This article presents a brief history of the videodisc and describes three major current manifestations of this storage medium--read-only, write-once, erasable. The current status of write-once technology, major corporations involved in the field, potential uses for various types of storage media, and software and market trends are highlighted.…

The PLATO IV computer-based educational system contains its own communications hardware and software for operating plasma-panel graphics terminals. Key echoing is performed by the central processing unit: every key pressed at a terminal passes through the entire system before anything appears on the terminal's screen. Each terminal is guaranteed…

A methodology is described for an automatic design system initially defined in terms of logical processes or program modules. Processes and files are grouped and reorganized in such a way as to produce an optimal design with respect to a specific target machine. Performance criteria for the optimal design are defined in terms of transport volume…