An approach to the collection and manipulation of time-based data using the IBM PC and BASICA

With the advent of increasingly integrated, powerful and inexpensive digital electronics, relatively powerful computers have become available to the general public. Along with this technological boom there has been a concomitant increase in the availability of over-the-counter software packages which can be used by research scientists for program development. In the past, the development of computer programs for the collection of large amounts of time-based data was expensive and time consuming; however, the introduction of the current generation of 16-bit microcomputers and associated hardware and software packages has enabled investigators with only a rudimentary knowledge of computers and interfacing to begin to design programs. The schemes and algorithms, developed using BASICA on an IBM-Personal Computer, which are described in this article can serve other investigators as models for the assembly of their own programs for the collection, manipulation and plotting of time-based data. The incorporation of inexpensive computer graphics hardware and software, which provided a simple solution to the problem of analysis and presentation of large amounts of data, will also be discussed.