As many people have shared on social media since the recent passing of Clive Sinclair the ZX81 was also my first computer and my first introduction to computer programming. Remember PEEK and POKE anyone?
Clive’s passing brings back a host of memories regarding my journey with computers – one which continues to this day. My primary school had 2-3 ZX81’s and with an upcoming birthday it was all I wanted.
I started with the base 1kb model which allowed me to do a school project on castles complete with an animated drawbridge and iron grate. The screen resolution was something like 64 x 40 pixels which again is laughable these days.
My brother and sisters can clearly remember – and enjoy reminding me – the sounds of anguish coming from my bedroom after having coded for hours (or at least it seemed like hours) the saving to tape had failed (yet again)
That said, the ZX81 is now 40 years old and these last 40 years have continued to illustrate that Moore’s law still continues to this day.
Subsequent to the ZX81 I upgraded to the wonderful world of colour with the ZX Spectrum. VIC20s, Commodore 64’s, Archimede’s and Atari’s all came and went before moving to PCs, Macs and iPads.
Today developing solutions for iPad we continue to push current hardware capabilities to their limit – this is a universal truth of computing that you never have enough power!
The last 40 years have been an amazing time to be part of the world of computing and while a sad time for Clive’s family, his impact on a generation can never be underestimated.