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Big Blue Disk 19
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DISKOVER.TXT
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1988-03-03
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5KB
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78 lines
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^CBy Daniel Tobias
For months, the entries have been streaming in for our CodeQuest programming
contest. But the contest's finally over, so we can now announce the winners.
The Grand Prize ($1000) in the IBM PC division goes to Alan Farmer for The
Compleat Filer, an excellent file-function menu program that is presented in
this issue. Second place ($500) goes to Scott Miller for The Kingdom of Kroz,
a fantasy game; Martin Richardson took third place ($250) for the game Western.
These two games, and other programs from the contest that are worthy of
publication even if they didn't win, will be showing up in future issues.
We thank all entrants for participating, and hope to see more quality program
submissions from these fine programmers in the future. There may not be a
contest going on now, but we're always looking for program submissions, and
offer generous publication fees. Write for submission guidelines.
We're also seeking feedback; if you wish to write a letter to the editor, you
can use the BlueLine editor included on this issue, and send your completed text
file on a disk. Your comments might be included in a future Blue Notes column.
While we don't pay for feedback, you do get your name "up in lights", and maybe
another reader will be able to answer the questions you raise. Feel free to
write in about any PC-related matter; we want to make the Blue Notes section
into a wide-ranging DISK-ussion between the entire BIG BLUE DISK community.
All readers who send in a disk with feedback or program submissions will
receive a coupon good for $5 towards any of our products, whether or not we
publish the material you send. Use it toward your next subscription renewal, or
for your purchases of back issues, blank disks, or anything else we sell.
Speaking of feedback and discussion, I've long been an advocate of electronic
mail, a computerized communications system which combines many of the better
aspects of mail and telephone. (See my articles in issue #9 for more details.)
So, I thought I might use this space to give my E-Mail addresses on several
networks, in case you wish to drop me a line to ask questions, comment on BIG
BLUE DISK, or just say "Hi".
Our BBS, Soft Fido (a misnomer since I've long since switched it from the
Fido software to Opus, but the name stuck) is reachable at (318) 222-3503; we've
recently upgraded to 2400 baud capability, and have solved the line noise
problems that have previously plagued it. You can send FidoNet mail to me at
node 1:380/2. (That's Zone 1, Net 380, Node 2 in the FidoNet syntax.)
Our recent addition of UNIX (tm) systems for internal company use has given
me an address on the UUCP (UseNet) network. All you UNIX buffs out there can
now drop me a line at ...ihnp4!petro!conrad!softy!dan.
Add to this my addresses on CompuServe (72057,3267), Delphi (DANTOBIAS), and
Mnematics (9142), and I've got the E-Mail field pretty well covered. I don't
log into these commercial services nearly as frequently as Fido or UNIX, so it
may be a few weeks before I get any mail coming that way. Maybe someday things
will get internetworked enough so that I only have to log in one place to get
mail from all directions, just like I only need one telephone to get calls from
all long-distance services... that will eventually come, but progress is slow.
Recently, there have been many advances towards internetworking, including a
profusion of Fido/UUCP gateways (I've set one up myself now that I'm on both
nets), and a new service called DASnet (of which I know little at present
besides its name) which offers linked netmail to a variety of systems at a small
per-message charge. (News flash: I've just set up a do-it-yourself gateway
linking Soft Fido with my CompuServe account, so mail sent to me on CompuServe
will show up regularly on the BBS where I read it daily. I may do the same
for other services.)
At any rate, I've done enough rambling for now. This issue has a
particularly good assortment of programs, and I don't want to keep you from them
any longer. In particular, check out the special program, "Gospel Godspeed."
Even if you're not into religion, if you're at all knowledgeable about computer
text searching, you're bound to be amazed at the lightning-fast speed by which
this program can search the Gospels for any combination of words you wish to
look up. If you ^1are^0 into religion, check out the details included on how to
obtain the full-Bible version, which does equally-fast searches of the whole
Good Book, from Genesis to Revelations; this is great for tracking down an
elusive Biblical quote, or seeing what the Bible has to say about any subject.