programming in pascal: p grogono, addison-wesley (1978 - revised 1980) 373 pp, £5.95

1
PASCAL introduced PASCAL programmingstructures: an introduction to systematic pro- gramming G W Cherry, Reston (1980) 328 pp, £8.40 Programming in PASCAL P Grogono, Addison- Wesley (1978 - revised 1980) 3 73 pp, £5.95 Programming standard PASCAL R C Holt and J N P Hume, Reston (1980) 391 pp, £7.75 Foundations of programming with PASCAL L Moore, Ellis Horwood (1980) 238 pp, £14.50 They say that you cannot tell a book by its cover. Of these four introduc- tory PASCAL books, Moore's has the most inviting cover - a drawing of Alice in Wonderland having a conversation with the White Queen and Red Queen on the difficulties of counting. Well, you cannot always believe old sayings - Moore's book is in fact very good, my favourite of the group. The other three books sport a geometric design, a portrait of Blaise Pascal and a recursive view of Blaise trapped inside a terminal, and have strengths and weaknesses of their own. The books are discussed in the order listed above. PASCAL programming structures Cherry's book is oriented as a text for the typical 'Introduction to Computer Programming' course or as an aid to self-study. The author also suggests using the book in a course on Data Structures, supplemented by one of the standard texts on data structures. However, for a student who already knows PASCAL, I see noreason to prefer Cherry's book instead of a more concise PASCAL reference. The first two chapters of the book introduce general program design and PASCAL program structure. The third chapter explains how to use PASCAL's basic, unstructured data types, includ- ing user-defined types. Before going any further, the fourth chapter gives a thorough explanation of input and output operations and formatting; it is unusual but gratifying to see basic input/output explained so well so early. The fifth chapter finally intro- duces all of PASCAL's structured statements and a later chapter des- cribes procedures, functions and parameters. The remaining five out of the book's eleven chapters discuss data structures, based on PASCAL's data structuring mechanisms: arrays, records, files, sets and dynamic allocation. Cherry takes great pains to explain PASCAL's syntex and semantics very precisely and completely, to prevent students from slipping up because the text "failed to elucidate some syntac- tical banana peel". Most of Cherry's programming examples have been compiled and run on a real machine. The author prepared the manu- script on his own microcomputer, and the book is simply a reproduction of his daisy-wheel printer's output. However, the results are quite readable and visually pleasing. Programming in PASCAL Like the other books reviewed here, Grogono's book is intended as an introduction to computer program- ming. Like the previous author, Grogono also hopes to penetrate new markets by suggesting the book for a course on data structures, supple- mented by a standard text. The first chapter of the book intro- duces general program design and structure. The second and third chap- ters explain unstructured data types and structured statements. Input and output (read and write) are briefly introduced, but nowhere is output formatting discussed. Procedures, functions and parameters are described in the fourth chapter. An entire chap- ter, the fifth, is devoted to PASCAL's facilities for user-,'efined types. The next three chapters cover arrays and records, files and dynamic data structures. The last two chapters cover miscellaneous topics and principles of program development. Grogono's book was first published in 1978. Most of the changes in the 1980 revised edition are corrections rather than expositions of new material; the outline of the 1980 edition is the same as the 1978 edition's..Naturally, some errors from the 1978 edition still remain; for example, the syntex diagram and text on p 145 incorrectly require the semicolon after the last element in a CASE list to be omitted. Both editions of Grogono's book were reproduced from typewritten material, but not using a word pro- cessor. Still, both the accuracy and appearance of the revised edition are good. Programming standard PASCAL Holt and Hume take a structured approach towards teaching PASCAL by introducing PASCAL as a series of eight well-defined subsets of the complete language. These subsets develop simple calculating programs; variables and assignment statements; program control flow and structuring; arrays; alphanumeric processing; pro- cedures and functions; files and records; and pointers. Although well structured, the arrangement of material does not parallel the language itself. Interspersed with chapters for the PASCAL subsets, the book's 22 chap- ters include introductions to program- ming and computers; discussions of top-down and modular programming; data structures and applications includ- ing sorting, searching and numerical analysis; and introductions to assembly language, other high level languages and compilers. All of the programs were "tested using a PASCAL compiler." Holt and Hume's manuscript was produced using a word processing system on a computer and the book is a reproduction of pages from the computer's printer, after a 33 per cent reduction. Although the original print quality was good, the severe reduction yields type that is just too small to comfortably read, equivalent to 7 point type (for comparison, this review is set in I 0 point). vol 5 no 6july/august 1981 25 7

Upload: john-f-wakerly

Post on 21-Jun-2016

216 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

TRANSCRIPT

PASCAL introduced

PASCAL programming structures: an introduction to systematic pro- gramming G W Cherry, Reston (1980) 328 pp, £8.40

Programming in PASCAL P Grogono, Addison- Wesley (1978 - revised 1980) 3 73 pp, £5.95

Programming standard PASCAL R C Holt and J N P Hume, Reston (1980) 391 pp, £7.75

Foundations of programming with PASCAL L Moore, Ellis Horwood (1980) 238 pp, £14.50

They say that you cannot tell a book by its cover. Of these four introduc- tory PASCAL books, Moore's has the most inviting cover - a drawing of Alice in Wonderland having a conversation with the White Queen and Red Queen on the difficulties of counting. Well, you cannot always believe old sayings - Moore's book is in fact very good, my favourite of the group. The other three books sport a geometric design, a portrait of Blaise Pascal and a recursive view of Blaise trapped inside a terminal, and have strengths and weaknesses of their own. The books are discussed in the order listed above.

PASCAL programming structures

Cherry's book is oriented as a text for the typical 'Introduction to Computer Programming' course or as an aid to self-study. The author also suggests using the book in a course on Data Structures, supplemented by one of the standard texts on data structures. However, for a student who already knows PASCAL, I see noreason to prefer Cherry's book instead of a more concise PASCAL reference.

The first two chapters of the book introduce general program design and PASCAL program structure. The third chapter explains how to use PASCAL's basic, unstructured data types, includ-

ing user-defined types. Before going any further, the fourth chapter gives a thorough explanation of input and output operations and formatting; it is unusual but gratifying to see basic input/output explained so well so early. The fifth chapter finally intro- duces all of PASCAL's structured statements and a later chapter des- cribes procedures, functions and parameters. The remaining five out of the book's eleven chapters discuss data structures, based on PASCAL's data structuring mechanisms: arrays, records, files, sets and dynamic allocation.

Cherry takes great pains to explain PASCAL's syntex and semantics very precisely and completely, to prevent students from slipping up because the text "failed to elucidate some syntac- tical banana peel". Most of Cherry's programming examples have been compiled and run on a real machine.

The author prepared the manu- script on his own microcomputer, and the book is simply a reproduction of his daisy-wheel printer's output. However, the results are quite readable and visually pleasing.

Programming in PASCAL

Like the other books reviewed here, Grogono's book is intended as an introduction to computer program- ming. Like the previous author, Grogono also hopes to penetrate new markets by suggesting the book for a course on data structures, supple- mented by a standard text.

The first chapter of the book intro- duces general program design and structure. The second and third chap- ters explain unstructured data types and structured statements. Input and output (read and write) are briefly introduced, but nowhere is output formatting discussed. Procedures, functions and parameters are described in the fourth chapter. An entire chap- ter, the fifth, is devoted to PASCAL's facilities for user-,'efined types. The next three chapters cover arrays and records, files and dynamic data structures. The last two chapters

cover miscellaneous topics and principles of program development.

Grogono's book was first published in 1978. Most of the changes in the 1980 revised edition are corrections rather than expositions of new material; the outline of the 1980 edition is the same as the 1978 edition's..Naturally, some errors from the 1978 edition still remain; for example, the syntex diagram and text on p 145 incorrectly require the semicolon after the last element in a CASE list to be omitted.

Both editions of Grogono's book were reproduced from typewritten material, but not using a word pro- cessor. Still, both the accuracy and appearance of the revised edition are good.

Programming standard PASCAL

Holt and Hume take a structured approach towards teaching PASCAL by introducing PASCAL as a series of eight well-defined subsets of the complete language. These subsets develop simple calculating programs; variables and assignment statements; program control f low and structuring; arrays; alphanumeric processing; pro- cedures and functions; files and records; and pointers. Although well structured, the arrangement of material does not parallel the language itself.

Interspersed with chapters for the PASCAL subsets, the book's 22 chap- ters include introductions to program- ming and computers; discussions of top-down and modular programming; data structures and applications includ- ing sorting, searching and numerical analysis; and introductions to assembly language, other high level languages and compilers. All of the programs were "tested using a PASCAL compiler."

Holt and Hume's manuscript was produced using a word processing system on a computer and the book is a reproduction of pages from the computer's printer, after a 33 per cent reduction. Although the original print quality was good, the severe reduction yields type that is just too small to comfortably read, equivalent to 7 point type (for comparison, this review is set in I 0 point).

vol 5 no 6july/august 1981 25 7