Book excerpt: This book is designed to give the structural engineer training in microcomputer technology, starting with theory and computer methods in Part 1 and culminating in extensive listings of programs in both Fortran 77 and Basic in Part 2. Because it provides programs and the information to understand and modify them for specific purposes, it can be used as a text for graduate engineering students or by the professional engineer interested in learning how computers can be applied to practical problems. Data files and worked solutions are included. Some forty programs are explained ranging from cross-sectional and connection analysis, through equation solution methods to linear elastic analysis of plane and space frames, as well as describing the non-linear and large deformation treatment of a variety of frame, cable and arch structures. This new edition extensively revises the chapter on beam analysis, with more powerful theory and programs suitable to the microcomputers of today.