"Chuck" question

Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote: The show is Chuck on which premiered on NBC this week and the question is: Why would a character who's 27 years old say he'd developed a video game on a TRS80 when he attended Stanford? I think part of the problem is that the term, "video game" as it is used today means graphics and physics engines that tax a fully loaded dual-core, 64-bit system with an equally powerful video card. "Developing" a "video game" on the TRS-80 (assuming a Model I) meant using BASIC to throw black-and-white, character-based graphics onto the screen. As I recall, it was what you tried right after you got bored with asking the user for input and using the value entered to display some other value on the screen, but before you attempted to simulate arrays. I also recall it involving a lot of POKE-ing. My point is, I could posit an undergrad computer geek that learned BASIC as a grade-schooler finding an old TRS-80 and seeing how far he could push it, just for fun. However, for another character to say something on the order of, "Wow, you wrote 'xyz' ?" would require the program to be written during the TRS-80's heyday in order to gain the assumed notoriety, something that does not fit the timeline. Then again, it's fiction; you are required to suspend disbelief. The writer's job is to make sure that too many of the viewers don't have to suspend *too much* disbelief. Obviously we are not the target audience, that's all. Now I have to dig out my old Model-1 and see if it still fires up. I had *plans* for today, darnit! -Scrappy --------------------------------- Don't let your dream ride pass you by. Make it a reality with Yahoo! Autos.