| ★ LITTÉRATURE ★ ENGLISH ★ A CHILD'S GUIDE TO THE AMSTRAD MICRO ★ |
A CHILD'S GUIDE TO THE AMSTRAD MICRO (The Amstrad User) | A CHILD'S GUIDE TO THE AMSTRAD MICRO (Amstrad Computer User) |
I'll let you into a secret. 'A child's guide to the Amstrad Micro' is not necessarily a child's guide to the Amstrad micro. I have ii on good authority thai a number of adults have been buying copies, insisting that they be wrapped, and smuggling them into their home . No - not as birthday present for children, but as a tutorial for themselves! What a shame they have to go to such lengths to get hold of a book which introduces the Amstrad to the beginner but alas there are few. if any. that start at such a basic level. Invariably, books for beginners assume certain things. Not this one - it really starts at the beginning. 'A Child's guide to the Amstrad Micro' comes from the Cambridge University press stable of other 'child's guides'Hut unlike publications which have tried to cash in on the Amstrad success by rushing out. for example, an old Commodore reprint with a few changes 10 make it look as though it has been written specifically for the Amstrad, this book appears to have been written from scratch. Of course, the book carers primarily for children, and as such is cleverly presented in five sections by 'experts'all of whom have names derived from the word COMPUTER. Pru Comet is the typist and shows the ways in which the various types of keys work and the position of the keys on the keyboard. Throughout her tour she provides simple typing tasks with pictures of the results expected on the screen. P.C. Truemo is the investigator. He shows how to get started on the computer, how to make it print . number and words. calculate answers and finally store items in its memory. "INVESTIGATE - track down every possible mistake until you get his advice, and provides more tasks with sample screen results. Mort Puce is the artist. and he is used to show how to draw coloured pictures on the screen and produce sound. This section is a gentle introduction to the DRAW, PLOT and MOVE commands along BORDER , PEN, PAPER INK. Sound gets allocated just one page - too little for such a large subject. The fourth section is conducted bv Professor O. Crumpet the designer who shows how to copy, adapt and finally design programs. We are now hall way through the book and jus, about to enter our first program. This is not a criticism but an indication of what I said earlier - the book really does cover the basics so often forgotten. Sample programs are printed to provide example of the use of various commands, operators and signs, culminating in five projects which put to use the previous examples. The projects are entertaining yet clearly devised to make the reader think about the structure and content of the programs being written. They feature 'knock, knock' jokes, and 'see who ends up with the last counter' game, music and a simple strategy game. Naturally enough, this is the largest section of the five. The fifth and last section is a reference section, handled by Ms. O.C. Termup. In effect it contains a glossary of the terms used in the book with references to the CPC User Guide that comes with each machine. It is clear that the overall structure and presentation of this introduction to the world of Amstrad computing is novel and should be appealing to youngsters from about 8 years and upwards. For older people who just cannot get to grips with the "mysteries" of computing a is recommended, even if it's brought home in a brown-pape bag! The Amstrad User #9 |
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