microprocessors - can you afford not to understand them?

It is safe to say that anyone who wishes to maintain a serious interest in elec- tronics during the nineteen-eighties must get to grips with microprocessor technology before the end of this decade. The implications of the micro- processor revolution are so far-reaching that anyone who fails to do so will become hopelessly out-of-date. There is little doubt that, within a few years, `software` implementation using microprocessors will replace `hardware` designed logic systems in all but the simplest applications, or in systems requiring higher speed than micro- processors can offer. This applies not only to electronic logic systems, but also to machines and processes using mechanical and electromechanical logic elements, such as ignition and fuel control systems for motor vehicles, domestic appliances, cameras - in fact microprocessors have potential uses in almost every field of enigneering.