Until fairly recently most scientific data-gathering systems and industrial control procedures were based on electromechanical devices such as chart recorders and analogue gauges. The capability to process and analyse data was rather limited (and in some cases error prone) unless one had access to a minicomputer or mainframe. Today, that situation has changed considerably. I am sure that most potential readers of this book will be aware of the profound effect the PC has had on the way in which engineers and scientists are able to approach data-gathering tasks
