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μp introduction gains strength by its completeness
[up introductien gaies strel I Ffynlo Craine and Graham R Martin
'Microcomputers in engineering and science"Addison-Wesley, Wokingham, UK (1985) £13.95 pp ix + 444
Among my many books on cooking I have one which describes meals made almost entirely from left-over scraps. Microcomputers in engineering and science rather reminds me of this cookbook because its ingredients include odds and ends from several different sources. I do not make this remark disparagingly: the authors have put together an introductory book on microprocessors for engineering students and have included a remarkably broad spectrum of topics ranging from an
by its ceeqdeteMss
introduction to programming to local area networks and design for testability. It is a brave author that brings out a new introductory text on microprocessors. Clearly, the books of the late 1970s cannot simply be rewritten and updated to include new technology. Each new book must have something different to say. The strength of this book is its completeness: unless the student is taking several in-depth courses on microprocessors, it should prove to be an ideal introduction to the broad range of topics associated with microcomputers in engineering. Equally, the book's weakness is that it does not deal with any one topic in depth, and would therefore be less useful to a student majoring in microprocessor technology.
Microcomputers in engineering and science is well written, clearly laid out and is as up to date as one could expect from a textbook. It begins with a brief introduction to number systems, basic gates and flipflops. I see little point in some of this as it does not lead to any discussion of the structure of the microprocessor itself. It seems that all introductory books on microprocessors begin in the same way and authors never stop to think. The second chapter, 48 pages long, introduces algorithmic design and describes both BASICand PASCAL.I am glad to see that the major examples are related to engineering. However, I do wonder if the depth of treatment is sufficient to save the student the cost of a book devoted entirely to PASCAL. Perhaps it would
the quarterly international journal for all those concerned with the social, legal, economic and political issues of information technology - - designed to assist organizations and governments to formulate their information policies for the coming decades For f u r t h e r d e t a i l s a n d a s a m p l e c o p y w r i t e to: S h e i l a King B u t t e r w o r t h S c i e n t i f i c L i m i t e d PO B o x 6 3 W e s t b u r y H o u s e B u r y S t r e e t G u i l d f o r d Telephone: 0483 31261 Telex: 8 5 9 5 5 6 S C I T E C G
176
SurreyGU2
5BH
UK
D
microprocessors and microsystems
have been better if the first chapter had been scrapped and the second expanded. A chapter entitled 'Inside the microprocessor' deals with assembly language programming. This topic is treated adequately in the limited space available and I am glad to see that a discussion of high-level language constructs in assembly language is provided. Even better, the 6809 is chosen as the target processor. The bulk of this book is devoted to interfacing. Following a chapter on conventional interfacing (parallel ports, handshaking, interrupts, DMA) there is a chapter on the electrical interface. It is at this point that the text departs from many others. Interfaces ranging from optoisolators to Schmitt triggers are described. Analogue interfaces are described in depth, although the sampling theorem and its consequences are neglected. The basic interfacing section ends with an introduction to sensors and transducers. Taken together, these chapters form the core of a course in microprocessorbased instrumentation and control. A chapter is also included on computer communication. In keeping with the general nature of this book, topics range from the mundane serial interface to local area networks. The final chapter, 'System design and development', provides an ovenHew of the design process and the debugging of digital systems. It is difficult to provide a definitive comment on this book, as a book dealing with so many topics could be considered as a 'Jack of all trades and a master of none' or as a workhorse covering an entire subject area. My feeling is that this is a valuable book to someone taking a first course in the engineering applications of microprocessors because it includes such a wide range of topics. At least the student gets the whole picture and not just one tiny part of it. No student could ever hope to encounter such a wealth of experience without reading half a dozen other books.
Alan Clements Teesside Polytechnic, Middlesbrough, UK
vol 10 no 3 april 1986
Microsystem design text is marred by dated reference sources Michael F Hordeski "Design of microprocessor sensor and control systems" Reston Publishing, Reston, VA, USA (1985) £37.40 pp xv + 376 Microprocessor system design and programming, and systems using sensors and control systems, are the subjects covered in this book. The concept of the book is good, but the detailed content does not match the stated objectives. The shortfall is in five major areas, as follows. • There are so many typographical errors and minor errors of detail that they seriously distract from the flow of the text. These are particularly prevalent in the examples of program code. • There are some errors in details of concept descriptions. There are inconsistencies in concept descriptions. There are many trivial points discussed at length. There are some important concepts mentioned but not explained. • Some of the concepts and mathematical formulae are introduced in such a way that they could only be understood by those who already know the subject matter. • The many photographs of equipment do not explain what the equipment does, how it is used, or how it functions. System block diagrams would have been better than the photographs of the equipment front panels. • The contents are dated. This was a continual frustration when reading the text, and was only confirmed by looking at the bibliography. Many of the references are dated. For instance Norton's Handbook of transducers for electronic measuring systems (1969) is quoted. Norton's more recent replacement for this, Sensor and analyser handbook (1982), is not quoted.
There are parts of the book which might be a useful reference, probably best as an aide memoire for a person who already knows the topic well. A newcomer to the field should look elsewhere to get a more modem approach to the subject. The discussions on programming are particularly dated. It is therefore not suitable for what I had hoped to use it as - - a textbook for computer science students taking an option on sensor and control systems. The best summary of the book might be provided by a bar chart showing the publication dates of references in the bibliography. This is shown in the following table.
Table: Dates of references quoted in the bibliography Year Number of re~rences 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976
1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
R RR RRR RRRRRRRR RRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRH RRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHH RRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHH HHHHHH RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHH RRRRRRRRRRRRRRH RRRRRRRRR RR HHHH H
R = reference to other authors H = reference to M F Hordeski
Don Fay Queen's University of Belfast, UK
177
'Microcomputers in engineering and science"Addison-Wesley, Wokingham, UK (1985) £13.95 pp ix + 444
Among my many books on cooking I have one which describes meals made almost entirely from left-over scraps. Microcomputers in engineering and science rather reminds me of this cookbook because its ingredients include odds and ends from several different sources. I do not make this remark disparagingly: the authors have put together an introductory book on microprocessors for engineering students and have included a remarkably broad spectrum of topics ranging from an
by its ceeqdeteMss
introduction to programming to local area networks and design for testability. It is a brave author that brings out a new introductory text on microprocessors. Clearly, the books of the late 1970s cannot simply be rewritten and updated to include new technology. Each new book must have something different to say. The strength of this book is its completeness: unless the student is taking several in-depth courses on microprocessors, it should prove to be an ideal introduction to the broad range of topics associated with microcomputers in engineering. Equally, the book's weakness is that it does not deal with any one topic in depth, and would therefore be less useful to a student majoring in microprocessor technology.
Microcomputers in engineering and science is well written, clearly laid out and is as up to date as one could expect from a textbook. It begins with a brief introduction to number systems, basic gates and flipflops. I see little point in some of this as it does not lead to any discussion of the structure of the microprocessor itself. It seems that all introductory books on microprocessors begin in the same way and authors never stop to think. The second chapter, 48 pages long, introduces algorithmic design and describes both BASICand PASCAL.I am glad to see that the major examples are related to engineering. However, I do wonder if the depth of treatment is sufficient to save the student the cost of a book devoted entirely to PASCAL. Perhaps it would
the quarterly international journal for all those concerned with the social, legal, economic and political issues of information technology - - designed to assist organizations and governments to formulate their information policies for the coming decades For f u r t h e r d e t a i l s a n d a s a m p l e c o p y w r i t e to: S h e i l a King B u t t e r w o r t h S c i e n t i f i c L i m i t e d PO B o x 6 3 W e s t b u r y H o u s e B u r y S t r e e t G u i l d f o r d Telephone: 0483 31261 Telex: 8 5 9 5 5 6 S C I T E C G
176
SurreyGU2
5BH
UK
D
microprocessors and microsystems
have been better if the first chapter had been scrapped and the second expanded. A chapter entitled 'Inside the microprocessor' deals with assembly language programming. This topic is treated adequately in the limited space available and I am glad to see that a discussion of high-level language constructs in assembly language is provided. Even better, the 6809 is chosen as the target processor. The bulk of this book is devoted to interfacing. Following a chapter on conventional interfacing (parallel ports, handshaking, interrupts, DMA) there is a chapter on the electrical interface. It is at this point that the text departs from many others. Interfaces ranging from optoisolators to Schmitt triggers are described. Analogue interfaces are described in depth, although the sampling theorem and its consequences are neglected. The basic interfacing section ends with an introduction to sensors and transducers. Taken together, these chapters form the core of a course in microprocessorbased instrumentation and control. A chapter is also included on computer communication. In keeping with the general nature of this book, topics range from the mundane serial interface to local area networks. The final chapter, 'System design and development', provides an ovenHew of the design process and the debugging of digital systems. It is difficult to provide a definitive comment on this book, as a book dealing with so many topics could be considered as a 'Jack of all trades and a master of none' or as a workhorse covering an entire subject area. My feeling is that this is a valuable book to someone taking a first course in the engineering applications of microprocessors because it includes such a wide range of topics. At least the student gets the whole picture and not just one tiny part of it. No student could ever hope to encounter such a wealth of experience without reading half a dozen other books.
Alan Clements Teesside Polytechnic, Middlesbrough, UK
vol 10 no 3 april 1986
Microsystem design text is marred by dated reference sources Michael F Hordeski "Design of microprocessor sensor and control systems" Reston Publishing, Reston, VA, USA (1985) £37.40 pp xv + 376 Microprocessor system design and programming, and systems using sensors and control systems, are the subjects covered in this book. The concept of the book is good, but the detailed content does not match the stated objectives. The shortfall is in five major areas, as follows. • There are so many typographical errors and minor errors of detail that they seriously distract from the flow of the text. These are particularly prevalent in the examples of program code. • There are some errors in details of concept descriptions. There are inconsistencies in concept descriptions. There are many trivial points discussed at length. There are some important concepts mentioned but not explained. • Some of the concepts and mathematical formulae are introduced in such a way that they could only be understood by those who already know the subject matter. • The many photographs of equipment do not explain what the equipment does, how it is used, or how it functions. System block diagrams would have been better than the photographs of the equipment front panels. • The contents are dated. This was a continual frustration when reading the text, and was only confirmed by looking at the bibliography. Many of the references are dated. For instance Norton's Handbook of transducers for electronic measuring systems (1969) is quoted. Norton's more recent replacement for this, Sensor and analyser handbook (1982), is not quoted.
There are parts of the book which might be a useful reference, probably best as an aide memoire for a person who already knows the topic well. A newcomer to the field should look elsewhere to get a more modem approach to the subject. The discussions on programming are particularly dated. It is therefore not suitable for what I had hoped to use it as - - a textbook for computer science students taking an option on sensor and control systems. The best summary of the book might be provided by a bar chart showing the publication dates of references in the bibliography. This is shown in the following table.
Table: Dates of references quoted in the bibliography Year Number of re~rences 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976
1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
R RR RRR RRRRRRRR RRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRH RRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHH RRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHH HHHHHH RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHH RRRRRRRRRRRRRRH RRRRRRRRR RR HHHH H
R = reference to other authors H = reference to M F Hordeski
Don Fay Queen's University of Belfast, UK
177