Educational Aspects of Minicomputer Applications

The increasing applications of minicomputers as components of engineering systems require the introduction of suitable courses into engineering curricula to allow students to incorporate computers in their designs in a knowledgeable manner. This paper describes a course which has been developed with this goal, and its developmental modifications which have occurred over the past several years. The course involves both lecture and laboratory work, organized to emphasize the properties of computer operation that must be understood to allow useful computer-augmented systems to be designed. It is felt that this description may be helpful for departments that are planning or developing similar courses.