Cars

This simple application tracks recurring expenses for up to three vehicles. The flyer admits that "CARS is an example of a program that could have been much nicer if it was written for a 16K system," (instead of 8K) which is absolutely true. I've looked over the listing, and while there are a few opportunities to save memory, I don't think you can squeeze out enough RAM to make this program user-friendly. The UX is subpar, even for 1979: the prompts are sparse, validation is weak, and options are limited. In these days of gigabytes of RAM, it's easy to forget that the memory limitations of these early home computers were really restrictive. While it's true that the programmer could have done a lot with an extra 8K of RAM, a significant portion of PET users would not have been able to run a larger program. CURSOR subscribers had been asking for more practical programs to be included on the tapes, but I'm not sure that programs like CARS were good value for their money.