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Datamation

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</style><table class="infobox hproduct"><caption class="infobox-title fn">Datamation</caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><div class="infobox-caption">February 1998, the final print edition of Datamation magazine</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Categories</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="Computer_magazine" title="Computer magazine">Computer magazine</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Format</th><td class="infobox-data">Online magazine</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Founded</th><td class="infobox-data">1957</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Final issue</th><td class="infobox-data">February 1998 (1998-02) (print)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Company</th><td class="infobox-data">TechnologyAdvice</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Country</th><td class="infobox-data">United States</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Language</th><td class="infobox-data">English</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Website</th><td class="infobox-data"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://datamation.com">datamation.com</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:0011-6963">0011-6963</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Datamation is a <a href="Computer_magazine" title="Computer magazine">computer magazine</a> that was published in print form in the <a href="United_States" title="United States">United States</a> between 1957<a href="#cite_note-CompuDecisions.NYTlist-1">[1]</a> and 1998,<a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a><a href="#cite_note-shutdown_confirmed1998CW-3">[3]</a> and has since continued publication on the web. Datamation was previously owned by <a href="QuinStreet" title="QuinStreet">QuinStreet</a> and acquired by TechnologyAdvice in 2020.<a href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a> Datamation is published as an online magazine at Datamation.com.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History_and_profile">History and profile</h2></div>

Its predecessor started as a trade/engineering magazine called Research & Engineering (1955–1957).<a href="#cite_note-5">[5]</a><a href="#cite_note-CompuDecisions.NYTlist-1">[1]</a> In 1957 it was rebranded to The Magazine of Datamation (from the issue no. 7),<a href="#cite_note-6">[6]</a><a href="#cite_note-7">[7]</a> and in 1959 the name was finally changed to Datamation (from the issue no. 3).<a href="#cite_note-8">[8]</a><a href="#cite_note-9">[note 1]</a><a href="#cite_note-10">[9]</a>

When Datamation as such was first launched in 1957,<a href="#cite_note-CompuDecisions.NYTlist-1">[1]</a> it was not clear there would be a significant market for a computer magazine given how few <a href="Computer" title="Computer">computers</a> there were. The idea for the magazine came from <a href="Donald_Prell" title="Donald Prell">Donald Prell</a> who was <a href="Vice_President" class="mw-redirect" title="Vice President">Vice President</a> of Application Engineering at <a href="Benson-Lehner_Corporation" title="Benson-Lehner Corporation">Benson-Lehner Corporation</a>, a Los Angeles computer input-output company. In 1957, the only place his company could advertise their products was in either <a href="Scientific_American" title="Scientific American">Scientific American</a> or <a href="Business_Week" class="mw-redirect" title="Business Week">Business Week</a>. Prell had discussed the idea with <a href="John_Diebold" title="John Diebold">John Diebold</a> who started "Automation <a href="Data_processing" title="Data processing">Data Processing</a> Newsletter", and that was the inspiration for the name DATAMATION. F.D. Thompson Publishing, Inc., agreed to publish the magazine with its owner, Frank D. Thompson, as the New York City-based publisher, but with its editorial operations in Los Angeles.<a href="#cite_note-11">[10]</a><a href="#cite_note-Trademark_Filing_for_Datamation-12">[11]</a><a href="#cite_note-Biographies-13">[12]</a>

After leaving Benson-Lehner, Prell served as the magazine's technical consultant and later, while based in London, its European editor. Sandy Lanzarotta served as the magazine's first editor,<a href="#cite_note-14">[13]</a> then Harold Bergstein moved from managing editor to editor when Lanzarotta joined <a href="IBM" title="IBM">IBM</a>'s marketing department. Robert B. Forest succeeded Bergstein as editor in 1963 and remained in that role for over a decade.<a href="#cite_note-Trademark_Filing_for_Datamation-12">[11]</a><a href="#cite_note-Biographies-13">[12]</a> The magazine was later acquired by Technical Publications, and subsequently that entity was acquired by <a href="Dun_and_Bradstreet" class="mw-redirect" title="Dun and Bradstreet">Dun and Bradstreet</a>.

In 1970, <a href="The_New_York_Times" title="The New York Times">The New York Times</a> referred to "12-year-old Datamation, the acknowledged leader in the field."<a href="#cite_note-15">[14]</a>

In 1995, after rival CMP Media Inc.'s 1994 launch of its TechWeb network of publications, Datamation worked in partnership with <a href="Bolt_Beranek_and_Newman" class="mw-redirect" title="Bolt Beranek and Newman">Bolt Beranek and Newman</a> (BBN) and launched one of the first online publications, Datamation.com. In 1996, Datamation editors Bill Semich, Michael Lasell and April Blumenstiel, received the first-ever Jesse H. Neal Editorial Achievement Award for an online publication. The Neal Award is the highest award for business journalism in the U.S.

In 1998, when its publisher, <a href="Reed_Business_Information" class="mw-redirect" title="Reed Business Information">Reed Business Information</a> (who had earlier acquired Technical Publications in 1986<a href="#cite_note-16">[15]</a>), terminated print publication of Datamation 41 years after its first issue went to press,<a href="#cite_note-shutdown_confirmed1998CW-3">[3]</a> the online version, Datamation.com, became one of the first online-only magazines. In 2001, Internet.com (<a href="WebMediaBrands" class="mw-redirect" title="WebMediaBrands">WebMediaBrands</a>) acquired the still-profitable Datamation.com online publication. In 2009, Internet.com (and Datamation.com) were acquired by <a href="Quinstreet" class="mw-redirect" title="Quinstreet">Quinstreet</a>, Inc.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Computer_humor">Computer humor</h2></div>

Traditionally, an April issue of Datamation contained a number of spoof articles and humorous stories related to computers.

However, humor was not limited to April. For example, in a spoof Datamation article<a href="#cite_note-17">[16]</a> (December 1973), R. Lawrence Clark suggested that the <a href="GOTO" class="mw-redirect" title="GOTO">GOTO</a> statement

could be replaced by the <a href="COMEFROM" title="COMEFROM">COMEFROM</a> statement and provided some entertaining examples. This was actually implemented in the <a href="INTERCAL_programming_language" class="mw-redirect" title="INTERCAL programming language">INTERCAL programming language</a>, a language designed to make programs as obscure as possible.

<a href="Real_Programmers_Don't_Use_Pascal" title="Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal">Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal</a> was a <a href="Letter_to_the_editor" title="Letter to the editor">letter to the editor</a> of Datamation, volume 29 number 7, July 1983, written by Ed Post, <a href="Tektronix" title="Tektronix">Tektronix</a>, <a href="Wilsonville%2C_Oregon" title="Wilsonville, Oregon">Wilsonville, Oregon</a>, USA.<a href="#cite_note-18">[17]</a>

Some of the <a href="BOFH" class="mw-redirect" title="BOFH">BOFH</a> stories were reprinted in Datamation.

The humor section was resurrected in 1996 by editor in chief Bill Semich with a two-page spread titled "Over the Edge" with material contributed by <a href="Annals_of_Improbable_Research" title="Annals of Improbable Research">Annals of Improbable Research</a> editor <a href="Marc_Abrahams" title="Marc Abrahams">Marc Abrahams</a> and MISinformation editor Chris Miksanek. Semich also commissioned BOFH author <a href="Simon_Travaglia" class="mw-redirect" title="Simon Travaglia">Simon Travaglia</a> to write humor columns for the magazine. Later that year, Miksanek became the sole humor contributor (though in 1998 "Over the Edge" was augmented with an online weblinks companion by Miksanek's <a href="Alter-ego" class="mw-redirect" title="Alter-ego">alter-ego</a> "The Duke of URL"). The column was dropped from the magazine in 2001 when it was acquired by Internet.com.

A collection of "Over the Edge" columns was published in 2008 under the title "Esc: 400 Years of Computer Humor" (<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">

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</style><a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>1434892484</bdi>).

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Notes">Notes</h2></div>

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<li id="cite_note-9"><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a> The Datamation on the cover was exposed starting from 1957; Until the 1959 there were two names inside the magazine (The Magazine … and Research … on bottom of the pages).

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

<li id="cite_note-CompuDecisions.NYTlist-1">^ <a href="#cite_ref-CompuDecisions.NYTlist_1-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-CompuDecisions.NYTlist_1-1">b</a> <a href="#cite_ref-CompuDecisions.NYTlist_1-2">c</a> <cite id="CITEREFN._R._Kleinfield1981" class="citation news cs1">N. R. Kleinfield (August 29, 1981). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/29/business/computing-s-lusty-offspring.html">"Computing's Lusty Offspring"</a>. <a href="The_New_York_Times" title="The New York Times">The New York Times</a>. <q>Thus was Datamation born in October 1967. With a circulation of 145,000, Datamation now ranks as the oldest publication</q></cite>

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<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a> Roy A. Allan <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=FLabRYnGrOcC&pg=SA1-PA14&lpg=SA1-PA14&dq=Datamation+magazine+1957">A History of the Personal Computer: The People and the Technology</a>, 2001, <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-9689108-0-7</bdi>. page 1/14 "A popular data processing magazine called Datamation started in October 1957 as Research and Engineering (The Magazine of Datamation)."

</li>

<li id="cite_note-shutdown_confirmed1998CW-3">^ <a href="#cite_ref-shutdown_confirmed1998CW_3-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-shutdown_confirmed1998CW_3-1">b</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=hmADtY_o5HsC&pg=PT15&lpg=PT15&dq=Datamation+magazine&">Venerable IS Journal Shuts Down</a>, Sharon Machlis // ComputerWorld, page 15, 19 January 1998

</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFStaff" class="citation web cs1">Staff, eWeek. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.eweek.com/innovation/eweek-moves-to-new-publisher-technologyadvice-com/">"eWEEK Moves to New Publisher, TechnologyAdvice.com"</a>. eweek.com. Retrieved May 14, 2021.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a> <cite class="citation book cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/12078986">Research & engineering</a>. Stanford Library.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a> <cite class="citation book cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/12079009">The Magazine of datamation</a>. Stanford Library. 1958.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-7"><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a> <cite class="citation book cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://archive.org/details/sim_datamation_1957-10_3_7">Datamation 1957-10: Vol 3 Iss 7</a>. Reed Business Information. October 1, 1957.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-8"><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a> <cite class="citation book cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/486456">Datamation</a>. Stanford Library. <a href="OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/945019">945019</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-10"><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a> <cite class="citation book cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://archive.org/details/sim_datamation_march-april-1959_5_2">Datamation March-April 1959: Vol 5 Iss 2</a>. Reed Business Information. March 1, 1959.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-11"><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.datamation.com/about/">"Technology News: Latest IT and Tech Industry News"</a>. May 20, 2024.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-Trademark_Filing_for_Datamation-12">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Trademark_Filing_for_Datamation_12-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Trademark_Filing_for_Datamation_12-1">b</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://uspto.report/TM/72079534">"Trademark Filing for Datamation"</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Biographies-13">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Biographies_13-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Biographies_13-1">b</a> <cite id="CITEREFForest1997" class="citation journal cs1">Forest, R. B. (April 1997). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/586075">"Biographies"</a>. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 19 (2): 70–73. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1109%2FMAHC.1997.586075">10.1109/MAHC.1997.586075</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-14"><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.palipost.com/sandy-lanzarotta-78-pr-exec-at-ibm-xerox/">"Sandy Lanzarotta, 78; PR Exec at IBM, Xerox"</a>. Palisadian-Post. September 12, 2007.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-15"><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFPhilip_H._Dougherty1970" class="citation news cs1">Philip H. Dougherty (March 29, 1970). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/29/archives/advertising-publishers-zero-in-on-computer-industry.html">"Advertising"</a>. <a href="The_New_York_Times" title="The New York Times">The New York Times</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-16"><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://apnews.com/article/188ba10361825d9c4e1d4593f6633965">"Dun & Bradstreet to Sell Technical Publishing Concerns"</a>. <a href="Associated_Press" title="Associated Press">Associated Press</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-17"><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180716171336/http://www.fortran.com/fortran/come_from.html">"Comefrom Statement"</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.fortran.com/fortran/come_from.html">the original</a> on July 16, 2018. Retrieved May 16, 2004.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-18"><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/real.programmers.html">"Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal"</a>.</cite>

</li>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.datamation.com">Official website</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/pub_datamation?tab=collection">Archived Datamation magazines</a> on the Internet Archive</li></ul></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

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