Review of "Introduction to Computers and Data Processing, by Gary B. Shelly and Thomas J. Cashman", Anaheim Publishing Co., 1980
Blake Ives · ACM SIGMIS Database the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems · 1980
This column does not as a general practice review textbooks, particularly introductory texts. This issue, however, we will make an exception for what we consider to be a major breakthrough in introductory data processing texts. If you pick the book up and leaf through the pages, you may think you grabbed the National Geographic by mistake. Full-color photographs, drawings and diagrams appear on almost every page and richly illustrate the text. The photographs portray computers in use rather than spread out across vendor showrooms. The diagrams are generally of high quality, with the text in many cases serving to supplement the graphics rather than the other way around.