THERE are a great number of engineers who regard the application of microprocessors in control to be a highly topical subject, but who, on the other hand, have not been provided with proper previous training to acquire an adequate basis for solving this type of problem. The needs of these engineers are met by the reviewed book which is based on experience in application-oriented microprocessor courses for undergraduates and practising engineers. The purpose of the book under review is to bridge the gap between programming techniques and the engineering aspects of interfacing and data transfer between the microprocessor and the real world.
The book is divided into two approximately equal-sized parts. The first part is devoted to general aspects of microprocessors and microcomputers with particular reference to their configuration for real-time configuration. It begins with a brief summary of facts on microprocessors, storage and peripheral devices, the selection of which is, however, rather out of date. On the other hand, the elements of microprocessor architecture and particularly the complete architecture of 8-bit microprocessor R6502 are explained in great detail and in an illustrative manner. Though concentrating the attention on R6502 from didactic reasoning is quite understandable, a question arises whether nowadays it is still purposeful to omit completely the problem field of 16-bit microprocessors.
Further topics that are sufficiently illustrated in manner and explained in detail for the considered readership are the principles of data transfer and microprocessor hardware.
This introduction is followed by well explained foundations of the construction of partial blocks of microcomputers as well as interfaces for standard peripherals. All the explanations are based on the architecture of the microprocessor R6502, the single board microcomputer Rockwell AIM-65 and the personal computer APPLE-II. The first half of the book is concluded by an extensive chapter on assembly language programming of R6502.