MODULA-2 is a compiled, high-level, structured, and strongly typed programming language that shares its parentage with PASCAL (Niklaus Wirth). This book is a reasonably priced paperback book of 270 pages, that is intended to:
The book succeeds admirably on the first option, but will leave the experienced PASCAL programmer shaking his head, wondering why he bothered. The experienced programmer is advised to begin at Chapter 7, which is not very meaty at all (five pages later, the appendices begin). The author does not state that the book would be suitable for a course textbook, and I agree with this omission. Although there are problems at the end of the chapters, which the author has graded [L=leisure, M=moderate, D=difficult, S=strenuous], there are few, and I suggest a revised scheme [S=simple, R=ridiculous]. For example, we have
“which are valid strings? . . .” [S (my rating)]
and
(paraphrased) “How is MODULA-2 similar to ADA? How does it differ?” [R (my rating)]
These two are found at the end of Chapter 1, no less]
The book proceeds from the basics (INTEGER, CARDINAL, REAL numbers, etc., IF, CASE constructs), through Procedures, Recursion, exotic user-defined data types, etc., in the first five chapters (two-thirds of the book). It appears to be a satisfactory introduction, nicely layed out, broad enough but not thorough, and very readable (a lighthearted, humorous delivery).
But this is not an advanced work, nor a useful reference tool for an advanced programmer. Recursion, low-level facilities, and coroutines are all given short shrift.
In summary, this is a humorous and enlightening introduction to MODULA-2 for programmers unfamiliar with PASCAL. If you have a personal computer, and have or would like to acquire a MODULA-2 compiler to save you from the inevitable brain damage that occurs to people who program in BASIC beyond the age of puberty, then this would be a useful, readable, and enjoyable book. It is not, however, very suitable for coursework. It is of lighter weight than other MODULA-2 books I have seen and/or reviewed. The exercises are minimal and quite uneven. The meatier, weightier topics are underrepresented, and it is not an advanced book, nor a useful reference work.
