BASIC
From Maze
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BASIC programs, from the beginning, circulated as ink on paper. There was no Web or even Internet to facilitate the digital exchange of programs. It is interesting to consider the specific forms of printed matter that were used to communicate BASIC programs. In looking at the specifics of how BASIC was disseminated and traveled between and among different user communities, interesting signs are seen of the practices BASIC users developed, the habits they fell into, the culture that developed among them, and finally the trends they set and that now inflect the history of computing in more and less significant ways. | BASIC programs, from the beginning, circulated as ink on paper. There was no Web or even Internet to facilitate the digital exchange of programs. It is interesting to consider the specific forms of printed matter that were used to communicate BASIC programs. In looking at the specifics of how BASIC was disseminated and traveled between and among different user communities, interesting signs are seen of the practices BASIC users developed, the habits they fell into, the culture that developed among them, and finally the trends they set and that now inflect the history of computing in more and less significant ways. | ||
| − | Kemeny and Kurtz deployed BASIC on a time-sharing system in 1964, when time-sharing computers were themselves still quite new. Time-sharing computers transformed computing in several important ways. Time-sharing provided a much more efficient use of computer time by distributing the cycles of the machine among interactive users; it also distributed one computer to many users at once. The time-sharing model offered those who could not own a computer access to computing time that they could more easily afford. That BASIC should be designed for time-sharing computing is worth noting. It reflects the opportunity time-sharing computers opened for designing interactive development of new applications. The impulse of BASIC – Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code – was, after all, in part to provide easier access to the wonders of programming. The upshot, an easy-to-learn language on a system that made access more broadly available, marks a turning point in the history of computing. That this simplified and accessible model should claim space on college campuses first and then in schools thereafter is therefore hardly surprising. [I don't understand the implications of this paragraph, and in any case, this sort of discussion belongs in the part of the article dealing with time-sharing, not the part dealing with print transmission of programs. -nm] | ||
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[find out more about BASIC’s transmission in print before the mid-1970s] | [find out more about BASIC’s transmission in print before the mid-1970s] | ||
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'''MAGAZINES''' | '''MAGAZINES''' | ||
| − | By the 1970s, the practice of turning to electronics and computer magazines was common. Ziff-Davis’s ''Popular Electronics'', launched in 1954, became perhaps the first broadly available computer magazine. It developed a strong following among computer specialists and hobbyists alike, and because of its success was only the first of Ziff-Davis’s magazines about computer technologies over the next five decades. In the early 1970s the magazine’s format grew to letter-size (8.5 x 11 in), and the magazine’s tagline "World's Largest Selling Electronics Magazine" would grace its cover. Many claim that the image of the new Altair computer on the January 1975 issue of ''Popular Electronics'' triggered the age of home computing. Not even a decade later, in November 1982, ''Popular Electronics'' was renamed; under the name ''Computers & Electronics'', the magazine reviewed hardware and software products. | + | By the 1970s, the practice of turning to electronics and computer magazines was common. Ziff-Davis’s ''Popular Electronics'', launched in 1954, became perhaps the first broadly available computer magazine. It developed a strong following among computer specialists and hobbyists alike, and because of its success was only the first of Ziff-Davis’s magazines about computer technologies over the next five decades. In the early 1970s the magazine’s format grew to letter-size (8.5 x 11 in), and the magazine’s tagline "World's Largest Selling Electronics Magazine" would grace its cover. Many claim that the image of the new Altair computer on the January 1975 issue of ''Popular Electronics'' triggered the age of home computing. Not even a decade later, in November 1982, ''Popular Electronics'' was renamed; under the name ''Computers & Electronics'', the magazine reviewed hardware and software products. |
During that same decade, spurred by the growth of home computing as well as nurturing it, many other computer magazines came and went. Several, however, are worth mentioning here because they trafficked in BASIC and catered to BASIC learners and aficionados alike – namely ''Byte'', ''Commodore Magazine'', ''Creative Computing'', ''Run'', ''Rainbow'', and ''Dr. DOBBS''. These magazines, which themselves changed over the years, offer a window into the range of BASIC users and programs as well as reviews and discussion of new hardware and software that be and remain of interest to BASIC-using communities. | During that same decade, spurred by the growth of home computing as well as nurturing it, many other computer magazines came and went. Several, however, are worth mentioning here because they trafficked in BASIC and catered to BASIC learners and aficionados alike – namely ''Byte'', ''Commodore Magazine'', ''Creative Computing'', ''Run'', ''Rainbow'', and ''Dr. DOBBS''. These magazines, which themselves changed over the years, offer a window into the range of BASIC users and programs as well as reviews and discussion of new hardware and software that be and remain of interest to BASIC-using communities. | ||
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Still in 1978, Workman Publishing takes on further publication of Ahl's evolving compilation under the title of ''Basic Computer Games, Microcomputer Edition. 101 Great Games to Play on Your Home Computer. By yourself or with others. Each complete with programming and sample run.'' The lengthy title arguably reflects the publisher's attempt to reach always for broader audiences. It further translation into German, as ''Basic-Computer-Spiele Bd. 1. 101 fantastische Spiele für Ihren Mikrocomputer in BASIC geschrieben mit Listing und Probelauf'', in 1982 (and reprinted in 1983) also suggests that the apparatus of a major publisher helped disseminate games in BASIC abroad. | Still in 1978, Workman Publishing takes on further publication of Ahl's evolving compilation under the title of ''Basic Computer Games, Microcomputer Edition. 101 Great Games to Play on Your Home Computer. By yourself or with others. Each complete with programming and sample run.'' The lengthy title arguably reflects the publisher's attempt to reach always for broader audiences. It further translation into German, as ''Basic-Computer-Spiele Bd. 1. 101 fantastische Spiele für Ihren Mikrocomputer in BASIC geschrieben mit Listing und Probelauf'', in 1982 (and reprinted in 1983) also suggests that the apparatus of a major publisher helped disseminate games in BASIC abroad. | ||
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There were other paths used to disseminate BASIC in books. According to Wikipedia, Bob Albrecht's ''What To Do After You Hit Return, or P.C.C.’s first book of Computer Games'' was first published in 1975 by People's Computer Company. It was handed off to a series of other publishing entities and underwent several printings. Hayden Books began printing it in 1977; its 5th printing in 1979 was still printed inexpensively on newsprint paper. | There were other paths used to disseminate BASIC in books. According to Wikipedia, Bob Albrecht's ''What To Do After You Hit Return, or P.C.C.’s first book of Computer Games'' was first published in 1975 by People's Computer Company. It was handed off to a series of other publishing entities and underwent several printings. Hayden Books began printing it in 1977; its 5th printing in 1979 was still printed inexpensively on newsprint paper. | ||
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If 1977 and 1978 seem to be turning points in the explosion in the print transmission of BASIC, there are in the early 1980s more and more books about BASIC, in its many tweaked flavors, published explicitly with niche audiences in mind, as illustrated by Sterberg's book as well as Zuanich & Lipscomb's ''BASIC Fun with Graphics the Apple Way" and "BASIC Fun with Graphics the IBM/PC Way" (both Avon Books, 1983) for children. | If 1977 and 1978 seem to be turning points in the explosion in the print transmission of BASIC, there are in the early 1980s more and more books about BASIC, in its many tweaked flavors, published explicitly with niche audiences in mind, as illustrated by Sterberg's book as well as Zuanich & Lipscomb's ''BASIC Fun with Graphics the Apple Way" and "BASIC Fun with Graphics the IBM/PC Way" (both Avon Books, 1983) for children. | ||
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'''MANUALS''' | '''MANUALS''' | ||
