START HERE The magazines

Press, 4 April 1989, Page 35

START HERE The magazines

By

JORDAN DE LEETE

Look in any bookshop and it is obvious that there are a lot of computer magazines. In all shapes and sizes, covering all types of machine and every price range. How many do you read? Which ones should you read?

There are many different types of computer-oriented magazines. Few, other than “Byte,” try to cover any large part of the personal-computer field, never mind the rest of the industry.

First off, there are the games magazines. These commonly relate to just one, or a small group of related, computers, covering the games, mainly reviews and hints, with some programs ready to type in. Incidentally, typing in other people’s programs sounds dull, and it is tedious, but finding the errors, both your own and all too often the original author’s, is a great introduction to programming. Other single-computer literature varies widely in the level of content. Some are little more than vehicles for their advertisers. Others are aimed at beginners, others especially at corporate users. For anyone just starting out with a word processor and a spreadsheet to take on the corporate giants, one of these, such as “PC World,” could be a good ally, as much for the indications of where to go as for the help in getting there. Other single-brand magazines take a more technical approach, such as “PC Tech Journal,” which directs itself to "systems integrators.” The technical

literature is quite up-front about its target audience, and caters for it, so there isn’t a lot of point in complaining if you don’t understand it — buyer beware.

Then there are the block-busters, such as “Mac World” and “PC Magazine,” which try to cover the whole of the field in relation to their brand, from beginners to experienced programmers. These are big publications, with lots of advertisements, which are often just as interesting as the editorial content.

“Byte” is in a class of its own. First published in August, 1975, before there was a mass-market for personal computers, it has tried, with varying success, to cover the whole field, at all levels of expertise. Its level of technical content has varied tremendously over the years, as has the balance between hardware and software material, but it has always been worth looking through in the bookshop — at the least.

A small number (far fewer than there were) of magazines are directed squarely at the experienced programmer.

Computer magazines come and go. Some die with their machines — there were several magazines aimed at the original TRS-80 market — others were never a commercial venture but rather a paying hobby, and people move on.

Choose carefully, and be prepared to grow out of your old favourites and into new ones.