Favored Experts of The us for 2022!

A renowned long-length runner and jumper whose prominence in the sports activities arena has been regarded for many years, Ronald Whittemore has withstood the exam of time and complications of heart condition – and remains to this working day a aggressive sporting activities fanatic. He has defied the odds to attain feats seldom witnessed at his age, turning 80 many years previous final April.

Usually highlighted in this kind of prestigious publications as The Eagle Instances and Valley Information in their respective sports’ section, Ronald was most recently showcased in the July 2nd edition of The Eagle Occasions in recognition of the three gold medals he garnered at the Senior Olympic Video games held in Burlington, VT. For his age group (80-84), he gained 1st position in the prolonged soar, triple leap and 100-meter sprint. Attending every Nationwide Senior Game titles due to the fact 1995, he notably jumped lengthy ample to gain the title of variety four in the all-time heritage of the Senior Video games.

Involved in sports for most of his profession, Ronald ran his to start with marathon in Boston, MA, in 1961 and continued to operate at least one mile per day, every single day, for far more than seven consecutive several years. Right after struggling with bronchial asthma and heart disorders, which include three heart attacks and a blood transfusion, he constrained himself to quick distance working, lengthy jumps, and triple jumps. In 2011, he surpassed his own anticipations and attained a bronze medal in the triple jump at the Countrywide Senior Game titles in Humble, TX. On the other hand, just one of the highlights of his vocation was when he received his Masters All-American certificates.

Outdoors of his athletic achievements, Ronad served in the United States Air Drive from 1961 to 1965 and the United States Navy from 1956 to 1960. Immediately after receiving married, he determined to target on his loved ones and enrolled in programming school, graduating magna cum laude from the establishment. In 1966, he commenced operating as a personal computer programmer for Cross Co. In 1968, he brought these skills to Joy Producing, doing work as a senior programmer right up until 1973. That calendar year, he joined Computac, LLC and worked at this venture till 1979. Due to the fact 1979, he has been a programming supervisor at Datamann, Wilder and retired in 2000. When Mr. Whittemore was 40 a long time previous, he attended Hawthorn College and majored in business enterprise administration with a minimal in accounting. He experienced been elected treasurer of the class and graduated magna cum laude.

Prior to these appointments, he served in the U.S. Navy from 1956 to 1960 and the U.S. Air Drive from 1961 to 1965. Together with his major endeavors, he was the president of the Claremont Men’s Softball League and

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Popular personal computer science interview questions: What to assume

Popular personal computer science interview questions: What to assume

Landing a laptop science occupation requires preparation. The laptop science selecting approach commonly consists of many rounds of interviews. You will facial area common inquiries, behavioral and situational issues, and technical inquiries. 

Thankfully, you can get ready for these questions in progress — but only if you know what to be expecting. Before your interview, you need to know the most frequent laptop science job interview questions. 

What to anticipate when interviewing for a personal computer science position

Industry experts in all vocation levels will have to get via the job interview process to land in-desire laptop or computer science work opportunities. 

But what need to you assume during a tech job interview? And what forms of computer science job interview questions will the interviewer request?

Most specialized positions use a multi-round interview process. 

Organizations generally start off with a telephone interview to monitor candidates. Then, candidates may finish a complex job interview, which may well incorporate checks or jobs. The subsequent spherical can consist of conferences with supervisors or workforce members. Senior management may well also meet with candidates for selected roles. 

For the duration of these interviews, the selecting supervisor checks that candidates possess the wanted specialized and folks abilities. Candidates with sturdy laptop science delicate skills often stand out through behavioral and situational interviews. 

At the stop of the hiring system, you are going to negotiate on topics like laptop science income and benefits. But to make it to a occupation present, you can expect to will need to impress the business with your job interview answers.

Technical issues to assume in a pc science job interview

Complex inquiries exam your knowledge of coding, running systems, software program, and other complex product. Interviewers ask these concerns to gauge your know-how of the industry and your skill to converse technical info.

Specialized queries will differ based on the position. Website developers will face additional concerns about front-close and again-finish frameworks, though facts stability analysts will remedy issues about cryptography and security approaches. 

Lots of work candidates locate the complex job interview the most overwhelming portion of the method. Develop your assurance by preparing solutions to common concerns and investigating thoughts specific to your area and prospective employer.

  • What is your strongest programming language?

  • How do you use GitHub at your present-day work?

  • What is a stream?

  • Can you clarify the software improvement cycle?

  • Which JavaScript frameworks can you use?

  • What’s the distinction between a class and a superclass?

  • What’s the big difference among major and secondary memory?

  • What is a constructor?

  • What is an interface?

  • What is an array?

  • What is actually the big difference among C and C++?

  • What is inheritance?

  • Can you name and outline accessibility modifiers?

  • What is the software layer?

  • What is a singleton course?

  • Can you describe how CPUs perform?

  • What is a facts framework?

  • What is deep discovering?

  • What is equipment studying?

  • How would you outline artificial intelligence?

  • What is actually the variance among compiled and interpreted code?

  • How would you define

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Top programming languages: Most popular and fastest growing choices for developers

Top programming languages: Most popular and fastest growing choices for developers
team-of-software-developers-working-together.jpg

JavaScript rules the roost, but Python is making huge gains.


Image: Maskot / Getty Images

JavaScript is now used by more than 16.4 million developers globally, says a survey of more than 19,000 coders – making it the world’s most popular programming language “by a wide margin”.

SlashData’s 21st State of the Developer Nation Report examined global software developer trends across 160 countries during Q3 2021, covering programming languages, tools, APIs, apps and technology segments, as well as attitudes of developers themselves.

The report also looked at developer involvement in 5G and IoT, specifically how programmers were taking advantage of new advances in technology in tools, apps and services.

SEE: Programming languages: Python’s new developer in residence and their ‘make-it-or-break-it’ role

JavaScript’s ongoing popularity in web and backend applications supported its position as the most popular programming language in Q3 2021. While not necessarily a surprise in itself – JavaScript has, after all, been the world’s most-used language for a number of years now – SlashData found that upwards of 2.5 million developers had joined the JavaScript community in the past six months alone. That’s the same as the entire user base of Swift; or, the combined communities of Rust and Ruby.

The data for JavaScript also included language derivatives TypeScript and CoffeeScript.

Python might not be a close second, but its popularity is impressive nonetheless: according to SlashData, the language is now used by some 11.3 million coders, primarily within data science and machine learning, and IoT applications.

The brainchild of Guido van Rossum, Python’s popularity has exploded in recent years, overtaking that of Java, which is currently used by 9.6m developers. Java remains a go-to for mobile and desktop apps, SlashData’s survey found.

According to SlashData, Python added 2.3m developers to its community in the past 12 months. “That’s a 25% growth rate, one of the highest across all the large programming language communities of more than 7M users,” the report noted.

“The rise of data science and machine learning (ML) is a clear factor in Python’s popularity. More than 70% of ML developers and data scientists report using Python. For perspective, only 17% use R, the other language often associated with data science.”

slashdata-programming-language-community-size-q32021.jpg

JavaScript, Python, Java, C/C++, PHP and C# top the programming language popularity charts.


Image: SlashData

Of course, determining the developer base of any particular programming language is not an exact science. “It can be hard to assess how widely used a programming language is,” noted SlashData. Its figures are based on two pieces of data: the organization’s own estimate of the number of software developers worldwide (which it puts at 26.8 million), as well as its bi-yearly surveys, which SlashData said reach “tens of thousands of developers every six months”. So, there is some margin for error.

Rounding out the top five most popular languages were C/C++ (7.5m developers), PHP (7.3m) and C# (7.1m). Of these, PHP has grown the fastest over the past six months, SlashData reported, acquiring one million new developers between

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Python overtakes Java, JavaScript as most popular programming language for first time in 20 years

Python overtakes Java, JavaScript as most popular programming language for first time in 20 years

What just happened? For the first time in more than 20 years, the Python programming language has overtaken Java, JavaScript, and C as the most popular language. The updated rankings for October revealed the achievement via Tiobe, an index that calculates the findings based on web searches.

Tiobe, a firm that specialize in assessing and tracking the quality of software, has tracked the popularity of programming languages for the past two decades. It uses queries on popular search engines and websites including Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Wikipedia and YouTube to assemble its index. A total of 25 search engines and sites are examined in the process.

The index itself is not about the best programming language per se or the language in which the most lines of code have been written, but strictly the amount of searches for languages on search engines. So while some may not take the feat achieved by Python seriously based on the methodology used, it’s still an important milestone given it’s the first time in 20 years Python has topped the rankings.

“Python, which started as a simple scripting language, as an alternative to Perl, has become mature. Its ease of learning, its huge amount of libraries, and its widespread use in all kinds of domains, has made it the most popular programming language of today,” said Tiobe CEO Paul Jansen.

As shown in Tiobe’s ‘Programming Language of the Year’ list, awarded for having the highest rise in ratings in a year, Python has kept itself in the conversation among the other popular languages since 2007 by winning four times.

Python topping the index, however, wasn’t necessarily because of an increase in searches. Instead, other languages falling in searches saw that an 11.27 percent share for Python was enough for it to take the lead. C fell 5.79 percent compared to October 2020 for an 11.16 percent share on the index, while Java fell 2.11 percent to 10.46 percent.

Other languages that rounded out the top 10 in the October index were C++, C#, Visual Basic, JavaScript, SQL, PHP, and Assembly Language.

A survey from 2020 based on 17,000 responses from developers showed how JavaScript continued to be the most used programming language. The report also revealed that Python added 2.2 million developers, predominantly due to the increase in both machine learning and data science.

https://www.techspot.com/news/91669-python-overtakes-java-javascript-most-popular-programming-language.html…

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