
Compute magazine and its glorious, tedious type-in code (2012) - cl8ton
http://arstechnica.com/staff/2012/12/first-encounter-compute-magazine-and-its-glorious-tedious-type-in-code/
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mbenjaminsmith
Oh man. My first computer was an Atari 400 and I had the BASIC cartridge as
well as Star Raiders. I'm pretty sure that was and still is the best game ever
made.

My introduction to programming was this series:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Adventure](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Adventure)

You'd type in BASIC programs (line numbers!) that would reveal plot points,
usually by deciphering an encrypted message (if memory serves).

------
prof_hobart
Type-in code in magazines aren't quite dead yet.

My daughter gets a kids' magazine called Aquila, and an issue a couple of
months ago it had something about the Raspberry Pi in it and had a load of
Python code to type in create some slime mould patterns
([https://www.aquila.co.uk/media/432350/spiralcode.html](https://www.aquila.co.uk/media/432350/spiralcode.html)).

------
scarygliders
Haha! Brings back memories of typing in reams and reams and reams of
Hexadecimal into my Sinclair ZX81, back in the day.

That fisking ZX81 - it was fun, but with the bulky 16K RAM Pack slotted in
behind it, made using it a precarious pastime.

One little knock, and 99% of the time the Ram Pack edge connector momentarilly
lost a contact on one of the lines and the ZX81 would crash hard - and there
went 2 hours of carefully typed in (on a membrane keyboard :D ) hexadecimal
code, and much grinding and gnashing of teeth a moment later after a stunned,
blank stare ;)

~~~
christoph
I had really fond memories of books like these:
[http://www.acornelectron.co.uk/covl/usborne/lc-
myst.jpg](http://www.acornelectron.co.uk/covl/usborne/lc-myst.jpg)

Typing them in on the thick rubber keys of my 48k Spectrum. I'm sure there
were quite a few different titles in the series, but I can't seem to find them
at the moment. I always remember it was great how they had melded the book
into the game, so they both supported each other.

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empressplay
...and often buggy! I think I learned BASIC via debugging listings that didn't
behave properly, and the local library would frequently not have the next
issue (that would have the inevitable Errata entry.)

And don't get me started on MSX (their machine language entry / editor) lines
that didn't checksum. Infuriating...

~~~
300bps
I probably typed in 200 or more BASIC Programs and several machine language
programs and only very rarely ran into a problem. Definitely never hit a
checksum issue in MLX - I think that's what you meant when you said MSX?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLX_(software)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLX_\(software\))

I was on a Commodore 64 using Compute!'s Gazette so maybe they had higher
quality standards than Compute!?

------
tomcam
I was a late starter and I am a slow learner. I was desperate to get into the
computer field but couldn't afford college. When I saw the friendly September
1983 cover in a Crown bookstore I instinctively felt like I was home.

Back in those days you could find lots of recycled crap by authors who knew
nothing but how to cash in on the microcomputer craze, or tons of abstruse
theory without any examples. COMPUTE fixed both problems, teaching the theory
behind the code it presented while staying accessible.

COMPUTE shepherded me to what has been to me an enormously successful career
(great jobs, fascinating work, complete independence, no debt, the ability to
take care of two medically expensive children, and my house paid for).

The writing was lively. It was actually edited. Even the colors and
illustration were buoyant but not condescending.

The best programs in those days were written in assembly, but assembly
listings were way too long, no one knew assembly, and no one could afford an
assembler. So most magazines had to repurpose Hangman and Hunt the Wumpus
every third article.

COMPUTE's innovative answer was MSX, which allowed users the ability to get a
professionally created machine language program without having to subscribe to
expensive online resources or to mail in for an expensive floppy disk.

MSX was ingenious and no other magazine had anything like it. It was a short
BASIC program you would use to enter the numbers shown (not the first column).
The two-digit columns were converted by MSXX to a binary executable. It then
wrote the program straight into memory. You could then save your finished
program on tape or disk.

The rewards could be splendid. The December issue shown on the right featured
Speedscript, a good enough word processor that I was able to make a living
with it for years as a technical writer. (Had to hook up an electric
typewriter to my PC via a parallel interface gizmo.) Yes, it took me probably
4 hours to enter, but I was literally able to earn a living with it.

Another revolutionary program was Laser Chess. It spawned many imitators, some
thriving to this day. I confess I never played it because I was actually too
jealous, despite a lifelong interest in strategy games. The game was so good,
it just hurt too much.

empressplay's remark about checksum problems is sort of true. It had a crude
checksum feature that worked line by line, and occasionally a false positive
went through, requiring you to spend a few hours retyping the program. Stil,
the only other way you could find new apps this good was to pay way more than
the price of a magazine.

COMPUTE actually paid decently, so you even saw people like Orson Scott Card
on the payroll. He edited one of my articles but I hadn't read Enders Game. My
editor Clifton Karnes is and always was both a first-rate programmer and
commercial-quality graphic artist, and was a wonderful editor to boot.

I've made lots of money, bought way too many guitars, and got to work at one
of the greatest companies in the world (Microsoft's dev tools division at
their peak), but few things were as thrilling as when I became a writer and
then columnist for COMPUTE! It had given so much to me--literally, a dream
career in very dark times--that I still grateful to be a part of their
history.

RIP, COMPUTE! And thank you for 30+ years of working awesome jobs, all of
which may have gone into the bitbucket without that first September 1983
issue.

~~~
mgkimsal
"Another revolutionary program was Laser Chess. It spawned many imitators,
some thriving to this day. I confess I never played it because I was actually
too jealous, despite a lifelong interest in strategy games. The game was so
good, it just hurt too much."

Ditto. Wait, maybe I'm supposed to write "this". ??

Agreed 100%. I remember Fred D'ignazio's columns - even as a kid I found them
a bit too 'non-technical' (I wanted the geek stuff!), but I do remember that I
could show those to teachers who could understand at least some of the
magazine. I used to get them confiscated during middle and high school for
reading during class, then would occasionally get to talking about it because
the teacher would borrow it over the weekend. Turns out he was big in to
education, so was probably speaking their language even though I didn't know
it at the time.

------
wazoox
Ah, fond memories. In France we had a fantastic weekly, hebdogiciel, with
nasty adult humor :

[http://www.abandonware-
magazines.org/affiche_mag.php?mag=7](http://www.abandonware-
magazines.org/affiche_mag.php?mag=7)

------
craigvn
I remember this all too well. I tried to get my mum who as a touch typist to
type them in for me, but she soon told me where to go.

~~~
300bps
Haha I used to recruit my sister to help me type in source code from
Compute!'s Gazette into my Commodore 64. My favorite was when she was typing
in machine language code into MLX:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLX_(software)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLX_\(software\))

I told her that after she entered the line that the computer would tell her if
it was right or not. She said, "Well if the computer knows what to type in,
why doesn't it type it in?" I think I discovered then at 10 years old the
difference between a P and NP problem.

