Commodore 64 Programmer's Reference Guide
Commodore 64 Programmer's Reference Guide by Commodoreby Commodore
Shares rank 30 of 115 programming books by recommenders
People credit this manual with teaching them hardware and programming basics, and some say it changed their lives. No critics appeared in the discussions.
People credit this manual with teaching them hardware and programming basics, and some say it changed their lives. No critics appeared in the discussions.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not 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: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 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
Taught hardware and programming in depth
“That's the greatest manual I've ever touched. It taught me a huge chunk of what I know about hardware”
Comment from 22 Aug 2026 in “I ran Photoshop on a £0.60 computer chip” “The thing that truly changed my life was the Commodore Reference Guide, with schematic”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “I Owe My Life to the Commodore 64” “I spent pretty much all of the 1988-9 school year (I was 10) inhaling it.”
Comment from 22 Aug 2026 in “I ran Photoshop on a £0.60 computer chip” Life-changing for its readers
“The thing that truly changed my life was the Commodore Reference Guide, with schematic”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “I Owe My Life to the Commodore 64” “it was literally life-changing”
Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982” Read heavily and worn out
“I spent pretty much all of the 1988-9 school year (I was 10) inhaling it.”
Comment from 22 Aug 2026 in “I ran Photoshop on a £0.60 computer chip” “wearing out the spiral binding of the Programmer's Reference Guide”
Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982”
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 |
| Commodore 64 Programmer's Reference Guideby CommodoreThis page | 6 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
All 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“wearing out the spiral binding of the Programmer's Reference Guide”
“it was literally life-changing”
“That's the greatest manual I've ever touched. It taught me a huge chunk of what I know about hardware”
“I spent pretty much all of the 1988-9 school year (I was 10) inhaling it.”
“The thing that truly changed my life was the Commodore Reference Guide, with schematic”
“read a book. That's how we learned things in 1987.”
“got me hooked on computers”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.