[danaliv]

> Retyping out programs from magazines isn't even something most programmers have considered these days

Oof, this takes me back to the day I learned about RAM the hard way. I was typing out a program from a magazine. It seemed like it took forever, even then. About halfway through the computer rudely informed me that 4K of RAM is not, in fact, enough for everyone.

[arafalov]

Ha. Soviet magazines were more considering. They listed memory requirements well in advance, when I was learning racing games for my programmable calculator in late 1980s.

[stevesimmons]

Was that a Vic-20? 3583 bytes free, after taking out the 22x23 screen display.

[danaliv]

We have a winner. :)

[tonyarkles]

The memories! POKE 36879!

I learned originally on a VIC-20 by typing in games out of books from the public library. At some point we upgraded to an XT and a friend sold me a copy of Power C for $20. It came with a beautiful hard copy library reference and the rest, as they say, is history!

[gstipi]

Power C! I grew up in Germany and after the inevitable BASIC, C was the second language I learned, using Power C as a compiler, which I ordered by mail and which arrived from the States several weeks later, including the hard copy reference manual you mention. I also remember it came with a rudimentary graphics library I used to create screen savers for friends. Good times.

Check this out for a trip down memory lane: http://www.mixsoftware.com/product/powerc.htm

[tonyarkles]

Still costs the same now as it did when I bought it!

Yeah, the graphics library was great! When I moved on to Linux and gcc, I was disappointed for a while that I didn't have all those super simple primitives to work with.

[AlchemistCamp]

What about the other 7 bytes?