{"id":12457,"date":"2013-01-25T06:05:07","date_gmt":"2013-01-25T12:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/?p=12457"},"modified":"2013-01-25T06:05:07","modified_gmt":"2013-01-25T12:05:07","slug":"the-past-is-still-with-brian-j","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/25\/the-past-is-still-with-brian-j\/","title":{"rendered":"The Past Is Still With Brian J."},"content":{"rendered":"

Gimlet linked to an article on Ars Technica entitled "First encounter: COMPUTE! magazine and its glorious, tedious type-in code<\/a>" that talks about getting a start with type-in programs back in the old days:<\/p>\n

My first computer was an Atari 600XL, a 16KB model with a cartridge slot and no disk drive which my parents suffered through a high-pressure time share sales pitch to obtain for me. And I loved it, not so much for playing the cartridge version of Star Raiders (though I did that, too) but because the machine opened the door to BASIC code and to writing one’s own programs. It was like a LEGO kit for the mind: if you could think it\u2014and squeeze it into 16KB\u2014you could build it.<\/p>\n

But how to save these masterpieces? I quickly acquired a finicky, used tape drive to store my programs on standard cassette tapes, picked up some books from the library, and I was off, coding versions of “Hunt the Wumpus” and other early Unix delights that had been ported to BASIC for the new breed of home computer user. Then, as I was browsing the magazine rack at our public library one day in the mid-1980s, I came across a wondrous magazine called COMPUTE!. It contained cutting-edge programs\u2014including plenty of games\u2014with decent graphics. And the code was all free. I quickly grabbed every back issue the library would let me take and headed home.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Brother, those days are now:<\/p>\n

\"Old<\/a><\/p>\n

What do we have here?<\/p>\n