{"id":89,"date":"2011-03-11T11:06:15","date_gmt":"2011-03-11T10:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theinternetsheep.com\/blog\/?p=89"},"modified":"2011-03-11T11:07:12","modified_gmt":"2011-03-11T10:07:12","slug":"memories-of-the-zx81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theinternetsheep.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/memories-of-the-zx81\/","title":{"rendered":"Memories of the ZX81"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ZX81 is 30 years old, and there are a number of retrospective articles, including this one from the BBC<\/a>. Many of us have very fond memories of Sinclair Research\u2019s early machines, and the ZX81 was my introduction to the world of computing. Back then, computers were strange, mysterious devices. Indeed, my brother and I saved up to buy a ZX81 without really knowing quite what it was. Having received the sleek, futuristic wedge-shaped black box, the only thing to do with it was learn to program \u2013 yes there was the \u201c1K Games Tape\u201d with some simple games, but once the novelty of these had begun to wane, it was time to see what use the machine could be put to. Adding a 16Kb RAM Pack made the machine more powerful (and allowed better games, when not writing programs, including the fabulous 3D Monster Maze).<\/p>\n

The ZX81 taught me Sinclair BASIC and Z80 Assembler, and lessons in writing efficient code, that don\u2019t seem to be anywhere near as relevant to the art of programming these days. Computers have become an everyday object that everyone has, but few are truly interested in. I miss the days when it was an enthusiasts hobby, and just having a computer implied both a greater interest and a deeper understanding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ZX81 is 30 years old, and there are a number of retrospective articles, including this one from the BBC. Many of us have very fond memories of Sinclair Research\u2019s early machines, and the ZX81 was my introduction to the world of computing. Back then, computers were strange, mysterious devices. Indeed, my brother and I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,3],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-information-technology","category-random","tag-computers"],"yoast_head":"\nMemories of the ZX81 - Random Baas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theinternetsheep.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/memories-of-the-zx81\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Memories of the ZX81 - Random Baas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ZX81 is 30 years old, and there are a number of retrospective articles, including this one from the BBC. 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