MS-DOS: Simplified User Guide

Charles R. Crawford, a mathematics and computer-programming consultant,
was an associate professor of Computer Science at York University.

This slim book is a short introduction to the ms-dos operating system
for personal computers, with emphasis on the file system. Much of the
information is presented graphically. Images of keyboards, printers, and
so on are mixed with text, and arrows guide the eye from image to image.
The book has an index and a glossary.

This work shows the potential of graphic style, but is deficient in
organization and content. Although it appears to be a tutorial text, the
top and right edges of each page are marked with tabs as in a reference
manual, leaving excessive white space. The placement and sequencing of
images is not consistent from page to page: some image sequences are
organized horizontally across facing pages, while others go vertically.
The reader must pay close attention to the guiding arrows.

Although the images describe file structure very well, many other
topics require motivation and detailed examples. Many new computer users
anticipate a paperless office without filing cabinets and folders; the
text should explain why old-fashioned methods of paper organization are
very useful in organizing computer files. A single example with two or
three files in the reader’s own directory could be carried through to
illustrate each command. Once you have created, copied, erased, and
sorted individual files, you understand why you need “backup” and
“restore” commands.