Compute!'s Gazette
Programs you can type
Compute!'s Gazette provided Commodore users with type-in programs, tutorials, and reviews, teaching programming through practical application.
Compute!’s Gazette was the Commodore-specific sibling to Compute! magazine. Each issue contained type-in programs—games, utilities, educational software—that readers entered by hand. The magazine served as both entertainment and education: readers learned programming by typing and debugging code, then played what they’d created. The disk edition offered programs pre-loaded for those who valued time over learning.
Fast facts
- Publisher: COMPUTE! Publications, Inc., of Greensboro, North Carolina — itself part of ABC Consumer Magazines.
- Focus: Commodore 64, VIC-20, Plus/4.
- Content: type-in programs, reviews, tutorials.
- Frequency: monthly.
- Disk edition: programs available on floppy.
- Run: 1983-1995.
Type-in culture
Learning through typing:
- Program listings: BASIC and machine code.
- MLX: machine language entry tool.
- Debugging: finding typos taught programming.
- Modification: readers changed programs to learn.
Magazine content
Typical issue included:
- Games: original games to type in.
- Utilities: productivity tools.
- Tutorials: programming instruction.
- Reviews: hardware and software coverage.
- Reader contributions: user-submitted programs.