devtools

In the late 80’s, my programming team was in search of a decent programmer’s text editor for MS-DOS. At the time, a number of editors seemed to have comparable features. Any missing features could often be added via the embedded macro language that each of these editors sported. What was it that helped to make the decision? The advertisement from American Cybernetics above ( excerpted from the late, great Computer Language magazine ) caught our eye.

When I first began using microcomputers in the late 1970’s, development tools for 8-bit machines were precious and mysterious commodities. Most of these sorts of tools that looked to be useful were very expensive. My usage of most of these tools was driven by budgetary constraints. The Gateway Drug : BASIC All it really took to pique someone’s interest in microcomputers was to show them a simple program such as: