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<title>Practical Computing</title>

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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><i>Practical Computing</i></span>

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</style><table class="infobox hproduct"><caption class="infobox-title fn"><i>Practical Computing</i></caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><div class="infobox-caption">Practical Computing, November 1979</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Publisher</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="IPC_Media" class="mw-redirect" title="IPC Media">IPC</a> Electrical Electronic Press Ltd</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">First issue</th><td class="infobox-data">August 1978</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Final issue</th><td class="infobox-data">1989</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Country</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="United_Kingdom" title="United Kingdom">United Kingdom</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Based in</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="Sutton%2C_Surrey" class="mw-redirect" title="Sutton, Surrey">Sutton, Surrey</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

<p><i><b>Practical Computing</b></i> was a <a href="United_Kingdom" title="United Kingdom">UK</a> <a href="Computer_magazine" title="Computer magazine">computer magazine</a> published <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monthly" class="extiw external" title="wiktionary:monthly">monthly</a>. The magazine was <a href="Publisher" class="mw-redirect" title="Publisher">published</a> by <a href="IPC_Media" class="mw-redirect" title="IPC Media">IPC</a> Electrical Electronic Press Ltd.<sup id="cite_ref-inar_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-inar-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The headquarters was in <a href="Sutton%2C_Surrey" class="mw-redirect" title="Sutton, Surrey">Sutton, Surrey</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-inar_1-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-inar-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The first edition was released in August 1978 as a special computer show edition, and the second issue was October 1978. The magazine carried on to 1987 when it merged with <i>Business Computing</i>. In September 1989, it was renamed <i>Management Computing</i>.

</p><p>It provided in-depth <a href="Review" title="Review">reviews</a> and previews of the latest <a href="Computer_hardware" title="Computer hardware">hardware</a> and <a href="Software" title="Software">software</a> for the <a href="Information_technology" title="Information technology">information technology</a> enthusiasts and professionals, initially providing a mix of articles aimed at hobbyists and at small business people, later focusing its attention increasingly exclusively on the business and professional market.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Development_and_evolution">Development and evolution</h2></div>

<p>The magazine followed the trends of the microcomputer industry at the time. Initially it covered a broad range of systems including <a href="Commodore_PET" title="Commodore PET">Commodore PETs</a> and the <a href="TRS-80" title="TRS-80">Tandy TRS-80</a> as well as <a href="Single-board_computer" title="Single-board computer">single-board computers</a> such as the <a href="Compukit_UK101" title="Compukit UK101">UK101</a> and <a href="Nascom" title="Nascom">Nascom 2</a>. Later in its life it focussed more on business computers such as the <a href="Sirius_Systems_Technology#Victor_9000_/_Sirius_1" title="Sirius Systems Technology">ACT Sirius 1</a> and the <a href="IBM_PC" class="mw-redirect" title="IBM PC">IBM PC</a>. Towards the end of its life, reflecting their dominance in the small computing marketplace, it covered the IBM PC and compatibles almost exclusively, with the occasional <a href="Apple_Mac" class="mw-redirect" title="Apple Mac">Apple Mac</a> or small <a href="Workstation" title="Workstation">UNIX workstation</a> piece.

</p><p>The editors were:

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<ul><li>1978 — Dennis Jarrett (main magazine), Nick Hampshire (Computabits)</li>

<li>1979-1983—Peter Laurie</li>

<li>1984 — <a href="Jack_Schofield_(journalist)" title="Jack Schofield (journalist)">Jack Schofield</a></li></ul>

<p>The initial publisher in 1978 was Wim Hoeksma, who died in 1981. Chris Hipwell was its publisher in the early 1980s. Tom Maloney was advertising manager.

</p><p>The cover price in 1978 was 50p; in June 1980 it rose to 60p, June 1981 80p, 1984 85p and 1985 £1.

</p><p><a href="Your_Computer_(British_magazine)" title="Your Computer (British magazine)"><i>Your Computer</i></a> was a spin-off from <i>Practical Computing</i>.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Concept_and_design">Concept and design</h2></div>

<ul><li>The coverart was initially hand-drawn, later it went for occasional (but humorous) photographs, then finally a mix of photos and geometric graphic design.</li>

<li>From October 1978 to October 1979 the magazine serialised the book <i>Illustrating BASIC</i> by Donald Alcock. This book was unusually written by hand rather than typeset, and featured little insects to show common programming errors or bugs.</li>

<li>When it was more of a hobbyist magazine, Practical Computing published fiction—usually stories with a computing or science fiction slant. A noted series was Richard Forsyth's <i>Son of Hexadecimal Kid</i>,<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> which ran from September 1980 to December 1981.</li>

<li>The magazine underwent two redesigns in its history, in 1982 and 1985. In 1985 the title font changed, losing its trademark 'mu' symbol, and the subtitle 'for business and professional micro users' appeared.</li></ul>

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

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</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/PracticalComputing1983February/page/n3/mode/2up">"textsPractical Computing 1983 February"</a>. <i>Internet Archive</i>. February 1983<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">16 June</span> 2020</span>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://vintagecomputers.sdfeu.org/mags/praccomp/stories/">"1980s Vintage Computers - Practical Computing Stories"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2021-10-11</span></span>.</cite></span>

</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://vintagecomputers.sdfeu.org/mags/praccomp/index.htm">1980s Vintage Computers — Practical Computing</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://vintagecomputers.sdfeu.org/mags/praccomp/stories/index.htm">Practical Computing magazine - Stories</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/sec/1403/Practical-Computing/">Computing History - Practical Computing</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.davidviner.com/mags.php">David Viner — UK Computer Magazines</a></li>

<li><a href="https://archive.org/details/practicalcomputing" class="extiw external" title="iarchive:practicalcomputing">Archived Practical Computing magazines</a> on the <a href="Internet_Archive" title="Internet Archive">Internet Archive</a></li></ul></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

This article is issued from <a class="external text" title="Last edited on 2024-07-26" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?title=Practical_Computing&oldid=1236767133">Wikipedia</a>. The text is available under <a class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0</a> unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

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