BKCMPSCI.RVW   950417
 
"Computer Science: A Breadth-First Approach with C", John Impagliazzo/Paul
Nagin, 1995, 0-471-58552-1, U$45.50
%A   John Impagliazzo
%A   Paul Nagin
%C   605 Third Avenue, New York, NY   10158-0012
%D   1995
%G   0-471-58552-1
%I   John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
%O   U$45.50 800-CALL-WILEY 212-850-6630 Fax: 212-850-6799 jdemarra@jwiley.com
%P   746
%T   "Computer Science: A Breadth-First Approach with C"
 
Using C in an introductory computer course is possibly a good idea.  The
programming sections of this book are reasonable.  The text, however, is often
opaque and, when it deviates from the technology of programming, questionable.
 
Pedagogical forms have been followed but often without any resulting tutorial
value.  There is a list of learning objectives at the beginning of every
chapter, but these are not always helpful in directing study.  The second
"goal" in the very first chapter cites "nine areas of computing".  This likely
refers to a section called "Elements of Computing", but it is impossible to be
sure which of the twelve paragraphs or the twenty-six bolded terms are the
"nine" important ones.  Highlighted boxes throughout stress certain points: 
these are very often opinion rather than fact.  (Sometimes they contradict each
other, as in two items in chapters one and six on the topic of software
piracy.)  The exercises both within and at the end of chapters are of dubious
value, most often asking students simply to parrot the material, or perform
simplistic tasks.
 
According to the Preface, an instructor's manual and a disk of exercises are
available, but I haven't seen them.
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKCMPSCI.RVW   950417

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