David H. Ahl (born 1939) is the founder of Creative Computing magazine. He is also the author of many how-to books, including BASIC Computer Games, the first million-selling computer book.[1]
After earning degrees in electrical engineering and business administration, while finishing up his Ph.D. in educational psychology, Digital Equipment Corporation hired Ahl as a marketing consultant in 1969, to develop its educational products line. He edited EDU, DEC's newsletter on educational uses of computers, that regularly published instructions for playing computer games on minicomputers. During the 1973 recession, DEC cut back on educational product development and Ahl was fired. He was rehired into a DEC division dedicated to developing new hardware, and his group became caught up in building a computer that was smaller than any yet built, intending to bring the new product into new markets such as schools. Ahl talked DEC into publishing a book he had put together, BASIC Computer Games. Viewing the computer as an individual educational tool, games seemed a natural part of the package. The new computer was built into a DEC terminal no larger than a TV set. Ahl presented his plan for marketing personal computers at a meeting of DEC's Operations Committee. He argued that children learning about computers should be able to get their hands on the real machines, not just terminals connected to a time-sharing system. As Ahl later recalled, the engineers seemed interested but the board was not enthusiastic. Frustrated, Ahl left DEC in 1974, the same year he started Creative Computing.[2]
David came out of retirement in 2010 to help re-publish his classic programming book for Microsoft Small Basic, so a whole new generation of kids could learn how to program computers the old fashion way, one line at a time.[3]