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Micro Cookbook, vol. 1 (Review).....................Bill Morgan

Here are some more details about Don Lancaster's other new book, "Micro Cookbook, vol. 1 -- Fundamentals."  As I said last month, the focus of the book is what to learn and how to learn it.  He emphasizes "what actually gets used", rather than an exhaustive coverage of all possibilities.

The best quick description of the book is an excerpt from the Preface:

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Our aim is to show you how micros work, and how you can profit from and enjoy the micro revolution.

We start with the power and the underlying idea behind all micros.  From there we build up the framework for all the important micro concepts and terms.  The micro-
processor families are broken down into three simple and easily understood schools.

Chapter Two starts with a set of rules for winning the micro game.  These rules have been thoroughly tested in the real world and are not at all what you might expect.  After that, we check into many of the resources that are available to you as a micro user.  A survey of micro trainers is included.

The Funny Numbers section (Chapter 3) shows you ways to use and understand the number systems involved in micros, particularly binary and hexadecimal.  From there, we look at logic, both as hardware gates and as software commands.

The fourth chapter is all about codes.  The important codes that are covered include straight binary, 2's complement binary, ASCII, BCD, instruction codes, user port codes, and various serial data-transmission codes and standards.  The 2's complement codings are presented in a new and understandable way.

Chapter 5 tells us many things about memory.  We go into electronic memory -- beginning with simple latches and progressing to clocked flip-flops.  Mainstream microcomputer memory is attacked next -- from static RAMs up through dynamic RAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, and EEPROM memories.
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"Micro Cookbook -- Fundamentals" is just that:  Fundamental.  I am a complete novice on hardware.  After reading Lancaster's book, I still can't design custom interfaces for my Apple, but I can now read the more technical books without getting totally lost.  I have a better understanding of address decoding and of what the memory chips are really doing.  The book is informative, enlightening, and entertaining.  I recommend it.

This Cookbook is about 360 pages of text, plus appendices and index.  There are many drawings and charts.  List price is $15.95.  We will be selling it for $15.00 + postage.
