About
COMPUSOFT®
and the Author

All books published by Compusoft Publishing, a Division of COMPUSOFT®, are written by David A. Lien.

A 50+ year member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), Dr. David Lien is one of the world's most widely acclaimed technical authors.

A pioneer of the Personal Computing age, his many years of teaching Electronics, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science and Computer Programming at all levels from Elementary School through Graduate School, public and private, non-profit and commercial, plus years of "hands on" experience as an Aerospace Engineer, and Broadcasting Engineer, and as a "Teacher's Teacher" and College Dean, uniquely qualify him to teach technical subjects in clear and simple language. He knows the technical jargon, and how to write without it.

Dr. Lien has written dozens of magazine articles and written, revised or edited over 56 books including translations into 12 foreign languages with total book sales over 4 million copies. He began writing as the Home Computer industry was just emerging and the market was yet tiny, and helped develop that global market.

His early computer experience in the 1960's was with an IBM 1401 while a Traveling Wave Tube Engineer and Technical Marketing Analyst at Hughes Aircraft Company. Next came a DEC PDP-8 as a graduate Engineering student at the University of Illinois. Statistical analysis for the Doctoral dissertation at UCLA was performed on an IBM 360/40 while teaching in the School of Engineering at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo. As Dean of Mathematics and Physical Sciences at Grossmont College in El Cajon, California, a DEC 10 was the source of inspiration. It was there he met an Altair microcomputer, and an Imsai.

Meanwhile, Tandy Corporation was exploring the idea of designing and manufacturing a "Home Computer" for the mass market. Tandy executives recognized that commercial success of this cutting edge product would not lie solely in its technical features, but also in its acceptance and usability by ordinary buyers with no computer background.

The author was a member of the fledgling San Diego Computer Society which held meetings at Grossmont College. Based on his prior publishing record with Prentice-Hall, etc. he was contacted by Tandy to write a totally new style of Learners Manual for computer beginners. It would not only document this new devices technical features and teach how to program and use it, but bridge the large psychological gap between the machine and new user and take away the fear.

This 232 page Tutorial style Learners Manual which accompanied the TRS-80 Model I Level I was a spectacular success. It was also published in store editions, and in German, French and Spanish. Sales of the Radio Shack TRS-80 Home Computer skyrocketed with rave reports from buyers about the ease of writing useful programs in BASIC. Rave reviews about the Learners Manual appeared in virtually every computer magazine around the world. Both the computer and the book broke new ground.

Subsequent analysis and commentary proclaimed this tutorial style Learners Manual to be a significant turning point in the evolution of computer "documentation". It has been the subject of analysis in University studies, as a text in University level writing courses, and for computer programming courses at all levels.

Many of today's computer programmers and managers first exposure to computers was with a TRS-80 computer and the Learning Level I Manual. Thirty Five years later, the author still hears from successful happy students around the world who learned from his Classic book(s). [Address below.] The widely studied and emulated Learners Manual style also spawned a generation of "look alike" and "copycat" authors and publishers who often confuse cutesy with teaching.

The success of the TRS-80 Level I Users Manual prompted the author to write The BASIC Handbook. Direct mail sales were so strong the author left his College Dean position to devote full time to its worldwide marketing and to the writing and production of additional Personal Computer books.

In 1976 David Lien created the business name COMPUSOFT®, and in San Diego, California formed the computer company named COMPUSOFT, later Compusoft, Inc. COMPUSOFT proceeded immediately to establish a global presence.

About this time the Apple and the Commodore Pet entered the scene, so Learning Apple II was written plus several books on the Macintosh. IBM also entered the market with its IBM Personal Computer and gave the "home computer" or "micro computer" industry a new focus. The Compusoft Learning Series® featured the best-selling Learning BASIC for the IBM PC which went through numerous revisions and printings as the BASIC language matured and which serves today as the introductory textbook for many computer programming students. Best selling books teaching MS-DOS followed.

A series of customized tutorials for new computers ranging from Britain's Sinclair to Germanys Schneider helped new users circumvent mind-numbing factory manuals. The innovative Tandy Models 100 and 200 portable computers, precursors to today's small lap and palmtops were strongly supported, teaching owners how to use word processing, spread sheets, databases and telecommunications software.

As the record selling The BASIC Handbook went into yet another edition and into numerous foreign translations, a small new company named Epson America appeared with an innovative new low priced dot matrix printer. They engaged CompuSoft and Dr. Lien to produce a Learners Manual in the style of the TRS-80 Learners Manual and to lend his name to promotion of the new printer product line. He wrote the acclaimed MX-80 Users Manuals and similar ones for later Epson printers. Compusoft Peripherals, a division of Compusoft Inc. helped the product launch by selling Epson printers and related hardware and software to the formidable Compusoft mailing list. Epson's computer printer business skyrocketed from zero, on the way to where it is today.

David Lien went on to write best-selling tutorial and reference books for nearly every popular Personal Computer in the world, and was reported to be the worlds best-selling Technical Author for over a decade. He received many awards and honors for innovation, including both EXCELLENCE IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT, and DIPLOMATE status FOR CONTINUED AND PERSISTENT EXCELLENCE IN ADVANCEMENT OF THE PERSONAL COMPUTER from The San Diego Computer Society.

Compusoft's global business flourished over the decades, aided by it's annual presence at the Frankfurt Bookfaire and by a marketing presence in many different countries. Various Compusoft books are translated into up to 12 other languages. From the earliest days in the 1970's, Compusoft books were featured, reviewed and praised in virtually every computer magazine in the world.



w6ovp@arrl.net
PO Box 1014
Battle Ground, WA 98604