No-one can say this book alienates the newcomers. With the opening line 'A computer language is a language for communiction with a computer' it quite clearly takes a stand among the not-too-advanced users.

But its premise is worthy, taking you through Basic and out the other side to Prolog, Gino-F, Comal and Lisp.

There's discussion of language development before a comparison of Basic with the other languagesand explanation of how they can be used with databases, 3-D graphics, simulation and Pixel graphics.

Program listing and diagrams add clarity to the instructions and techniques are explained and reviewed.

The author makes no pretence that he's out to break the Basic barrier. And he does so in a light and easy way that will give even new users - perhaps especially the newcomers - a broad understanding of what they can do with their micro-computers.

If you want to go beyond Basic, this might be the place to start.