Switching Circuits and Logical Design - Hardcover

Caldwell, Samuel H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471129690 ISBN 13: 9780471129691

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 1958

Synopsis

The following description is, with some editing, from a review at the web page - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/5308791/5320600/05320636.pdf accessed 12/06/2017 at 16:40 The present volume offers a most readable course in that branch of the new science which is concerned with two-valued (all-or-none) control of action. The central feature is the representation of switching circuits by transfer functions in Boolean algebra (wherein variables have only the values 1 or 0). The dramatic simplification of complex networks which this facilitates is well illustrated, and various graphical ways of representing such functions (and their correlates in symbolic logic) are discussed and evaluated. Problems for the reader are a valuable aid to study throughout the book. A work of 686 pages could be summarized here only by reprinting the index. Not the least of its merits is its collation of hitherto scattered material on topics as diverse as solid state switches and error-correcting codes; but the emphasis is always on the switching problems set or solved in each case. One felt less happy than elsewhere with the introductory discussion of the relation of 'two-valued' systems to servo systems. Since many servos can pass smoothly from a continuous to a two-valued mode of operation according to the gain of their amplifier, it seems odd to maintain (p. 3) that 'the objectives of the two systems are quite different' and that 'they can only be contrasted' rather than 'truly compared'. But this is a small point. The work as a whole is impressively clear and concise; and although at present the average engineer's switching problems might have to be more than usually complex to justify the learning of such sophisticated techniques, the need for them is likely only to increase. The new way of thinking which it offers has in any case sufficient interest in itself to make the book rewarding reading.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc
• Publication date: 1958
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0471129690
• ISBN 13: 9780471129691
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 686