BASIC Computer Games (1978) | Hacker News Reader

BASIC Computer Games (1978)

vintage-basic.net

86 pointsorjan31 comments

That is the book I used to learn programming. The funny thing is that I got the book several years before I got a computer. I would in effect read through the game programmes and play them in my head - the simpler ones, that is.

No cheating, I hope.

Ah yes, I also learned to program by typing in these games, and reverse engineering to see how they worked. On a TRS-80. Which given RadioShack's recent bankruptcy makes this article a bit more nostalgic for me.

Btw, your comment about using the book before you had a computer reminds me of a music prof at my college. He would read musical scores for pleasure more often than listening to actual music. Or at least so we were told by the younger professors.

I loved BASIC games listing books as a kid. I was so excited whenever a new one came into the local public library.

From a few years later (mid-80s) and probably aimed at a younger audience, but this was my favourite series: http://mocagh.org/loadpage.php?getcompany=usborne-hayes

Thanks! Some of these were the only programming books that our local library had (in the mid 90s). I remember the Adventure Programs book quite fondly.

I had a couple of those!

The one I most used though I can't recall the title. Small book, green cover, probably geared specifically towards "IBM" BASIC (i.e. BASICA/GW-BASIC). Same idea, as far as learning BASIC for kids by typing in short programs and games. Maybe I'll find it buried at my parents' house somewhere sometime.

Sometimes when I get depressed about kids these days learning Javascript as their first language, I remember that I started with GW-BASIC and I turned out ok. :)

Some of the early computer magazines often contained listings of games. I remember one where you were required to type in about 1000 lines of Basic data statements, liberally sprinkled with checksums. Finally, after a couple of days typing, I typed 'Run' and hit the enter key expectantly. The screen cleared, and two big red words appeared: "April Fool".

Was that the Spectrum magazine article that claimed the Spectrum was actually a Spectrum Plus under the hood, and all that was required was to poke in the printed page of machine code - in hex, mind you - to unleash it's glorious abilities.

A couple of hours of typing later, and the big red 'April Fools' message appears...

Yes! I had several of those books, the Fantasy Games one being my favourite. I frequently credit them with getting me into programming/CS. Though I don't think I ever quite understood the "Machine Code for Beginners" one, and I certainly never got all the way through typing in the others, it was the sheer "behind the curtain"-ness of it all that was amazing as a kid.

I loved this book. Don't forget the "More" sequel (http://www.atariarchives.org/morebasicgames/) and the Big Computer Games (http://www.atariarchives.org/bigcomputergames/) books as well. All are fun nostalgia. BTW, yes, Ahl's first book was also published as 101 Games (http://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/).

Some of these games come bundled with our just-released (an hour ago!) Applesoft / Integer BASIC compatible interpreter at http://discorunner.com (along with around a thousand more)

Those are all short and sweet. There were many more large games. Well, large by BASIC standards - 500-1000 lines of code was large back then. There was a Stratego-style game where you didn't take turns (capture the flag with tanks and missile launchers). There was a D&D adventure (no, not Adventure) where you had random encounters in the city, dungeon or wilderness (called AG for the initials of the author). There was an orbital-mechanics trading game called Patrol where you traded at Mercury, Venus and Earth for goods, and could do inter-system combat with other NPC ships you encountered.

Are those games available anywhere?

I have both the Basic Computer Games books (hardcopies!), and a few issues of Creative Computing, but I wasn't aware of the games you just mentioned...

Tom may have copies; I can ask him!

Here's one: http://www.moondew.com/basic/ There's a link to a 'retro' star trek game. Not the ones I was talking about though.

Tom gave me half a dozen more; I'll find someplace to put them up and provide a link.

Thanks!

Many of those bigger BASIC games (Wizard's Castle, The Valley, Nightmare Park) were really absorbing. I still have many Commodore PET listings; pre-internet, I was delighted to find a copy of King among them - I remembered playing it, but couldn't find it in any of my books or magazines.

To think... were something to happen to you (or Tom), that could have been the loss of some significant bits of microcomputing history!

Steve Wozniak made a (likely) passing reference to this book while reminiscing about writing BASIC from scratch for the original Apple:

http://gizmodo.com/how-steve-wozniak-wrote-basic-for-the-ori...

Woz refers to a book named "101 Games in BASIC", which may be different from "BASIC Computer Games", but I haven't been able to confirm with certainty one way or the other. Either way, his testimonial is impressive:

The other 'bible' was a book "101 Games in BASIC." I was a fan of computer games and knew that as soon as I had a computer of my own I would want to type in all these games to play. Judging by my own feelings, I assumed that this would be a key to starting a home computer revolution.

"101 Basic Computer Games" was the first edition, published by DEC. See the cover image at http://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=co.... Later versions were published by David Ahl as part of Creative Computing Press.

I have both that book and the red one ... I learned to program by first copying game code and then making my own. It would be years before I would understand how to make something like a competitive chess engine, but by that time my logic was quite well developed.

Yes, both yellow and red. I remember a few of us went to the community college computer lab and typed Horserace into an Apple II+ and spent the afternoon modifying it.

When we tried to save it we realized the computer hadn't been booted up to recognize the floppy drives so we lost all are mods.

We also had voice synthesizer software (record and upload your voice from cassette tape) and added phrases to Super Star Trek like "Computer ready" and "Torpedoes fired."

I have the red one in a box somewhere. It was my introduction to programming as well: when I was seven years old, my dad had me enter the code into ZBASIC running on our Tandy 1000.

I remember entering the "Bible Quiz" game, but transcribing something wrong, causing it to print the answers rather than the questions. I called it "Bible Jeopardy".

I like this one (http://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=4). So simple and yet creates seemingly intelligent replies.

The Hammurabi game from last weeks HN front page: http://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=78

I was thinking, hmm... Shouldn't this have been done in javascript? To keep up with the times that is. :-)

There are a few books that could do with a javascript or Python "translation".

"How to solve it by computer" is one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Solve_it_by_Computer

It's available on Scribd: http://www.scribd.com/doc/111696461/How-To-Solve-It-By-Compu...

"How I created a BASIC intepreter in JavaScript and io.js"?

I like this one (http://www.atariarchives.org/bca/) -- it's basically several Oregon Trail-like games, but explains both the historical context and simulation models used in each game.

We had that book at home. I remember being totally daunted by the source code of the Star Trek program... that thing had literally HUNDREDS of lines of code!

Where I learned to program: http://www.myoldcomputers.com/museum/man/pics/vic20man.jpg

This book is why I am a programmer.

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