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.

LEADING CHILDREN INTO MICRO WORLD

John Gilbert on the growing bookshelf.

The emphasis in the Sinclair book market is now on teaching young people about the uses of modern technology, and computers in particular. Usbourne Publishing Ltd has just produced a series of four books on microcomputers.

Two of them consist of listings of programs for various microcomputers, including the Spectrum and ZX-81. There is usually only one listing of each program but symbols at the side refer the reader to conversion notes for their computers.

The two, Computer Space Games and Computer Battle Games, are full of colourful drawings which will appeal to young children. The books cost £1.99 each and are a good idea, for they will coax children into work with computers, something with which some adults still seem to have difficulty. The function of the books is to catch the interest of the young so that they have no difficulties copies with technology in later life.

The other two books in the Usbourne range are introduction to Computer Programming and Understanding the Micro. Both explain their subjects. using diagrams and colour drawings as an aid to understanding. Each costs £1.65. The range will be available from most bookshops, including W H Smith.

The ZX-81 is still featuring strongly in the Sinclair publishing market. Following The Art of Programming the 1K ZX-81, Babani Publishing has The Art of Programming the 16K ZX-81. The book provides one of the most comprehensive introductions to the ZX-81 available. It takes the reader through the possible uses of the expanded machine and then explains advanced subjects such as machine code and programming techniques. It even includes a chapter on advanced randomness with methods of selecting random numbers using Chi squares, poission and binomial distribution.

Chapters include graphics, designing programs, games and programming techniques. It costs £2.50.

Ivor Killerbyte is obviously a pseudonym but the man who has produced Write Efficient ZX-81 Basic does not use the name because he does not want to be associated with the book. The book is very informative and well worth £5.95. It starts with the premise that the reader has a 1K machine and some of the things Killerbyte manages to squeeze from it are amazing.

Included is a series of programs, such as full screen pattern generators, a giant character maker and some interesting graphics games. Killerbyte also provides a series of 36 rules of programming, spread through the book. They include using REM statements to describe programs where possible and making programs as user-friendly as possible. The book is published privately.

Several books concerning the Spectrum appear every week. Even Clive Sinclair has extended into the market with the Sinclair Computer Guides. He has written the foreword to the first guide, which was written by Tim Hartnell.

The ZX Spectrum Explored covers a large range of areas of Spectrum usage. There are chapters on the use of the computer in business and education, as well as games. There is also a short tour of the three-dimensional graphics capabilities of the Spectrum and a 10-page introduction to machine code. The techniques explained are illustrated with program listings, including a diary program and database.

It costs £5.95 and is available from Sinclair Browne.

The quality of books about Sinclair computers has improved but authors still seem to concentrate games program listings and books on Sinclair Basic. Many areas, such as machine code and programming techniques, could be better-explored.

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

Bernard Babani (Publishing) Ltd, The Grampians, Shepherds Bush Road, London W6 7NF.

Ivor Killerbyte, 10 Elson Road, Formby, Liverpool L37 3EG.

Sinclair Browne Ltd, 10 Archway Close, London N19 3TD.