un in the program is
paying on a statement and entering
that number in the "Make a Payment on
Account" subroutine. Here in this
part of the program a user just calls
up the file to make a payment on. The
program will then tell you how much
you owe and how much of a payment is
demanded to keep the account current
with the party owed. You can opt to
pay that amount or pay a different
amount. I usually choose the "What
Amount Then?" option for I personally
pay weekly on as many bills as
possible until the bills are all
paid, or I reduce the payment to a
point where a paycheck will cover the
debt. My weird method of debt paying
is what I like to call "chopping down
the tree;" each stroke of the pen on
a check send a little to the party
owed, making it small enough for one
final check can pay it off. On some
bills, this "chopping" process will
take several months, if not a year or
two; others will be paid in a couple
of months, and out of my life
forever; reoccurring bills like
mortgages and utilities get chopped
down to their smallest level
possible, then a final WHACK at the
end of the month sends it falling and
out of the way till the next cycle.

This brings me to the part of the
program that I don't like to use, but
it is a necessary evil when it comes
to reoccurring debts, and that's the
"Update Statement On Account"
subroutine. Selecting this option
from the main menu puts the user into
a place where, when the file name is
inputted, they have to make changes
to the data like what the new payment
is and when it is due. A single
letter selection allows the user to
save all this data again as new, and
the file is updated.

One of the things about "The Ledger"
that a person may not like is that
the program only saves the current
data inputted into the subroutines,
thus eliminating, or "erasing" any
previous information in favor of the
new inputs. A simple fix to this
apparent faux pas is to save any new
data as a separate file on the disk.
For example, instead of selecting "Y"
at the "Save Data As:" input, choose
"N" and save the new data under a
different file name. In my case with,
say, the electric bill, I would save
it as "ELECTRIC 1/15(1)," indicating
that this bill is the electric bill
for January 2015, and the bracketed
number shows that I'm making the
first installment on the bill.

This program has helped me in my
constant battle against creditors,
collectors, and other hose heads that
want to get into my wallet and take
food money away from my family. I
don't know how it is in the rest of
the United States or the rest of the
world, but sometimes a little money
each week going to the accounts
receivable department of a collector
is better than not receiving anything
at all. It is also fun to watch what
I owe a business or service being
calculated downward by the program's
amount calculator so I know how much
I owe and when.

Sadly, this program still needs a lot
of work. I have demonstrated Version
1 at the Las Vegas CommVEx Commodore
computer exposition a few years back,
but the updates and additions have
yet to be viewed by the Commodore
public. The hard thing about alpha
testing programs is that the
programmer knows how to get around
certain "quirks and bugs" in the work
where a beta tester would find it a
problem and not know what to do. My
prayer for a general release date for
"The Ledger" is July 31st, 2015, but
beta testing should start sometime in
late February or early March of that
year. I will be looking for
volunteers who have the time to run
"The Ledger" through its paces and
finding bugs that I don't know about
and giving suggestions to make the
program better. I know that most
Commodore users have gone well past
BASIC programming and are working in
much more complex languages, and I am
still a novice in the programming
field, but any suggestions on making
the program better would be
beneficial.

If you are interested in becoming a
beta tester for "The Ledger" or any
future programs that come from The
Roach Center for BASIC Commodore
Studies, then please let your intent
be known to me by either posting on
my Facebook page (Lenard Roach), my
website (www.lenardroach.com), or
just blast me an email at
lenardroach@yahoo.com. Your input
could be exactly what takes "The
Ledger" and other Commodore works
from a good program to a great
program.

Thank you.

** This article was written on a
stock Commodore 128 using GeoWrite
2.1 and translated to PC using the
Big Blue Reader conversion program.
**

=====================================

*************************************
BOOK REVIEW: READY RETROSPECTIVE
By Commodore Free
*************************************

Author: Roberto Dillon
Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: Springer; 2015 edition
(31 Dec. 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9812873406
ISBN-13: 978-9812873408

Roberto Dillon, an active developer
and, as a professor of game design,
is no stranger to Commodore Free and
was interviewed here

www.commodorefree.com/magazine/vol5/i
ssue56.html

And had his previous book reviewed
"The Golden Age of Video Games"

www.commodorefree.com/magazine/vol5/i
ssue57.html

and is a regular e-mailer into
Commodore Free with comments and news
about up-and-coming Commodore events.
So it was exciting to learn he had
penned another book, this time solely
about the Commodore 64.

The book start with a long
introduction. The author then states:

More than 10,000 games were
officially published during the C64
lifetime by a new generation of
young and passionate developers.
While many of these were non
exclusive but shared across other
competing platforms as well, they
often originated or found their
best rendition on the C64, making
it the platform of choice for many
gamers and developers alike.

So then... we have yet another book
about Commodore!

Many may moan at the number of recent
releases, yet another academic is
cashing in on the retro fad of
Commodore and wonder what this book
can offer over the numerous books
already covering every area of
Commodore history and gaming. Well
...

This book does try to cover all bases
from past to present, and maybe even
beyond! For a start there is an
interview with the editor of one of
the best Commodore fanzines available
for Commodore machines, namely the
editor of our well loved Commodore
Free magazine (yep, that's an
interview with me then, isn't it?)

A quote from the interview reads:

I am not a "real" Editor. It is all
a labour of love but I am well
aware it is no way professional:
spelling mistakes and poor grammar
make up most of the text. However,
the enthusiasm I put into each
issue I hope shows through.

Not only does the author document the
machines, games hardware, and general
machine history, he is very current
and up-to-date with the latest
developments in software, hardware,
and general machine usage. A good
example of this is the recent
Commando re-version like Commando
Arcade, released in 2014 by
nostalgia. The author nods toward
this achievement located here
csdb.dk/release/?id=130973 along with
touching on software like the Contiki
operating system and current games
publishers! This shows the writer is
well in the "scene" and a good
understanding and fondness to follow
developments. I feel it shows this is
not just another cash-in but a look
at the machine from the inside.

Interestingly, there are a number of
titles or games mentioned that I
hadn't come across or even heard of
before! Also, titles I had but they
were long-forgotten. After digging
out the tapes and LOADING the actual
games, I spent a good few hours
playing what can only be described as
"forgotten classics." Well, it beats
writing up the magazine!

The author says:

It didn't take long for kids in the
early eighties to understand what
was possible on their C64 and start
dreaming big, demanding better and
more engaging software especially
if this had some sort of
educational aspect with no aliens


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