This is a textbook about programming for people who don't plan to be programmers. The focus is on learning to read, not write, programs in BASIC.

The authors say that the task before them in writing this book could be likened to helping people understand the nature of proofs in mathematics without teaching them to become mathematicians in the process.

In other words, this book is an attempt to explain programming in BASIC to laymen without changing their status as laymen.

My personal reaction to this book, as a programmer and as a teacher of programming, is -- get real! Has there ever been a demand in colleges and universities for a dumbed-down course in "computer appreciation?"

It is strange to wade through a textbook where the end is no more complex than the beginning. A student who finishes this book will have only a vague awareness of what programming in BASIC is about. There will be little understanding of the subject. There will be no mastery of the discipline.

Bottom Line: This book belongs on the shelf with your English literature books, not on the shelf with your computer science books. ( )