I’m starting a graphics based project, and decided to use SDL2 in Windows. This meant setting up a development environment. Here’s some notes on how I set up MSYS2, VS Code and LibSDL2.

How do you make an underpowered 8 bit CPU seem a bit more capable than it really is? Interrupts! that mechanism where the CPU can be poked and told to do something completely different, then resume whatever it was originally doing as if it’d never stopped.

So as explained in the previous video, our little Z80 CPU only has 16 bit address lines, and that means the maximum memory it can address is 64K.

Are you a programmer? Are you learning how to be one? Come to think of it, how do you even learn how to think like a programmer?

Real Pixels? One of the main limits with most Z80 based computers is their lack of any video output. Most video output comes in the form of ASCII text sent to a serial console.

Sure, I could just use my PC for this, but I like the idea of having a dedicated machine that I can install a development environment in, use and later completely wipe if I need to.

It’s always worth clicking around on Twitter, and following replies to people’s tweets. You find all sorts of useful things. In this case I found a nice little web based game development environment called MicroStudio.

Or, how to optimise your code so it runs better… Intro A while back I started learning Z80 assembly language and decided to create a version of Conway’s Life.

The basic idea So ever since I first saw it on my friend’s 386, I’ve really liked Doom. I think I’ve put more hours into playing and modifying Doom over the years than any other game - including Animal Crossing on my Switch.

I set out to make a simple game using sprites for my BBC Micro. It turned into an unexpected learning opportunity for me. My day job During the day I teach kids computer science, and when we get to the tricky parts I often tell them to keep persevering and that they’ll eventually figure it out.