Author: Joseph J Carr
Publisher: Tab Books (1978)
ISBN: 0830698868
Category: Electronics / Circuits
Synopsis:
The microprocessor-based small computer is no longer a new fad for the dilettante. Both professional and hobbyist are past the "Oh Gosh! It really is..." stage, and many want to learn how to put the machine to good use. Applications is the watchword today. This book is offered to fill an apparent gap in the literature. Many fine books have been written" on programming, and most fields, especially business programming, seem too well covered.. But to the user who wants to use the machine to measure or control, little is available. Those I/O ports are essentially useless unless they are connected to a prefabricated peripheral. We will tell you what else you can do with them.
To the professional engineer, both hardware and software types, learning to apply the microprocessor on the chip or controller level has become an economic necessity; more and more employment advertisements list "microprocessor design experience" among entry level requirements. A friend of mine is a nuclear engineer, and only deals with electronics as one of several tools, then only on the black box level. But his first civilian employer, who had been a Navy "nuke," advised him to become familiar with the design of instrumentation and control systems based on the microprocessor before reporting for work. A lot of night sessions with a KIM-1 proved profitable, I am sure.
The scientist also finds work for the microcomputer. The machine will handle the analytical chores almost as well as any other computer because it will number crunch with the best of them, only usually slower. But the microcomputer can also be used to make a" low-cost data logger or control system for an experiment. Bare-bones microcomputers are available that will do the job for less than $100. Systems with lots of whistles and bells can be obtained for less than $1000-and even look like computers to the layman. Even retail hobby vendors such as Radio Shack are into this market. Radio Shack offers their TRS-80 line, which is rated a "best buy" in its class by some experts.
The computer hobbyist has become far more sophisticated. In the past, the hobbyist would assemble and debug a kit, then amuse friends and a dubious spouse with dozens of video games on the computer, including not less than a dozen versions of space war. But after shooting down the Klingon warships with your photon torpedoes for the six-hundredth time, many users want to explore some real, honest, practical uses for their toy.
This present book is designed to fill an apparent gap in the literature of the hobbyist (and professional for that matter). There are numerous books on computers, how they work, micro-computers/microprocessors, etc. There are also numerous books on BASIC programming, and even a dozen or so compendiums of BASIC programs useful to certain segments of the market. The business and scientific number-cruncher type of user may, in fact, be too well covered by existing texts: there may be too many to select from intelligently.
But for the user who views the microcomputer as a bit of hardware to be applied and who views software as either a simple set of instructions to make the machine go, or more importantly a valid substitute for hardware, little has been written in book form. This book presents information, almost in handbook style, for those users of microcomputers who want to design a device or system with a microcomputer at its heart.
Applications is too broad a word on which to base a single book because the range of possible applications ideas is possibly much larger than the total number of readers. Your own imagination and design acumen are the limiting factors. If you supply the imagination, then we will do our part by helping you gain a little bit of the acumen part of the equation. You will learn certain aspects of computer interfacing, plus information about technology that will help you in solving a wide range of practical problems.
Notes:
Includes index.
Spine is weak beginning to break at the title page.
Tags: Computer input-output equipment | Transducers | Analog-to-digital converters | Digital-to-analog converters
Edition: 1st ed.
Pages: 405
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good ( Book condition rating information)
Dustjacket Condition: No Dustjacket
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Shipping Weight: 1 Lbs 11 Ozs
Item #: MDBK-C-00005
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