In the 1980s, there was a lot of enthusiasm and press surrounding the Logo programming language. Logo and the underlying pedagogy promised a revolution in education using the new personal computer. Unsurprisingly, there were versions of Logo for most personal computers of the era, and, in many cases, multiple versions of Logo for each computer. According to “Antic” (March 1984, pages 28 – 31) LCSI, one of the world’s leading Logo vendors, had 15 contracts to develop Logo in mid-1983.
Source: Antic, March 1984, p 31
“Creative Computing” (December 1984, pages 94 – 106) provides a summary of the various Logo versions available in 1984. A summary of the Apple II versions based on this article follows. Note that there were additional versions of Logo introduced later, most notably The Byte Works 3D Logo and LCSI Logo Writer. Please see my KansasFest 2011 presentation for photographs and discussion.
“Sprite Logo” stands out in this list due to the price. It’s 3 times more expensive ($299 vs. $100 MSRP) than any other version. Over the next few weeks, I’ll explore Sprite Logo, why it’s so expensive, and what’s unique.
| Name | MSRP (USD) in Dec. 1984 | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Logo (from LCSI) | $100 | DOS 3.3 based. Apple adopted and distributed LCSI Logo. Includes excellent documentation, including “Introduction to Programming through Turtle Graphics” by Cynthia Solomon. |
| Apple Logo II (from LCSI) | $100 | This is an updated, ProDOS based, 128KB version of the original Apple Logo. |
| Apple Sprite Logo (from LCSI) | $299 | A variation of Apple Logo with a “sprite board” enabling “multiple dynamic turtle graphics.” This version was unpopular due to the price. |
| Terrapin Logo | $99 ($65 retail) | Based on MIT Logo. Terrapin offered multiple upgraded versions throughout the life of the product and a nice manual. Version 3.0 added 128KB support in 1985. See page 92 of “Creative Computing” (December 1984) for the retail price. |
| Krell Logo | $99 ($73.95 retail) | Based on MIT Logo. Included a poster, introductory “Alice in LogoLand” disk, and minimal documentation. Krell Logo did not receive updates during its lifespan. See page 95 of “Creative Computing” (December 1984) for the retail price. Note that page 95 contradicts page 106 and states the MSRP as $89.95. |