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Frank James (Jim) Butterfield (14 February 1936 – 29 June 2007) was a Toronto
Toronto

Toronto is the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population in Canada and the Provinces and territories of Canada Provincial and territorial capitals of Canada of Ontario....
-based author
Author

An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created....
 and computer programmer famous for his work with Commodore microcomputers, and a longtime contributor to periodicals such as The Transactor and TPUG
Toronto PET User's Group

The Toronto PET User's Group is the oldest computer user group in Canada, the second-oldest Commodore Business Machines users' group in the world, and was also probably the largest....
. One of Jim's major works was the book "Learning Machine Code Programming on the Commodore 64 (and other Commodore computers)", one of the leading references on programming the 6502
MOS Technology 6502

The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle and Bill Mensch for MOS Technology in 1975. When it was introduced, it was the least expensive full-featured central processing unit on the market by a considerable margin, costing less than one-sixth the price of competing designs from larger companies such...
-derived 6510
MOS Technology 6510

The MOS Technology 6510 is a microprocessor designed by MOS Technology, and is a modified form of the very successful MOS Technology 6502.The primary change from the 6502 was the addition of an 8-bit general purpose input/output port ....
 microprocessor
Microprocessor

A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit . The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electronic calculators, using Binary-coded decimal arithmetic on 4-bit Word ....
.

Jim was born in Ponoka, Alberta
Ponoka, Alberta

Ponoka is a town in the province of Alberta, Canada. It is situated in the south/central parkland region of rolling hills. Industries are agriculture , and oil and gas production....
, and attended the University of Alberta
University of Alberta

The University of Alberta is a Public university research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the top universities in Canada....
 and the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia is a Canada Public university research university with campuses in Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia....
, but never graduated.






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Frank James (Jim) Butterfield (14 February 1936 – 29 June 2007) was a Toronto
Toronto

Toronto is the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population in Canada and the Provinces and territories of Canada Provincial and territorial capitals of Canada of Ontario....
-based author
Author

An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created....
 and computer programmer famous for his work with Commodore microcomputers, and a longtime contributor to periodicals such as The Transactor and TPUG
Toronto PET User's Group

The Toronto PET User's Group is the oldest computer user group in Canada, the second-oldest Commodore Business Machines users' group in the world, and was also probably the largest....
. One of Jim's major works was the book "Learning Machine Code Programming on the Commodore 64 (and other Commodore computers)", one of the leading references on programming the 6502
MOS Technology 6502

The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle and Bill Mensch for MOS Technology in 1975. When it was introduced, it was the least expensive full-featured central processing unit on the market by a considerable margin, costing less than one-sixth the price of competing designs from larger companies such...
-derived 6510
MOS Technology 6510

The MOS Technology 6510 is a microprocessor designed by MOS Technology, and is a modified form of the very successful MOS Technology 6502.The primary change from the 6502 was the addition of an 8-bit general purpose input/output port ....
 microprocessor
Microprocessor

A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit . The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electronic calculators, using Binary-coded decimal arithmetic on 4-bit Word ....
.

Jim was born in Ponoka, Alberta
Ponoka, Alberta

Ponoka is a town in the province of Alberta, Canada. It is situated in the south/central parkland region of rolling hills. Industries are agriculture , and oil and gas production....
, and attended the University of Alberta
University of Alberta

The University of Alberta is a Public university research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the top universities in Canada....
 and the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia is a Canada Public university research university with campuses in Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia....
, but never graduated. In 1957 he moved to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, to work on the microwave system along the Alaska Highway
Alaska Highway

The Alaska Highway was constructed during World War II and connects the contiguous U.S. to Alaska through Canada. It runs from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, British Columbia to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon, Yukon....
.

In 1962 he was transferred to Toronto, Ontario. There he was exposed to computers.

In a November 2006 newsgroup message, Butterfield revealed that he was undergoing chemotherapy
Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy, in its most general sense, refers to treatment of disease by chemicals that kill cells, specifically those of micro-organisms or cancer....
. His death from cancer was announced on the [news:comp.sys.cbm comp.sys.cbm] newsgroup on 30 June 2007..

Authored Works

  • 1977
  • 1984
  • 1984
  • 1985


Trivia

An image of Jim Butterfield is included as an Easter egg on the v1 revision of the C64DTV plug-in joystick.

In 1976, Micro Chess, a 1Kbyte KIM-1
KIM-1

The KIM-1, short for Keyboard Input Monitor, was a small MOS Technology 6502-based microcomputer kit developed and produced by MOS Technology and launched in 1975....
 chess program by Peter Jennings, won its first real game against a human at Jim's house in Toronto.

External links

  • (last updated: Monday, April 30, 2007 5:52:42 PM two months before his passing)
  • featuring Brad Templeton
    Brad Templeton

    Brad Templeton , son of Charles Templeton and Sylvia Murphy, is a software engineer and entrepreneur. He graduated from the University of Waterloo....
    , Jim Butterfield, and Steve Punter