20 Goto 10

Steven Goodwin

• Publisher: Unbound
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9781800182752
• Topic: Informatique
• Subtopic: Technologies de l'information

A numerical adventure through the history of retro computers of the 1980s and 90s

Do you know what secret messages were hidden in Commodore BASIC? Why the highest score possible in Pac-Man is 3333360? That Steve Wozniak set the price of the Apple computer at $666.66? Or why the Amstrad CPC 472 had an 8K chip that was never connected?

From 0 to 2147483647, and from Acorn Atoms to VIC-20s, 20 GOTO 10 takes us on an adventure through the history of retro computers and games consoles – one number at a time.

By following the 'GOTO' instructions at the end of each entry, you'll create a unique journey through this treasure trove of forgotten geek lore and fascinating trivia. With any luck, you'll discover the number used to grant infinite lives in Jet Set Willy on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the reason a single digit might require seven bytes of memory, and how – through numbers – we can understand more than just the internal workings of our favourite retro machines.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• WARNING!
• Preface
• The game
• 0 : False
• Appendix 0 : Computing Terms
• Appendix 1 : Character sets
• Appendix 2 : Keys on a keyboard
• Appendix 3 : Year of release
• Appendix 4 : CPUs in use
• Appendix 5 : CPU families
• Appendix 6 : Inflation
• Appendix 7 : What type of retro fan are you?
• Appendix 50 : Cascade Cassette 50 – Contents
• Appendix 256 : Number conversions
• Appendix 4294967295 : Everything
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright