SPECTRUM RULES THE WAVES

Every publisher in the UK seems to have discovered the Spectrum, so there is sure to be a bumper crop of reading matter for Spectrum owners in the coming months.

Our review panel have been looking at a selection of the Spectrum books and finds that the standard is uniformly high (both in terms of content and presentation), with each book representing value for money in its own way.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

Three titles seem to be aimed at common ground; the first-time user, who knows little (if any BASIC) and certainly knows little about the Spectrum. These are 'Easy Programming for the ZX Spectrum' (Shiva - Ian Stewart and Robin Jones); 'The ZX Spectrum and how to get the most out of it' (Granada - Ian Sinclair); and 'Programming Your ZX Spectrum' (Interface - Tim Hartnell and Dilwyn Jones). Of course, they all tread similar ground, but attack the problem in quite different ways. We feel that many inexperienced users will benefit from buying two (or even all three) of the books, as what is unclear in one can be illuminated by the second or third. The funniest of the three is certainly Jones and Stewarts' 'Easy Programming...' which follows on the style of the highly successful 'PEEK, POKE, BYTE and RAM' title for the ZX81, and is enlivened by a batch of weedy cartoons.

There is no doubt, if you want your learning leavened with humour, that this is the title to start with.

The book goes through all the aspects of the Spectrum you're likely to need in the first few months, generally explaining them well and clearly. The demonstration programs include some remarkable demonstration graphics, ones which are ideal for impressing your family and friends. Our only reservations about the book, and these reservations should not distract you from what is generally a very fine product, are the first two chapters.

BEWILDERING

A somewhat obscure program is 'explained' in the first chapter, in a way which - unless you're a very careful or patient reader - may leave you more bewildered than in the light.

We have noticed that authors from academic backgrounds (like the man who wrote the manual for the Dragon 32) always believe that manipulating arithmetic on the computer is the very first thing you need to master. Most of us start by playing games. The exponention function we can live without for a while. Despite this, Stewart and Jones plunge into algebra, and the hierarchy of operations on pages eight and nine, when we imagine many readers really want to zap a few aliens.

Fortunately, things improve from this point, and chapter three's tour of the keyboard is the clearest of the three books we're considering.

READABLE

The book continues to improve, in readability and interest as it continues, almost as though the authors were learning about the machine as they wrote the book, and by about page 30 were really starting to enjoy it.

When you're next in a bookstore, turn to page 117, where a blurred screen photo fails to do justice to a particularly fine graphics demonstration program, described as 'another offering of winsome beauty'. Clive Sinclair should buy the rights to this program, so he can run it every time a critic mouths 'But it's not true high resolution'.

The book includes 26 complete programs (described as 'prepackaged'), each of which will amply repay the time taken to enter them. In conclusion, 'Easy Programming..." is a book which will take you a long way into the mysteries of the Spectrum; is written with a consistent, and humourous hand; and shares the affection the authors feel for the computer.

FOR THE SPECTRUM

Ian Sinclair's (no relation) book, 'The ZX Spectrum and how to get the most from it' is, in some ways a lighter book.

To fill a third of a page with a diagram of how to wire up a three-pin plug hardly suggests that the book is going to contain much meat, but after this rather odd beginning, Mr Sinclair gets into his stride. Unlike the Shiva book, which for some reason plumped to reset all programs, Mr Sinclair uses them direct from the ZX printer.

The first 18 pages are used up telling you how to connect up a television, and get a clear picture. Necessary information perhaps, but surely not worth that much of the book.

Like the Shiva authors, Mr Sinclair leaps straight into arithmetic, but drops this after a page or so and starts his first real section, on using TAB and PRINT AT.

There are only seven programs in this book which are more than a few lines long, and only one of them (ANIMALS) are you likely to run more than a few times.

GIVING IDEAS

Against this is the fact that many of the sections in the book give a tremendous source of ideas for producing your own programs, and the chapter 'Roll Your Own', which explains how the idea of a program can be refined and built up, and then turned into a computer program, is worth the cost of the book alone.

We were, however, a little disconcerted to read in the introduction Mr Sinclair thanking Clive's PR people for 'the loan of a Spectrum' which suggests that the author had little time to build up real expertise on the machine before writing the book.

Have a look at the 'Roll Your Own' chapter (from page 69). 'Graphics' (page 81) and 'Sound Sense' (page 105) to see how well, and clearly, the author covers his material.

Tim Hartnell, the editor of this magazine, has been very industrious, and produced two books for the Spectrum already.

Although he is editor, he told us when presenting the books for review, 'be rude if you have to'.

And we've tried very hard to be!

The two books are 'Programming Your ZX Spectrum"; published by Interface, and 'The ZX Spectrum Explored', published by a company which Uncle C part owns, Sinclair-Browne. Clive has written the introduction to 'Explored'.

'Programming Your ZX Spectrum' is the thickest of the four books reviewed in this section, and also the most expensive. As a comparison, the Shiva book has 140 pages, Ian Sinclair's has 130, 'The ZX Spectrum Explored' has 218 and 'Programming Your ZX Spectrum', 230. The books each cost £5.95, except for 'Programming Your...' which is £6.95.

Now for the rude bit.

Tim, and his co-author Dilwyn Jones include many, many programs (over 100 programs and routines' the publicity material says), but we felt many of them were introduced a little too early in the text, without adequate explanation. At the end, the techniques will be completely clear, but some readers will have to exercise patience and enter the programs on trust, knowing that the reasons for all the lines will become clear eventually.

Despite this, the book unfolds in a fairly logical way, and contains an easy-to-follow course on BASIC, and on programming, as well as on 'making the most of your Spectrum'. The program examples are, on the whole, good, with several 'major' programs including Reversi (Othello), Final Circuit and Life (with, for some reason, two completely different versions). A slight bug we found in Reversi has, we are assured, now been corrected in a reprint. The graphics chapter is clear, and although some of the demonstrations are not as 'winsome' as those in the Shiva book, they still provide fodder for impressing the neighbours.

GRAPHICS

The chapter on user-defined graphics is particularly clear, perhaps the clearest of all the books reviewed, and leads into a long, long 'Pacman-like' (very vaguely Pacman-like} game called Dotman.

This book, despite its headlong rush at the beginning, is certain to act as a resource which you'll take a long time to use up. At least one of the other books seems more likely to be 'exhausted' after the first two weeks of use.

Tim's other book, 'The ZX Spectrum Explored' is really a drawing together of the expertise of a number of people, including Jeremy Ruston, James Walsh and Tim Rogers.

It is not designed for the first time user, although a longish chapter at the beginning ('Programming in BASIC') has been included so you can make sense of the computer without any other of the guides.

Not all sections of this book are likely to appeal equally to all users, but no matter why you bought your Spectrum, you're probably going to be able to find material of real interest.

EXPERTISE

When writing each section, Tim drew on the experience of an 'expert' in the field, so each section reflects a knowledge of that particular area which is likely to be more concentrated and detailed than Tim could possibly have written on his own. The section headings will show the kind of material covered: Programming in BASIC; Exploring the Spectrum's Colour; Exploring the Spectrum's Sound; Using the Spectrum in Business; Using the Spectrum in Education; Playing Games with your Spectrum; Three-dimensional graphics; Introduction to Machine Code; and A Guide to Better Programming. The appendix includes a potted 'history of the computer' which moves very rapidly from Charles Babbage to some guy called Clive Sinclair. 'The race to produce ever-smaller, ever-more powerful computers was underway. Clive Sinclair entered that race in the late seventies'. One suspects that the Sinclair PR machine helped write the 'history'.

There are many, many programs (the business section even includes a very junior 'Visicalc'), with the best programs in the games section.

HUMOUR INVADES THE PUBLISHING MARKET

John Gilbert reviews the latest books including the first for the Spectrum

The mass of ZX-81 books is still increasing. The author of the moment still seems to be Tim Hartnell. His new book for the ZX-81 is Making The Most of Your ZX-81. It will help beginners and contains many programs which can be typed-in immediately.

While the book is good for the complete beginner who has just read the manual, it is not recommended to anyone wanting to learn more about the capabilities of the ZX-81. The text just enlarges on the basic manual and the programs are mostly 1K long.

The book is humorous in places, either deliberately or unintentionally. For instance, one of the first programs is a simple game of Russian Roulette. The screen display is so simple but very amusing.

Making The Most of Your ZX-81, is available from Computer Publications and costs £6.95.

Another new book for the ZX-81 but with a slightly different format is The ZX-81 Add-on Book, by Martin Wren Hilton. It is remarkable for two reasons. First, it is one of the few books written about the hardware side of the ZX-81 market. It describes how extra memory can be added to the ZX-81, taking the Sinclair 16K RAM pack and the Audio Computers 32K RAM as examples.

Backing storage devices are also surveyed, including cassette tape decks and disc drives. Information about optical bar codes and modems is also included. The book explains the operation of the dK'tronics Graphic ROM and the Quicksilva Character Board. It also has a section about the future and the Sinclair miniature television.

The second remarkable thing is that the book is written by a 16-year-old. He has his own computer and writes for an American bi-monthly magazine. The ZX-81 Add-on Book is published by Shiva and costs £5.50.

Shiva has also published a book by Ian Stewart and Robin Jones, Computer Puzzles - For Spectrum and ZX-81.

The authors pose a series of problems, some old, some new, for which they have written programs to demonstrate the problems and to enable the user to try solutions quickly. The programs are interesting but when you solve one of them you have the same feeling you have when you have beaten someone in a game.

Also included is a Spectrum section for those lucky enough to have the machine. The price of the book is £2.50.

The quality of the books being written has improved with the advent of the Spectrum. For instance, Programming your ZX Spectrum is invaluable for people who could not find what they needed to know in the user manuals.

The book expands what is written in the manual and goes further by describing some of the things which have been omitted. It deals with coding of programs and also shows some of the techniques of structuring Basic programs.

The choice of programs has obviously been well thought out and they certainly show the capabilities of the machine.

One criticism is that it explains Basic statements like GOSUB and GOTO in too much detail. Other than that, it is a good book which is recommended for beginners. It is available from Interface and costs £6.95.

Over The Rainbow is a collection of programs in a softback which shows the potential uses of the Spectrum. Programs include games, utility routines and business programs. Some colour insets indicate some of the programs running. The book is from Melbourne House but seems overpriced at £6.95. That is not a criticism levelled only at Melbourne but at the whole computer publishing industry, which seem to trade on the belief that people will buy knowledge at any price.

Computer Publications, Unit 3, 33 Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, Middlesex, TW15 2RP.

Melbourne House Publishers, Glebe Cottage, Glebe House, Station Road, Cheddington, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, LU7 7NA.

Interface Publications, 44-46 Earls Court Road, London, W8 6EJ.

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