This book is written in a non–computer-science style and is geared to the needs of the new or average user of microcomputers. It is neither precise enough nor deep enough for the professional. This lack of rigor makes it readable. The book begins with a 14-page overview of machine languages and higher level languages. Most of the book is actually a sampler of programming languages. Short summaries of the salient characteristics of 20 languages available to microcomputer users are given.

The second chapter deals with the familiar four, BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN, and Pascal. The author calls BASIC a general-purpose programming language without defining this, other than to say that BASIC has been used for many different kinds of programs. The third chapter, “Specialized Languages,” deepens this mystery. It contains what I would call truly specialized languages like Prolog and LOGO, and general purpose languages such as Ada, Modula-2, PL/1, and C.

The next chapter is devoted to other languages and in three pages covers SNOBOL 4, RPGII, ICON, and Smalltalk. The remaining section is called a reference section and contains useful chapters. The first, a chapter on language software, includes a paragraph on the language software available on each of the major micros. This section is quite long but still incomplete. Smalltalk has been available on the IBM PC and compatibles for a few years, yet it is not mentioned. The final chapter is entitled “Telecommunications, UNIX and Other Systems.” This is followed by an appendix and an index.

This book does not contain a complete list of programming languages nor does it mention all of the different microcomputers, but in an area that is growing so rapidly, the author makes a good effort. Simple, easy-to-understand illustrations of the various basic language forms are used to explain the languages. These capture the flavor of the languages being described. The bibliography at the end of each chapter lists more books for the interested reader. The books listed are nontechnical in nature. These bibliographies rarely list the definitive language reference manual. However, the appendix contains a section on advanced books. The book does not compare the features of the programming languages directly, but that is not its objective.

There are a number of minor errors in the book. Some of them are typographical in nature, and others are factual.

I would recommend this book to someone who is either starting to use microprocessors or has been using them in a simple way, such as with BASIC. This book will let that person know that there are a lot of languages out there in the world of micros. I would recommend the book to either the professional programmer or the student of programming languages.