Computer Engineer's Pocket Book

It has become increasingly necessary to abandon the old, and somewhat rigid, boundaries which have until now existed between "hardware" and "software". Within industry this trend has already manifested itself in the shape of a growing demand for "software engineers". But who, or what, are these crusaders of the information technology movement? They are certainly not primarily programmers, nor are they exclusively electronic engineers. Their talents lie with the integration of software and hardware into fully functional and fully optimized systems. The precise skills required are hard to define in just a few words but essentially they centre on an awareness of and familiarity with electronic and microelectronic circuitry, coupled with a detailed knowledge of programming in either assembly language or an appropriate high level language. In addition, some knowledge of comuter interfacing and communications is highly desirable. This book aims to provide the sort of everyday information required by such individuals, but it should also be of value to hardware and software specialists. Indeed, anyone engaged in regular use of a computer or microcomputer system at more than just the applications level should find something of value contained herein. This book cannot replace standard texts or detailed specifications. It does, however, cover a vast range of subjects at a practical level with, where appropriate, some explanatory text. It has also not been designed with readibility in mind; rather the aim has been that of presenting. Information in the most concise manner and in a form which can be readily accessed.

Table of Contents:
Abbreviations (general); abbreviations commonly used in pin connection data; manufacturers' prefixes for semiconductor devices; integrated circuit technologies; scale of integration; basic logic gates; logic circuit equivalents; positive and negative logic equivalents; mixed logic equivalents; typical CMOS and TTL gate circuits; TTL and CMOS device coding; 74 series; 4000 series; 4500 series; electrical characteristics of typical logic gates; fan-in and fan-out of logic gates; standard TTL load; TTL input and output current; interconnecting TTL families; logic levels and noise margins for CMOS and TTL; Boolean algebra; Karnaugh maps; power supplies; interfacing logic families; microcomputer architecture; simplified model of a microcomputer system; typical 16-bit microcomputer system; memory maps; internal architecture of a microprocessor; some typical CPUs; CPU data; support devices; I/O control methods; simple parallel/O interface; programmable parallel interface devices; programmable serial interface devices; basic cell configuration of semiconductor memories; semiconductor random access memory; semiconductor read only memory; storage capacities of mass memories; magnetic disk storage; magnetic recording techniques; IBM 3740 disk format; disk drive mechanics; floppy disk controllers; the IBM PC; powers of two; decimal/hexadecimal/octal/binary/ASCII conversion table; ASCII control characters; divisors of 255 with remainders; divisors of 256 with remainders; flowchart symbols; operating systems; software tools; languages.