wickensonline.co.uk Retrochallenge 2010 Winter Warmup Entry Library-2

      Retrochallenge 2010
      Winter Warmup
      Mark Wickens
      20-Jan-2010

                                    Retro Library Part 2

      The second part of my retro library - with a smattering of 68000 programming
      books and a few wildcards. Amongst the 68000 books the Motorola Programmers
      Reference was a staple of 68k courses at University - this copy was given to me
      recently by a colleague who also gave me a book by a lecturer who had only just
      left Hatfield Polytechnic when I started there, and was geared towards the MECB
      boxes they had in the 'lab'.

      I'm a great fan of APL as a way of exposing you to a programming language which
      is substantially different to the typical 3GL and object oriented languages in
      the mainstream. The strange characters are what drew me to it, but in the end my
      longevity of interest is more to do with the paradigm shift needed to understand
      how to program in it than anything else. It is a beautiful language and the
      inventor, Kenneth Iverson received the Turing Award for its development. His
      seminal paper 'Notation as a Tool of Thought' provides justification that George
      Booles assertion 'That language is an instrument of human reason, and not merely
      a medium for the expression of thought, is a truth generally admitted' applies
      equally to both mathematics and computer languages'.

      The Humane Interface just slips into the retrochallenge era being 10 years old
      this year. I would encourage anyone interested in the user interface to read it
      - most of it applies equally today as it did in the day. Of retro interest is
      Jef Raskins influence on the Canon Cat (a much revered early word processing
      computer) and subsequently on the classic Mac user interface.

      Finally, the Dragon 32 programmers reference is of no interest to me but I
      include it as a nod to the eight-bitters out there. If anyone would like it let
      me know.

      
      Pocket Guide Assembly Language for the 68000 Series.
      Robert Erskine
      
      

      
      M68000 8-/16-/32-Bit Microprocessors Programmer's Reference Manual
      Motorola
      
      

      

      
      Dr Dobb's Toolbook of 68000 Programming
      Brady
      
      

      

      
      Microprocessor Systems Design
      68000 Hardware, Software and Interfacing
      Alan Clements

      

      

      
      APL An Interactive Approach
      Leonard Gilman and Allen J. Rose

      

      

      
      The Humane Interface
      Jef Raskin

      

      

      
      DRAGON 32 Programmer's Reference Guide
      John Vander Reyden