Editing Compute!

{{short description|Defunct American home computer magazine}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2010}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox magazine
| based           = New York City
| image_file      = COMPUTEjune1987.jpg
| image_caption   = June 1987 issue, showing ''[[Laser Chess]]''
| frequency       = Monthly
| firstdate       = November / December 1979
| finaldate       = September 1994
| country         = [[United States]]
| issn            = 0194-357X
| publisher       = [[Small System Services]] (1979–1983)<br />[[ABC Publishing]] (1983–1994)
}}

'''''Compute!''''' ({{ISSN|0194-357X}}), often stylized as '''''COMPUTE!''''', is an American [[home computer]] magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'',  one of the first magazines for the [[Commodore PET]] computer.<ref>[http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue1/3190_1_THE_PET_GAZETTE_THE_EVOLUTION_OF_A_MAGAZINE.php The Evolution Of A Magazine<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In its 1980s heyday, ''Compute!'' covered all major platforms, and several single-platform spinoffs of the magazine were launched. The most successful of these was ''[[Compute!'s Gazette]]'', which catered to [[VIC-20]], [[Commodore 64]], and later the [[Commodore 128]] computer users.

Compute provided programs for users to type in, usually in Basic. These included programs such as games and utilities. Sometimes they would provide programs written in assembly to be typed out in a utility called [[MLX (software)|MLX.]] They also provided technical advice in some of their articles.

==History==
''Compute!''{{'s}} original goal was to write about and publish programs for all of the computers that used some version of the [[MOS Technology 6502]] CPU. It started out in 1979.<ref>{{cite book|author=Roberto Dillon|title=Ready: A Commodore 64 Retrospective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ecuoBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA113|access-date=12 February 2017|date=3 December 2014|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-981-287-341-5|page=113}}</ref>

[[ABC Publishing]] acquired Compute! Publications in May 1983 for $18 million in stock, and raised circulation of the magazine from 200,000 to 420,000 by the end of the year. ''[[Compute!'s Gazette]]'', for Commodore computers, began publishing that year.<ref name="dougherty19831116">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/16/business/advertising-abc-seeks-additional-magazines.html |title=Advertising; ABC Seeks Additional Magazines |last=Dougherty |first=Philip H. |date=1983-11-16 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2017-07-02 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |url-access=limited}}</ref> ''Compute!'' claimed in 1983 that it published more [[type-in program]]s "in each issue than any magazine in the industry".<ref name="lock198304">{{cite magazine| url=https://archive.org/stream/1983-04-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_035_1983_Apr#page/n7/mode/2up | title=Editor's Note |volume=5 |issue=4 #35|magazine=Compute!|date=April 1983| access-date=30 October 2013|last=Lock |first=Robert|page=6}}</ref> A typical issue would feature a large-scale program for one of the covered platforms, with smaller programs for one or more platforms filling the remainder of the issue's type-ins.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Cover|url=https://archive.org/details/1985-06-compute-magazine|magazine=Compute! |date=June 1985 |volume=7 |number=6}}</ref>

Editors of the magazine included Robert Lock, Richard Mansfield, Charles Brannon, and Tom R. Halfhill. Noted columnists included [[Jim Butterfield]], educator [[Fred D'Ignazio]] and science fiction author [[Orson Scott Card]].<ref>[http://www.hatrack.com/osc/about-more.shtml Who Is Orson Scott Card?] from Card's official website</ref>

With the May 1988 issue, the magazine was redesigned and the type-in program listings were dropped.<ref name="keizer198805">{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/stream/1988-05-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_096_1988_May#page/n5/mode/2up|title=Editorial License|magazine=Compute!|date=May 1988|access-date=10 November 2013|last=Keizer |first=Gregg | pages=4 | volume=10 | issue=5 #96}}</ref>

In 1990, ''Compute!'' was out of publication for several months when it was sold to General Media, publishers at the time of ''[[Omni (magazine)|Omni]]'' and ''[[Penthouse (magazine)|Penthouse]]'' magazines, in May of that year. General Media changed the title of the magazine to ''COMPUTE'', without the exclamation point, and the cover design was changed to resemble that of ''OMNI'' magazine. [[Ziff Davis]] bought ''Compute!''{{'}}s assets, including its subscriber list, in 1994.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1994-08-08 |title=``Compute!' Magazine Bought By Media Group |url=https://greensboro.com/compute-magazine-bought-by-media-group/article_04fa9384-9082-5869-b69e-528b8f685145.html |access-date=2024-05-11 |website=Greensboro News and Record |language=en}}</ref> General Media had ceased its publication before the sale.{{citation needed|date=March 2010}}

==Former employees==
After ''Compute! Publications'', Robert Lock started another company, Signal Research, which was among the first to publish magazines and books about computer games. Among the biggest magazine published by Signal Research was ''[[Game Players]]'', a magazine devoted to Nintendo, PC, and Sega gaming. He also wrote the book ''The Traditional Potters of Seagrove, N.C.'' in 1994, and started ''Southern Arts Journal'' a quarterly magazine featuring essays, fiction and poetry about all things Southern, in 2005, but ceased publication after only four issues the next year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cliffordgarstang.com/2006/06/ |title=SAJ Calls it Quits |author=Clifford Garstang |date=June 26, 2006| access-date=June 25, 2018}}</ref>

Tom R. Halfhill went on to become a senior editor at ''[[Byte (magazine)|Byte]]''. He is currently a technology analyst at The Linley Group and a senior editor of ''Microprocessor Report''.<ref>{{cite web|last=The Linley Group|title=Analyst bio|url=http://www.linleygroup.com/analyst_detail.php?Tom-R.-Halfhill-6|access-date=14 June 2014}}</ref>

David D. Thornburg continued to work in the field of educational technology and was involved in projects both in the US and Brazil.<ref>{{cite web|last=Thornburg|first=David|title=Current efforts|url=http://www.tcse-k12.org/|access-date=1 December 2011}}</ref>

Charles G. Brannon moved to the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] to work as a Project Manager for [[Epyx]], before moving back to Greensboro and working for his father's insurance wholesaler company Group US as an Information Technology Manager.<ref>{{cite web|last=Group US|title=Meet the Staff|url=http://groupus.com/groupus/employees/guscgb.htm|access-date=24 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325201727/http://groupus.com/groupus/employees/guscgb.htm|archive-date=25 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> He has retired as of 2016.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive|compute-magazine|Compute!}}
* [http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/ ''Compute!'' at The Classic Computer Magazine Archive website]
* [http://www.electronicarchives.org/periodicals/compute/ ''Compute!'' at Electronic Archives website]
* [https://archive.today/20130414081959/http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/magazines/compute/compute.htm ''Compute!'' at DLH's Commodore Archive website]

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Apple II periodicals]]
[[Category:Atari 8-bit computer magazines]]
[[Category:Commodore 8-bit computer magazines]]
[[Category:Defunct computer magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Defunct magazines published in New York City]]
[[Category:Home computer magazines]]
[[Category:Magazines disestablished in 1994]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1979]]
[[Category:Monthly magazines published in the United States]]