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Rating: 
Summary: Brian Harvey gives Logo the respect it deserves
Review: Brian Harvey shows us that Logo is not a programming language "for kids". This misconception is erased with his books, showing that computer programming with Logo can be fun, relatively easy, and yet as powerful (or even more) than with other more popular computer programming languages.
Rating: 
Summary: Pssst -- comes with a personal tutor inside the book!
Review: I'm giving this book "4.5 STARS". It looses half a star because of the title -- sure, its accurate, but its also boring. Who but a college or university student would buy a book about ... COMPUTER SCIENCE, ugh! (which is probably why there hasn't been a review on this book(s) any sooner)This book is about having FUN learning how to program (with a special language). Kick off your shoes, grab a java, turn on some background music or watch a hockey game on TV out of the corner of your eye and "have at it" -- have some fun learning to program. Just DON'T call it Computer Science! (even though it is). The truth is these books cut through the tedium of learning something like C++ or Assembly and gets you into "programming stuff" a lot sooner. Everything you learn with LOGO can be directly applied to other languages anyway. And that's what, ahh, er, the Science of Computer Programming is about. The author has a very casual yet informative style of writing. Sort of like having a having a buddy sitting next to you offering some laid-back advise--only this buddy is knowledgeable and helpful. What do you learn? Well, I'm not going to use the C.S. words--let me simply say you learn important principles of programming using the LOGO computer language on some projects. Yeah, that's LOGO not LEGO. It's a powerful computer language derived from Lisp...and used, among other things, in robotics, and AI. Okay, so you've figured out that I'm pretty keen on this series of books (vol1,2,3). After you get into LOGO for a while you're even going to ask yourself why LOGO isn't more popular, why isn't if utilized more in learning institutions. Probably because it isn't as politically correct. Surely Assembly, and C++, etc.,are necessary evils, but they're not fast and slick in terms of the learning curve required to get you producing applications and understanding computer concepts. Bottom Line: Don't underestimate LOGO! And if you want to learn, CXXXXXXX SXXXXXX, (scratch that)--if you want to have FUN learning how to program, check out these books! You can find a "Table of Contents" at the authors website if your interested. Put in its simplest form, Volume 1 deals mainly with learning the LOGO language with some projects. Volume 2 is about projects and extending the LOGO language. Volume 3, well, with this volume it's fair to use the words Computer Science as the focus of the text. Personally, give me Volume 1 & 2, and another 2, and another 2, etc. IOW's I have no hesitation in recommending that you own vol 1 & 2 straight away. Vol 3..., maybe. Not because it isn't well written, ...its just more specialized.
Rating:
Summary: Brian Harvey gives Logo the respect it deserves
Review: I'm giving this book "4.5 STARS". It looses half a star because of the title -- sure, its accurate, but its also boring. Who but a college or university student would buy a book about ... COMPUTER SCIENCE, ugh! (which is probably why there hasn't been a review on this book(s) any sooner) This book is about having FUN learning how to program (with a special language). Kick off your shoes, grab a java, turn on some background music or watch a hockey game on TV out of the corner of your eye and "have at it" -- have some fun learning to program. Just DON'T call it Computer Science! (even though it is). The truth is these books cut through the tedium of learning something like C++ or Assembly and gets you into "programming stuff" a lot sooner. Everything you learn with LOGO can be directly applied to other languages anyway. And that's what, ahh, er, the Science of Computer Programming is about. The author has a very casual yet informative style of writing. Sort of like having a having a buddy sitting next to you offering some laid-back advise--only this buddy is knowledgeable and helpful. What do you learn? Well, I'm not going to use the C.S. words--let me simply say you learn important principles of programming using the LOGO computer language on some projects. Yeah, that's LOGO not LEGO. It's a powerful computer language derived from Lisp...and used, among other things, in robotics, and AI. Okay, so you've figured out that I'm pretty keen on this series of books (vol1,2,3). After you get into LOGO for a while you're even going to ask yourself why LOGO isn't more popular, why isn't if utilized more in learning institutions. Probably because it isn't as politically correct. Surely Assembly, and C++, etc.,are necessary evils, but they're not fast and slick in terms of the learning curve required to get you producing applications and understanding computer concepts. Bottom Line: Don't underestimate LOGO! And if you want to learn, CXXXXXXX SXXXXXX, (scratch that)--if you want to have FUN learning how to program, check out these books! You can find a "Table of Contents" at the authors website if your interested. Put in its simplest form, Volume 1 deals mainly with learning the LOGO language with some projects. Volume 2 is about projects and extending the LOGO language. Volume 3, well, with this volume it's fair to use the words Computer Science as the focus of the text. Personally, give me Volume 1 & 2, and another 2, and another 2, etc. IOW's I have no hesitation in recommending that you own vol 1 & 2 straight away. Vol 3..., maybe. Not because it isn't well written, ...its just more specialized.
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