ABSTRACT
Personal computers perform the functions effectively and economically. The computer used was an HP-85 connected to an HP-7470 plotter. The usefulness of personal computers has recently been extended to Phase III—Detail Plans, with the advent of low-cost software for computer-aided drafting. Enhanced systems add memory, hard disk drives, and usually a graphics processor to the standard-issue personal computer. This processor is in fact a microcomputer on its own card or circuit board. If not added to the computer, it may be incorporated instead into the display device. Personal computers can also be used for project planning, scheduling, and control. Personal-computer-based information systems have their limitations. Computer capacities are described in bits. “Bit” is short for binary digit, the basic character of information read by the computer. The differences in speeds and uses of personal and microcomputers lead to some natural differences in data storage devices.
