bloom america

Chapter 105 Phoenix

Blizzard's game development is probably the smoothest among companies.

Most of Blizzard's business is limited to computer system hardware equipment.

Due to system limitations, current games are very simple. Although the maximum capacity of the cartridge can reach b, which is 128kb (converted to 1:8, b and b), the games produced by Blizzard rarely exceed

8kb.

What I have to say is that today’s programmers are fundamentally different from those a decade or so later.

In fact, Catherine's C language and programming coding have completely changed the electronics industry at this time.

Take Dec Company as an example. The pdp-8 computer they developed has a memory size of 4kb. If you want to enter a program, the keyboard is useless.

——You must use punched paper or cards to let the computer read these holes, and then you can record the data.

In Catherine's opinion, such a computer is not called a computer at all, it's more like a cheat.

This is why Catherine's personal computer was so popular as soon as it came out. The punch-hole method for programming and inputting instructions was so slow that it was simply outrageous.

Using a teletype machine to pretend to be a keyboard seemed to work, but it was definitely not as good as the computer Catherine built for individual users - even though it was just a large Wenquxing.

When Blizzard was first established, the programmers who were recruited were still at a loss.

They carried their own small boxes, which contained blank codes made into paper tapes and cards.

Programmers with dozens of lines of code are already good, but programmers with hundreds of lines of code are rare.

They thought their coding skills could be put to good use, but after arriving here, they suddenly discovered that the coding slips in their hands could be thrown away.

A computer that uses pieces of paper as input devices? Absolutely not!

Then, Catherine did something that even more stunned these programmers, that is, she wrote the C language source code and a series of matters that must be paid attention to into a booklet, and then gave it to them for use.

This leaves programmers a little confused.

In fact, in the "future" year of 1981, the world's first software patent application was approved. Before that, the source code of the software should have copyright. In other words, if you use other people's code directly,

It is illegal. Although many source codes at that time were provided as gifts, if these source codes or generated programs were sold again, there would be legal trouble.

Those programmers held copyrighted software codes and thought they could dominate the world. However, after coming to Blizzard, they found that things were completely different from what they imagined!

In fact, after software was patented, "Zeng" created a large number of software giants, such as Microsoft, which took advantage of this.

However, in the process of protecting software patents, there have been cases of overcorrecting. There was once a C compiler manufacturer that registered the names of library functions as patents. Other companies could only add the prefix in front of the function names they provided.

prefix.

Most of the games produced by Blizzard are based on C language and assembly language.

Although this kind of game is almost incomparable with "Super Mario" and the like, it is very playable.

Especially games like "Snake" and "Tetris".

After playing several popular games on the Xiaobawang platform, Catherine began to think about other things.

"Sanders, I think we should set up another department dedicated to developing software." Catherine said.

Sanders nodded, it seemed necessary.

"But where to put this department? Blizzard seems to be a little inappropriate."

Catherine nodded.

"Put it under Apple. We are not just going to develop software this time, but we are going to develop another thing."

Catherine smiled mysteriously.

"another?"

"Yes, we need an operating system. It is not a simple program like a Microsoft computer, but a real software platform that allows all our programs to run on it. Through this platform, we call system resources,

Then run the programs we need, and this platform will become the foundation of everything."

Sanders barely understood.

"The programmers here have basically adapted to C language and assembly language programming. We can take a group of people from Blizzard to develop software, and I think there is no problem at all."

It is true that programmers outside still need to adapt, but programmers who have been at Blizzard for several years no longer have that worry.

Catherine does not have any advantages in traditional industries, because the United States is already one of the world's hegemons. And their technological development speed is the world's leader.

Catherine had absolutely no confidence in this regard.

But in today's high-tech industry, especially in the electronics industry, Catherine's role is indeed extraordinary.

Because she can help technicians point out the big direction and avoid detours, and Catherine can also use her knowledge of the electronic field to tell them some of the problems they may encounter.

"By the way, what is the name of our operating system?"

Catherine stopped suddenly.

dos?

It’s so tacky!

Since your own operating system does not have a catchy name, how can you do it?! How can you just call it "Disk Operating System" (dos)?

"Before we produced the z80, we had a CPU project that has been abandoned, called fanhan. How about calling it this?"

Catherine shook her head as it sounded a bit like pinyin. Such a name did not sound eye-catching at all.

Called ix?linux?

No, it's a bit tacky.

Red Dragon?

It sounds cool, but it's definitely inappropriate

"Uh... why not... call me Phoenix?"