Having learned to code an Intel 8080A in hex while attending college, I was horrified when I found out what the family's VIC20 was doing when I ran a BASIC proggie. So I swore off higher level languages forever (so I thought). About a decade and a half later I had to reprogram a couple of IBM Industrial 486s at work when new machinery was added to the system. The main program was coded in PASCAL and I had to learn it quick. This book helped out immensely with that.