Ask HN: Was typing in programs from magazines in the 80s educational for you?

Sometimes. Circa 1982/1983 I picked up a trick for right justifying numbers (space padding them) when printing them with Atari BASIC from some program listing in some magazine article. I forget now which listing or which magazine (although "Compute!" [1] is a likely possibility).

But, mostly, one wanted the "end result" (play some game) not the learning experience.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compute_magazine

Yes and no. I had my mom type one in for me. Obviously didn't learn much from that other than I love you mom! But typing in a Basic program exposed you to the syntax involved, which, you're typing the thing in. It was a slow process. So while you were typing it in, your mind would absorb things from it, and how you could modify. So yes I'd say it was educational.

On the other hand, vibecoding today, I can get shockingly far before needing to dig into the code itself. I'm working on a swift app but haven't needed to really get into learning Swift the way I did C++ or Java, back before Google.

No. I found it frustrating that so many BASIC programs had odd quirks or dependencies on one platform that I couldn't figure out how to mimic on whatever I was programming on (first a MicroVideo Interact, then an Apple 2 with Integer Basic followed eventually by AppleSoft Basic). I used to type in programs from the Creative Computing compilation books and hit various roadblocks because some of the programs would rely on commands specific to paper tape or the specific digital tape (not home computer cassette) drive in use.

Yes. In the 80s I was a little over half your age. A local library gave me a pile of old Byte and Compute magazines. I had been checking out the latest regularly for months. Every one.

What taught me was debugging and good examples of compact form and function. There were no IDEs (for me) and I didn’t have the ability to write out from ROM BASIC for years.

I remember those years!

I went on to intuitively automate batch production systems and develop enterprise this and that, without any formal education (I was usually the most eager and practical at every turn.)

No, it was a way to get a "free" app. Not really free since I wasted time inputting it and I had to buy the mag or book that published it. In terms of learning, I learnt nothing. It was a total waste looking back but it gave me one more use for my toy computer.