LOGO Programming

Personal Computer News

John Lettice

'Logo Programming' by Peter Ross, published by Addison-Wesley at £7.95 (paperback, 249 pages). It's debatable whether or not Logo Programming will actually get to the audience for which it's best suited. Books about alternative micro languages tend to be seen by people who already know something about programming, but Mr Ross' book is eminently suitable for novices. In fact, Logo Programming would be a good way to start programming Logo as a first language. In that sense it's useful for micro buyers in general, as well as for staff and pupils in schools. That said, the book doesn't really achieve its stated aims. In the first chapter Mr Ross says he does not aim purely to teach people how to read and write Logo, and that his book does aim to help people develop the knowledge and expertise to be able to make the most of Logo as a tool. Paradoxically, the book as completed seems to be a particularly clear and readable introduction to Logo programming, but fades out once Mr Ross talks about Logo as a tool! The language used throughout the book is Apple Terrapin Logo, but there is an appendix dealing with Tandy Radio Shack Color Logo, and the concepts of the language are so simple that the machine-specific hurdle is easy to surmount. My only real complaint about the book is that the typeface used is particularly gruesome.