Ian Murray is a secondary school teacher, and was at a London school when these programs were originally written for the BBC Micro. They were tested out in the classroom, and proved to be very successful, according to the author. However, I would imagine that Mr. Murray himself must be writing rather better programs than these nowadays. They give the feel of early, "pioneering" work with a new micro, as the BBC was then, but they now appear to be a little old-hat.
It's not that they are bad programs, some have a fairly good style, but for educational purposes they are not written with much clarity. Also, I would question the educational content of some, although they might therefore appeal to a wider audience!
Quite a few are long, but those with slow fingers will be able to obtain a cassette for a further £6.00. Certainly the long Stockmarket program is well worth typing in, but it does run to about nineteen pages! You have to be dedicated to give your fingertips that kind of bashing.
None of the programs appear to be scaled down for the Electron, but I've not seen the full BBC versions. I would imagine that the BBC listings would make a little more use of sound, for instance, than the new listings in this book.
Overall, I am torn between a great admiration for some of these programs, clearly written and free of errors, and a feeling of surprise as to why others are included in this same volume. I feel that Century might have done better to prune down the number of programs, and to throw in the cassette for free.
1st January 1985
