- Understanding the Micro, by Judy Tutchell and Bill Bennett
- Computer and Video Games, by Ian Graham Computer
- Spacegames, by Daniel Isaaman and Jenny Tyler
- Computer Battlegames, by Daniel Isaaman and Jenny Tyler
I have a friend who suffers from computer-phobia — fear of the chip. Whenever I try to interest him in a programming career, he replies, “I can’t learn that stuff. It’s too complicated.”
Recently, I invited Dean to my home, gave him Understanding the Micro and a cold beer, and left him at the dining room table.
Ten minutes later, Dean came into the den and exclaimed, “Hey, Warren! This is great! I already know the difference between software and hardware and RAM and ROM.”
Two hours later, we were intelligently discussing computers. Next Dean was sitting at the keyboard of my T/S1000, entering sample programs from the book and making runs. The following morning he was at the offices of our programming group, entering games into an expanded T/S 1000. He had lost his computer-phobia!
Understanding the Micro is a profusely illustrated, step-by-step guide that does not get bogged down in confusing technical jargon. The book is alive with illustrations of chips, computers, and hundreds of tiny robots that are as delightful as they are colorful.
By page 12, the reader is given information on writing programs; by page 14, you’re taught to type, run and debug them.
Then we take a visual tour of the inside of a chip. The illustration of the inside of the ROM is especially clever. Three robots are depicted in a library-like atmosphere. The “interpreter” robot is reading pages of printed matter (code) with a “PEEK” robot looking over his shoulder. Across the desk a “monitor” is transcribing data onto sheets of paper.
The rest of the book is devoted to illustrations telling the history of microcomputers, networking, using the modem, control functions of computer applications, graphics, printers and plotters. Finally, there is a buyer’s guide, a glossary of micro terms and an index.
Computer Battlegames contains programs for the T/S1OOO and the ZX Spectrum {soon to be the T/S2000) and other computers, including Robot Invaders by Bob Merry, Secret Weapon, Shoot-out, Desert Tank Battle and Iceberg. By page 36 you’re given information on how to add to the programs, such as by using sound effects. Next, there is a clearly illustrated guide (those Little robots again] to writing your own programs, an illustrated summary of BASIC, and answers to puzzles printed alongside each program. Illustrations are often in four colors and they’re excellent.
Computer Spaceganes follows the same format as the Computer Battlegames but features games like Starships Takeoff, Evil Alien, Asteroid Belt, Monsters of Galacticon, and such little touches as “How to make the game harder” and the “puzzle corner.
Computer and Video Games is another illustrated guide to this subject. You’re shown how arcade and computer games work, how they make sound effects, and how computers play chess.
Special sections on some pages give instructions on how to win at Missile Command, Froggert Asteroids and other popular games. You’re shown how games are made* their history, and the future of games.
The authors point out that the ultimate game will be a super “realistic” computer simulation which takes place all around you in a special games cubicle. The game, perhaps a space invasion or adventure game, will have three dimensional effects, laser lighting and quadraphonic sound.
I’ll bet five-to-one that Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, is working on just these kinds of games in his new company in California.
I work with 11 full-time programmers and another 52 on special projects. I sought an opinion on these four titles from every programmer who came in during a four-day interval. Their response was enthusiastic — wildly so. One self-taught programmer said, “I could have saved six months getting started if Understanding the Micro had been available to me.”
The books were beautifully designed by Graham Round and Roger Priddy, Because of the power of the illustrations, a blip of the chip should also go to the artists, who are too numerous to name.
The books have been selected for certain B. Dalton Bookstores. They have been relegated to the children’s book section, but don’t let that bother you. These books are for anyone seeking a clear understanding of computers.