Bill Atkinson joining Apple
Etienne Vautherin - 2025/02/07
For this post, I would like to hand over to Bill Atkinson. Here is the very inspiring interview he gave, now 4 years ago, for the Kalma Show.
What Bill tells us is so immense that it is sometimes indescribable. It’s the expression of his inspiration to change the world. This expression is, of course, that of Steve Jobs. This episode is thus a tribute to his vision: to change the world, Steve will plead with a neuroscience student to join him. Bill is not a graduate, Bill has not studied computer science, and yet, it is absolutely him that Steve wants for Apple. Their meeting will ultimately give birth to MacPaint.
MacPaint immediately became an industry standard. Describing its features is like listing the foundation of all graphic software. This is how MacPaint really changed the world.
The most impressive thing is that, to create this masterpiece, Bill Atkinson started from scratch: he didn’t even have a programming language capable of manipulating the concepts he was imagining. This point is the very essence of this article: in our quest for the relevance of a programming language in the era of no-code, we thus move towards the original needs of Bill Atkinson.
There are two concepts that still currently support software production:
- The ability to assemble tested modules. This assembly enables the concrete implementation of the decomposition of a complex problem into simpler elements.
- Propose transparent tools to integrate within the physical constraints of silicon implementation.
Bill therefore turned to Pascal because Apple BASIC was precisely unsuitable:
- No concept of a module.
- A limited identification to two characters for any value storage (variable names).
Short story
If you wish to quickly browse through the content of this story, we have tested Apple Intelligence’s Writing Tools on the text Bill Atkinson has given to folklore.org about joining Apple
Keypoints extracted by Apple Intelligence Writing Tools
Keypoints extracted by ChatGPT through the Writing Tools
In addition to these key points, a ChatGPT o3-mini conversation details the UCSD Pascal context and motivations.
And, to conclude, listen to Bill Atkinson describing his art:
Keypoints extracted by Apple Intelligence Writing Tools
Career Transition: The author transitioned from a PhD program in neuroscience to joining Apple Computer.
Recruitment by Steve Jobs: Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, played a significant role in recruiting the author, emphasizing the opportunity to shape the future of technology.
Decision to Join Apple: The author was persuaded by Steve Jobs’ vision and the opportunity to be at the forefront of technological innovation.
Collaboration with Steve Jobs: Steve Jobs and the author became close friends, collaborating on ideas and designs, with Jobs encouraging and challenging the author’s work.
UCSD Pascal Port: The author successfully ported the UCSD Pascal system to the Apple II, demonstrating the need for a more advanced programming environment.
Lisa Project Contribution: The author advocated for the inclusion of a mouse with the Lisa computer, enabling the development of software relying on a pointing device.
Display Technology: The Apple II used a black background, while the Lisa and Macintosh used a white background for better graphics.
Graphics Performance: The QuickDraw graphics primitives optimized pixel manipulation for bitmap displays, making the graphical user interface practical.
Software Contributions: The author wrote the Lisa Window Manager, Event Manager, Menu Manager, and the MacPaint bitmap painting program.
HyperCard Development: Designed HyperCard, an authoring system enabling non-programmers to create interactive media, inspired by a LSD trip in 1985.
Career at Apple: Worked at Apple for 12 years, contributing to the company’s growth and developing tools for creative empowerment.
General Magic Founding: Co-founded General Magic in 1990 with Marc Porat and Andy Hertzfeld, aiming to invent the personal communicator.
Keypoints extracted by ChatGPT through the Writing Tools
Joining Apple: The author joined Apple Computer on April 27, 1978, a decision that changed their career path from neuroscience to technology and innovation.
Recruitment by Steve Jobs: Steve Jobs personally recruited the author, persuading them with the vision of being ahead of technological trends and the metaphor of “surfing on the front edge of a wave.”
Contribution to Technology: They played a significant role in developing the UCSD Pascal system for the Apple II, which led to involvement in the Lisa project and innovations like the inclusion of a mouse and the use of white backgrounds for graphics.
Key Innovations: They contributed to the development of QuickDraw graphics, the Lisa Window Manager, the pull-down menu concept, and wrote a significant portion of the original Macintosh ROM.
MacPaint and HyperCard: The author developed MacPaint and conceptualized and designed the HyperCard authoring system, which was influential in the early development of user-friendly programming environments.
Career at Apple: Spanned 12 years, during which Apple grew from 30 to 15,000 employees. They eventually left to co-found General Magic.
Gratitude: They express gratitude toward Jef Raskin and Steve Jobs for their support and the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on technology and society.
ChatGPT o3-mini conversation
Give me the very early contribution of Bill Atkinson to Apple, related to Pascal.
Bill Atkinson’s very early contribution to Apple was his work in porting the UCSD Pascal system to the Apple II. Atkinson recognized that Apple BASIC was limited—it didn’t support local variables or provide the structure needed for building complex, modular software. Believing that a high-level language like Pascal would allow developers to build software more robustly, he convinced Steve Jobs to let him demonstrate its benefits. In just a couple of weeks, he delivered a working UCSD Pascal system on the Apple II. This port wasn’t just a technical exercise; it provided a much-needed development environment that Apple used to bootstrap the software for both the Apple Lisa and, later, the Macintosh systems.
This contribution was significant because it helped establish a more professional and modular approach to software development at Apple at a very early stage in the company’s history, setting the stage for the groundbreaking applications and systems that would soon follow.
What was the motivation of porting the UCSD Pascal system to the Apple II?
Bill Atkinson was motivated to port the UCSD Pascal system to the Apple II because he saw a clear need for a more structured and modular programming environment than what was available with Apple BASIC. At the time, Apple BASIC lacked several features crucial for building complex software—most notably, it did not support local variables or provide mechanisms for organizing code into reusable, cumulative modules. Atkinson believed that by using UCSD Pascal, developers could write software in a more disciplined way that allowed for the creation of libraries and modular components, which would greatly facilitate the development of larger, more robust applications. This move not only addressed immediate limitations in the programming environment but also laid the groundwork for bootstrapping the software for later systems like the Apple Lisa and the Macintosh.  Back to short story