Impact of electronic devices on electrical measurement

Electronic devices are used in five different ways in various techniques of measurement. The conditions which they have to meet are not the same in all cases; hence, they were introduced at various times when the available techniques could meet some new condition. Some innovations were possible in the era of thermionic valves, others had to await semiconductors and the logic developed for computers. Confidence in the older methods resulted from long experience. Equal confidence in electronic methods will require similarly long experience.