David S Maynard: My Blog
I am writing this blog to record some of my memories of watching, and participating in, multiple computer revolutions. Augmenting Knowledge workers at SRI with Douglas Engelbart, Personal Computing at P.A.R.C., Computer entertainment at Electronic Arts, and Mobile Computing at Google, and Clous computing at Box. I will also use this blog to document my continuing journey of learning new software systems, and languages. I will blog about creating software art in retirement. I will document my experiments in self publishing software on the web. My first two retirement projects are reproducing the software game, "Worms?", as a single page JavaScript Application, Darworms. and creating this blog using Gatsby.
Note: Although you will not find any ads in this blog, I can not say the same for the external links. I only include external links that I have found useful, entertaining or informative. I am not responsible for the content of any external links.
Latest Articles
IDE Nostalgia
Engelbart's NLS was a more efficient code editor than can find today
Adding a wasm/rust module to a Vue App
Part 1 we establish two way function calling between Rust and a Vue Component
Extending an Observable Covid-19 Dashboard
How Observable and Functional Programming Simplify Extensions
An interview on the history of PC Gaming
with Italian production company Storia del pcgaming
Jugwalking: Exercise Your Mind, Your Body, and the Neural Network that connects them
A non-impact, non-aerobic exercise for mind, body and awareness
The Joy of Coding: Observable
Exploring Interactive Visualization Notebooks
Open Source Projects
Chaotic Attractor Visualizer
Generate beautiful Chaotic Attractor images interactively
Darworms
A 4 player web based strategy game. Different than anything you have ever played.
Videos
Darworms Introduction - A short (6 minute) introduction video for Darworms
Meet David Maynard - David Maynard has shipped code in 30 languages.
Engelbart's Law - David Maynard explains Doug's law of technology predictions.
NLS Engelbart's Text Editor - David Maynard explains why this editor from the 70's is better than any today.
Worms? - David Maynard discusses his game Worms? and his 15 minutes of fame at EA.
The First Internet Packet - David Maynard tells the story of why the first ARPA net packet failed.
Reviews of Worms? (1983) now Darworms (2019)
“Now, I've never met Mr. Maynard, but after playing Worms? for about 20 hours, I can tell you that he has probably the most original, refreshing, and seriously weird imagination of any video game designer today.”
— William Micheal Brown - Electronic Fun Magazine
“Worms? is one of the most fascinating games I've played in a long time. It's so different from anything else that it quickly captivated me. Worms? tournaments became popular among the staff of COMPUTE!. ”
— Greg Keizer Assistant Editor COMPUTE magazine
Worms? is intellectually stimulating, beautiful to watch and soothing to hear. The entire gaming experience is transcendental, the patterns are hypnotic. Worms? is vastly different from any other computer game I've ever seen. This is the most original piece of recreational software I have ever seen.
— Tom Benford **RUN** May 1984 magazine
“.. (Worms?) is a skill game, that is unique, engaging, and delightful. The game holds a lasting and nearly hypnotic fascination. There is something compelling about the intricacies of pattern - from the fugues of Bach to the mosaics of the Alhambra - that makes humans rejoice. The game Worms? combines harmonies of patterns in an extremely original and diverting way, and is good for hours of experimentation. Then challenge the world!”
— John Anderson **Creative Computing**, September 1983