• Pascal: The biggest incentive for students to learn Pascal is that it is the language used by the Educational Testing Service for the college advanced-placement test in computer science. Besides that practical consideration, learning Pascal teaches you good programming habits. It's a structured language, which means that you have to plan your program before you start writing it, and you build your program out of smaller subprograms. Programs with a structure are easier to debug and easier for other programmers to understand than the convoluted programs that can result from languages that let you design as you go along.

If you'd like first-hand experience with programming, go through A Touch of Applesoft BASIC. This book starts from square one. But by the time you finish, you'll know enough to write a simple program for balancing your checkbook, and you'll know whether programming is something you want to pursue further.

See Appendix D for a list of other programming languages available for the Apple IIGS.

Home finance applications help you make decisions about personal investments. You can use a home finance application to:

• Prepare a home budget (then compare your actual income and expenses to the income and expenses you projected).
   
• Flag deductible expenses to simplify the preparation of your tax return.
   
• Determine net worth (the current value of your assets minus your liabilities).
   
• Keep track of the appreciation and depreciation of your property.
   
• Find out when you have enough cash on hand to pay bills or make investments.
   
• Evaluate different investment options.
   
• Evaluate loan options. (Can you afford to pay off your home in 15 years or do you need a 30-year loan?)

Home finance

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