Many many people have played with computer applications that draw Mandelbrot sets and Julia sets and many other types of fractal based images. I too wanted to write one for my Archimedes, but my aims were to make it as fast as possible. The Archimedes was a much lesser known platform than the common PC's, Commodores and Amigas of the time, but the RISC assembly language had to be one of the best assembly languages around, and that was what I used to write Mandy - my mandelbrot explorer. The resulting application was sold to the magazine - Archimedes World in July 1991 for 200 pounds. Personally I think they got a bargain - but then perhaps I'm biased.

The software was released on a floppy disc on the front cover of the magazine. I had pictures on the front cover, and I wrote a three page article for the magazine which was published in July 1991. This was my first ever published work.Today, the program seems simplistic and has very few features compared to other software such as fractint for the PC, but seven years ago, this was the first application (that I'm aware of) of its kind written for the Archimedes. The following short description was included in the special features section at the front of the magazine: "Mandy is an astonishingly fast Mandelbrot and Julia set generator". That must have been one of the few related sections in the magazine which they didn't just lift from the help file document and the readme file which came with the application!

The article published in the magazine was called 'Mandelbrot Magic' and included a description of how to generate a Mandelbrot set and a Julia set, the methods and techniques I used to make the application so fast, and a full description of how to use the application.
 
 If you have an Archimedes, the program is still available today on a public domain fractal software disc fom the armclub or you can obtain a free copy by contacting me via fc at attrill.com.