spectrum graphics - OpenLibra

winter months. Any wargame
has t he ca pa b i li t y t o be progra m -
med, and this book provides you
with the information you need.
At f 9.95 you may feel it is a bit
expensive, but for the information
inside, I would rather have
this book than two games tapes
any day.
Political and
Military simulation
Games
interface
£7.95
Remaining with the non-arcade
idea, the next book is Creating
Political and Military Simulation
Games on Your Micro. Bit of a
mouthful, eh? 1 he book is written
by Mike Rose and published
hy Interface.
The book is split into two sec
tions. The first explains how to
turn the initial idea into a computer
program, and the second
contains ten programs, illustrating
the first section.
Although the title only mentions
political and military games, the
book covers military, political
and economic games. Perhaps
there wasn't enough room on
the front page to fit the whole
title in' Military games come in
two types. True military, which
ts the 'wargaming' as above,
and then the strategic military.
This is the type used in the book.
The reader is taken through
step by step, starting with the
planning of the game, and progressing
till a complete model of
the game is present. All aspects
of the game are mentioned in the
book and examples for each different
group are given at each
stage. This simplifies the idea,
as it is much easier to learn
something with three examples
instead of one. By the end of the
first section one should have a
complete flow chart showing
the structure of the game.
My first niggle comes at this
point. In the introduction, weare
told that the book 'requires only
a relatively elementary
knowledge of computing only
enough to put logical flowcharts
into BASIC, Why then is it
necessary to flowchart the
structure of a YES/NO question?
This should appear pretty ob
vious to anyone with the
slightest of programming knowledge.
Another chapter which is
also not very useful is the debugging
and trouble shooter. The
only thing this would be helpful
for is MOT committing suicide. It
says NOT to jump out of the
How to Write
ZX Spectrum
and Spectrum +
Games
Programs
A SIMtSTTH
window if an error occurs'
The remainder of the book
consists of ten programs, from a
naval battle in Elizabethan Times
to being a Prime Minister at 1 0
Downing Street Imuch the same
I suppose?). These programs are
well written and quite in
teresting to play, but nothing
spectacular. I did like Nuclear
Crisis, where the aim is to per
suade the other countries togive
you land.
In general the book is ideal for
anyone with a knowledge of
BASIC, and who wants more
out of their computer than
space-invaders. I did feel that at
times the book expects you to
know a lot more than at other
times. But still, an interesting
book, though perhaps slightly
overpriced at £7 .95 .
HOW TO . .
Babani Books
This book is the one that is contrary
to my point in the first
paragraphs, claiming that the
reader is not interested in the
usual games programs any
more.
How To Write ZX Spectrum
and Spectrum + Games Programs
book is a step-by step
guide to writing games programs,
and does at times
assume the reader tobe ignorant
of computing, and at other times
to know it all. On the first page,
the invaluable REM statement is
again explained, but at this point
the reader is expected to know
all about FOR. NEXT loops
and the PRINT AT statement.
The reader is also told how to get
an asterisk on the screen by
pressing Symbol Shift and B, but
not how to get any of the othet
statements. Double Dutch if you
ask me!
BOOKSHELF
The step-by-step guide could'
be useful to the novice program
mer, but perhaps the author
thought that just a games book
wouldn't sell too well, so the
idea of learning how to program
games seemed a better prospect.
The programs are in
separate chapters, and by the
end of the first chapter the
reader should know how to use
the UDG's and the PLOT and
DRAW statements. The games
are separated into individual
routines, and the author does his
best to explain each routine
demonstrating how the game is
moulded together. The games
are at most for six players, but
never included is lhe capability
of playing with the computer.
There is a chess game, but only
the bare structure, as the
CHESS game in the book is only
for two players, and does not
have the facility to compete
with the computer. I would
rather get the good old fashion
ed chess board out. This way is
much more real.
The programs also did not ap
pear to be all that well written. I
could easily re write a few sections
if I was going to use the
book to any great length. The
listings also, due to the width of
the book, were hard to read and
appeared somewhat compact,
but the programs could be
adapted to improve the games,
which m my mind only half
succeeded.
At C2.50 the book is reasonably
priced, and it may appeal to
those who have some ideas but
have difficulty in transferring
them onto a computer, but
otherwise I cannot really see the
book as being extremely
beneficial to anyone. Why
would anyone want to draw a
River Nile Scene in a game 7 Just
another way of filling out a
chapter.
Data Management
at work
Pan Books
£2.95
The final book is not intended for
home computer users, but
business users. The book does
not relate to the ZX range of
computers, but is ideal for
anyone thinking of computerising
their business, either at
home or in the office.
The book is called Data
Management At Work, written
by Kathy Lang, and published by
Pan. A the title suggests, the
book introduces the reader to
some of the capabilities of a
business computer and the use
of a Data Management System
or Data Base System. A data
base system is briefly a way of
dealing withstructured information
(the simplest example is the
card index system).
The author starts by presen
ting a problem in a social club,
and the ideas behind turning the
manual process into a fully
automated computer system.
The case study is at first
presented, and the situation
evaluated, so the reader can see
examples of typical uses of a
data base or management com
puter system. Before using a
data base system and writing an
application program, the manual
method needs to be analysed,
so that it is possible io see what
the computer can 3nd cannot
do.
The book starts off by
analysing the social club exam
pie, and turns this into a real-life
situation explaining how the
manual method can be computerised.
The reader is taken
through the various stages of
the data base system, from the
format of the records to the
report structures that will be
needed.
The author has gone into
much needed detail, with theexplanation
of printersand the pro
blems of setting up a computer
system eg.. How to train new
users? Who should use the com
puter? etc. It is a well written
manual to data base systems,
and should be used as a forerunner
to all businesses when
the question is asked, 'Should
we computerise?'. The book
does not go into any technical
depth, and is totally understandable
to the non computer mind,
without being patronising.
Each chapter has an intro
duction. so it is clear what is going
to be discussed in that
chapter. There is also a short
precis at the end of each
chapter. Although the book is
not designed to glorify any data
base packages, it does suggest
which ones may be most useful
for your application. The correct
system for the social club computerisation
is then evaluated in
detail, so it is easy to see how
the method is applied when
choosing the correct package.
This book is a must for
anyone thinking about computing.
If you have already
followed the millions by buyinga
business computer, this book
should also be read with interest
to illustrate the capabilities of
such a machine. This book is
also one of the few that I can say
is totally underpriced. At £2.95 ,
everybody should have one!
ZX COMPUTING DECEMBER/JANUARY 1985 75