BASIC

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-line variant of 10 PRINT appeared in its pages in 1984. 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 magazines for Commodore users, including ''Zzap! 64'', ''Commodore User'', and ''Commodore Format'' -- suggesting that putting the pound sterling symbol on the Commodore keyboard was a good move after all. Interestingly, the last of these UK magazines did not start publishing until October 1990, well into the twilight of the Commodore 64. ''Commodore Format'' was not about BASIC or learning to program, however, instead focusing on what was by 1990 nearly retro-gaming. The magazine came with a "Powerpack" tape, offering full games and demos for subscribers to load and run.

While magazines were ready and regular sources of BASIC programs, many enthusiasts also discovered code in long form books. David H. Ahl's influential 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, evidence that even as early as 1973 BASIC had drifted from its creators' original goal of a platform-agnostic high-level language. Jaunty illustrations punctuate ''101 Basic Computer Games'' -- a rather playful presentation for a corporate publication from a 1970s computer corporation. The game's titles were all abbreviated, in order to not exceed the six-character filename barrier at the time. 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.

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.

The People's Computer Company offered a collection of BASIC games, too: Bob Albrecht's large-format ''What To Do After You Hit Return,'' which came out originally in 1975. This popular book underwent several printings from different publishers, and not once, neither on the front nor back cover did the acronym BASIC even appear, indicating that the language was so prevalent for recreational programming that it need not be named.

Given the growing popularity of BASIC and computers among hobbyists, it is not surprising to see books of BASIC that go beyond games. Promising to teach a BASIC that would work with all the various "dialects," the 1977 ''Illustrating BASIC (A Simple Programming Language)'', was published by no less a scholarly authority than Cambridge University Press. In 1978 came ''The Little Book of BASIC Style. How to write a program you can read'' by John M. Nevison. With its reference to the ''Elements of Style'' by Strunk and White, this book insists that programs have human readers and can be written with them in mind. Similar titles include the 1978 ''BASIC With Style. Programming Proverbs'' and the 1979 ''Programming for Poets. A Gentle Introduction Using BASIC''. Lest the utilitarian function of computers become overshadowed by these more aesthetically-oriented books, there is Charles D. Sternberg's ''BASIC Computer Programs for the Home'' (1980), filled with programs specifically designed to satisfy "the practical requirements of the home." Should one of these programs not work one the reader's own machine, Sternberg explicitly encouraged their "modification."

This quick survey of BASIC books from the 1970s and early 1980s highlights the extent to which BASIC facilitated exploration, play, modification, and learning. It also reveals the nature of the home computing movement at the time, which emphasized sharing and learning from others, often through the medium of print. While programs in machine language occasionally circulated in print, published BASIC programs such as 10 PRINT were a different beast altogether. BASIC was legible code. It could be read straight from the page and some sense of the program's nature was evident before the program was ever even executed. Furthermore, as a user typed in a programs, he or she could easily alter it, sometimes mistakenly, often with purpose. Sometimes the magazines and books had typos themselves or didn't work with a particular reader's dialect of BASIC, and modifying the program -- debugging it -- became essential. The transmission of BASIC programs in print wasn't a flawless, smooth system, but it did encourage engagement with code, an awareness of how code functioned, and a realization that code could be revised and reworked, the raw material of a programmer's dream vision.