if there was a choice between this boolk or Celestial BASIC, I would recommend this book over Celestial BASIC.
The reason is that Celestial BASIC isn't a great book - it is. But Astronomy With Your Personal Computer is a great book for anyone who is going to write their first total observational astronomy system. For those who are not sure the code will be compatible to your BASIC interpreter or compiler, Peter Duffett-Smith wrote his code using the most basic subset of the BASIC language, or called Minimal BASIC spec'd out about the mid 1970's, so the code should work out of the box with small changes to it. I have run the first few programs with QB64 (on my macOS and Linux Mint i386/AMD64 CPU), BestBASIC on my MAC (written with the Minimal BASIC standards plus some improved features), and with TechBASIC on my iOS iPad.
Unlike the code that comes with Celestial BASIC, Smith's code is small and what we would call "tightly integrated." the drawback is that he uses only two letters for his variable names, which makes it impossible to tell what they are, and the tightly written code will be tougher to updfate.
HOWEVER, Smith does an excellent job docmenting practically every line of code (photo attached), explaining what he's trying to accomplish with it. and like other books that try to teach you a programming language, he provides the code on the right-side of the page, and the descriptions next to it on the left-side.
The sample page, from a just more than a page of code to type, shows how he explains things, how tight his code is, and for every function, subroutine or module, he also provides a sample output, which gives you a way to test what you typed in to see if you are getting the right answers.
I want to make a point here clear about the other book, Celestial BASIC, which I also bought and when I read through it in the next few days, I will write a review. Written by Eric Burgess, was one of the first book of its kind first published in 1982 with its second printing in 1985, the same year Smith's book was published, it too is very well written and even provides you with historical context of the formulas you are inputting your program for, which runs about 3 book pages, is written for Apple II's Applesoft, Apple IIgs and TRS-80 computers. While Apple IIgs BASIC's rivals that of PowerBASIC of today, Burgess' code is also well written, but caters more to those who are technically proficient in ASTRONOMY (just my opinion). His book is 60+ pages longer, and even offers multiple coding solutions in the appendix to some of the code found in the text. Burgess also kept his coding to the Minimal BASIC standard, which 35 years later still makes it just as viable a tool for amateur astronomers today as it was when first printed in 1982. (Find my review of his book a few days after this one).
As a computer scientist of 45 years, and a professional cosmologist, I tend to write my systems based on books like Celestial Calculations (another book I purchased to replace a copy of a similar book I had many years ago) and I take the raw formulas and derive my own computer systems. Look for my review on that book as well.
If you can afford it, I would recommend that you also purchase Celestial BASIC along side this book (Astronomy With Your Personal Computer), and you'll have a very complete set of code and documentation that will enhance any code you plan to use in your studies, whether it be academic or scientific as an amateur astronomer/cosmologist.
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Top reviews from other countries
- George McGinnReviewed in the United States on 18 May 2020
Easily understood coding, and explanation when comparing similar books
if there was a choice between this boolk or Celestial BASIC, I would recommend this book over Celestial BASIC.George McGinnEasily understood coding, and explanation when comparing similar books
Reviewed in the United States on 18 May 2020
The reason is that Celestial BASIC isn't a great book - it is. But Astronomy With Your Personal Computer is a great book for anyone who is going to write their first total observational astronomy system. For those who are not sure the code will be compatible to your BASIC interpreter or compiler, Peter Duffett-Smith wrote his code using the most basic subset of the BASIC language, or called Minimal BASIC spec'd out about the mid 1970's, so the code should work out of the box with small changes to it. I have run the first few programs with QB64 (on my macOS and Linux Mint i386/AMD64 CPU), BestBASIC on my MAC (written with the Minimal BASIC standards plus some improved features), and with TechBASIC on my iOS iPad.
Unlike the code that comes with Celestial BASIC, Smith's code is small and what we would call "tightly integrated." the drawback is that he uses only two letters for his variable names, which makes it impossible to tell what they are, and the tightly written code will be tougher to updfate.
HOWEVER, Smith does an excellent job docmenting practically every line of code (photo attached), explaining what he's trying to accomplish with it. and like other books that try to teach you a programming language, he provides the code on the right-side of the page, and the descriptions next to it on the left-side.
The sample page, from a just more than a page of code to type, shows how he explains things, how tight his code is, and for every function, subroutine or module, he also provides a sample output, which gives you a way to test what you typed in to see if you are getting the right answers.
I want to make a point here clear about the other book, Celestial BASIC, which I also bought and when I read through it in the next few days, I will write a review. Written by Eric Burgess, was one of the first book of its kind first published in 1982 with its second printing in 1985, the same year Smith's book was published, it too is very well written and even provides you with historical context of the formulas you are inputting your program for, which runs about 3 book pages, is written for Apple II's Applesoft, Apple IIgs and TRS-80 computers. While Apple IIgs BASIC's rivals that of PowerBASIC of today, Burgess' code is also well written, but caters more to those who are technically proficient in ASTRONOMY (just my opinion). His book is 60+ pages longer, and even offers multiple coding solutions in the appendix to some of the code found in the text. Burgess also kept his coding to the Minimal BASIC standard, which 35 years later still makes it just as viable a tool for amateur astronomers today as it was when first printed in 1982. (Find my review of his book a few days after this one).
As a computer scientist of 45 years, and a professional cosmologist, I tend to write my systems based on books like Celestial Calculations (another book I purchased to replace a copy of a similar book I had many years ago) and I take the raw formulas and derive my own computer systems. Look for my review on that book as well.
If you can afford it, I would recommend that you also purchase Celestial BASIC along side this book (Astronomy With Your Personal Computer), and you'll have a very complete set of code and documentation that will enhance any code you plan to use in your studies, whether it be academic or scientific as an amateur astronomer/cosmologist.
Images in this review
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Cliente AmazonReviewed in Spain on 11 August 2017
Libro interesante en los conceptos de astronomia, pero la evolucion de la tecnología informatica hace que haya quedado anticuado
- S. HammReviewed in the United States on 8 February 2010
Review of Astronomy With Your Personal Computer
