This folder contains the programs found in the People's Computer Company magazines. Only complete programs are included, short example code and snippets, like those in the Programmer's Toolbox columns, are not included.
Most of the programs that appeared in PCC, especially in earlier editions, were in the HP 2100 dialect. These can be run using RetroBASIC. There are a small number in various DEC dialects, mostly BASIC-8, which also run in RetroBASIC. Two were for the Datapoint 2200, which is so non-standard that nothing will run it. There is also one SNOBOL program and several in PILOT. The few assembly programs have not been included.
The programs are copied as close to their original format as possible, including odd whitespace and the use of square brackets for arrays. There are some things that will look like whitespace typos, but these are in the original code. The print quality of the magazine was highly variable, which may have introduced subtle bugs. This is further confused by the printer font which used a bar across the O instead of 0 as is common today, which then switched that after a couple of issues. There are 1's that look like both L and I, and many issues related to the low quality printing of the newsletter itself.
The programs are organized into subfolders named for the volume and issue they appeared in. The issue list below is modified from one made by Bob Albrecht, The Dragon himself. The original list contained only the games, this has been expanded with non-game programs as well. PCC would often split articles across one or more issues, describing the game in one issue and then providing the listing in another, or vice versa. Those articles that only described the games and do not include source code have been removed from the following list. The original list can be found at The PCC Games List Project.
V1N1 October 1972
- p. 07 random - random numbers in BASIC
- p. 08 number - a number guessing game
- p. 10 strings - demonstrates HP strings
- p. 11 substrings - demonstrates HP substring slicing
- p. 11 letter - number adapted to use strings instead of numbers
V1N2 December 1972
- p. 03 stars - number adapted to print stars for scoring
- p. 08 laffriot - demonstrates FOR/NEXT loops with goto
- p. 15 overtones - prints a list of musical overtones
- p. 16 scales - prints the frequencies for any musical scale
- p. 16 harmonics - prints harmonics for two tones
- p. 18 bagels - mastermind type number guessing game
V1N3 February 1973
- p. 09 chomp - take bites of a cookie, last bite is the loser
- p. 11 stacks - demonstrates the use of computer stacks
- p. 15 pythag - pythagorian scales - part of the music series
V1N4 April 1973
- p. 03 mugwump - find the mugwump hiding in a grid
- p. 06 tempered - produces a tempered scale - part of the music series
- p. 07 seven tone - prints a list of seven tone scales
- p. 11 go - simple word game in PILOT
- p. 11 rooms - hide and seek game in PILOT
- p. 14 pilot1 ...
- p. 15 ... and pilot2 - 2-part PILOT interpreter in HP BASIC
- p. 22 hurkle - version of mugwump using direction instead of distance
V1N5 May 1973
- p. 05 reverse - reverse a list of numbers
- p. 19 decstars - DEC version of program in V1N2
- p. 22 order - sorts a list of random numbers
V2N1 September 1973
- p. 07 taxman - math game factoring numbers - instructions in next issue - p. 07
- p. 16 image and flower - simple character graphics, flower is unreadable
V2N2 November 1973
- p. 17 sunsign - prints unique patterns based on your name and sun sign
V2N3 January 1974
No programs in this issue. - p. 21 has some short snippets of code from caves.
V2N4 March 1974
No programs in this issue.
V2N5 May 1974
- p. 08 mandala - draws character based mandalas
- p. 10 button - try to guess who is holding the button
- p. 15 abase - number guessing game
V2N6 July 1974
- p. 8 haiku - makes random haiku poems, in Datapoint 2200 dialect
- p. 19 poetry - in SNOBOL
- p. 27 paintbrush - randomly prints a chosen character on a printer to make a larger image, Datapoint
- p. 27 landscape - draws a simple landscape, Datapoint
V3N1 September 1974
No new programs, but starting with this issue they began re-printing older games. These contain modifications, relatively minor in many cases and often limited to renumbering and REM statements, but enough to justify putting the new versions here. Later issues have no changes at all and those are not duplicated.
- p. 24 number - from V1N1
- p. 24 bagels - from V1N2
- p. 24 letter - from V1N2
- p. 24 trap - from V1N3, but that was only the description
- p. 24 stars - from V1N2
- p. 25 snark - from V2N5, but that was only the description
- p. 25 hurkle - from V1N4
- p. 25 mugwump - from V1N4
V3N2 November 1974
- p. 7 biosin - prints biorhythm charts (note sp and ws issues in original text)
- p. 13 bulls - bulls and cleots, a version of Bulls and Cows (uses lower case)
- p. 25 reverse - from V1N5, no changes, not duplicated
- p. 25 chomp - from V1N3, no changes, not duplicated
- p. 25 beyond - updated bagels
V3N3 January 1975
- p. 18 bicycle - calculates bicycle speeds based on gear ratios
- p. 24 wumpus - a greatly modified version of mugwump
V3N4 March 1975
- p. 16 flipper - demonstrates how the RND function works ...
- p. 17 grinder - ... more on RND ...
- p. 17 largest - ... and even more
- p. 23 name - draws a mandala based on your name, in BASIC-PLUS dialect on the PDP-11
- p. 24 biosin - from V3N2, no changes, not duplicated
V3N5 May 1975
- p. 19 proportion - more programs demonstrating the RND function
V4N1 July 1975
- p. 10 tinysin - "crunched" version of biosin for the PDP-8 based EduSystem 20
V4N2 September 1975
- p. 06 kingdom - hammurabi type game
- p. 10 chomp - identical to v1n3, not duplicated
- p. 10 chomp - in 8008 assembler for the Mark-8, not copied
- p. 11 witchy - name guessing game, PDP-8 dialect
- p. 20 jotto - word guessing game, demonstration of Altair BASIC
- p. 21 encrypt - demonstrates RND in Altair
- p. 22 link - demonstrates how to link programs together in Altair BASIC
- p. 24 life - in 8080 assembler for the Altair, not copied
V4N3 November 1975
- p .04 num1 - version of number in HP BASIC
- p. 05 num2 - demonstrates the use of the ON statement to simplify the code
- p. 05 num3edu - version of num2 for PDP-8 based EduSystem 20
- p. 05 num3alt - version of num2 for Altair BASIC (Microsoft)
- p. 05 num4 - another version for Altair
- p. 06 number - in 8080 assembler for the Altair, not copied
- p. 11 squares - prints a list of squares and cubes in Tiny BASIC, this dialect uses colon for equals and ampersand for plus, due to it being written for BAUDOT
- p. 11 factor - another Tiny BASIC program, which factors a number
- p. 12 corrections for Tiny BASIC in 8080 assembler for the Altair, not copied
V4N4 January 1976
- p. 08 diddle - 8080 assembler for the Altair, not copied
- p. 17 sttr1 - the original Star Trek in HP BASIC
- p. 20 motie - Hare and Hounds set in a sci-fi setting, Dartmouth BASIC
- p. 22 rescue - rescue a stranded starship, Dartmouth BASIC
- p. 24 num4 - explanation of the num4 code from V4N3, not duplicated
V4N5 March-April 1976
- p. 08 dodgem - mini chinese checkers, Dartmouth BASIC
- p. 14 square - take turns moving on a board and try to make a square, Dartmouth BASIC
V4N6 May 1976
- p. 16 demo - another factoring program, designed to be hard to read
- p. 16 factors - same program, but much easier to read, Dartmouth BASIC
- p. 17 pounce - cat jumps over a mouse, Dartmouth BASIC
- p. 20 stacks - from V1N3, not duplicated
V5N1 July 1976
- p. 6 overtones - generates a list of overtone frequencies
- p. 7 scales - generates the frequencies for any musical scale
- p. 7 harmonics - lists the harmonics for a series of tones
- p. 8 melody - generates a random melody
- p. 21 sinners - player attempts to avoid capture, Dartmouth BASIC
- p. 23 tinytrek - trek for the 8K Altair, Tiny BASIC
- p. 31 musical number guessing game - Altair assembler, not copied
- p. 36 order - from V1N5, not duplicated
V5N2 September 1976
- p. 16 planets - go on a tour of the planets, Dartmouth BASIC
- p. 18 journey - build a custom earth layer by layer, SDS BASIC
- p. 31 hats - guess the equation - unknown dialect, possibly SUPER-BASIC
- p. 08 story - a madlibs type story creator, RSTS BASIC
- p. 09 snake - hangman type game, RSTS BASIC
- p. 16 frogs - Dartmouth BASIC
- p. 28 tempered - from V1N4, not duplicated
- p. 29 seventone - from V1N4, not duplicated
- p. 37 basejump - number guessing game
- p. 43 hats and journey reprinted from V5N2, not duplicated
- p. 17 reverse - reprinted from V1N5, not duplicated
- p. 22 age - converts age in years to minutes, example of Tiny PILOT
- p. 26 mastermind - a Game of Logic by Jesse Heines & Gay Rosser. BASIC listing and sample run.
V5N5 March-April 1977
Last issue as PCC newspaper, it becomes the "People's Computers" magazine after this point.
- p. 3 goldilocks - story game in PILOT
- p. 29 multiply - sample math drill program in Tiny BASIC
- p. 29 mathdrill - another Tiny BASIC math program
- p. 35 yesno - number guessing with comparison symbols
- p. 38 zot - similar to cookie