BASIC

First of all, programs in BASIC were made available inexpensively in cheaply produced newsprint magazines of the sort one might buy today to do crossword puzzles or play ken-ken. Little can be said about these material objects and how they cast might on the transmission of BASIC, except to say that the fact of their impermanence reflects the way were seen, by publishers and/or users. [How do we know they existed at all? Do have a publisher name? A publication name? Something to cite? -nm] One can surmise that they were, relatively speaking, inexpensive and readily available at counters and newsstands. Since these are not the types of items most libraries would have collected and conserved over the decades, they are very difficult to find. That they were printed for a mass market is significant, though.