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From: sahunt@ubu.UUCP (Stephen Hunt)
Newsgroups: net.books,net.wanted
Subject: Re: Computer Book suggestions?
Message-ID: <337@ubu.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 26-Nov-84 12:36:37 EST
Article-I.D.: ubu.337
Posted: Mon Nov 26 12:36:37 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 30-Nov-84 07:38:48 EST
References: <236@mhuxi.UUCP>
Organization: Computer Science, Warwick University, UK
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[[[[ Foo for the line eater ]]]]

-->Can anyone recommend a book for a teen-ager who has gotten interested in
-->computers, but who is not the greatest student?

Regrettably, no.  After seeing 'n' of the beginner's books on offer, I have
found that they fall into two categories:-

1.	'Learn Basic' type books.  These invariably tackle the subject from
	the wrong angle, or with the wrong emphasis.  One favourite mistake
	is spending scores of pages describing every possible detail of,
	say, the PRINT statement.  This only serves to give the novice the
	impression that things like screen layout are much more important
	than they in fact are.  These books never teach the student how to
	tackle a problem in a sensible way (top-down design, etc).

2.	Books which claim to give a general introduction to computing, using
	a non-BASIC language for the examples.  These usually take a better
	approach to the subject than the Basic ones do, and don't get bogged
	down in irrelvant details so much.  But how many novices have access
	to a computer with a non-BASIC language?

As I see it the market needs a good introduction to programming with the
emphasis on how to approach problems in a sensible way.  The books in
category 1 leave you with the impression that programming means sitting down
at the keyboard and lambing straight into the Gotos.  Unfortunately, we seem
to be stuck with Basic as a beginner's language, simply because all
the home micros are supplied with it as standard; this situation doesn't
need to be made worse by books stressing the wrong aspects of programming.

If anyone wants to contradict all that, I too would be very pleased to know
of a good introductory book.

-- 
--
  Steve Hunt        		... mcvax!ukc!qtlon!flame!ubu!sahunt