Microsoft KB Archive/11944

Macintosh Midnight Madness PSS ID Number: Q11944 Article last modified on 10-13-1986 PSS database name: PRESS

MACINTOSH MIDNIGHT MADNESS by Mitchell Waite, Dan Putterman, Don Urguhart, & Chuck Blanchard Price: $18.95 Pages: 448 ISBN: 0-914845-30-6 Pub. Date: November, 1985 Companion Disk: $19.95

MACINTOSH MIDNIGHT MADNESS: A Wealth of Useful Utilities, Amazing Games, and Creative Diversions

Special Companion Disk Containing All 17 Programs Offered

The Waite Group, headed by Mitchell Waite, has gained widespread recognition as writers of successful computer books. The Waite Group’s best sellers include C Primer Plus, Unix Primer Plus, and Assembly Language Primer for the IBM PC. Lately, the Waite Group has focused their expertise on revealing the full potential of Microsoft BASIC for the Apple Macintosh. In MICROSOFT MACINATIONS, they provided beginning programmers with a complete introduction to Microsoft BASIC - the best-selling language for the Mac. This November, Microsoft Press will release MACINTOSH MIDNIGHT MADNESS, a collection of 17 creative BASIC utilities, games, and “grand diversions” designed to sharpen the skills of programmers who are familiar with BASIC on the Apple Macintosh. Because of its variety of well-designed, ready-to-run programs, the book will also be a valuable addition to the software library of any non-programmer. MACINTOSH MIDNIGHT MADNESS takes a program-oriented approach. To give a comprehensive overview, the authors explain how each program operates from a conceptual level, and then provide a complete program listing. They explore particular aspects of the program, focusing especially on those that utilize the Mac’s unique elements, such as menus, windows, graphics, animation, and multi-voice sound generation. In addition, the authors suggest modifications, so that readers can customize the games offered in the book, or adapt the utilities for use in their own programs. The highly interactive programs in MACINTOSH MIDNIGHT MADNESS are both useful and fun. Among the utilities, the reader will find a graphing program that produces line, bar, and pie charts, software tools for converting MacPaint graphics to BASIC format, and a program for creating custom cursors. The “diversions” include one program that turns the Mac into an organ with two octaves and three Chords, and another that lets the reader actually compose and play music on the Macintosh. Among the innovative games found in the book are a shoot-em-up space adventure with four-channel sound effects, a slot machine that makes realistic sounds, and a game of darts requiring a high degree of skill. Perhaps the highlight of MACINTOSH MIDNIGHT MADNESS is MacAnimate, which allows the user to create, modify, and then play back a series of images, much like the frames of a strip of movie film. To save readers hours of typing, Microsoft Press has created a special program disk for MICROSOFT MIDNIGHT MADNESS. This companion disk includes all 17 programs, plus additional files containing sequences and cursor patterns. The disk, priced at $19.95, can be ordered directly from Microsoft by mailing in a special card bound into each book. Mitchell Waite has been active in the personal-computer industry since 1976, when he bought one of the very first Apple I computers from Steve Jobs. For the past several years, his company, The Waite Group, has published dozens of award-winning computer books used throughout the world. Don Urguhart is an instructor in Electronics Technology at the College of Marin in Kentfield, California, where he conducts courses in analog and digital systems. Chuck Blanchard is a consultant and engineer with several years of programming experience. He is currently working on a project aimed at developing a visual programming language for the Macintosh. Microsoft Corporation, based in Bellevue, Washington, develops and sells a wide range of operating systems, languages, applications programs, and hardware products, as well as books, for the microcomputer marketplace.

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1986.