The ZX81 was my first computer, before this I had only programmed a Texas Instruments calculator. The first thing I programmed was a simple slalom game but I later programmed it to play Othello reasonably well, using machine code to calculate the best move and Basic to draw the board on the screen. I remember the "floppy ram" 16KB RAM pack which plugged on the back in a very insecure way and was prone to falling off at a crucial moment. I also remember using a cassette deck to record and load software, and I had a printer which sparked through the aluminium coating on black paper to print. I later added a proper keyboard. All very elementary but it got me started and I gained a reaonable understanding of the Z80 processor. My next computer was an Amstrad PCW, which also had a Z80 and to which I also added a lot of extras including a mouse and rudimentary scanner.

The ZX81 was my first computer, before this I had only programmed a Texas Instruments calculator. The first thing I programmed was a simple slalom game but I later programmed it to play Othello reasonably well, using machine code to calculate the best move and Basic to draw the board on the screen. I remember the "floppy ram" 16KB RAM pack which plugged on the back in a very insecure way and was prone to falling off at a crucial moment. I also remember using a cassette deck to record and load software, and I had a printer which sparked through the aluminium coating on black paper to print. I later added a proper keyboard. All very elementary but it got me started and I gained a reaonable understanding of the Z80 processor. My next computer was an Amstrad PCW, which also had a Z80 and to which I also added a lot of extras including a mouse and rudimentary scanner.