The Impact of the Microprocessor

Abstract : A description and explanation based mainly on the author’s personal experiences of the changes in the curriculum for electrical engineering undergraduates and in the required expertise of practising electronics engineers which occurred from the mid-1960s. The changes began with the introduction of digital system design methods, and increased with the subsequent introduction of microprocessors as widely-used programmable components, for which software design expertise was an essential part of their utilisation.