Needs: MS-DOS (compatible with all Windows since 3.0), PKUNZIP
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Now at last available as shareware, STAR ALPHA is the program that started Chatfield Software, Inc. in business. STAR ALPHA is a complete college poetry course on disk. Its Artificial Intelligence (AI) features enable you to talk with your PC as you enter messages from your keyboard. You have never seen anything like it!
STAR ALPHA opens with a playful creative section that allows you to become acquainted with the software and its protocols before beginning the actual course--which, when the time is right, generates custom mid-term and final examinations for each user and provides an answer key to allow self-grading. STAR ALPHA has been the main "textbook" in Hale Chatfield's (its author's) college poetry course since 1990. The current offering is the 1997 version 3.1.
Of STAR ALPHA, "Computers and the Humanities" wrote "STAR ALPHA is a fine 'Introduction to Poetry' . . . guaranteed not only to teach . . . the basics of poetry but also to imbue a love of poetry itself . . . . The program's instructions are clear, concise, and uncomplicated" (see the entire review at http://www.std.com/poetryworld/salpha.html). "Wilson Library Bulletin" wrote "STAR ALPHA is an amazing tool for self-directed study. It is exceedingly interactive, very engaging, and quite comprehensive."
Special disk preparation required: see the file README.TXT. (The manual is contained in the file STARA.TXT.)
Refer all technical questions, including installation and operation questions via email to: Hchatfield@aol.com
