BASIC

''RUN'' was a monthly magazine published by IDG Communications. The first issue of ''RUN'' was published as ''Creative Computing'' was winding down, in 1984. Like many later-phase microcomputer magazines, ''RUN'' was platform specific: It focused on the Commodore 62 and VIC-20. A German edition of ''RUN'' was published as well, and ''ReRUN'' disks made programs in the magazine available for purchase in machine-readable format. ''Compute!'' was a major home computing magazine, published from 1979 to 1994, which began as ''Pet Gazette,'' a 1978 magazine put together by Len Lindsay that was specific to the Commodore PET computer. In July 1983, the magazine launched a spin-off publication, ''COMPUTE!'s Gazette,'' which was for Commodore 64 and VIC-20 owners specifically and included programs for these computers. In the UK there were several other magazines for Commodore users, including ''Zzap! 64'', ''Commodore User'', and ''Commodore Format''. The last of these, which focused on the Commodore 64, published its first issue on a surprisingly late date, October 1990. This magazine was not about BASIC or learning to program, however. It focused on gaming and offered game news, reviews, and cheats, with its "Powerpack" tape including full games and demos for subscribers to run.

David H. Ahl's compilation, ''101 Basic Computer Games'', was first published in 1973 by the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Though not the first book of computer games, it was the first to collect only games in BASIC. It contains a listing of games, a sample run of each game, and usually a short description of each game. It also acknowledges each game's author(s) and lays out other sources if the game has been transformed from a previously known game. The program's "computer limitations" are also described so users understand the hardware requirements. Illustrations, courtesy of ''Mad Magazine'' among others, punctuate the presentation, usually between this modicum of contextual information and the program's listing. The game's titles are abbreviated into names that are no longer than six characters long -- e.g. ACEYDU for "Acey Ddeucy CArd Game"; AMAZIN for "Draw a Maze"; or POET for "Random Poetry (Haiku)." The book's table of contents comprises three columns: a list of game name tags in alphabetical order, a column bearing a single-line description of the game, and a page number where the game's actual title accompanies the game's name tag along the top of the page. The book’s preface makes a point of teasing out the educational value of games, the need for “unguided learning,” especially if one considers the value of creating games, not just playing them. The games in this book were submitted for compilation by many authors.

As we learn in the Preface of the January 1978 edition of the book published by Ahl's Creative Computing Press, David H. Ahl left DEC in 1974. Despite his departure, DEC continued to publish its version, but without Ahl's name on it. The first printing of ''Basic Computer Games, Microcomputer Edition'' in January 1978 reflects the fact that, at the time of the DEC publication of ''101 Computer Games'', microcomputers hadn't been manufactured yet, and programmers using the BASIC language were still running code on time-sharing machines or on minicomputers.

The preface of ''Basic Computer Games, Microcomputer Edition'' differs significantly from the DEC edition. It is newly conceived and re-written. With this edition, the goal appears to be to spell out the value of games within broader contexts. The preface begins with a dictionary definition of the word “game” (though without naming the dictionary). It then provides a cursory history of sports and games moving from the ancient Chinese and Egyptians to the 1970s in little more than a paragraph and a half, only to emphasize that games offer recreational, breaks “from the “realities of life,” and also have other “important redeeming virtues.” The next two sections of the preface emphasize games as an educational tool and computer games in particular. The Preface also explains to users that the programs in this book all run on MITS Altair 8K BASIC, Rev. 4.0. Some new programs replace those that were deleted because they “could not be converted or weren’t worth converting to MITS BASIC.“ (p. ix)

This first non-DEC printing drops the game's name tags. Instead it uses the game's title in the table of contents, which is no longer organized alphabetically, but rather by game category -- e.g. Introductory Fun; Educational; Plotting and Pictures; Number and Letter Guessing; Remove an Object; Matrix Manipulation; Logic; Space; Sports Simulation; Gambling Casino; Card and Board; Combat; etc.), helping aficionados of certain types of games gain easier access to them.

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.

While many early books about BASIC are about pursuing hobbies (and games in particular), we would be remiss not to mention the types of books that help people organize their lives and keep their small businesses afloat. Charles D. Sternberg’s ''BASIC Computer Programs for the Home'' (1980) is one such book, whose specific aim was to satisfy “the practical requirements of the home.” The author wishes to address the user's desire not to “rely upon the availability of tape or disk-storage devices or any other features that may not be easily come by" and encourages the “modification of these programs to utilize features of your particular machine should present few difficulties." The programs in this book were tested on An Altair 8800b Microcomputer system. The author offers many reassurances of the ease with which programs can be entered, run, used, and even changed. Besides providing home financial programs, for example, and such “kitchen helpmates” as programs to convert recipe quantities, to plan meals according to various diets, to inventory your freezer’s contents, etc., this book provides descriptions of the purpose and functions of each program as well as some details about data entry, outputs, and other commentary. In the introduction the author explains that he eschews “highly efficient routines” in favor of increased “clarity” and a “modularity” which lends itself to easier alteration.

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.