BASIC Computer Games
BASIC Computer Games by David Ahlby David Ahl
Shares rank 13 of 115 programming books by recommenders
People recommend it as a hands-on way to learn programming by typing in and modifying classic BASIC games.
People recommend it as a hands-on way to learn programming by typing in and modifying classic BASIC games.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 50 years
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reusable source for test cases
“One thing you could use for more test cases is the book 101 BASIC Computers Games by David Ahl.”
Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “Show HN: I wrote a BASIC interpreter that boots on UEFI machines” “the games example -Basic Computer Games- made into a repo at GitHub”
Comment from 9 Nov 2025 in “52 Year old data tape could contain Unix history” “clone the Basic Computer Games from”
Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “Ohio prison inmates 'built computers and hid them in ceiling” Learning by typing and modifying games
“I borrowed "BASIC Computer Games" (1978) by David Ahl from the library and typed in several programs”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “College instructor turns to typewriters to curb AI-written work” “I learned a lot from typing and trying to modify the BASIC games in it.”
Comment from 21 Jun 2026 in “David Ahl's Basic Computer Games Ported to C” Foundational for learning programming
“The David Ahl books were foundational for me”
Comment from 1 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: How did you learn to code?” “It set me on a path to programming.”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “1973 implementation of Wordle was published by DEC (2022)”
Other programming books people recommend
The four most recommended other programming books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crafting Interpretersby Robert Nystrom | 60 | 4 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Clean Codeby Robert C. Martin | 31 | 87 | 26% | 9 | — | — |
| The Pragmatic Programmerby Hunt and Thomas | 28 | 1 | 97% | 7 | — | Approved |
| How to Design Programsby Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi | 18 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| BASIC Computer Gamesby David AhlThis page | 9 | 0 | 100% | 5 | 50 yrs3 owners | — |
What people said
8 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“One thing you could use for more test cases is the book 101 BASIC Computers Games by David Ahl.”
“I had to learn what different things actually meant and judge what was important and not.”
“I learned a lot from typing and trying to modify the BASIC games in it.”
“I borrowed "BASIC Computer Games" (1978) by David Ahl from the library and typed in several programs”
“clone the Basic Computer Games from”
“The David Ahl books were foundational for me”
“the games example -Basic Computer Games- made into a repo at GitHub”
“It set me on a path to programming.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.