This excellent little book is an introduction to microprocessors and microcontrollers, accessible to students in college or technical schools. Its great advantage is that most explanations are based on familiar systems that are analogous to the topic under consideration. For example, the microprocessor is compared and contrasted to an automobile; the reader can note the functions of input, output, and processing.

In chapter 1, basic microprocessor systems are introduced. In chapter 2, binary is explained, and chapter 3 introduces hexadecimal. In chapter 4, various forms of calculations are discussed, including binary, hex, floating point, long and short number, and conversion.

Logic, using various kinds of gates, memories, and buffers, is considered in chapter 5. In chapter 6, the importance of how memories and registers are related to processor organization is examined. In chapter 7, we see how the flow of information is controlled, what buses are used for, how calculations are made, how addresses are constructed, and how operands are found in the microprocessor system. A typical eight-bit microprocessor (the Z80180) is an early, real-world system. It is presented in chapter 8 as an embodiment of the system concept. Programming encompasses machine code, assembly language, and assemblers; these are discussed in chapter 9.

Higher-level languages help the programmer, who can then use simple commands that cause a sequence of assembly language statements to be placed into the resulting machine language program produced by the compiler. Higher languages examined in chapter 10 include Fortran, Cobol, Basic, and Pascal.

Chapter 11 discusses chips. A microprocessor is made up of chips, sets of integrated circuits made of many transistors, from just a few to millions. Speed is measured in millions of operations per second (MIPS), and floating point operations (FLOPS). Power is a consideration. Besides computing, microprocessors may be targeted at games, graphics, and so on. Chapters 12, 13, and 14 discuss the Pentium family, the PowerPC, and the Athlon XP, respectively.

Chapters 15 through 18 are devoted to discussing how microcontrollers are used, a typical microcontroller project, interfacing, test equipment, and fault finding.

Appendices, recommended reading, quiz answers, and an index complete the book.