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Computer magazines often featured BASIC programs a home user could easily key in to his or her home computer. There was the previously mentioned ''Dr. Dobb's,'' but also many others. For instance, ''Creative Computing'' was a significant early magazine for microcomputer hobbyists. Launched in 1974 before the debut of the Altair 8800, ''Creative Computing'' was published until 1985, essentially spanning the era of BASIC's greatest popularity.

−

As ''Creative Computing'' was nearing the end of its run, other magazines, many of them platform-specific, were just getting started. One was ''RUN'' (1984-1992), a monthly magazine published by IDG Communications, focused on the Commodore 64 and VIC-20. ''RUN'' is particularly noteworthy, as one version of 10 PRINT in its pages. A German edition of ''RUN'' was published as well, and ''ReRUN'' disks made programs in the magazine available for purchase in machine-readable format. Another home computer magazine of this era was ''Compute!'' (1979-1994), which began as ''Pet Gazette,'' a 1978 magazine put together by Len Lindsay about the Commodore PET computer. In July 1983, ''Compute!'' launched a spin-off publication, ''Compute!'s Gazette,'' for Commodore 64 and VIC-20 owners. In the UK there were several other magazines for Commodore users, including ''Zzap! 64'', ''Commodore User'', and ''Commodore Format''. The last of these did not start publishing until 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 offering full games and demos for subscribers to load and run.

+

As ''Creative Computing'' was nearing the end of its run, other magazines, many of them platform-specific, were just getting started. One was ''RUN'' (1984-1992), a monthly magazine published by IDG Communications, focused on the Commodore 64 and VIC-20. ''RUN'' is particularly noteworthy, as one version of 10 PRINT appears in its pages. A German edition of ''RUN'' was published as well, and ''ReRUN'' disks made programs in the magazine available for purchase in machine-readable format. Another home computer magazine of this era was ''Compute!'' (1979-1994), which began as ''Pet Gazette,'' a 1978 magazine put together by Len Lindsay about the Commodore PET computer. In July 1983, ''Compute!'' launched a spin-off publication, ''Compute!'s Gazette,'' for Commodore 64 and VIC-20 owners. In the UK there were several other magazines for Commodore users, including ''Zzap! 64'', ''Commodore User'', and ''Commodore Format''. The last of these did not start publishing until 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 offering full games and demos for subscribers to load and run.

While magazines were ready and regular sources of new programs, many also found enjoyable code in books. David H. Ahl's influential and early compilation, ''101 Basic Computer Games'', was first published in 1973 by the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). This was the first book to collect only games in BASIC. It includes a sample run of each game and acknowledges the programmers who contributed each game. Each program's "computer limitations" are described so that users understand the specific BASIC dialects and hardware that are supported. Illustrations, courtesy of ''Mad Magazine'' among others, punctuate the presentation -- a rather playful presentation for a corporate publication from a 1970s computer company. The game's titles are abbreviated, not exceeding six letters, so they can serve as filenames. The abbreviations were humorously cryptic, with ACEYDU standing for "Acey Deucy Card Game"; AMAZIN for "Draw a Maze"; or POET for "Random Poetry (Haiku)." In the preface, the educational value of playing and creating games and the need for "unguided learning" is emphasized, echoing Kemeny's own thoughts about the value of purposeless play on computers.

−

A new edition of this book, ''Basic Computer Games, Microcomputer Edition,'' appeared in January 1978 -- reflecting BASIC's move from timesharing minicomputers to microcomputers. This edition's preface begins with a dictionary definition (from an unnamed dictionary) of the word "game." 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, emphasizing that games offer recreational breaks from the "realities of life" and also have other "important redeeming virtues." The programs in this book are all said to run on the gold standard of microcomputer BASICs: MITS Altair 8K BASIC, Rev. 4.0 (ix). The games, no longer referred to by cryptic six-character tags, are organized by category -- e.g., Educational, Number and Letter Guessing, Sports Simulation, Gambling Casino, Card and Board, and so on. While none of these categories would accommodate the purely aesthetic nature of 10 PRINT, it's interesting that so many of them rely upon a key feature of 10 PRINT: randomness.

+

A new edition of this book, ''Basic Computer Games, Microcomputer Edition,'' appeared in January 1978 -- reflecting BASIC's move from timesharing minicomputers to microcomputers. This edition's preface begins with a dictionary definition (from an unnamed dictionary) of the word "game." 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, emphasizing that games offer recreational breaks from the "realities of life" and also have other "important redeeming virtues." The programs in this book are all said to run on the gold standard of microcomputer BASICs: MITS Altair 8K BASIC, Rev. 4.0 (ix). The games, no longer referred to by cryptic six-character tags, are organized by category -- e.g., Educational, Number and Letter Guessing, Sports Simulation, Gambling Casino, Card and Board, and so on. While none of these categories would easily accommodate of 10 PRINT, it's interesting that so many of them rely upon a key feature of that program: randomness.

Later in 1978, this compilation was published again by Workman Publishing under the lengthy title ''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.'' Its translation into German in 1982 (and reprinting in German in 1983) shows how BASIC games, no doubt thanks to this book's large trade publisher, made their way abroad.

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@@ Line 178: / Line 178: @@
 Computer magazines often featured BASIC programs a home user could easily key in to his or her home computer. There was the previously mentioned ''Dr. Dobb's,'' but also many others. For instance, ''Creative Computing'' was a significant early magazine for microcomputer hobbyists. Launched in 1974 before the debut of the Altair 8800, ''Creative Computing'' was published until 1985, essentially spanning the era of BASIC's greatest popularity.
-As ''Creative Computing'' was nearing the end of its run, other magazines, many of them platform-specific, were just getting started. One was ''RUN'' (1984-1992), a monthly magazine published by IDG Communications, focused on the Commodore 64 and VIC-20. ''RUN'' is particularly noteworthy, as one version of 10 PRINT in its pages. A German edition of ''RUN'' was published as well, and ''ReRUN'' disks made programs in the magazine available for purchase in machine-readable format. Another home computer magazine of this era was ''Compute!'' (1979-1994), which began as ''Pet Gazette,'' a 1978 magazine put together by Len Lindsay about the Commodore PET computer. In July 1983, ''Compute!'' launched a spin-off publication, ''Compute!'s Gazette,'' for Commodore 64 and VIC-20 owners. In the UK there were several other magazines for Commodore users, including ''Zzap! 64'', ''Commodore User'', and ''Commodore Format''. The last of these did not start publishing until 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 offering full games and demos for subscribers to load and run.
+As ''Creative Computing'' was nearing the end of its run, other magazines, many of them platform-specific, were just getting started. One was ''RUN'' (1984-1992), a monthly magazine published by IDG Communications, focused on the Commodore 64 and VIC-20. ''RUN'' is particularly noteworthy, as one version of 10 PRINT appears in its pages. A German edition of ''RUN'' was published as well, and ''ReRUN'' disks made programs in the magazine available for purchase in machine-readable format. Another home computer magazine of this era was ''Compute!'' (1979-1994), which began as ''Pet Gazette,'' a 1978 magazine put together by Len Lindsay about the Commodore PET computer. In July 1983, ''Compute!'' launched a spin-off publication, ''Compute!'s Gazette,'' for Commodore 64 and VIC-20 owners. In the UK there were several other magazines for Commodore users, including ''Zzap! 64'', ''Commodore User'', and ''Commodore Format''. The last of these did not start publishing until 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 offering full games and demos for subscribers to load and run.
 While magazines were ready and regular sources of new programs, many also found enjoyable code in books. David H. Ahl's influential and early compilation, ''101 Basic Computer Games'', was first published in 1973 by the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). This was the first book to collect only games in BASIC. It includes a sample run of each game and acknowledges the programmers who contributed each game. Each program's "computer limitations" are described so that users understand the specific BASIC dialects and hardware that are supported. Illustrations, courtesy of ''Mad Magazine'' among others, punctuate the presentation -- a rather playful presentation for a corporate publication from a 1970s computer company. The game's titles are abbreviated, not exceeding six letters, so they can serve as filenames. The abbreviations were humorously cryptic, with ACEYDU standing for "Acey Deucy Card Game"; AMAZIN for "Draw a Maze"; or POET for "Random Poetry (Haiku)." In the preface, the educational value of playing and creating games and the need for "unguided learning" is emphasized, echoing Kemeny's own thoughts about the value of purposeless play on computers.
-A new edition of this book, ''Basic Computer Games, Microcomputer Edition,'' appeared in January 1978 -- reflecting BASIC's move from timesharing minicomputers to microcomputers. This edition's preface begins with a dictionary definition (from an unnamed dictionary) of the word "game." 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, emphasizing that games offer recreational breaks from the "realities of life" and also have other "important redeeming virtues." The programs in this book are all said to run on the gold standard of microcomputer BASICs: MITS Altair 8K BASIC, Rev. 4.0 (ix). The games, no longer referred to by cryptic six-character tags, are organized by category -- e.g., Educational, Number and Letter Guessing, Sports Simulation, Gambling Casino, Card and Board, and so on. While none of these categories would accommodate the purely aesthetic nature of 10 PRINT, it's interesting that so many of them rely upon a key feature of 10 PRINT: randomness.
+A new edition of this book, ''Basic Computer Games, Microcomputer Edition,'' appeared in January 1978 -- reflecting BASIC's move from timesharing minicomputers to microcomputers. This edition's preface begins with a dictionary definition (from an unnamed dictionary) of the word "game." 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, emphasizing that games offer recreational breaks from the "realities of life" and also have other "important redeeming virtues." The programs in this book are all said to run on the gold standard of microcomputer BASICs: MITS Altair 8K BASIC, Rev. 4.0 (ix). The games, no longer referred to by cryptic six-character tags, are organized by category -- e.g., Educational, Number and Letter Guessing, Sports Simulation, Gambling Casino, Card and Board, and so on. While none of these categories would easily accommodate of 10 PRINT, it's interesting that so many of them rely upon a key feature of that program: randomness.
 Later in 1978, this compilation was published again by Workman Publishing under the lengthy title ''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.'' Its translation into German in 1982 (and reprinting in German in 1983) shows how BASIC games, no doubt thanks to this book's  large trade publisher, made their way abroad.