[flagged]
These books are well out of date, hence they're being offered free.
Usborne 1980s Computer Books
51–60 of 62 posts
Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books
#52Thanks for this. When I was growing up the local library and the school one both had a lot of Usborne books on what seemed like every subject under the sun. I particularly remember them having very good artwork. One of my mother's friends was a direct seller of their books, so I got a few that was as well.
Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books
#53We had some of this books translated into Portuguese.
As kid, starting at the age of 10 years old, I was devouring the Timex 2068 manual and two other programming books my father gave to me.
Then it was computer magazines and the local library.
We had a very famous collection, some of the books were Osborne translations, and books from this collection are still sold today on portuguese ebay, OLX.
https://m.olx.pt/d/anuncio/revista-informtica-crebro-IDHVcvg...
https://m.olx.pt/d/anuncio/n1-2-e-3-da-revista-informtica-vi...
https://m.olx.pt/d/anuncio/o-meu-primeiro-livro-do-zx-spectr...
https://m.olx.pt/d/anuncio/livro-zx-spectrum-cdigo-de-mquina...
Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books
#54The "Practice your BASIC" book was in my school library, and in the spring of 1989, I was able to take said book to the computer room at lunch breaks and for a donation of 40p to charity (Cafod, it was a Catholic school), I could do what I wanted on the computers. I learned to code. Most of the other kids played games. That book started a remarkable journey. By 1996 I was at University studying Software Engineering,…
Check out 'Coding for Beginners Using Python' by Osborne. Also have a look at 'Coding Projects in Python' by DK books. Both these books are excellent and would enable a smart and determined 11 year old to learn to code. To be honest these books teach coding in a way that is much easier than it was in your day. You can also jump on many, many websites and teach yourself how to code. You're also an exception. Many, man…
Right place, right time, right level of curiosity. Back then, I didn't really have a choice: there weren't any other books in my school library, I didn't want to spend lunchtimes in the playground (I was being bullied), I knew programming would be potentially useful (my Dad had switched from being an accountant to something I heard was called a "systems analyst", which I knew had something to do with computers, and had allowed him to emigrate with his new family), and well, I was a bit of a mess.
I have seen some of the newer projects, and like I say, the Raspberry Pi stuff makes programmable computing accessible to a kid without much, I just don't think the bar overall is as low as it was for me.
And yeah, survivorship bias, and a weird population skew with me: I was literally the only kid in that computer room determined to learn how to code.
Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
[picture of Tips Kitty] Don't forget! Every time you see " ⦙ " in the listing, press the [Tab] key on your keyboard. See page 23 to learn why this is important. And page 23 teaches you about significant whitespace, and how to configure several text editors that a kid's likely to have available to actually show it like that. Heck, I use Panic's Nova for my text editing and it does that out of the box with no configura…
Python is also already all over the Raspberry Pi and MicroPython/CircuitPython spheres, so there's an easy road into SBCs and microcontrollers. Education has already chosen Python as the preferred language for this sort of thing. It has some unfortunate bits, but it's certainly a more ergonomic language than BASIC. Counting tabs is less arduous than messing with line numbers and GOSUB.
The modern Usborne book uses Python.
https://usborne.com/row/books/browse-by-category/science-and...
Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books
#56The page is redirected to https://usborne.com/fr/books/computer-and-coding-books which is 404, and there is no way around it. That's quite maddening when a website does this kind of things.
Apparently people aren't aware that not everybody lives in the US, but some may want to see the US page of the website anyway. Auto-redirecting people to the local version is incredibly stupid, particularly when it ends in a 404.
It's a British publisher, so they're not unaware, just incompetent.
Maybe the global page would work better than the US page which is the HN link.
Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books
#57As a millenial, I first got into something-like-programming by playing around with Game Maker. A few of my colleagues have said similar. I'm curious to see where others in my cohort started...
Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Check out 'Coding for Beginners Using Python' by Osborne. Also have a look at 'Coding Projects in Python' by DK books. Both these books are excellent and would enable a smart and determined 11 year old to learn to code. To be honest these books teach coding in a way that is much easier than it was in your day. You can also jump on many, many websites and teach yourself how to code. You're also an exception. Many, man…
Right place, right time, right level of curiosity. Back then, I didn't really have a choice: there weren't any other books in my school library, I didn't want to spend lunchtimes in the playground (I was being bullied), I knew programming would be potentially useful (my Dad had switched from being an accountant to something I heard was called a "systems analyst", which I knew had something to do with computers, and h…
The average house in the UK now has 1.3 laptops.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/09/online-al...
A windows laptop from today is vastly easier to code on that a C64 or whatever. Most houses would have an internet connection as well so they can get to all sorts of things.
A Raspberry Pi is probably something richer kids get to play with.
Have you had a look at Scratch?
Primary School kids today in Australia often get a Chromebook and have some tutoring in Scratch. Again, it gets you the ideas of coding in a way that more kids will get.
You mention the lack of alternatives that got you and other kids into coding. That's probably a thing. There is so much more entertainment available today that most kids probably don't get bored like kids did in the past and sat down and learnt to code. It has to be more intentional.
When I was a kid my mum was a teacher and brought home a computer over the school holidays which had no games. I taught myself databases and spreadsheets because there was a good tutorial on that.
There is also probably something in that until, say, the 2010s computers were not quite ubiquitous enough that they were a constant part of kids lives. Certainly in the 1980s and 1990s there was something almost magical about the devices. A kid today who grows up in a household with smartphones, tablets, laptops and multiple smart TVs probably won't get the same thrill about moving an object around a screen as someone did 30+ years ago.
Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apparently people aren't aware that not everybody lives in the US, but some may want to see the US page of the website anyway. Auto-redirecting people to the local version is incredibly stupid, particularly when it ends in a 404.
It's a British publisher, so they're not unaware, just incompetent. Maybe the global page would work better than the US page which is the HN link. https://usborne.com/row/books/computer-and-coding-books
Nope, also redirect to the "fr" version if you're using a French browser, even when using a VPN connection localised in UK...
Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books
#60Is there some relationship between Usborne and Osborne books? And of course the Osborne portable computer?
No, just different variants of the same surname.