The ACCU passes on review copies of computer books to its members for them to review.
The result is a large, high quality collection of book reviews by programmers, for programmers.
Currently there are 1949 reviews in the database and more every month.
Search is a simple string search in either book title or book author. The full text search
is a search of the text of the review.
Title:
The Universal Machine
Author:
Blank&Barnes
ISBN:
0 07 116068 X
Publisher:
McGraw-Hill
Pages:
556pp+CD
Price:
£29-99
Reviewer:
Francis Glassborow
Subject:
technology
Appeared in:
12-1
I have grouped these two books together because there is a sense in
which they aim at similar readerships. In both books the authors
are trying to cater for the needs of the programming virgin. In the
first book the authors are targeting university courses and have
attempted to produce a text that they believe is accessible to both
complete newcomers and to those with some experience. The Universal
Machine of the title is Turing's concept. And they spend some time
over the course of the book addressing the need to understand the
concept of computers and computability. They also have a whole
chapter on social issues. The result is something that I find
profoundly unsatisfying. Interesting though the topics are they do
not belong together. The pv will find the coverage of C++ and
programming in general falls far short of what they need (unless it
is well filled in by lecturers and tutors) while those with
experience will be irritated at the lack of technical precision
exhibited by the coverage of C++.
By contrast the second book aims at introducing the idea of
programming by using a very restricted special purpose programming
language. The idea is to develop programs that create images in a
strictly confined world of 101 by 101 pixels. The colour is
provided by 101 step grey scale. The 101 is because theauthor
works from 0 to 100 inclusive. Those familiar with Logo will
recognise some influence from there, but it is far from that. By
studying this book you will slowly acquire appreciation for the
essential elements of programming: variables, decisions, iteration
and sub-routines. This book might meet the needs of a parent
struggling to help a young child who wanted to control the machine.
It requires less feel and understanding than Logo while allowing the
development of quite complex images. You will not become a
professional programmer by reading this book. To my mind, it is to
programming what 'Peter and Jane' books are to learning to write.
I think the first book is too ambitious and fails in all
departments. The second book has a very limited aim and achieves
it, if very slowly (but some people need a very slow approach).