Editor-in-Chief David H. Ahl First issue October 1974 (1974-10) Company Ziff-Davis | Founder David H. Ahl Final issue October 1985 (1985-10) Country United States | |
Creative Computing was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until October 1985, the magazine covered the whole spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format than the rather technically oriented BYTE. Creative Computing also published software on cassette tape and floppy disk for the popular computer systems of the time.
History
The magazine was founded by David H. Ahl, who sold it to Ziff-Davis in the early 1980s, but remained as editor-in-chief. Featured writers included Robert Swirsky, David Lubar, and John J. Anderson. The magazine regularly included BASIC source code for utility programs and games, which users could manually enter into their home computers. Ted Nelson, known for the invention of hypertext, was briefly the editor. The April 1980 issue of Creative Computing contained parodies of the major computer magazines of the time.
Ahl published three volumes of The Best of Creative Computing Magazine (Creative Computing Press) in 1976, 1977, and 1980, respectively. The cover of volume 2 was illustrated by famed underground cartoonist Gilbert Shelton.
At the end of its run, Creative Computing was attempting to refocus on business computing, but was not successful at this and ultimately ceased publication in October 1985.