ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Commodore 64 demos

Okay, kiddo, so do you know what a computer is? It's that machine you have at home or school that you use to play games or do homework. Well, a long time ago, around the 1980s, there was a computer called the Commodore 64.

Now, imagine that this computer is like a toybox filled with lots of different things you can play with. And some people thought it would be really cool to create something called a demo, which is like a small performance that shows just how creative and skilled they are with the toybox.

So they would use the computer to create these demos that might have fancy graphics, cool sound effects, or even some simple animations. And they would share these demos with each other to see who could make the most amazing one.

It's kind of like how you might show your friends a Lego tower you built or a drawing you made. You want to impress them with what you can do, right? Well, these demo makers felt the same way.

And even though the Commodore 64 might not look as fancy as your computer now, these demos were still impressive for their time. Some of them could do things that the Commodore 64 wasn't even really meant to do, like create 3D graphics or play music with multiple instruments.

So, to sum up: Commodore 64 demos were like little performances that showed off the creativity and skills of computer programmers. They were sort of like digital arts and crafts that people shared with each other to be impressed and inspired.