Stray Pointers

Juan Vazquez and Cameron Cunning rejoin the show to discuss how we fared with the 2025 Advent of Code competition. Website for the Advent of Code competition: https://adventofcode.com/  Cameron's GitHub Repo: https://github.com/ccunning2/AoC2025/tree/main/aoc-2025  Juan's Github Repo: https://github.com/javazquez/advent-of-code/tree/main/2025/aoc_2025_elixir  Jim's AoC2025 GitHub Repo: https://github.com/jimlawless/aoc2025/ 

Tom Zimmer has implemented a variety of Forth compiler systems ranging from 8-bit commercial Forths to more modern implementations.  Tom discusses his background with electronics, computing, and Forth. Tom's websites: https://photobubba.com/  https://tomzimmer.wordpress.com/  The Win32Forth Project Page https://win32forth.sourceforge.net/  The Forth Interest Group (FIG) historical page on Forth.  https://www.forth.org/   

Cameron Cunning and Juan Vazquez rejoin the show to discuss our approaches to the forthcoming Advent of Code 2025 coding competition in December. #rust #elixirlang #dlang #Aoc2025 #AdventOfCode #programming Website for the Advent of Code competition: https://adventofcode.com/  Cameron's GitHub Repo: https://github.com/ccunning2/  Jim's AoC2025 GitHub Repo: https://github.com/jimlawless/aoc2025/   

Angela Sylvaine returns for her fourth appearance on the show.  She and Jim recap the story of her first three novels and her future works including her forthcoming book Cold Snap. Please visit Angela's linktr.ee page for her book order and social media links: https://linktr.ee/angelasylvaine 

Telecommunications and BBS pioneer Nick Andrew talks about the TRS-80 Model I workalike known as the System-80.  With many hardware modifications, Nick wrote and operated his own BBS on the System-80 in the 1980's.  As time went on, Nick continued as a telecom pioneer. #z80 #trs80 #fidonet #bbsing https://github.com/nickandrew  https://www.nick-andrew.net/System80/Gallery/512x384/  http://projects.nick-andrew.net/   https://www.classic-computers.org.nz/system-80/     

Leor Zolman, creator of the BDS (Brain Damage Software) C compiler for CP/M ... the first commercial C compiler for microcomputers ... joins the show.  We discuss his compiler, tech writing, the genesis of The C Users Journal, his book Illustrated C, his path to teaching, and his journey in dealing with autism and trauma. Leor's presentation at VCF East (2025) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4vrBd2FVCY  Leor's Website https://www.bdsoft.com     

June 25, 2025 ( recorded on February 13th, 2024)   This episode is a reissue of an earlier audio-only episode with added video. Christine Seeman joins the show to discuss a variety of programming languages including Java, Ruby, and Go. We also discuss her live international speaking events. Website https://christine-seeman.com/  Mastodon: @[email protected]  NDC London 2020 - 2FA Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTtZQVSnz2M  .Net Rocks Podcast (taped at NDC London) https://www.dotnetrocks.com/details/1676  One Does Not Simply Add MFA - YOW! 2022 https://youtu.be/adQZ6r3Y858?si=0IA5XIBzU0U8HOgj   

May 16, 2025 Mike Taylor, author of the VIC-20 text adventures Magic Mirror and Nosferatu as well as the Commodore 64 game The Causes of Chaos joins the show.  We talk about those early adventure games, his evolution as a software developer, Perl, paleontology, and his book about the 11th incarnation of Doctor Who. Mike's contact information on Mastodon: @[email protected] https://sauropods.win/@mike/   Mike's website: https://www.miketaylor.org.uk/   Mile's text adventure games: https://www.miketaylor.org.uk/tech/advent/mm/   Mike's paleontology blo Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week: https://svpow.com/  Mike's Reinvigorated Programmer blog in which he discusses everything except sauropod vertebrae: https://reprog.wordpress.com/ 

Rob Sherman joins the show to discuss his early years of BBSing in the 1980's and his current telnet bulletin-board systems running on Atari 8-bit gear. Rob's telnet BBS's are as follows: Southernamis.ddns.net:23  This BBS runs in the AWS cloud 24/7 on Atari 130XE, 850 interfaces at a lightning speed of 9600 baud.  Amis86.ddns.net:9000  This BBS is a complete rebuild of MACE 1986 AMIS BBS. Enhanced and highly modified Nitelite.ddns.net:9000  This BBS is the restoration of the Atari Corporate 8Bit BBS Nitelite ... an amazing part of Atari History. Here's the terminal, SyncTerm, used in the show: https://syncterm.bbsdev.net/   

Gunnar Gustafson rejoins the show to discuss audio synthesis in musical gear.  He discusses family ties to some very early audio gear and he draws parallels to the evolution of musical synthesizers and the evolution of software development.

This is a video-added re-release of my interview with Rob Swindell. Rob is the author and sysop of the MS-DOS and telnet versions of the Synchronet BBS.  He joined the show to discuss the genesis of the BBS, running his own BBS company, and the journey to an open source Internet version of Synchronet. Rob's main site with links to source code repo's and his YouTube channel: http://synchro.net  The Synchronet wiki: http://wiki.synchro.net  The home page for SyncTerm, the preferred client for telnet BBS's: http://syncterm.net  The Synchronet IRC server: irc.synchro.net Rob's uncut interview with Jason Scott for the BBS Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvMFKU04YTk   

This is a re-release (with video!) of my interview with software engineer, writer, and publishing entrepreneur Jeff Duntemann. Jeff was the first editor of Borland's In-House Magazine "Turbo Technix" which was supplied to purchasers of early editions of Turbo Pascal, Turbo C, and similar Borland products. He was the Structured Programming columnist for Dr. Dobbs Journal for a number of years. Jeff's Free FreePascal and Lazarus e-book http://www.copperwood.com/pub/FreePascalFromSquareOne.pdf  Jeff's Blog https://www.contrapositivediary.com/  The Latest Edition of X64 Assembly Language Step by Step https://www.amazon.com/x64-Assembly-Language-Step-Step/dp/1394155247 

Bruce Hoyt and his son Ben Hoyt discuss 70's-era home computing including the MOS KIM-1, The Ohio Scientific Superboard II, and the Ferguson Big Board CP/M machine, BASIC, assembly language, and Forth.  Bruce's Pentominos solution has been used to test and benchmark Forth systems.   The GForth version is available at the link below: https://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/forth/pentomino.fs  Podcast Email:   [email protected]  Podcast Website: https://www.straypointers.com 

Writer/illustrator Rick Lundeen rejoins the show to discuss his comic book series "The Bombardier" and his graphic novel adaptation of the classic Doctor Who story "The Daleks' Master Plan" Rick's Ko-Fi page is here: https://ko-fi.com/ricklundeen/gallery  The Bombardier four-issue series can be ordered here: https://www.indyplanet.com/the-bombardier-1 

With video! Software engineers Juan Vazquez and Cameron Cunning rejoin the show to discuss the 2024 Advent of Code, an annual programming competition. Website for the Advent of Code competition: https://adventofcode.com/   Cameron's Github Repo for AoC 2024: https://github.com/ccunning2/AoC2024   Jim's Github Repo for AoC 2024: https://github.com/jimlawless/aoc2024  

Brad Arnold, Randy Kindig, and Kay Savetz join the show to discuss their long-running podcast "ANTIC - The Atari 8-bit Podcast" ANTIC web site:  https://AtariPodcast.com  Kay's BlueSky:  https://bsky.app/profile/savetz.bsky.social  Kay's web site:  https://www.savetz.com/  Randy's Podcast (Floppy Days - Vintage Computing ) https://floppydays.libsyn.com/  Randy's Twitter: @floppydays Randy's Mastodon: @[email protected] ANTIC Discord:  https://discord.gg/XB5SpA9fuC  The list of Antic interview episodes: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1neIlWZQQYo_rdJO7XtcPrCtf_zgSquBzL9TA51Bocas/edit?usp=sharing  Book reference: "Endless Loop: The History of the BASIC Programming Language" https://amzn.to/40XWn3C  The BASIC 10-liner Games List https://gkanold.wixsite.com/homeputerium/games-list-2024   

Retrocomputing enthusiast Niels Haedecke joins the show.  We talk about his telnet/SSH access Wintermute BBS, FidoNet, the RC2014 Z-80 CP/M computer and the telnet BBS he's running on it, the Forth programming language, and the My4th Computer. Niels' GitLab Repo: https://gitlab.com/users/ufud-org/projects  Niels' drivers for My4th are published here: http://mynor.org/my4th_software.htm#uart  The Wintermute BBS entry in the Telnet BBS Guide: https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/bbs/wintermute-bbs/  The RC2014 BBS entry in the Telnet BBS Guide: https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/bbs/rc-box/  You can follow Niels on Mastodon as @[email protected]  

Jay Hannah joins the show to discuss his long-time use of the Perl programming language.  We also discuss Jay's prominence in several Omaha-based programming groups including the Omaha chapter of the Perl Mongers. Jay's GitHub repo is here: https://github.com/jhannah    

Software engineers Juan Vazquez and Cameron Cunning join the show to discuss the Advent of Code, an annual programming competition that takes place every December through the 25th of the month. Website for the Advent of Code competition: https://adventofcode.com/  Cameron's Github Repo for AoC 2024: https://github.com/ccunning2/AoC2024  Jim's Github Repo for AoC 2024: https://github.com/jimlawless/aoc2024    Here's the code for Jim Lawless' Stray Pointers Leaderboard, if you'd like to join in the local competition with us: 1178690-6f8a271f

Daryn Richardon rejoins the show to discuss the 1910 axe murders in Villisca, Iowa and how the event tied to similar events in the same era.  We discuss the book  The Man from the Train: Discovering America's Most Elusive Serial Killer. https://www.amazon.com/Man-Train-Discovering-Americas-Elusive/dp/1476796262  

Horror novelist Angela Sylvaine rejoins the show to discuss her new novel "Chopping Spree."  Angela and Jim exchange local horror-themed urban legend stories. Please visit Angela's linktr.ee page for her book order and social media links: https://linktr.ee/angelasylvaine     

Software engineer and Commodore computing enthusiast Bo Zimmerman joins the show to talk about his history with Commodore gear, BBSing, his other computing projects, and his website. Bo's website: https://zimmers.net 

Angela Sylvaine makes a return appearance on the show.  We discuss her first novel, Frost Bite, as well as her newest book The Dead Spot : Stories of Lost Girls.    Please visit Angela's linktr.ee page to order / pre-order her books: https://linktr.ee/angelasylvaine 

Traci Gorman and Alicia Retzlaff join the show to discuss their own podcast ... The TechnoGals ! The TechnoGals linktr.ee site: https://linktr.ee/technogals  The TechnoGals Spotify Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/technogals  The TechnoGals on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/technogals/  The TechnoGals YouTube Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@TechnoGals      

Long-time computing innovator Jim Brain joins the show to discuss his journey through electronics, Commodore computers, TRS-80 Color Computers, and the evolution of his company Retro Innovations. The Retro Innovations Website https://www.go4retro.com/ The Retro Innovations Store https://store.go4retro.com The Retro Innovations Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/go4retro     

Gunnar Gustafson walks us through the timeline of using web development tools such as JavaScript and React.js.  He touches on going to college at age 15 and his early front-end development with Flash / Actionscript. Here are a couple of Gunnar's repos: https://github.com/GnarlyGnarGusta/storybook_msw_react  https://github.com/GnarlyGnarGusta/gilbertizer_v1  Unofficial JavaScript logo by Chris Williams, from GitHub logo.js ( https://github.com/voodootikigod/logo.js ) , under very permissive licensing (WTFPL). For more information about Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com 

Since April Fool's Day is coming up in about a week, I thought I'd tell a few stories about pranks and funny situations from working in IT.

Computer Science professor Bob Fulkerson joins the show to discuss his BBS days including his stewardship of the Endless Forest BBS in Omaha. Bob also discusses facets of teaching Computer Science and his love for the Perl programming language. For more information about Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com   

Thomas Cherryhomes joins to the show to discuss FujiNet ... a series of add-on direct-connect devices for 80's era home computers that provides a number of extended Internet capabilities to those machines. Thom's links: https://fujinet.online  https://irata.online/  For more information about Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com   

Christine Seeman joins the show to discuss a variety of programming languages including Java, Ruby, and Go.  We also discuss her live international speaking events. Website https://christine-seeman.com/  Socials Mastodon: @[email protected] NDC London 2020 - 2FA Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTtZQVSnz2M  .Net Rocks Podcast (taped at NDC London) https://www.dotnetrocks.com/details/1676  One Does Not Simply Add MFA - YOW! 2022 https://youtu.be/adQZ6r3Y858?si=0IA5XIBzU0U8HOgj  For more information about Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com   The Ruby logo is Copyright © 2006, Yukihiro Matsumoto. It is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License agreement. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ The Ruby Logo Kit ( https://cache.ruby-lang.org/pub/misc/logo/ruby-logo-kit.zip ) contains the Ruby logo in several formats (PNG, JPG, PDF, AI, SWF, XAR).

Rob Swindell, author and sysop of the MS-DOS and telnet versions of the Synchronet BBS joins us to discuss the genesis of the BBS, running his own BBS company, and the journey to an open source Internet version of Synchronet. Rob's main site with links to source code repo's and his YouTube channel: http://synchro.net  The Synchronet wiki: http://wiki.synchro.net  The home page for SyncTerm, the preferred client for telnet BBS's: http://syncterm.net  The Synchronet IRC server: irc.synchro.net  Rob's uncut interview with Jason Scott for the BBS Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvMFKU04YTk  For more information about Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com 

Jeff Duntemann joins the show to discuss his experiences with various technical and non-technical endeavors.  Jeff was the first editor of Borland's In-House Magazine "Turbo Technix" which was supplied to purchasers of early editions of Turbo Pascal, Turbo C, and similar Borland products. He was the Structured Programming columnist for Dr. Dobbs Journal for a number of years. Jeff had established his own publishing firm, The Coriolis Group where he wrote and published a number of books and two technical magazines. Jeff's Free  FreePascal and Lazarus e-book http://www.copperwood.com/pub/FreePascalFromSquareOne.pdf  Jeff's Blog https://www.contrapositivediary.com/  The Latest Edition of X64 Assembly Language Step by Step https://www.amazon.com/x64-Assembly-Language-Step-Step/dp/1394155247  For more information about Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com     

Software engineer and engineering manager Ben Hoyt joins the show to discuss his experience with various programming languages.  Topics discussed include assembly language, Forth, C, CGI Programming, Python, Go / Golang, and awk. https://benhoyt.com/  https://github.com/benhoyt/ For more information about Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com    

Writer / editor / screenwriter / filmmaker Harrison Demchick joins the show to discuss his background in writing.  We discuss the process that led to his feature film "Ape Canyon". More information about Harrison and his works can be found on his web site : https://www.harrisondemchick.com/ For more information about Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com   

Rick joins the show for a look at the final episode of Doctor Who for 2023 ... "The Church on Ruby Road." This podcast contains spoilers for the episode. For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com    

Rick Lundeen joins the podcast for a review of the final of the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials .. "The Giggle" For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com  

Rick Lundeen joins us again to discuss "Wild Blue Yonder", the second Doctor Who 2023 special.  Please note that there are spoilers in this discussion. For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com  

Dan Kenny joins the show to discuss the Endless Forest, an Omaha area electronic bulletin board system (BBS) that began life on the Apple II in the 1980's.  Dan, was responsible for creating the next incarnation of Endless Forest using the C programming language.  This version ran initially on a DEC VAX 11/750 hosted at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, but it moved to other Unix/Linux machines during its existence. The Endless Forest was one of the first BBS's that could be accessed via telnet. For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com  

Rick Lundeen returns to the podcast to continue the 60th year celebration of Doctor Who.  In this edition of the podcast, we discuss "The Star Beast" ... the  first of three weekly 2023 special episodes of Doctor Who.  Please note that there are SPOILERS for The Star Beast episode in this podcast. For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com    

Former 1970's Beatles Trivia radio show co-host David Helling joins us to discuss his Beatles knowledge and his long career in political news journalism. Audio from the final episode of Beatles Trivia: https://youtu.be/l8IoruHKtys  Dave's retirement video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDXNNmHfsGY   

My friends and fellow Whovians Rick Lundeen and Neil Welch joined me for a roundtable discussion of the series.  Neil presents a unique perspective as he saw the very first episode air on UK television on November 23rd, 1963.

Elizabeth K. Joseph leads the Open Source Program office for IBM Z series mainframe systems.  She's published books on Ubuntu Linux and OpenStack. She was the 2012 winner of the O'Reilly Open Source aware.  Lyz discusses the history of her involvement with the Linux community and her current position at IBM. Lyz's Website: https://princessleia.com/  Lyz's Blog: https://princessleia.com/journal/  Lyz's Wallace and Gromit Fan Site: https://wallaceandgromit.net/  The Official Ubuntu Book ( Matthew Helmke, Elizabeth K. Joseph, José Antonio Rey ) https://www.amazon.com/Official-Ubuntu-Book-9th/dp/0134513428  Common OpenStack Deployments: Real-World Examples for Systems Administrators and Engineers ( Elizabeth K. Joseph with Matt Fischer ) https://www.amazon.com/Common-OpenStack-Deployments-Real-World-Administrators/dp/0134086236  For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com   Please visit the companion blog at https://straypointers.blog   The Tux image used is licensed via the Creative Commons License. The copyright holder of this file allows anyone to use it for any purpose, provided that the copyright holder is properly attributed. Redistribution, derivative work, commercial use, and all other use is permitted. Attribution: [email protected] Larry Ewing and The GIMP    

Keith Howell joins us for a discussion on his long background in art, comics, modern and classic pulp texts, and his ongoing art publications.  Keith also discusses his work and friendship with writer Philip José Farmer. Keith's Portfolio https://www.behance.net/keithhowell  Keith's Website https://www.profchallenger.com/  The Meteor House Press Website https://meteorhousepress.com/  For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com  Please visit the companion blog at https://straypointers.blog 

Software engineer Ben Kimball discusses learning BASIC programming at age seven, writing and running his first BBS using Turbo Pascal, telnet BBSing, and the creation of Nebraska's first production wireless Internet services provider.   Ben's web-based telnet client for the ISCA BBS http://iscaclient.llabmik.net/    For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com  Please visit the companion blog at https://straypointers.blog 

Horror novelist Angela Sylvaine discusses various elements of the writing process and the journey that led her to write her new book "Frost Bite."   Angela's Linktree Site https://linktr.ee/angelasylvaine  For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com  Please visit the companion blog at https://straypointers.blog 

In this episode, illustrator Daryn Richardson describes how art permitted him to deal with PTSD and how a coupling of art and his interest in supernatural stories might help others. Daryn's art can be seen on his Facebook art page here: https://www.facebook.com/sylvershutter   For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com Please visit the companion blog at https://straypointers.blog     

Bob McCoy joins us for a discussion about his lengthy career in various kinds of electronics disciplines and his path to programming in Perl and PowerShell.  Bob also discusses his work in voice audio and audiobooks. For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com  Please visit the companion blog at https://straypointers.blog   

During the first half of the episode, James discusses his usage of Omaha-based electronic Bulletin-Board Systems ( BBS's ) and his experiences marketing software using the shareware try-before-you-buy concept.  At the halfway point, he turns the tables and interviews Jim on his dalliance with shareware marketing.   For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com  Please visit the companion blog at https://straypointers.blog   

Musician Ron Gablehouse discusses the inculcation of tech into the music that he writes and produces in his home studio. Links: Ron's website http://solarianstudios.com An archive of Ron's MP3's https://archive.org/download/solarianmp3   For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com  Please visit the companion blog at https://straypointers.blog     

Long-time computing professional and entrepreneur Randy Carson discusses his career path in Information Technology. https://www.c2caz.com/   For more information on Stray Pointers including the link to the Facebook group and contact information, please visit: https://straypointers.com  Please visit the companion blog at https://straypointers.blog