40 Best Machine Code Routines for the ZX Spectrum

Your Spectrum

HEWSON'S BEST BOOK Hewson Consultants, best known for its simulation software, picked up the CTA (Computer Traders Association) Award for the best computer book of 1983 at the LET (Leisure and Electronics Trader) show in February. The tome is entitled 40 Best Machine Code Routines for the ZX Spectrum, and it contains (surprisingly enough) no less than 40 nifty little machine code oddments for the Speccy. But it doesn't stop there, because the 144-page book also explains what machine code is and why you should use it -and how a Speccy's mind works. Now into its third edition, apparently the publication is still selling well. All the routines featured are comprehensively documented with plenty of instructions on how to get things running. Some of the best include a renumber routine which handles GO TO, GO SUBS, etc., and literally every type of scroll possible. The machine code listings have been typeset, which leaves their credibility somewhat dubious. The ones tested seemed to work, but even after the third edition there may be errors. 40 Best Machine Code Routines for the ZX Spectrum by John Hardman and Andrew Hewson costs £5.95, is published by Hewson, and should be available at any computer oriented bookshop - friendly or otherwise.

There's 144 pages to tell you all about machine code and how to use it.