
BYTE Magazine's Lisp issue (1979) [pdf] - pmoriarty
https://ia902603.us.archive.org/30/items/byte-magazine-1979-08/1979_08_BYTE_04-08_LISP.pdf
======
HankB99
Byte was my favorite magazine of all time - even better than Computer Shopper.
;)

I remember the last page article - Stop Bit. One particularly memorable one
described how various professionals would search for an elephant. Some I
recall are.

\- A C programmer would start at the southernmost point in Africa and travel
east until they got to the ocean and then move north and head west to the
opposite shore, repeating until they had covered all of Africa. An assembler
programmer would follow the same strategy but do it on their hands and knees.

\- A college professor would prove the existence of an elephant and leave it
as an exercise for the students to actually find one.

\- A marketing executive would paint a rabbit gray and call it a desktop
elephant.

I wonder if I could find that article. I'll have to see if Archive.org is
searchable. Or maybe I can find it by searching today: [https://www-
users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/joke/elephant.htm](https://www-
users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/joke/elephant.htm) :D

~~~
amelius
> Byte was my favorite magazine of all time

I even enjoyed the ads :)

~~~
amelius
Perhaps a nice idea for an ad-blocker: replace ads in all websites by the ads
from BYTE magazine.

------
dvfjsdhgfv
The "You can do surprising things when you have 64 kilobytes of fast RAM" ad
made me realize how little we appreciate the abundant resources we are lucky
to have these days...

~~~
dTal
Yup. Amusingly that statement is every bit as true today as it was in 1979,
although the surprise may be of a somewhat different character.

~~~
marktangotango
That's why size hack contest are so much fun, like 4K intros, or java4k games.

------
keithnz
yeah, lisp is cool, but I'd need a computer to run it on... I'm seriously
considering one of those 8070 Series I Business System..... it has dual
floppies, 591K bytes of storage a 19" color display, a 60 cps impact matrix
computer, and!! they say at twice the price it would be a bargin, so at $7000
it seems the way to go

~~~
keithnz
though I might need to get one of those fake wood veneer quad capacity two
sided recording north star mini drives with 360,000 bytes per diskette!! but
it has 4 drives so you can accesses over 1.4 megabytes of information.......

~~~
SuperGent
Who needs that much? Are you planning on putting an entire library of books on
there?

------
magoghm
I had a subscription to BYTE magazine. That issue was how I discovered there
was this amazing language called LISP.

------
KC8ZKF
In "About the Cover" on page 4, the editor invites the reader to examine the
monolith and "identify the textbook from which these S-expression fragments
were taken, and the purpose of the program."

Anybody have a clue?

~~~
kgwgk
[http://blog.lfe.io/archaeology/2014/12/15/1848-byte-
august-1...](http://blog.lfe.io/archaeology/2014/12/15/1848-byte-
august-1979-the-lisp-issue/)

------
cmic
My first issue was in 1984 (Forth Issue). I couldn't live without it, then.
Until the end of Byte. We had no equivalent source of info in France. It was a
fantastic and eclectic source of programming hints, ideas, whatever. I'm now
66 and retired as a Sysadmin. Very good memories. \-- cmic

------
lispm
There is another BYTE Lisp issue: February 1988 Vol 13 No 2

~~~
anthay
Sadly, I couldn't find it on archive.org.

------
dr_ick
265MB PDF!!!

I don't think this thing is 1979 compatible.

~~~
keithnz
yeah it is, you just need ~$5.4 million dollars of memory at 2cents a byte....
perhaps a kickstarter?

~~~
dreamcompiler
So how did they make magazines back then? Answer: Paper mockups made with IBM
composers (typewriters that automatically justified), pasted-in paper photos,
color separation negatives, and aluminum printing plate positives (one per
color per page (or group of pages)). And an offset press. And folding
machines, signature gatherers, binders and trimmers. No computers necessary.

~~~
rblatz
Still easier than placing images in Microsoft Word.

~~~
ghaff
Heh. It's gotten better but, as I can tell you from finishing up laying out a
book in Word, it's still a frustrating layout tool.

Unfortunately the market has bifurcated into word processors that aren't
really very good layout tools for something as complicated as a book and
programs like InDesign that are complex and expensive. (Haven't looked at
Scribus recently but I assume the complex point stands.)

~~~
shakna
> It's gotten better but, as I can tell you from finishing up laying out a
> book in Word, it's still a frustrating layout tool.

That's... dedication.

InDesign is probably the best I've used, but it is expensive.

Inkscape is actually flexible enough to do it well, and incredibly simple on
the surface, though a few quirks.

Scribus can talk to Krita, and some Photoshop stuff, which can lift the burden
with some image-heavy things. Complexity wise, it looks a lot like InDesign,
but can't do quite a few things it can.

But, for most people, any of the above will fit the bill.

~~~
ghaff
I've never heard of using Inkscape for layout. I think of it just as a vector
drawing tool.

InDesign is certainly the standard.

Things got complicated because I needed to output an interim version of the
book and wanted a format collaborators could work in. Plus I thought I'd save
having to re-layout the book after editing. Which of course didn't happen that
way.

Lesson for next time is either live within Google Docs limitations or do
layout in a proper tool only when content editing is 99.9% complete.

------
huffer
Wow, great! This magazine is precisely as old as I am. I wasn't born with a
lisp, just a fondness for it (and now I know why).

~~~
protomyth
This, Creative Computing, Dr Dobbs, and Antic were my monthly computer
education. I was a little ticked with what languages my Atari 400 with 48k
(3rd party board) could run. I did dream a lot of some of the machines in the
ads.

~~~
WalterBright
I loved the quirky illustrations in the early Creative Computing mags.

~~~
vram22
BYTE had some great cover illustrations too, and IIRC, even some of the
articles had great diagrams or drawings. IIRC there was an artist called
(Robert?) Tinney who did many of the best looking and most famous covers,
including maybe for the Smalltalk issue - which I think had a multicolored
balloon on the cover - just searched and this is it:

[https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/597/1*9qr-I3aJLr0IrM256g...](https://cdn-
images-1.medium.com/max/597/1*9qr-I3aJLr0IrM256gVIvg.jpeg)

~~~
vram22
Yes, his name was Robert Tinney:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Tinney](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Tinney)

------
Gargoyle
Also featuring A Preview Of The Motorola 68000!

------
tolgahanuzun
Only half of the book is advertising. But I can not deny that it is
interesting. Cool

~~~
kevstev
This was and probably still is something of a standard in publishing- that 50%
of the "book" is ads, 50% content. My wife used to work in magazines.

------
pinewurst
Here's the online version: [https://archive.org/details/byte-
magazine-1979-08](https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1979-08)

~~~
rbanffy
Also [https://archive.org/details/byte-
magazine-1979-08-rescan](https://archive.org/details/byte-
magazine-1979-08-rescan)

It'd probably be better to point the article link there.

~~~
vram22
What's the difference (if any) in your URL and the one in the parent comment
to yours (other than that yours ends with -rescan)? I could check both, but
don't want to in case they are both huge pages (since someone else said 256
MB) just to find out. Is the -rescan one better quality maybe?

~~~
rbanffy
It's smaller and higher quality

~~~
vram22
Thanks, useful to know.

------
tannhaeuser
I've got a collection of 1988-90 _AI Expert_ magazines on LISP, Prolog & Co.
with interesting design features such as lino-cut-style artwork for
(periodical) columns and a special Elite condensed type face for code. Does
anybody know if it's ok to put these on a web site with credit when I can't
get in touch with the original authors and artists (does archive.org have or
need special permission from BYTE)?

Btw, I'd love links to 1986-1996ish articles on SGML and markup technologies.

~~~
cr0sh
AI Expert - interesting. I recall purchasing a few issues. But that's about
it.

One magazine I wish I could find a complete collection of (PDF or paper, I
don't care) is Robotics Age. About the only thing I have found on it is a book
that was published (picked up a copy of that), but nothing else as far as the
magazine is concerned.

It was kinda the Byte magazine for robotics of the 1980s era. So you had a
mashup of articles for both industrial and research robotics, as well as
articles and such for hobbyist robotics. It's a shame that it seems to have
disappeared.

------
wiz21c
I know it's totally local to french speakers, but does anyone remember
Hebdogiciel or Pom's ? Both were great. The former was crazy and had lots of
code in it and a very "free speech" nature (think Charlie Hebdo but for
computers) and the latter was all about Apple (2, 2+, 2e, 2c; not the i-thing
you're looking for)

~~~
Narishma
You can find most of the old french computer magazines archived here:
[http://www.abandonware-magazines.org](http://www.abandonware-magazines.org)

------
boramalper
When I come across magazines from the past such as this, I keep wondering why
and when did we stop writing such beautifully crafted technical articles for
the masses and instead turned to advertisement-like pieces on consumer
electronics. Look how empowering those articles were by treating you as a
creative being, and how passivizing the current articles are in encouraging
perpetual consumption.

~~~
jasode
_> technical articles for the masses_

BYTE was a niche magazine for a niche audience. BYTE was never for the masses.

Perhaps your location in Armenia separates you from the actual popularity of
BYTE magazine back in the day. I remember 1990s brick&mortar bookstores like
Barnes & Noble and Borders would carry more popular magazines like "PC
Magazine"[1] and "PC Computing"[2] but they didn't have BYTE on the shelves.
You had to subscribe to BYTE by mail. How did someone subscribe to BYTE if
they weren't on the retail racks in the first place?!? By mailing in the BYTE
subscription card (advertisement) that was placed inside of PC Magazine!

Also as trivia, BYTE was the last magazine I ever paid a subscription to
(circle 1998?) because I felt cheated after paying up for a full year and
after 1 issue, they shut down the operation. I got a form letter saying they
would substitute with something else (Dr Dobbs? can't exactly remember) but
they didn't honor their word and didn't send me a pro-rated refund for the
unsent issues. Looking back, BYTE stealing my money was a godsend because it
saved me from spending any $$$ on magazines for the last 20 years haha.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Magazine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Magazine)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC/Computing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC/Computing)

~~~
ajross
> BYTE was never for the masses.

Not at this stage. In 1979 is was a hobby zine for computer builders. By the
mid-90's it was trying to compete against IT rags that were definitely for
"mass" consumption. But early Byte was absolutely targeted at electronics
experts, with a strong assumption of solid software skills.

~~~
jasode
_> By the mid-90's it was trying to compete against IT rags that were
definitely for "mass" consumption. _

Yes, I agree that BYTE eventually expanded (or diluted if one chose that
viewpoint) their coverage into areas that overlapped with PC Magazine etc. But
they still had more of a niche audience. Here's an example issue from 1994.[1]
If one flips through the pages, it has stories about CISC/RISC and Object-
Oriented COBOL. It also has ads for a disk hex editor and Watcom C++ compiler.
The typical computer enthusiast that's playing around with WordPerfect/Lotus
and games like Microsoft Flight Simulator didn't care about geekier topics
like that.

My first IT director was a programmer and even he didn't subscribe to BYTE. He
did subscribe to PC Magazine and ComputerWorld.

[1]
[https://archive.org/details/ByteV19N9](https://archive.org/details/ByteV19N9)

------
hultner
What an amazing cover, anyone know if it's available as a poster or standalone
graphics?

~~~
ethagnawl
Related: what is the legal status of the magazine as it appears on
archive.org? Was it put into the public domain at some point? I can't find any
mention of copyright, licenses, etc. on archive.org, the Byte Wikipedia page,
etc.

------
eulevik
Great stuff, good to see again

------
delegate
I haven't seen all ads in the magazine, but I notice that most (all?) of the
companies are no longer around. Except one. The ad had a bit of a prophecy in
it too: "You can't outgrow Apple."

------
pagl309
Would be interested to know if these articles are worth reading to learn about
the language; i.e. ~40 years later, has the language changed too much to make
the content here useful for learning purposes?

~~~
flavio81
Code in Lisp in 1979 should be compatible with the current Common Lisp
implementations.

However, Common Lisp (1994 ANSI standard) has interesting features that were
not easily available (or standarized) on the Lisp implementations of 1979, for
example the CLOS object system.

And today, with tools like Quicklisp or Alexandria, Lisp programming is really
friendly. There are also some interesting recent books available, like
Practical Common Lisp, and Land of Lisp.

These are all Common Lisp resources. There is also the classic "The little
schemer" to learn Scheme.

------
KirinDave
This is so, damn, fantastic.

I wish I could say I'm nostalgic for it, but it predates my existence. What's
it called when you yearn for the style and typography shortly before you were
born?

~~~
unkown-unknowns
[https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/50144/is-
there-a...](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/50144/is-there-a-term-
that-defines-nostalgia-for-something-youve-never-experienced)

------
daly
I wrote an article on hobby robots (I was working for Unimation at the time,
the company that invented robots). Sadly I can't seem to find the issue
online.

------
eleitl
I kept raiding the local library archives of the local army university for
such back issues in the 1980s and 1990s. Great technical content.

------
ngvrnd
I believe I still have a copy of that issue. Does anyone remember "M-Lisp" at
all?

------
emmelaich
David Betz's Xlisp first appeared in BYTE I believe. It's still around.

------
s369610
page 66 discusses the "Model of the Brain" called CMAC (Cerebellar Model
Arithmetic Computer). Now I have to read up on what became of that model.

------
idibidiart
Lisp is the only high-level programming language that has no syntax. In Lisp,
s-expressions are used to encode both form (data structures) and function
(algorithms) of computer programs. Since code and data are seen for what they
are (two sides of the same coin) the distraction of a real PL syntax is
eliminated, and the programmer is able to think more coherently.

~~~
nradov
Perhaps, but there's no hard evidence that lack of syntax leads to better
results. All else being equal, most programmers seem to prefer at least _some_
syntax. Is a long s-expression containing multiple nested parentheses easy to
think about?

~~~
fulafel
A long expression containing multiple nested parentheses is no easier to think
about in syntaxful languages. Re parens:

Lisp doesn't have more parentheses than other languages:

    
    
      (if (validate foo)
         (println foo "is the right answer"))
    

vs

    
    
      if (foo.validate()) {
        console.log(foo, "is the right answer");
      }
    

Unless you consider curly braces special and virtuous, and "(" parens bad.

~~~
CrystalGamma
Rust:

    
    
        if foo.validate() {
            println!("{} is the right answer", foo);
        }
    

This has less parentheses (unless you count the placeholder in the format
string). Putting the condition in parentheses like C and friends do is
redundant if you use braces for the block anyway.

~~~
nocman
less parentheses, but not less bracket-like characters. If you count parens
and curlies, it is exactly the same. Yours has 4 parens and 2 curlies (not
including the format string), and the original lisp code has 6 parens.

------
VonGuard
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Neat)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Shit, it's not working...

~~~
fencepost
You're better off with jokes about stolen source code to [big program, e.g
missile defense], that it's written in LISP, and here's the last few lines as
proof that you have it

    
    
      )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) 
      )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) 
      ))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

~~~
junke
It was if err != nil {return err} rewritten in if err != nil {return err} Go,
and if err != nil { return nil } this is way if err != nil {return err} more
readable now.

~~~
flavio81
I was thinking exactly the same thing!!

