This book and cassette appear to be aimed at younger people programming for the first time. How young these prospective readers are is debatable since, at first sight, the style is rather jolly and there are pictures of the keys that appear to have been sketched rather than drawn.
After describing how to use the keyboard, the book gets down to programming. The first of the examples is simple, and so is the second and the third.
The first major program is about 11 lines and converts words into anagrams, giving examples of string handling, printing and so on. Following this there are additional lines to add to the program to make it more flashy. The book continues in the same style covering graphics, moving graphics, numbers, subroutines and includes games that use these ideas.
The cassette contains 11 programs, some developed in the book, plus a few others. Some of them need the RAM pack expansion (notably the ZX81). They vary in loading time, from 16 seconds to five minutes, and hence in length, but most are short and are documented in a small bookley included with the tape. These notes describe the tricks that have to be used to get the best from the machine.
The cassette is a nice idea but appears to be sold separately. It might have been better if book and cassette came together as a single package for, say, £6 to £7.
21st April 1984
