PROBING THE PUZZLES IN THE BOOKCASE

John Gilbert investigates some of the latest computer and programming publications.

If you have recovered from the excitement of a computer for a Christmas present and feel you have exploited it to the full, you may like to solve a crime of two using it.

Input an Investigation, by Lois and Floyd McCoy, provides a series of classic mysteries featuring those American computer whizz-kids, the Bytes Brothers, pictured below.

Those brain boxes work their way through five mysteries and always get the correct solution using their home computer called Nibble.

As with any good detective story all the clues for the solution have been incorporated in the plot. The computer programs used to solve the crimes are also included, along with a full explanation of their structure and creation.

The book is for children but adults will be equally enthralled. It provides excellent entertainment and value for money. The good news is that the authors are writing a series of these entertaining books and the second, Program a Problem, is on the way. Input an Investigation can be obtained from Fontana Armada originals for £1.25.

Continuing with the entertainment theme, Pan Books, in association with Personal Computer News, has produced a hook of Micro Puzzles. Most of the questions set in the book can be solved using your computer.

Micro Puzzles is split into three sections, each of which has a different type of conundrum. The first section is made up of three prize problems. They are very complex and if you can solve all three you can enter a competition to win an ACT Apricot computer.

The next section contains some quickies which could be solved without the aid of a computer. Most of the puzzles require logical thought but some are included for a joke.

The final section is called Micro-puzzles and includes some very tough quizzes. You will need your microcomputer for most of them, although the main problem will he trying to find a program to produce the solutions.

Much thought has gone into the production of Micro Puzzles and the result is a challenge to your ability to solve problems in programs. The book costs £2.95.

A mixture of congratulations and criticism goes to Penguin for its publication of The Penguin Computing Book, by Susan Curran and Ray Curnow.

Congratulations are due because the company has managed to publish a book which contains a step-by-step guide to computers and electronics. The criticism is that there is nothing new in the format, although the authors have tried to provide a simple and concise explanation of almost everything relating to digital electronics, analogue electronics and computers.

Reading the book it appears that the authors have tried to cram too much information into a small space. Any difficulty in following arguments will not be because of any complexity in the text but because so much information is covered in a few pages.

The structure of the book suggests that it should be read from cover to cover, like War and Peace, but it serves better as a handbook to be dipped into when necessary. The index is just adequate for such a purpose. The glossary and bibliography are also useful. The book costs £5.95.

On a slightly simpler level, Using Your Home Computer by Garth Davies provides a series of software projects for the owner of any microcomputer. Only brief details of the example protects are given, there are no Basic programs to type-in, and the computer owner is left to do the difficult research.

That may sound like hard work but the author is trying to make the reader think about writing software. Part of the book explains system design and provides examples of computer applications. It shows how to work through a protect, from the initial ideas to the rough design and, finally, the coding.

The sample projects include an address book, diary and family tree. All of them involve producing databases with similar structures and the author talks in some detail about the techniques which can be used.

It is a delight to see such a book on the market. It costs £3.50 and can be obtained from Macmillan Press.

One for the beginner is Machine Code for Beginners, from Usbourne Books. The title may deter you and you may think it is just another machine code book but it is the easiest book on the subject on the market. Using it, a child at junior school could learn the basic techniques of both Z-80 and 6502 programming. The way the subject is tackled is nothing short of brilliant. That both major types of microchip are covered is an extra bonus.

The cartoon characters, such as robots and bugs, which are included teach machine code in a subtle manner. It is possible to read the book as a comic strip, taking little account of the main text and still derive a knowledge of assembly and machine language. It is reasonably priced at £1.99.

Still staying with children but moving into secondary education, Shiva has produced Spectrum in Education, by Eric Deeson. The book is part of its friendly micro series and endeavours to show how a computer can be programmed and for what it can be used.

The structure of the book shows that Deeson is a teacher. It has been carefully produced and structured in such a manner that the reader is unlikely to lose has way reading through the sections on general usage to drawing bar charts, discussing computer-aided design and producting high-resolution graphics. It costs £6.50.

Armada, Fontana Paper-backs, 8 Grafton Street, London, W1X 3LA.

Pan Books Ltd, Hamilton Close, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire.

Penguin Books Ltd, 536 Kings Road, London SW10 0UH.

Macmillan Press, 4 Little Essex Street, London WC2R 3LF.

Usbourne Publishing Ltd, 20 Garrick Street, London WC2E 9BJ.

Shiva Publishing, 4 Church Lane, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 5RQ.

I wish every book on machine code that I have ever read had only 50 pages. That is the number in L. Watts' and M. Wharton's "Machine Code for Beginners" another of the Usborne computer book series. Too often those others have gone at length about Hex numbers and assembly language and registers and addresses. This book mentions all of these things too; but the discussions of each are more abridged and that is perhaps why it doesn't work as well as the others in the series. Machine code by its nature may require more patient examination and a more thoughtful text. Maybe those other machine code books were lengthier for good reason.

Each of the other two books I have looked at in the series have dealt with topics of general interest, their subjects - the microchip and computer graphics - required a descriptive text not specific analyses therefore the picture book approach was ideal. Machine code however is of such complexity that any discussions handled as above falls far short of an adequate mark. Machine code is for doing and the level of discussion required to teach someone how to do something is far greater than that required to merely describe a subject. This I feel has been overlooked. I should doubt if a text that amounts to a mere description of machine code is sufficient.

The book moves in easy stages through the principles of machine code, showing how to write simple programs - such as adding two numbers - to how to load and run a machine code programme. Both the Z80 and the 6502 processors are catered for. The analogies used to describe the memory supported by the clever illustrations that are the trademark of the series are perhaps the most easily understood I have come across. The sections on PEEKing and POKEing, translating the programs, carry flags, jumping and branching are accurate and are essential to any discussion of this topic. I feel that they are just too concise to effectively explain its complexities.

A study of machine code requires more than clever illustrations. Successful books have dallied with lengthy descriptions of details, giving explanations to account for their occurrence and reinforced the discussions with examples. "Machine Code for Beginners" may be a fun book to read, its colourful pages may help to fill in some background, but it does not have the content of a successful Machine Code reader.

"Machine Code for Beginners" is written by L. Watts and M. Wharton.

ISBN 0 86020 735 8.

BOOKS

Each new development in the computer world arrives with, and is often preceded by, an avalanche of hard copy. There are, for instance, more books devoted to the QL than there are QL users to read them. John Gilbert, occassionally guilty of contributing to this abundance of print, digs deep into the 1984 book mountain and discovers some literary gems.

The year 1984 shaped the computer book market and gave some of the younger companies, such as Melbourne House and Interface, a maturity which is seldom seen outside the world of french publishing. That was due to a maturing of the market. Prices went down, the quality was higher than ever before and writers gave away more secrets about computers than ever before.

The year 1984 shaped the computer book market and gave some of the younger companies, such as Melbourne House and Interface, a maturity which is seldom seen outside the world of french publishing. That was due to a maturing of the market. Prices went down, the quality was higher than ever before and writers gave away more secrets about computers than ever before.

MACHINE CODE

At the start of the year few would have dreamed of books on machine code which would detail the whole inside story of the Spectrum and not just waffle about what the instructions do and little else.

Interface was first with a highly-acclaimed series of books on machine code, one of which is Mastering Machine Code on Your ZX Spectrum by Toni Baker. Former owners of ZX-81s may notice that the book is an update on the ZX-81 machine code book. The contents are similar to the earlier version, although the Spectrum book is longer because of the introduction of extended chapters on printing characters on the screen and an update on advanced features on the Spectrum. There the differences end.

The examples in the text, which usually consist of whole chapters, are the same as in the ZX-81 version. They include a graffiti program which displays the Spectrum character set and three chapters which show how a game of draughts is put together.

One useful part is a long chapter which provides a dictionary of all the instructions you can give to the Z-80 processor. It turns the book into a useful reference guide, which should be of use to all beginners. It will, however, be of little use to advanced programmers - unless they want to brush-up on their terms.

The book also contains some useful appendices which give tables of conversions between hexadecimal and decimal and also a list of symptoms variables which can be used either in machine code or in Basic programs.

Two other books from Interface form a series. Spectrum Machine Code Made Easy, Volume One is for the beginner. It is easy to follow and starts, as with most other machine code books, with an introduction to binary and hexadecimal number systems.

The layout of the beginners' book seems to have been thought through carefully, as each chapter deals with one of the major aspects of machine code and, unlike some other books on the market, does not disconcert the reader by moving into another realm halfway through a chapter.

Most of the aspects of machine code covered in Baker's book are included but this is better as it is easier to read and the layout of text and illustrative examples is better.

The companion volume is Spectrum Machine Code Made Easy, Volume Two. It is for the advanced programmer and takes it for granted that you have some knowledge of machine code. Because of the complexity of jumps, both relative and absolute, in programs and the specialised logical operations, there are separate chapters on those subjects.

That is as far as the book goes along conventional lines, however, as the author, Paul Holmes, explains the use of ports and interrupt modes. They are two subjects which are rarely mentioned in books of this kind.

The ports are dealt with in Basic and machine code and some interesting effects are obtained with sound and colour on the Spectrum.

No previous pure machine code book has dealt with interrupts in the Z-80 system. This one explains the subject easily and competently. The chapter on interrupts justifies what is anyway a good book.

Not to be outdone, and rushing in where angels fear to tread, Usbourne Books decided to produce a book on machine code which was aimed not only at the complete beginner but one who is also within the early teenage range. It is Machine Code for Beginners. It is the easiest book on the subject on the market. Using it, a child at junior school could learn the basic techniques of both Z-80 and 6502 programming. The way the subject is tackled is nothing short of brilliant. That both major types of microchip are covered is an extra bonus.

The cartoon characters, such as robots and bugs, which are included, teach machine code in a subtle manner. It is possible to read the book as a comic strip, taking little account of the main text and still derive a knowledge of assembly and machine language.

NEW TECHNOLOGY

The same company did a remarkable job of introducing children to the concepts of information technology and the world of robots. The Information Revolution contains information about all kinds of devices, including computers, which can be used to communicate, from one part of this planet to another, and even into outer space. It looks into the future and examines the introduction of cable communication devices within cities, so that you could see people as well as talk to them on the telephone and do your shopping at home using a computer. Much of what is discussed in this colourful book may seem like science fiction but most of it is available now.

ROBOTICS

A second book from Usbourne is Practical Things To Do With A Microcomputer. It investigates robots, shows how computers create cryptograms or codes, and illustrates how to write programs using almost any computer you might possess.

It will introduce computer technology to a child and, if the child already knows about computers, it should expand horizons even more. Some of the examples may be a little difficult to understand but, with help from parents, children should cope.

LANGUAGES

New computer languages became available on the Spectrum in 1984. Sinclair Research brought out Forth, Micro Prolog and LSCI Logo. The book publishing industry stepped into give the user a wider base of ideas from which to launch into the brave new worlds of those languages.

Melbourne House was one of the first Sinclair orientated companies to bring out a book about Forth. The company had its own reasons for publishing it, however. Advanced Spectrum Forth was launched to help people who bought the company's Abersoft Forth package and did not know what to do with it.

The book, by Don Thomasson, shows the advanced aspects of the language but it is not only for the complete expert, as the title suggests. It offers explanations of the machine stacks and Forth words which the manual does not begin to cover.

The first half is a re-run of the manual but is written in terms which mere mortals can understand. It also shows the difference between Spectrum Forth and the FIG standard. Those additions to the language are mostly for graphics and sound which, the author says, can be manipulated a great deal more easily in Forth than in Basic.

The second half of the book provides the real interest for people at advanced level. It shows how to structure programs using the screen editor and explains the difficult problem of SAVEing screens to tape.

The book also includes the use of assembly language and how to incorporate it in the structure of Forth programs.

Information about the Logo language was published by Granada in mid-year in a book called Introducing Logo by Boris Allen. Apart from Mind Storms, written by the creator of Logo Seymour Papert, it is one of the best books on the subject available. The first part of the book provides a clear, concise, introduction to Logo theory together with examples of Logo programming in practice.

The book is ideal for use by teachers who are about to teach Logo or, who want some ideas as to how to develop the language. One of the best aspects of it is that Allen does not stop at the simple commands. He goes on to expand the subject and show how Logo can be put to good use by anyone who wants to learn how to program or how to use mathematics in an adventurous way.

FICTION

Fiction has also found its way into the microcomputer publishing market. Fontana Armada released the first in a series of highly original who-dunnit books. Input an Investigation, by Lois and Floyd McCoy, provides a series of classic mysteries featuring those American computer whizz-kids, the Bytes Brothers.

Those brain boxes work their way through five mysteries and always get the correct solution using their home computer called Nibble.

As with any good detective story all the clues for the solution have been incorporated in the plot. The computer programs used to solve the crimes are also included, along with a full explanation on their structure and creation.

The book is for children but adults will be equally enthralled. It provides excellent entertainment and value for money.

GENERAL INTEREST

The market for general computer use was just as alive as that of specific usage. One of the best on the market, though it was not perfect, was produced by Penguin. It was one of the few computer book successes which they had in 1984.

The Penguin Computing Book, by Susan Curran and Ray Curnow contains a step-by-step guide to computers and electronics. The criticism is that there is nothing new in the format, although the authors have tried to provide a simple and concise explanation of almost everything relating to digital electronics, analogue electronics and computers.

Reading the book it appears that the authors have tried to cram too much information into a small space. Any difficulty in following arguments will not be because of any complexity in the text but because so much information is covered in a few pages.

The structure of the book suggests that it should be read from cover to cover, like War and Peace, but it serves better as a handbook to be dipped into when necessary. The index is just adequate for such a purpose. The glossary and bibliography are also useful.

QL

The QL, of course, received its fair share of advance publicity from publishers who Stumbled onto the market with books as soon as they could.

The first of those titles was the QL Companion by Boris Allen with which some reviewers had a field day. Much of its content was irrelevant and many of its SuperBASIC programs did not work. Indeed some bore no relation to SuperBASIC at all.

Thankfully we are seeing books of a better standard from companies such as Sunshine and Longman which should fill the thirst for knowledge which most QL users have. It will be a long time before the tide onL books stops but, as with any new microcomputer, every piece of information about it is bound to be well received.

HUMOUR

Not all the new books on the market took such a serious look at computers. Two from the States took the opposite viewpoint.

Micromania, by Charles Platt and David Langford, takes computing to pieces and finds the comedy under the skins of big business and the individual computer user. It does so by using a hatchet of slapstick humour with an ungainly mixture of cliches and buzzwords.

The book provides a compendium of insights into the personalities of those who use computers. The authors may be interested in the machines but they are ready to make fun of the behaviour of their fellow maniacs.

They divide users into four classes - the hardware freak, the video game nut, the end-user and the hacker. The descriptions of those people are as cruel as the names used to label them. A video games junkie is, for example, described as 'between 10 and 16 years of age, mentally if not physically'.

The structure of the book is inventive, to say the least. Each chapter is labelled with a binary number, beginning with 0000 and rising to 1101. The text is split into modules reminiscent of the way in which programs should be structured. It also shows that the authors are part of the computer world of which they are making fun.

Chapter 1101 deals with the future of micro-computing, a subject which would have been a glaring omission from a book dealing with the whole computer scene. The authors may ridicule the denizens of the computer industry but they agree that our future is in their hands:

"We can laugh all we like at micro-maniacs, but they will have the last laugh - because they are designing the future that the rest of us will have to live in."

The Naked Computer, by Jack Rochester and John Gantz starts by looking at the computer invasion and the most successful and unsuccessful computer ventures.

The most ubiquitous computer? The Commodore Vic-20, one million strong at the end of 1982. The least ubiquitous? The CDC G-20, of which there is one left.

The final chapter, The Outer Limits, is like Micromania in that it tries to explain what could happen in the next few decades so far as technology is concerned. The book looks at new IBM projects, research into chip use done at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the way in which robots are being used by the US Army.

Like all the other chapters, The Outer Limits is a collection of anecdotes, although some of the authors' thoughts are included. The book leaves the reader with the feeling that the authors were afraid to approach the subject in anything but the impersonal third person.

Mastering Machine Code On Your ZX Spectrum, Spectrum Machine Code Made Easy Volumes One and Two. All titles £5.95. Interface Publications.

Machine Code for Beginners, The Information Revolution, Practical Things To Do With A Microcomputer. All titles £1.99. Usbourne Books.

Advanced Spectrum Forth, £8.95, Melbourne House.

Introducing Logo, Granada.

Input an Investigation, £1.25, Fontana Armada.

The Penguin Computing Book, £5.95, Penguin Books.

The QL Companion, £6.95, Pitman.

Micromania, £7.95, Victor Gollancz Publications.

The Naked Computer, £9.95, Arlington Books.