Whenever I see a compendium tape my reaction is to shudder. There is usually one reasonable program surrounded by a heap of others which vary from bad to awful. This one, however, is a pleasant exception, containing ten programs aimed at the user in school.

One superb innovation is that Dimax makes the listing freely available. Each program uses the same standard programming format so that the listing can be adapted to suit special needs. Indeed, Dimax will even sell the listings separately for just 40p each should your typing not be up to Olympic standard.

The games cover mathematical themes, letter recognition and a stiff test on capital cities. There are also quite reasonable versions of standard games such as Mastermind and Simon. While none of the ideas is especially original, the versions are well enough programmed to give interesting screen displays. There is even a version of Tree Of Knowledge, a simple introduction to the setting up of a datafile.

For less than the price of a normal commercial program this tape offers a wide range of educational games which can be freely adapted. Indeed, there are even suggestions printed on the inlay of ideas to try.

Many parents will also find this a worthwhile purchase, especially as it has been written to run on both the Electron and the BBC Micro. My main criticism is that the Electron is a sophisticated machine which can use colour, detail, sound and animation to stimulate children using the machine. I am not convinced that Max Lang has exploited this to the full.

Phil Tayler