- Email: [email protected]
Better structures
Engineering at the University of Michigan USA. This starts with a formal definition of each component of the system with the user requirements given in a problem statement language supported by a problem statement analyser. A series of other linked programs help the development manager and team to flesh out and document the growing system. It proceeds naturally from this computer independent phase by providing an error-
free statement to the problem requirements and a coded statement for expansion. Both form a basis for the hardware specification and for interactive expansion to program coding (machine code or Cobol). The system is under development and Professor Couger writes there is little needfor a crash effort •.. it will be anotherdecadebefore the majority of firms implement fourth generation systemdevelopments.
This is all very confusing in terms of his table. Section 6 in the book is a surprise. Some 52 pages are devoted to cost/ effectiveness analysis, abstracted from books published in 1971 and 1975, the latter by Professor Cougar. It serves to draw attention to the fact that he is a consultant in this field.
W H P Leslie
Computer-aided engineering services guide CAE compass 1982, Mate, G (ed), H&M Services, Sunbury, Middlesex, UK in English and German, 153 pp, £48 This is more of a guide and directory than a book. It is published by a consultancy firm and some 18 pages are devoted to advertising the services they offer. There are a good few blank pages• Despite this it could prove value for money because it contains a lot of information that would cost time and money to collect. The entire publication is in English and German, the parallel texts usually printed in adjacent columns on each page. Each reads as if it had been written in the language, rather than translated, but the information is the same. It is aimed at management and practising engineers in companies wishing to introduce CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering) by presenting European and USA experience and sources of systems. The first section defines the main terms used, presenting clear and useful descriptions both of general concepts like CAE, CAP (Computer-Aided Production), CAM (Computer-Aided Manufacture), etc and of related components like NC, DNC, disc store, database etc. The second section gives names, addresses and phone numbers of sources of information in the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Holland and USA, with short descriptions of what each organization provides. There is a reasonable bibliography presented like a series of abstract cards
volume 15 number 3 may 1983
covering the whole CAE field, after which CAE applications software available in Europe is treated in the same way by program and by supplier. CAE equipment, turnkey systems and NC machine tools then receive similar treatment. Providing the addresses and telephone numbers are accurate the author has supplied an easy way of collecting information quickly from a fairly complete list of sources. This would enable a firm that was develop-
ing an interest in CAE or any of its constituent parts (like CAD, NC, Computer-aided Draughting, or BOM, for example) to ensure that they knew who to approach and why. It would be of little value to a student, or to an engineer who wanted some background reading to help him decide whether he should be applying CAE, but no claim is made that it would be of use for this purpose.
W H P Leslie
Better structures Foundations of structural optimization: a unified approach, Morris, A ] (ed), J Wiley (1982) £32 This book will be of prime interest to designers in the Aeronautics and Aerospace industries and to students of most disciplines involving structural design. A major part of the book is based on lectures presented at a NATO Advanced Study Institute held at the University of Liege, Belgium in 1980. These lectures were presented by a number of leading experts in the field and both they and the editor have been successful in avoiding most of the problems of continuity etc that all too frequently occur with multiple authorship. The first twelve chapters are presented as a textbook for undergraduate or perhaps more typically postgra-
duate courses and include problems to enable the student to test his grasp of the theory. The last five chapters discuss some applications of the theory together with current research in this area. The content of the chapters is well set out and algorithms are described in sufficient detail to allow the reader easily to program his own solutions. Examples, drawn mainly from the aircraft industry, illustrate the solution of actual design problems. Guidance on the formulation of computer-based solutions to individual problems is given in this book with the main emphasis being placed on the concept of modular software. The style of the book is good and makes for easy reading. It should be well worth £32 to anyone studying this subject.
/an Hamilton
183
free statement to the problem requirements and a coded statement for expansion. Both form a basis for the hardware specification and for interactive expansion to program coding (machine code or Cobol). The system is under development and Professor Couger writes there is little needfor a crash effort •.. it will be anotherdecadebefore the majority of firms implement fourth generation systemdevelopments.
This is all very confusing in terms of his table. Section 6 in the book is a surprise. Some 52 pages are devoted to cost/ effectiveness analysis, abstracted from books published in 1971 and 1975, the latter by Professor Cougar. It serves to draw attention to the fact that he is a consultant in this field.
W H P Leslie
Computer-aided engineering services guide CAE compass 1982, Mate, G (ed), H&M Services, Sunbury, Middlesex, UK in English and German, 153 pp, £48 This is more of a guide and directory than a book. It is published by a consultancy firm and some 18 pages are devoted to advertising the services they offer. There are a good few blank pages• Despite this it could prove value for money because it contains a lot of information that would cost time and money to collect. The entire publication is in English and German, the parallel texts usually printed in adjacent columns on each page. Each reads as if it had been written in the language, rather than translated, but the information is the same. It is aimed at management and practising engineers in companies wishing to introduce CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering) by presenting European and USA experience and sources of systems. The first section defines the main terms used, presenting clear and useful descriptions both of general concepts like CAE, CAP (Computer-Aided Production), CAM (Computer-Aided Manufacture), etc and of related components like NC, DNC, disc store, database etc. The second section gives names, addresses and phone numbers of sources of information in the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Holland and USA, with short descriptions of what each organization provides. There is a reasonable bibliography presented like a series of abstract cards
volume 15 number 3 may 1983
covering the whole CAE field, after which CAE applications software available in Europe is treated in the same way by program and by supplier. CAE equipment, turnkey systems and NC machine tools then receive similar treatment. Providing the addresses and telephone numbers are accurate the author has supplied an easy way of collecting information quickly from a fairly complete list of sources. This would enable a firm that was develop-
ing an interest in CAE or any of its constituent parts (like CAD, NC, Computer-aided Draughting, or BOM, for example) to ensure that they knew who to approach and why. It would be of little value to a student, or to an engineer who wanted some background reading to help him decide whether he should be applying CAE, but no claim is made that it would be of use for this purpose.
W H P Leslie
Better structures Foundations of structural optimization: a unified approach, Morris, A ] (ed), J Wiley (1982) £32 This book will be of prime interest to designers in the Aeronautics and Aerospace industries and to students of most disciplines involving structural design. A major part of the book is based on lectures presented at a NATO Advanced Study Institute held at the University of Liege, Belgium in 1980. These lectures were presented by a number of leading experts in the field and both they and the editor have been successful in avoiding most of the problems of continuity etc that all too frequently occur with multiple authorship. The first twelve chapters are presented as a textbook for undergraduate or perhaps more typically postgra-
duate courses and include problems to enable the student to test his grasp of the theory. The last five chapters discuss some applications of the theory together with current research in this area. The content of the chapters is well set out and algorithms are described in sufficient detail to allow the reader easily to program his own solutions. Examples, drawn mainly from the aircraft industry, illustrate the solution of actual design problems. Guidance on the formulation of computer-based solutions to individual problems is given in this book with the main emphasis being placed on the concept of modular software. The style of the book is good and makes for easy reading. It should be well worth £32 to anyone studying this subject.
/an Hamilton
183