Raj MadhuramWhen I was studying in 9th/10th standard, ZX Spectrum was my object of desire. I used to buy whatever books on ZX Spectrum I could get hold of. Finally Dad bought me a similar Z-80 based home computer called Color Genie.
The above is a spectacular interview with Sir Clive Sinclair, the man behind ZX Spectrum. Following is an excerpt:
Interviewer: They required you to get to grips with how they worked. You have to engage in primarily things where you played around with programming, and even kids like myself, if you wanted to write a game on the Spectrum that played at a reasonable speed, you have to effectively teach yourself to write Assembler which took a significant degree of technical understanding about how the machine worked. Everything now is very much plug and play. Do you think we miss out in the terms of getting to know how these machines work as a result?
Sir Clive: Very much so, and I regret that, because you know, your generation really understood the computers and today’s generation know they are just a tool and they didn’t get to grips with them, which I think, I find it very sad.
Spot on Sir! Hats off to you for the incredible inventions! Your work has been immensely inspirational for me and countless others.