Learning to use dBase II must be a major headache for many businesses these days, otherwise why would so many books on the subject be flooding the market? If you are faced with the problem of mastering this complex, user-unfriendly program you could do worse than reach for Mr. Krumm's book.

The author has managed to break down his gargantuan subject into small, easily digested sections. His style is lucid as he takes the reader through creating files, entering data, editing, sorting and much more.

I found I learned a lot just from the first chapter without having the program to practice on. But by the middle of the second chapter my memory was overloaded with more than 20 commands.

And this is an inherent fault of dBase II. It is undoubtedly a powerful and versatile datbase, but more than that - it is a programming language in itself. This becomes particularly apparent when dealing with command files. These are thinly disguised programs the user can set up to deal with frequent operations. If properly implemented this facility can be extended to develop menus and make dBase II easier to use by customising it to the user's business needs. But what a slog to get there.

dBase II has the potential to be a great database, but not while a trainee must consult a long list of commands to finish even the smallest task. But I strongly recommend this book.

Leah Batham