Cute Books

I learned BasicLanguage from a book with cute little birds. Is this kind of story-based instruction still being used in computer literature today?

TheLittleSchemer is pretty popular among SmugLispWeenies. -- There's now a whole litter of TheLittleBooks, like a basketful of fuzzy puppies.

I learned BasicLanguage from Jerald Brown's "Instant Freeze-Dried Computer Programming in BASIC" ISBN 0918138043 . It had bizarre designs and illustrations, but it communicated the subject.

Why's PoignantGuideToRuby is an extremely cute book.

http://www.lisperati.com/casting.html is cute but the author seems pretty new at LispLanguage. Which is fine.

The Head First series by O'Reilly and Associates (http://headfirst.oreilly.com/) tries very hard to use cuteness as a mnemonic aid.

Notably HeadFirstDesignPatterns by EricFreeman et al.

I also learned to program a computer from Jerald Brown's "Instant Freeze-Dried Computer Programming in BASIC". It was a very engaging book and presented the language in a way that was easy to grasp. I still have my copy, given to me in 1982 or so, and intend to pass it on to my children to enjoy when they are old enough (and if they have any interest in the subject!).

Back in 1982 I didn't even own a computer but was so interested in them that when a friend of my mother's gave me the book, I immediately read it from cover to cover and did the end-of-chapter questions using pencil and paper! Those were the days!

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