Comets

ZX Computing

David Harwood

THE BOOK PAGE RETURNS AS DAVID HARWOOD TAKES A LOOK AT THE LATEST OFFERINGS As ZX moves into the monthly magazine market place, we on the book page are moving into the space age. Evidence of this are the books on offer this month, dealing with hacking into the airwaves, Comets, and modern network systems. The second book this month is called Comets and is written by David Burgess. This is one of a new range of books by The Computer Club, which aims to provide informative books to be used in conjunction with a computer. The comet book uses BBC Basic for all its programs but these can easily be adapted for the Sinclair range, and a section is provided at the end of the book to help the reader with this task. The book should teach the reader all about comets and enable you to carry out astronomy projects with a Spectrum or similar machine. Comets are introduced, with a brief description of their history (did you know, for instance, that Halley's Comet is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry?) and an explanation on how the individual can try to spot his own comet. There are a number of programs in the book, including testing the user's ability to see it he can actually spot a comet, a complete drawing of the solar system and (the book would not be complete without one) a games program to save the Earth from the tailing comet bugs! The book contains a lot of information on the comet and its composition, is very easy to read and a bargain at £5.95 in hardback.