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The application of electronic computers in forestry, and forestry research.

University of British Columbia

A short history of the electronic data processing development in North America is given. The basic principles of computers and data processing systems are analysed and a brief description of ALWAC III-E and IBM 1620 computers is provided. Sufficient information is given to acquaint professional foresters or research workers in forestry with the basic knowledge required to understand where and how computing can be applied in their work. The major factors that govern how and when to use a computer are: required speed and accuracy, size, repetitiveness, and complexity of the calculation. It is pointed out that the advantages of an electronic computer are: speed, accuracy, versatility, reliability and memory. The disadvantages are: high rental cost, extra cost for transposing data on cards or tape, and complicated program writing. In forestry the main fields of electronic computer applications are: Management Mensuration Utilization Logging engineering Research Examples are presented for each field in the text, typical programs are appended, and sources of further information are noted. It is concluded that in the future the importance of electronic computers will increase in forestry practices; however, it will remain only a tool and cannot replace the forester.

Text

2011-10-26

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/38324

Forestry

University of British Columbia

Graduate