Decus Proceedings, Fall 1968

This document contains the papers and presentations from the Fall 1968 symposium of the Digital Equipment Computer Users' Society (DECUS), held in San Francisco, California. The symposium covered a wide range of topics related to the use of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) computers in various fields.

Key Topics and Themes:

• Data Acquisition and Control: Several papers detail the use of small DEC computers (such as the PDP-8 and PDP-9) for process control, laboratory data acquisition, and automated testing. Specific applications include manufacturing attenuators, analyzing gas chromatograms, monitoring nuclear reactors, and controlling hydraulic testing rigs.
• Interactive Systems: The document highlights the growing importance of interactive computing, with papers on console display systems, seismic data analysis, and the use of coordinate measuring machines.
• Education: Reports are included on the implementation of Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) systems in high schools, including discussions of authoring languages and system configurations.
• Biomedicine: Applications in this field include physiological monitoring, hospital information systems, and the use of computers in diagnosing neurological disorders via averaged evoked potentials.
• Hardware and Software Development: There are technical discussions regarding programming languages (such as a conversational BASIC), software packages for data reduction, and the development of modular hardware interfaces to facilitate easier connection of peripheral equipment.

The volume also serves as a reference, providing a table of contents, a preface by the meeting chairman, an author/speaker index, and a complete list of conference attendees.