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Loadstar 128 9
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q09.d81
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t.fern valley
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2022-08-28
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F E R N V A L L E Y
by Ian Adam
If you're like me, you probably jumped directly to this program,
thinking that it may be an adventure game of some sort, concerning the
seemingly normal, yet somehow twisted, inhabitants of a seemingly normal,
yet somehow malevolent village on the Canadian border. You know, just down
the road from Twin Peaks. Well, I'm afraid that program is yet to be found.
FERN VALLEY is actually a very interesting, "cutting edge" program that
allows you to learn about and create the latest fractal craze, the Affine
Transformations. This is a sophisticated, iterative algorithm that draws
fern-like images on your screen using only mathematical formulas.
"Iterative" means that it performs certain operations ON ITSELF over and
over again. "Algorithm" is a ten-dollar word for procedure, or formula.
One of the things that makes fractals and other transformations so
important to scientists is that the "formula" for making a huge picture can
be stated in a few numbers. The picture itself may contain millions of bits
of information, but the formula for it may use only a hundred or so bits.
Since we have computers that will perform the dirty work once we plug in the
formula, we can save a lot of time and space by just saving the formula, not
the whole completed picture.
The "guts" of FERN VALLEY takes up only a few lines of code, but Ian
Adam has made the program into a showcase of C-128 capabilities and
friendliness. The program supports REUs, for instance. It's all
menu-driven and very intuitive, once you explored the various nooks and
crannies of the program.
Read the INFORMATION first to learn about fractals and Affine
Transformations, then experiment to your heart's desire. You can always get
back to the Main Menu and read the information again should you have a
question.
There are plenty of options, but don't worry...none of them will do
anything worse than wipe out the current fern that's being drawn. Since the
data (called 'parameters') remains intact, you can just start the fern
growing again.
You can save your pictures as 32-block bitmap files with FERN VALLEY's
save command. In order to display the picture all you need to do is:
GRAPHIC1,1:GRAPHIC0 allocate space
BLOAD"FRN.XXXX",P8192 load the pic
GRAPHIC1 display it
This program is all in BASIC 7.0 and is easy to read and understand. If
you are a 128 programmer, I definitely recommend checking out Ian's code and
style. It's modern, friendly and attractive, and moreover, it's easy to
edit.
I think I'll put FERN VALLEY down on my list of places to visit this
fall. Right after I solve Laura Palmer's murder and take Jocey Packard away
from Sheriff Harry S. Truman. He doesn't deserve a woman of such quality
and wealth (even if she may be a murderer, or worse!).
FT
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