WITH SO MANY PUBLICATIONS BEING WRITTEN FOR THE SPECTRUM WHICH ONE SHOULD YOU LOOK AT FIRST? OUR REVIEW PANEL TAKE A BRIEF LOOK AT TEN OF THE NEW TITELS TO HELP YOU MAKE YOUR CHOICE.

This text is part of a general series of 'Learning To Use...' books which puts the emphasis on the beginner using the computer in work or leisure, rather than becoming a computer theorist.

Beginning the book is a chapter introducing the Spectrum, followed by a section on using the ZX Spectrum. This last chapter tells you in very simple and easy-to follow instructions, how to begin your computing career on the machine. At the end of the chapter some self-test questions are included for the reader to assimilate how much experience has been gained.

Chapter three introduces the reader to some elementary programming skills, with details on how to SAVE programs on cassette and how to use the ZX Printer. Again, self-test questions are provided to help readers gauge their success.

The fourth chapter tackles the subject of graphics, concentrating on the screen and memory, patterns and the use of colour, movement and animation, user definable graphics and sound. Examples are included allowing the reader to illustrate the techniques with some practical programming.

Chapter five includes some of the special features of the ZX Spectrum with particular reference to the internal clock, special locations and how to examine them, and the user port. Three appendices are provided covering further reading, the differences between ZX81 and ZX Spectrum BASIC, and a glossary.

Learning To Use The ZX Spectrum Computer, written by Robin Bradbeer, is published by Gower Publishing Company Ltd. The book has 76 pages and is priced at £4.95.

ISBN 0 566 03481 6

A TOUCH OF CLASS

Home computers, they tell us, are the ideal vehicle for education - but what exactly supports this claim? Sandy Dewhurst, computer studies schoolteacher, sifts through the pages of various literary texts devoted to the subject.

Let's get something straight right from the start. I have never read Mindstorms, that wise book of computer education by Seymour Papert. What's more, I have no regrets. I did take it with me on a 32-hour flight to Sydney a couple of years ago. After wading through the section about his childhood obsession with cogs and gears, quite frankly I decided to opt instead for the in-flight movies. As a classroom teacher, I'm more interested in texts of a less 'celestial' nature.

The first, and possibly most important thing an educational computing text must be is 'reader friendly' (sorry - just my computer humour). If it's a book for children, there needs to be the degree of informality needed to communicate with children on their level rather than the more usual artificial adult-imposed level. This requires a careful blend of both style and vocabulary. If the book is for teachers it needs to be clear and succinct. Busy teachers have little time for the wordy ramblings of computer enthusiasts.

One unfortunate aspect of many texts is that it's not altogether clear who they are for. The situation in computing today is such that the distinction between teacher and student is not as clearly defined as in other subject areas - and this is particularly so in primary schools. In many cases the pre-knowledge of the student is greater than that of the teacher. I don't intend to apologise for the authors of computing texts, but this must lead to confusion on their part. Far too often they counter this situation by simply writing a bland general text, with no real idea (or indication) of who should be reading it. Some books dealing specifically with the Spectrum are included in this category. A typical example of this is the Spectrum publication in the Learning to Use... series. In the publisher's own words, it is for "...potential users, established users, teachers, students and businessmen..." Is there anyone else? I think that just about covers the entire population of the world (except businesswomen!). In fairness to author Robin Bradbeer, I don't think it was ever written specifically for the education market; but it does demonstrate how general many of the books are.

A clearly defined purpose is essential for any text and for some this is more easily done than for others. Two books I looked at simply contained listings of programs - hence providing that clear and very specific purpose. Educational Programs for the Spectrum by Ian Murray and 40 Educational Games for the Spectrum by Vince Apps both provide a wide variety of programs. They also include quite extensive notes on each program, giving detailed program descriptions, explanations of how to play each game, programming hints and even some educational notes! However, their use is limited by their very specific purpose. I've often questioned the validity of books containing nothing other than listings - surely it would be quicker and easier for everyone concerned if the programs were put on cassette and sold as a software compendium. Someone in Century Publishing must have had similar thoughts, as cassette versions of the programs in Ian Murray's book are now available. The problem is, of course, the chances are you don't know this until after you've bought the book!

The listing in Ian Murray's book have obviously been printed, via an interface (see Getting into Print, YS issue 2), on a professional printer. Unfortunately, a ZX Printer has been used to provide the listings in the other book, and several others I've looked at have done the same. The reproduction from such printouts is not up to a satisfactory standard for book publishing. It's a great pity that publishers haven't seen fit to obtain quality printouts of program listings. A little extra money in production would make quite a difference to the end product. In many cases the listings are illegible, and therefore totally useless. This is particularly the case when inverse video characters are used in the listing.

ON TO PROGRAMMING

Another area of specific focus for texts is programming. Most books in this field are supposedly designed with the student in mind. The first thing a text of this kind has to do is not speak down to the reader. Shiva has recently published Programming for REAL Beginners - Stage 1 & 2, which although not specifically saying 'educational text book', certainly implies it through the presentation. The major failing of these two is the fact that they are not machine specific and therefore there's a limit to the level the reader can progress with her/ his own machine. Again, this is a case of trying to keep everyone happy, including the publisher's bank manger.

The presentation has been quite carefully planned - I was going to commend it until I saw the cartoon on page 78 of Stage 2. Pardon my high horse but it's sexist and not at all relevant to the rest of the text. The less obvious one on page 82 of Stage 1 is equally bad. Publishers should not be able to get away with such rubbish, and their use in the classroom should be limited.

Books focusing specifically on programming for children originated in the United States. Although good in their simple step-by-step development of programming skills, they lost a lot through their 'americana' style presentation - what I generally call 'gee whizz books'. Fortunately, they tended to be specific to American machines (Tandy, Apple, etc), so Britain was shielded from them to a large extent.

One final point on programming books - do they have to be in book form at all? One company, EDU-CAL, markets programming workcards, but unfortunately only for the BBC machine. A workcard is much easier to handle at a keyboard than a book, and it might well be worth investigating the possibility for the Spectrum (publishers, take note!).

THE NON-SPECIFICS

So, now let's look at the general educational books, which are neither program nor programming specific. What should they contain? How should they be presented? The short answer to these questions is, I don't honestly know. They all seem to follow a similar pattern, in both content and presentation. But, whether this is because the perfect formula was discovered early on which made an obvious model for everyone to follow, or because it's easier to follow previous published patterns with minor alterations to present a degree of 'individuality', who's to know. I have my own opinion on this matter, but I'll leave it up to you, the consumers, to decide for yourselves.

Whichever of these opinions you believe, it's unfortunate that the result is a lack of diversity in computing books in education. It's even more unfortunate when one considers the wide variety of texts available in other areas of educational publishing. One of the few publishing variants is Usborne, a company that, following on from similarly presented books in other fields, has produced bright, reader-friendly books on several subjects within the computing field. These are packed full of colourful illustrations - something that's all too frequently absent from other books in this field.

One book which didn't impress me at all to begin with was Learning with your Computer by Susan Curran and Ray Curnow (one of the Clear and Simple home computer series). However, subsequent readings have convinced me otherwise. There's a brief section on the background to educational computing and anything of a highly technical nature has been omitted, although not to the detriment of the text. If anything, this proves a positive move which gives the reader an informative but general overview of a complex subject. It's all that anyone, apart from a real enthusiast, would want.

One very important section in this book is the chapter on software selection where again the friendly, yet informative approach has been adopted. One thing though, all the suggestions offered involve obtaining information on programs from other sources - for example magazines and user groups. There's no effort made to advise readers on how to assess software themselves. The 'high priests' syndrome lives on: 'We are the chosen few, we have the knowledge, and we're keeping it to ourselves'!

The one factor that would keep it off a Spectrum user's shopping list is that of recurring problem, namely, that it isn't Spectrum specific. In fact, although it is a general computing text, all the program listings are for the Dragon 32. All right, so they only need minor adaptations to get them working on other machines, but again, what busy teacher has time for this sort of activity?

THE SPECIFICS

The Spectrum is quite a unique machine, so teachers (and students), really require books specific to it, and publishers must realise this. For this reason, I will finish by looking at two recently published books which attempt to fulfil this criterion, both being written by people highly respected in the computing world. The two books are Spectrum in Education by Eric Deeson, and Educational Uses of the ZX Spectrum by Tim Hartnell, Christine Johnson and David Valentine. The former is from Shiva's Friendly Micro series and the latter is the companion volume to Tim Hartnell's other Sinclair computer guide, The ZX Spectrum Explored.

Both titles mirror each other quite closely, even to the point of having some identical chapter titles. The first few chapters of each provide some basic ideas on computers and their educational applications, and these are followed by an introduction to programming. Eric Deeson tends to develop this to a higher degree, although there are two very useful chapters on the use of graphics in Tim & Co's book. In fact, they probably achieve the same results, programming-wise, by developing programs in specific subject areas of the curriculum.

Space is also devoted to the actual use of micros in schools. Eric's book focuses on the theory and historical context of micros in schools, whereas Christine Johnson contributes an enlightening couple of chapters in her book on the use of micros in a much-neglected part of the education system - the infant school. Another useful area in Educational Uses... concerns itself with software evaluations. It's useful because as well as all the previously mentioned sources of information, it actually explains how, without much effort, teachers can evaluate software themselves. So, there's no need to consult a 'high priest' after all!

I've always found a good guide to the quality of a computer book is to decide whether I would have it off my shelf. I say 'off', because books like these need to be used, not left on shelves. Top of my usability list would be Educational Uses of the ZX Spectrum, simply because it is the book I would find most useful as a primary teacher. If I was a high school teacher, however, I might well find the approach in Spectrum in Education more suited to my needs. I think I would also have Educational Programs for the Spectrum on my list, or better still, write off for cassette versions of all the programs.

Apart from these, there is very little that I could honestly recommend. It looks like education is the loser once again. I really look forward to the time when educational computing authors break free from their chains and follow the lead of some of their counterparts in the software field.

By the way, do you know what CAF is? it's worth buying Eric Deeson's book just to find out. His views on the future are very interesting. Read them. You may never view computers (or classrooms!) in the same light again.

MORE INFORMATION IN GENERAL BOOKS

This month John Gilbert looks away from the specific Sinclair publications.

Many general computer books, not written specifically for Sinclair machines, are so often useful to Sinclair users or other prospective computer owners. The Personal Computer Guide, by Tim Hartnell, provides information on most of the computers available. The guide is split into several sections, with a buyers' guide as an appendix to the computer reviews section.

The computer reviews contain short sections on the general appearance of each computer, approximate price, best and worst features. Hartnell draws some definite conclusions on the performance of each machine.

The guide includes a chapter on the history of computing from the days of Babbage to the present microcomputer boom. There is also a section on computer programming and how to use Basic.

One novel feature is that it has advertisements for a variety of machines, software and add-ons. The book also includes a list of clubs and local organisations which the computer owner can join.

The Personal Computer Guide contains everything a first-time buyer or beginner to computing might need. It is excellent value at £5.95 and can be obtained from Virgin Books.

Computing is Easy, by David Parker and Martin Hann, is an easy introduction to computing. There are many simple programs ready to be typed-in and it is ideal for the young user. A series of cartoons illustrates the book. They explain the concepts and, on occasions, are very amusing.

It has a chapter of debugging exercises, so that the beginner can become accustomed to the types of problem which occur during programming.

At the end of the book various topics are suggested to the programmer, such as currency conversion and composing tunes. The authors leave the programming of those tasks to the user. It is published by Newnes Technical Books and costs £4.95.

The Working Spectrum, by David Lawrence, is the handiest book about the Sinclair computer to appear so far. It charts the design of a series of routines, such as a filing system, an accounting program, a banking program and a graphic designer.

Each of the programs includes a discussion on how it works and the various techniques used, such as sorting and searching in the filing program. Each of the routines has been designed so that they can be used separately or in your own programs.

The book covers business uses, education and, of course, games. On the cover it indicates that it is volume one and I look forward to seeing the rest of the series. The Working Spectrum costs £5.95 and is published by Sunshine Books.

The Spectrum Pocket Book is another new book which can be recommended. It is more general than the previous book in the series, which was for the ZX-81, and includes a large section on machine code, which shows, among other things, how to print on to the screen using a machine code program and the Spectrum ROM.

There is also a full assembler program, disassembler and machine code monitor. It provides much useful information on the internal workings of the machine.

It is ideal both for first-time users and a user who has had some previous experience. It costs £4.95 and can be obtained from Phipps Associates.

Andrew Hewson has launched into the Spectrum market with 20 Best Programs for the ZX Spectrum. The book includes mathematical, graphics and games programs, with information on how they work and how they were written.

It is excellent value at £5.95 and illustrates many programming techniques, including data filing, sorting and binary search.

Easy Programming for the ZX Spectrum, by Ian Stewart and Robin Jones, is another introductory text which can be recommended for the beginner. In particular, there are several good chapters on graphics which show how to paint outlined shapes with colour.

The authors explain how to debug programs and make them more efficient, an important but little-stressed area in most books about Sinclair machines. It is from Shiva Publishing and costs £5.95.

The Spectrum Book of Games, by Mike James, S M Gee and Kay Ewbank, is ideal for all those who just want to enjoy the machine by playing games. It contains game listings for Space Invaders, squash rackets and even nine-hole golf. The programs are all explained but this kind of book is nothing new. Most of the games are based around Space Invaders, Breakout and Find the Treasure.

It is a good start for a beginner who wants to write or just type-in games programs. It is published by Granada Publishing. PO Box 9, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL2 2NF and costs £5.95.

Robin Bradbeer edited the Spectrum handbook and can be regarded as an expert on the machine. His new book, Learning to use the ZX Spectrum Computer, is an easy introduction to Spectrum Basic and some of the simple ways in which the computer can be used.

It provides a fine foundation for beginners but users who have some computing knowledge already will find little of interest in it. The book includes two appendices. The first lists additional reading material in the form of books and magazines and the second details the differences between Spectrum and ZX-81 Basic. It is available from Gower Publishing Co Ltd, Gower House, Croft Road, Aldershot, Hampshire GU11 3HR and costs £4.95.