Programmation Structur E En Vax

Logic and Programming

In contrast to the effortless ease with which human beings control their limbs, the design of controllers for robotic manipulator arms is a detailed, meticulous business. Motors controlling the arms need to be started and stopped at just the right moment so that the performance demanded by the user may be achieved at the end of a complicated manoeuvre. And yet, the same user wishes to express the task for the robot in the simplest possible terms without reference to the minute details of control sequences that his task demands. It is the design of such inter faces between man and machine that is the subject of trus volume. Parent and Laurgeau develop the subject in a direct and logical order. They first explain the principles of maximal effort control which not only ensure that motors are driven to provide high accuracy, but also that this should be done with the least waste of energy and in the shortest possible time. In this context, they describe the operation of pneumatic logical devices that make rapid decisions at power levels that exceed, by several orders, those that can be achieved with electronic devices. They achieve this whilst keeping the reader aware of the logical principles that are involved in the design of master control units: the devices responsible for appropriate actions being taken as a function of time.

From the Web to the Grid and Beyond

Born after World War II, large-scale experimental high-energy physics (HEP) has found itself limited ever since by available accelerator, detector and computing technologies. Accordingly, HEP has made significant contributions to the development of these fields, more often than not driving their innovations. The invention of the World Wide Web at CERN is merely the best-known example out of many. This book is the first comprehensive account to trace the history of this pioneering spirit in the field of computing technologies. It covers everything up to and including the present-day handling of the huge demands imposed upon grid and distributed computing by full-scale LHC operations—operations which have for years involved many thousands of collaborating members worldwide and accordingly provide the original and natural testbed for grid computing concepts. This book takes the reader on a guided tour encompassing all relevant topics, including programming languages, software engineering, large databases, the Web, and grid- and cloud computing. The important issue of intellectual property regulations for distributed software engineering and computing is also addressed. Aptly, the book closes with a visionary chapter of what may lie ahead. Approachable and requiring only basic understanding of physics and computer sciences, this book is intended for both education and research.

Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems I