Elementary BASIC: Learning to Program Your Computer in BASIC with Sherlock Holmes

The “Analytical Engine,” the direct forebear of today’s computers, came into use at just about the time that Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the first Sherlock Holmes story. Suppose, as the authors of this book do, that Sherlock Holmes solved his cases by feeding clues into the machine. This notion may startle detective story aficionados, but computer buffs will find that it provides a matchless teaching tool. In the new Sherlock Holmes stories presented here, the great detective enlists the aid of the Analytical Engine. As his computer programs sift through clues and unravel puzzles, Holmes instructs Dr. Watson, and the reader, in a way that illuminates the mysteries of computer programming. The book’s detailed examples and programs enable the reader to follow each problem on his own computer and to reach for himself Holmes’s often surprising conclusions.

Here is an entertaining, sure-fire, step-by-step primer on how to program your computer in Basic that proves that computer programming needn’t be a mystery.