bob@sri-unix (10/28/82)
I have been wanting to get some programming texts for my 10-year-old son so that he could use our cp/m computer at home. The books that I found used example programs that jumped immediately into mathematics and other topics that young boys are not interested. Discouragement reigned. Two Fridays ago, my son came home from a "book fair" held at his school with a couple of books, one of which was a wonderful book about the Basic programming language. (no snob flames, please!). This book has small, two page, examples on ascending features of basic. By the time he has typed in all of the 60 to 70 programs, he will have re- viewed almost all the Basic syntax, and will have learned quite a number of other interesting things dealt with in the examples. All in all, quite a book for $2.25. Well, how has it turned out? That week he had several of his friends over after school, and all of them were into this book, some pecking in the pro- grams, others discussing and figuring out the problems. Great learning was occurring. Suddenly, I am deluged with questions about the computer, how to modify the example programs, and discussions about the problems. All of this gives dad an opportunity to share his skills with his son, and provide a link between this and other things he is learning at school. Not bad for $2.25. The book is-- Basic Fun: Computer Games, Puzzles and Problems Children Can Write #80606 $2.25 An Avon Camelot book by Avon Books Division of the Hearst Corporation 959 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10019 (signed) Robert Broughton dadla!dadla-a!bob Tektronix, Inc. Box 500 Beaverton, Oregon 97006