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From: einstein@cs.mcgill.ca (Michael CHOWET)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: Seeking a book
Message-ID: <1991Feb15.223827.6396@cs.mcgill.ca>
Date: 15 Feb 91 22:38:27 GMT
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In article <25925@adm.brl.mil> capehart@nevada.edu (Anne Racel) writes:
>
>=> I am seeking a book for a friend learning pascal.  This book should not
>=> deal with syntax, she is more interested in non-trivial programs using
>=> interesting algorithms and data structures.  
>
>    Best book I've ever run into is called, "Oh, Pascal" (can't find it right
>to give you the author's name).  Written in a conversational style, with
>lots of humor thrown it to keep you going.  And in clear enough text that
>a beginner with no programming experience can follow it.

  This is all true, but in the original post, there was somthing mentioned
about NOT looking for language syntax books. As far as I know, Cooper's
Oh! Pascal (with its sidekick Oh! Turbo Pascal) are mainly language syntax.

  To throw in my two cents, I'd reccomend, for a beginner with data
structures with knowledge of the language's syntax, "Pascal Plus Data
Structures" by Dale & Lilly. That was my second Pascal book (Oh! Pascal
was, interestingly enough, my first :} ). 

  It's written just as well as the Oh! Pascal, folding in this that and
the other, all to keep the book clear and easy to read. It covers the
basics in the way of structures. Stuff like Queues, Stacks (I can't remember
if there were dequeues as well...), and trees. As well, it does a great job
covering most of the popular sorting algorithms.

  And, just like was asked, the emphasis is more on problem solving than
code. The programs are developped first and foremost in pseudocode. By the
time I read Chapter 9, I was beginning to think that the code at the end
of chapters was an add-on, making the theoretical come to life...

  The only thing the book covers in the way of syntax is pointers, since
many people who learn Pascal do not cover pointers (at least not in a
first class...). I must say, though, that their explanation of pointers 
was a godsend for the poor muddled souls in last semesters in my 250
class who were thouroughly overwhelmed by the concept. Clear, easy
to understand, a must for beginners.

  As a final point, the current edition, I'm pretty sure it's the third,
also has included a diskette with the code given in the book. This is a
good idea, but having thouroughly gotten my money's worth out of the
*second* (diskless) edition, I can't say how much of it is there, though
I'd suspect most everything.