Publications and More
That A.P.P.L.E. gained notice for both the quality and the quantity of its publications is a given. First came the “Wozpak,” a thick, ungainly red-covered book – if one could be that generous with “book” – that was mainly an unorganized collection of various obscure Apple ][ assembler program listings, data sheets and entry point information.
The Wozpak was rushed into publication to supplement Apple Computer’s skimpy user manual of about 32 pages, familiarly known as the “red book.” The Wozpak was soon superceded by the “Wozpak ][,” a more formal, perfect-bound document containing additional material furnished by Woz himself and by Dave Gordon, who later founded PROGRAMMA INTERNATIONAL, another early Apple fanatic and software developer.
To support its own software, A.P.P.L.E entered the field of software documentation producing superb, easy-to-understand user manuals far excelling that of most commercial producers. Call –A.P.P.L.E. magazine went from an eight-page photocopied newsletter to a 64-page slick magazine, eventually reaching a circulation of nearly 30,000 world-wide.
Dance of the Ampersand Faeries
Commencing with “All About Applesoft,” probably the best known of the A.P.P.L.E. publications was the famous “Call –A.P.P.L.E. in Depth” series, also known as the “All About” series.” Like most of the subsequent “In Depths,” “All About Applesoft.” was a conglomeration of new and reprint articles and program listings, filling 128 or so pages. Little did we know that the article, “Applesoft Internals,” would turn the Apple world and Apple programmers upside down. Internals described the structure of all the major Applesoft assembly language subroutines, their related entry points and parameters.
As a compliment to that lead article, we made public for the first time, thanks to Apple’s Randy Wigginton, information about a mysterious BASIC hook to machine language. The hook employed the Ampersand (&), as its BASIC token. Unlike BASIC’s “CALL” command, which could only run an assembler module, the ampersand hook was unique in its ability to pass parameters directly to the 6502 registers, a highly valuable ability, indeed.
Enter Dave Lingwood, affectionately known as “Doctor Dave.” We have Dave to thank for delving into the inner workings of the Ampersand and developing BASIC to Assembler interfaces.
“All About Applesoft.” achieved a measure of stardom that no other member of the series could claim, as unauthorized Chinese and Japanese translations turned up. Surely the “In Depths” had made their mark. In short order, the series continued with volumes on DOS, Pascal, Applewriter and other subjects.
His Bark is worse than his Byte
That brings us back to the present. These days it seems like the editor’s bark is worse than his byte. We admire Bill Martens and his dream, now a realization, of a present day Call –A.P.P.L.E. Such an ambitious project it is (you don’t know the half of it) and one which we hope you will support.
Next: The saga of an Apple and A.P.P.L.E. “mystery.”
