Jim Sleep, a remarkable PhD student in the early 1980s at Western Michigan University, made significant contributions to the academic community there. Among his efforts, he encouraged a group of new Computer Science students to explore the capabilities of a newly acquired Apple II Plus computer, which was bought by Dr. Mark Kerstetter. As part of this exploration, Jim developed ZOW, a simple program written in BASIC, to help students familiarize themselves with the computer.
Tragically, Jim Sleep passed away in the mid-80s due to colon cancer. His contributions and memory live on within the Department. Rest in peace, Jim.
Hit the ‘Draw ZOW’ button and try different seed numbers
The ZOW Algorithm
Jim’s ZOW was something he came up with on the fly. The app filled the screen with computer art, without overwhelming the 1 MHz Apple II Plus, with it’s upgraded 64 KB of memory. We took turns entering different seed numbers and tweaking the code written in Basic while eating popcorn. Below is the basic algorithm in JavaScript.
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for (let i = 0; i < 500; i++) {
const angle = i * seed * (1 / Math.PI);
const x = centerX + i * Math.cos(angle);
const y = centerY + i * Math.sin(angle);
}
Computer Club shirt featuring ZOW
Hold Your Breath Test
One of Jim’s key design principles was to simplify complexity by breaking down intricate concepts or functionalities into more manageable, straightforward components.
He taught that if you couldn’t fully comprehend a piece of code or documentation within a single breath, it was too convoluted. The test for clarity was simple: try holding your breath while reading it. If you ran out of breath before fully understanding it, the material needed to be divided into smaller, simpler segments, each of which could be easily grasped in one breath.