Using Basic to draw diagrams or pictures on the C64 is, to put it politely, painful. Now Activision has made it a pleasure.

This is a powerful package, so you can expect to have to spend a bit of time learning how to use it to its full potential. It is similar in many ways to a programming language such as Logo, but with more features. You can draw numbers, letters, circles, change colour and fill shapes while playing tunes.

The pencil language also includes GOTOs, subroutines and a "skip next instruction if...". Don't panic if you take ages keying in programs; it's all done using the joystick to point at the next statement to add to the program. Even editing and running the program is joystick-controlled.

Getting the hang of The Designer's Pencil can claim education benefits both for geometry and programming concepts. The instruction leaflet is fairly easy to learn from and the software includes several demonstration programs to help. As well as listing programs on the printer you can print the pictures, given the right printer. All this for £11.95 is excellent value.

B.J.