Microprocessors and Education [Guest editor's inroduction]

The papers for this special issue of Computer were selected to be representative of those presented at the DISE Workshop on Microprocessors and Education held at Colorado State University, August 16-18, 1976. The workshop was sponsored by the DISE Committee (Digital Systems Education Committee-a project supported by the National Science Foundation) along with the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of Colorado State University. The workshop was intended to provide a forum both for the academic and industrial communities. For educators it was an opportunity to exchange ideas on how microporcessors should be integrated into the curriculum and to discuss microprocessor hardware, software, and system problems associated with the educational environment. For industry it was a chance to present its views on what skills will be required of graduating engineers, to provide an insight into the problems and design decisions encountered in designing and fabricating devices and systems, and to provide educators with a forecast of future developments in the industry. The lead-off session of the workshop was a panel session entitled "Views of the Microelectronics Industry," chaired by Adam Osborne of Osborne and Associates with panelists William Baker of National Semiconductor Corporation, J. E. Bass of Rockwell International, and William Davidow of Intel Corporation. These gentlemen reached two major conslusions. First, microprocessors will not only have a significant impact on all fields of engineering and the sciences, but will also have a significant impact on society as a whole. There are already 20,00050,000 hobbyists using microcomputers, and microcomputers will soon be as commonplace in the home as fractional horsepower motors are today, Second and more directly related to the workshop theme the future will see a need for two distinct groups of engineers: a small elite group of people who will design microprocessors or microcomputers, and a second, much larger group of people who will design microprocessor-based systems for specific applications. The first paper in this issue, "A Modular, Unified Microprocessor System (MUMS)" by Michael Faiman, R. W. Catlin, and A. C. Weaver, presents a unique approach to efficiently incorporating microprocessor systems into a university environment. A major feature of this approach is that it minimizes both the hardware and software problems resulting from the diversity of microprocessors currently available and the increasing number of new processors being released. The second paper, "A Microprocessor Chip Designed with the User in Mind" by William Wickes, was drawn from a session on "Microprocessor Chip Design." It gives an excellent exposition of the real world considerations and design tradeoffs behind the design of a microprocessor chip. The third paper, by G. R. Johnson and R. A. Mueller, was taken from the session on "Microprocessor Software." "The Automated Generation of Cross-System Software for Microcomputers" describes the GEN software system developed by the authors. The system is designed so that a user with limited architecture and programming back-