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Creative Computing Magazine

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Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#21

Post by PaulHoule »

johansch wrote: post #14
ovt wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't like deletion very much either in general, although I've seen librarians defend themselves with 1. that they totally don't have room for stuff 2. for kids' stuff, at least, if it's science, our knowledge has grown so much that it's a disservice for them to read the old book without context. Or if it's fiction, it can be full of social norms and beliefs that we've grown beyond, where...we'd also want them to h…

Most libraries (in Europe, at least) tend to have an incredibly low density of books. I think the image of a good-looking library is more important to them than to actually have more books on the shelves. E.g. something like this (the main public library in Linköping, Sweden): https://cdn3.cdnme.se/cdn/7-2/1081760/images/2012/dsc_0337_1... rather than something like http://f.tqn.com/y/seattle/1/W/V/F/-/-/IMG_8459.JPG

Damn, how do they keep the books from falling out of those sideways shelving units in Seattle? ;-)

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#22

Post by PaulHoule »

DanBC wrote: post #6
johansch wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the thing I don't really get about libraries. They are incredibly deletionist. My pet theory: the librarians feel they have power that way, by "curating" the collection that will presented to the peasants.

Libraries are underfunded. Climate controlled storage for stuff that most people won't use is expensive. There are some libraries the do keep everything, so it's not "lost".

I can say I've looked for Creative Computing in some of the largest and most prestigious libraries on the east coast of the U.S. and the haven't had it. It wasn't just the public libraries that thought it was obsolete, it was the big academic libraries too.

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#23

Post by WalterBright »

johansch wrote: post #14
ovt wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't like deletion very much either in general, although I've seen librarians defend themselves with 1. that they totally don't have room for stuff 2. for kids' stuff, at least, if it's science, our knowledge has grown so much that it's a disservice for them to read the old book without context. Or if it's fiction, it can be full of social norms and beliefs that we've grown beyond, where...we'd also want them to h…

Most libraries (in Europe, at least) tend to have an incredibly low density of books. I think the image of a good-looking library is more important to them than to actually have more books on the shelves. E.g. something like this (the main public library in Linköping, Sweden): https://cdn3.cdnme.se/cdn/7-2/1081760/images/2012/dsc_0337_1... rather than something like http://f.tqn.com/y/seattle/1/W/V/F/-/-/IMG_8459.JPG

Kenmore's public library has a low density of books as well - wide aisles, low shelves. I suspect it is partly due to wanting to be accessible to people in wheelchairs. But few books kinda defeats the purpose of having a library.

Half-Price Books in Bellevue is more my speed. It's completely packed with books. I could putter away hours in there.

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#24

Post by tomcam »

WalterBright wrote: post #3

I loved that magazine. The first years of it had a charming quality to them I've never seen anywhere else. The early issues are treasures. The later ones got more conventional.

Very well put. The issues in that first year made those of us who weren't programmers feel like we could be. It was thanks to them and COMPUTE! that I actually did become one, and eventually a consumer of Walter Bright products!

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#25

Post by itgoon »

This is what got me into computers at age 9. There were comics, and I didn't understand them. So I started reading the articles.

The articles didn't have anything to do with the comics, but I was fascinated, and ended up buying a ZX-81, then a Commodore 64, and...well, I'm still doing it.

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#26

Post by [deleted] »

PaulHoule wrote: post #22
DanBC wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Libraries are underfunded. Climate controlled storage for stuff that most people won't use is expensive. There are some libraries the do keep everything, so it's not "lost".

I can say I've looked for Creative Computing in some of the largest and most prestigious libraries on the east coast of the U.S. and the haven't had it. It wasn't just the public libraries that thought it was obsolete, it was the big academic libraries too.

[deleted]

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#28

Post by greglindahl »

wolfgke wrote: post #10
johansch wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the thing I don't really get about libraries. They are incredibly deletionist. My pet theory: the librarians feel they have power that way, by "curating" the collection that will presented to the peasants.

The much bigger problem is that copyright doesn't allow people to scan books/magazins and distribute the scans. As DanBC writes "Climate controlled storage [...] is expensive". On the other hand: Disk space is very cheap (even if you want high redundancy).

The Internet Archive has a "lending library" of post-1923 books where we own a physical copy, stored in a shipping container in a warehouse, and loan one digital copy at a time for each physical one that we own.

https://blog.archive.org/2010/06/28/digital-lending-library/

https://archive.org/details/lendinglibrary&tab=about

We're hoping to get libraries to join with us to make their books in remote storage available in a similar fashion.

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#29

Post by avifreedman »

Awesome!

This was my goto magazine :)

Much more code per issue than Byte, and easily modifiable games, which were great for learning.

Thanks to the Archive for scanning! If there are any issues missing, I may have them and be able to help contribute.

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#30

Post by jejones3141 »

Oy, I wish I'd kept a listing of the Algol W snowflake curve program I wrote up for Creative Computing and that they published in the Nov-Dec 1978 issue. The printout combined with the scan makes it hard to read. Ah, well; I did it to myself.
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