ANTIC Interview 466 - John Victor, Program Design Inc.

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ANTIC Interview 466 - John Victor, Program Design Inc.

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John Victor, Program Design Inc. John Victor was founder and president of Program Design Inc., one of the earliest publishers of educational software. Based in Greenwich CT, PDI created dozens of educational software titles and a few not-so-educational games for Atari 8-bit, Commodore PET and 64, TRS-80, Apple II, and Texas Instruments computers. Software marketed by PDI included Moonbase IO, Sammy the Sea Serpent, and Preparing for the SAT (which was probably the first SAT prep software for any home computer). PDI also created "An Invitation to Programming", the casette-based BASIC programming primer sold by Atari. That may have been the first "how to program" tutorial for a home computer. Here's what ANALOG Computing's September 1981 issue had to say — Program Design, Inc., better known as PDI, has been involved in supporting the Atari computers since even before its release. Most Atari computer owners know of this company through the Invitation to Programming series, which was conceived and executed entirely by PDI. Located in southern Connecticut, PDI has been actively producing educational software for several small computer systems, concentrating on the Atari in particular. The majority of PDI's offerings are oriented towards children, with the age bracket ranging from 3 years old to high school level. All of the programs are on cassette format only, frequently taking advantage of the voice track capability. One of the newer programs, "Sammy the Sea Serpent", is an interactive storybook type game where the child participates in the story. While graphics are displayed on the screen, a voice (a female actress' voice was used in this case) narrates the story calling upon the child to use a joystick from time to time to move 'Sammy' about the screen. ... Other tapes drill students on vocabulary and number problems, with some aimed at preparing high school students for the SAT tests. For adults, Astro-Quotes and Mini-Crossword Puzzle can be an interesting challenge (Astro-Quotes, our particular favorite)... Other titles published by PDI included Bowling, Captivity, various word search programs, Code Breaker, Let's Spell, Cash Register, Preschool IQ Builder, Reading Comprehension — the list goes on. This interview took place on October 4, 2026.

Video version of this interview

1984 Antic magazine profile of John Victor

ANALOG Computing "In the Spotlight"

PDI programs at AtariMania

Programs co-credited to John

An Invitation to Programming

Moonbase IO game audio

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