Home computers seem to inspire both the 101 Games For... type of book or the Expose Your Micro type. This book is neither. And then again it's both. Garry Marshall has taken familiar programming ideas and presented them in a way which shows the amchine's capabilities in an interesting way.

An introductory section deals with TI Basic, graphics and sound. Here, as everywhere else in the book, there's a strong bias towards graphics.

Once the main features of the machine have been established there's a break from things practical. Marshall is a firm believer in good program structure, and consequently devotes a section to "Top Down" design.

The rest of the book is concerned with three programming projects; a Space Invaders game, a simple database and a simulation program. All are well laid out, following the rules previously mentioned, and all are open-ended, allowing further development.

Everything in this book can be tried with just the basic console. No additional hardware or software is necessary, though Marshall does set aside a chapter to discuss add-ons.

The reference section is clear and helpful, there's even a chapter further reading guide, and the use of examples and illustration is effective.

The only major fault I found was the use of the word 'database' applied to a program which is nothing more than a very elementary file handling routine. On the whole though, the book is well thought out, well presented and at £5.95 exceptionally good value.

Ian Thornton