This is a new departure for Commodore, which has decided to back up its new C64 machine with a special learning aid designed for children between the ages of 10 and 13.

English graphics designers have been invited to work on the project and the result is a glossy book running to 40 multi-coloured pages, dedicated to the idea that the children should couple a space adventure story with elementary lessons in Basic programming.

Two cassettes accompany the course, containing educational games and other programs, notably quizzes for checking progress so far.

The book is the first of a series to be marketed worldwide by Commodore and should be successful, although I think that many 13-year-olds will be too blase to enter into the spirit of the fantasy. Younger children will, however, find it great fun, and the programs alone are a fair return on the asking price.

By the end of the course the child will undetstand about INPUT, GOTO, PRINT, LET, IF ... THEN, and of course END! The point then is not whether there is a sufficiently wide knowledge for programming use (which it certainly is not), but whether enough curiosity has been aroused to encourage further study. Since the idea that computing is fun will have been firmly established, the future is assured.