Byte vol.12 №4 April 1987

FEATURES
Product Preview:
The Apple Macintosh II……………………….85
by Gregg Williams and Tom Thompson
The Mac II features a compatible, open-ended system design.
Ciarcia’s Circuit Cellar:
Neighborhood Strategic Defense Initiative……..109
by Steve Ciarcia
Playing laser tag for real!
Build BERT, the Basic Educational Robot Trainer, Part 1 …..113
by Karl Brown
Even a child can program this talking robot built from off-the-shelf components.
Programming Project:
Concurrent Programming in Turbo Pascal………..127
by Mukkai S. Krishnamoorthy and Snorri Agnarsson Adding these two new data types of Turbo Pascal gives you parallel programming ability.
The Cheetah Adapter/386 by Jon Shiell…………135
This low-cost 80386 translator board plugs into your AT’s 80286.
THEME: Instruction Set Strategies
Introduction……………………………….142
How Much of a RISC? by Phillip Robinson………..143
The past, present, and future of reduced instruction set computers.
The RISC/CISC Melting Pot……………………153
by Thomas L. Johnson
Classic design methods converge in the MC68030 microprocessor.
The Fairchild Clipper……………………….161
by Mike Ackerman and Gary Baum
A microprocessor that attempts to balance the best of CISC and RISC.
Stack Machine and Compiler Design………………..177
by Daniel L. Miller
The Novix CPU’s FORTH instruction set and the design of a C compiler.
The WISC Concept by Phil Koopman…………………187
A proposal for a writable instruction set computer.
REVIEWS
Reviewer’s Notebook by Cathryn Baskin…………..201
State of the Art in Dot-Matrix Impact Printers …. 203 by George A. Stewart and Jane Morrill Tazelaar BYTE reviews 53 different models.
An Evolutionary Quartet of AT Clones……………217
by Mtiyne Rash Jr.
These updates are a mixed blessing.
The Apple IIGS by Philip Chien…………………223
The latest release in the Apple II series.
Text Scanners for the IBM PC…………………..233
by John McCormick
A look at OCR machines from five different companies.
The GCLISP 286 Developer………………………241
by Ernest R. Tello
This LISP development environment is an improvement over GCLISP version 1.
Turbo Pascal Toolboxes………………………..244
by Namir Clement Shammas
Two Turbo Pascal software add-ons.
R:base System V by Stephen Cobb………………255
Database management for single and multiple users.
Word Handler by Mick O’Neil………………….257
Word processing for the Macintosh.
Lightning and Flash by Whitney Bolton…………260
Two disk-cache programs for the IBM PC.
Review Feedback…………………………….263
Readers respond to previous reviews.
KERNEL
Computing at Chaos Manor: Back to Work!………..269
by Jerry Pournelle
The curse is lifted, and Jerry chooses the best and worst of 1986.
According to Webster: A Head Full of Cotton…….289
by Bruce Webster
Bruce considers the Magic Sac for the Atari ST and the PAL expansion chassis for the Amiga.
Applications Only: Another Odd Lot……………301
by Ezra Shapiro
Ezra looks at four unique programs. BYTE U.K.: Distinctive Coloring………………311
by Dick Pountain Factors to consider when implementing a color scheme.
BEST OF BIX
Amiga…………….323
Atari ST………….328
IBM PC and
Compatibles………..332
Pascal ……………341