20 Goto 10: 10101001 facts about retro computers

by Steven Goodwin

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781800182752
Publisher:	Unbound
Publication date:	10/19/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	20 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Steven Goodwin has had an interest in computing and science for as long as he can remember: he learned machine code by his 10th birthday and built his first synthesizer while still in his teens. Since then he's been a developer, CTO and system architect for companies large and small. As an industry thought leader he's written 60+ articles and 5 books, and has worked as a start-up consultant, keynote speaker and mentor.

He was the lead developer of the Die Hard: Vendetta game and the Grand Prix Manager series, as well as other games from Microprose, PlayFish, EA and Glu Mobil.