This book is a digital electronics text focused on 'how to' design, build, operate and adapt data acquisition systems. The book is intended to serve people whose goals include teaching or learning one or more of the following: digital electronics, circuit design for computer expansion slots, software which interacts with outside hardware, the process of computer based data acquisition, and the design, adaptation, construction and testing of measurement systems. The fundamental idea of the book is that parallel I/O ports (available for all popular computers) offer a superior balance of simplicity, low cost, speed, flexibility and adaptability.

"...a timely work about how to design and build data acquisition interfacing components to allow the use of microcomputers for a variety of custom-designed data collection and analysis applications." Choice

"...a good reference from which to learn about logic design with integrated circuits and microcomputer interfacing." Computing Reviews

"...for a course on design of data acquisition systems, this text would provide good laboratory material for a detailed design problem....Serious computer and electronic hobbyists, and those bent on self-instruction, may also find this book very helpful as it contains enough detail to put together a complete 'homegrown' data acquisition system from inexpensive components." Raymond Rusk, Physics in Canada