Lecture 1: Course
Introduction
Overview of Computers and their
Applications in MAE
B Burlingame
3 February, 2016
Heavily based on work by Dr. Buff Furman, SJSU
The Plan for Today
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Welcome to ME 30
Learning objectives
Highlights from the syllabus (aka, ‘greensheet’) 
Overview of computers and their applications in
MAE 
Data Types and Variables
Binary representations of phenomena
Bit, Bytes, and numbering schemes
Base conversion
My Background
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Industry experience
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California Native
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Hobbies: build things, fix things, literature, cycling, scuba diving
Why Engineering?
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Grew up in Manteca, CA (one of those places where they still grow
food)
Personal
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Microsoft Corporation – Principal Hardware Engineer
 Consumer Electronics Development
 UltimateTV
 Xbox
 Xbox 360
 Kinect
 Xbox One, Kinect II
 HoloLens
 Surface Book
Engineering is the highest form of creation open to man. We get to
harness the possibilities crafted by science to creatively enhance
life’s experience
Why am I in this class in the middle of a work day?
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To help foster as many awesome engineers as possible
The more brains we have to create a more interesting world, the
more interesting the world shall become
Syllabus Highlights and Where to Find Things
 Syllabus available at
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http://me30.org
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(last_first@me30.org, ex: Burlingame_bryan@me30.org)
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Office Hours TBD
Course information
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Course goals and learning objectives
Textbook
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Lab Kit
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Programming in C (4th Edition) by Stephen G Kochan
Needed this week
Policies and protocol
Grading
Resources
Course schedule
Back
Announcements
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Homework 1 posted tonight, due in two
weeks in class
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Generally, two weeks per homework covering
the lesson of the day and the following
week’s lesson
All homework and labs should be printed
and a hardcopy turned in, a digital copy
should be turned in to instructure
 If you have a laptop, bring it to lab
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Focus of ME 30
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Solving problems with computers
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Gain familiarity with other software used by MEs
and AEs for technical computing
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Learn the process for formulating a computational
solution to a problem
Practice the process
Matlab
Excel
Learn structured programming using the C
language
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Get prepared for learning about mechatronics
Where and How are Computers Used in MAE? 1
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Technical and Personal
Communication
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Email
Word processing
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(reports, procedures, etc.)
Presentations
Conferencing
Computation and
Analysis
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Arithmetic
Equation solving
Data analysis and
visualization
Multiphysics and
numerical modeling
sin(r)/r
Where and How are Computers Used in MAE? 2
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Design
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Solid modeling (ME 165)
 Finite Element Analysis (FEA) (ME 160)
 Dynamic modeling and simulation
(ME 147, ME 187, ME 190)
 Design tradeoffs and analytical modeling
of mechanical components and systems
(ME 154, ME 157)
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Gathering Information
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Web searches
Patent searches
Databases
Vendor and other websites
Datasheets
Where and How are Computers Used in MAE? 3
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Testing and Experimental Work
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Laboratory and Factory Automation
and Control
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Dynamic systems (ME 187, ME 190)
Instrumentation and Product Design
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Data acquisition from sensors (ME 120)
Embedded controllers (ME 106, ME 190)
http://las.perkinelmer.com/Content/Images
/smallImages/janusLabAuto.jpg
MRP, Inventory, and Document Control
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Drawings
Procedures
Bill of Materials (BOM)
Specifications
Engineering change orders (ECOs)
http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/products/teamcent
er/solutions_by_product/mechatronics_process_management.shtm
The Bottom Line
Mechanical and aerospace engineers use
computers widely
 You need to know how to use computers
to be successful
 ME 30 will help you especially in the area
of computation and analysis
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Exposure to Matlab and Excel
 Focus will be on the C language
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I hope it will also whet your appetite to
learn about mechatronics
Next -->
Networking
Introduce yourself to someone you DO
NOT know
 Find out one thing about them that they
like to do in their spare time
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Two minutes!
Back
What and Why?
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Data => pieces of information we deal with in the
problem solving process
Why is it important to know about data types?
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Need to know about data types to effectively use a
programming language
It’s all just bits the lowest level!
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What would you rather work with…
int i; float r;
i = 3;
r = cos(2*i*PI);
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or…
00000010 10000000 00000000 00000110
10000010 10000000 01111111 11111100
11001010 00000001 00000000 00000000
etc.
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Kinds of Data (simplified view) 
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The basic kinds of data that we will mostly use:
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Numeric
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Integers:
Real (floating point) numbers:
Character (are enclosed by single quotes in C)
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All letters, numbers, and special symbols
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String (are enclosed by double quotes in C)
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Are combinations of more than one character
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Ex. ‘A’, ‘+’, ‘5’
Ex. “programming”, “ME 30”
Logical (also called ‘Boolean’ named after George Boole an English
mathematician from the early 1800’s)
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True or False (1 or 0)
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Constants and Variables
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Constant
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A data element that never changes in your program
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5, 62.37, 4.219E-6, “record_string”, ‘$’
i = j + 7;
/* which one is the constant? */
first_letter = ‘a’;
/* which one is the constant? */
Variable
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A data element that can take on different values
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Its name represents a location (address) in memory 
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i = j + 7;
second_letter = ‘b’;
/* which are variables? */
/* which is the variable? */
Values are ‘assigned’ using a single equal sign ( = )
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Read the statement: i = j + 7;
Binary Representations
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Computers only contain two values
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On/Off (High/Low, 0/1, etc.)
Binary number only have two value 0/1
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Base 2 numbering system
 A bit: A number in base 2 (binary digit)
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How computers do what they do?
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Humans are the translators
 The machine just presents information
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Think, what is a letter?
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Just a squiggle, humans give meaning
Binary Representations
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Everything in a PC is encoded in binary
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Computers are finite, so are their
representations
 RGB for colors
24 bit color (8 bits for red, 8 for green, 8 for blue)
 TIFF
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Music
Midi – Instrument + note
 MP3 – Sound waves compressed
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Cruise Control
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Voltage level going to an actuator
Binary to Decimal
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Binary number only have two value 0/1
 Base 2 numbering system
 A bit: A number in base 2 (binary digit)
Decimal numbers have ten values 0 – 9
 Base ten numbering system
Think scientific notation
 6.02E23 = 6 * 1023 + 0 * 1022 + 2 * 1021
 010101012 = 8510=
1 * 27 + 1 * 26 + 1 * 24 + 1 * 22 + 1 * 20
Range?
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Largest 8 bit value: 111111112 = 25510
Largest 16 bit value: 11111111111111112 = 6553510
Negative Values
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Recall:
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The computer only deals in 0/1
 Humans provide context
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Sign bit
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The first bit represents sign
 11010101 = -213, 01010101 = 213
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1’s Complement
Flip the bits (change 1’s into 0’s)
 10101010 = - 213, 01010101 = 213
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Negative Values (Cont)
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2’s Complement
Take 1’s complement, add one
 01010100 Start (8410 in this example)
 10101011 Flip bits
 10101100 Add one (notice the carries)
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Binary to Hexadecimal
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Hexadecimal (base 16) is a convenient
numbering system
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0 – 9, A – F (A = 1010, B = 1110, etc
Observe 24 = 16, allows four bits (a nyble)
to be grouped
 11002 = 1210 = 0xC16
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Binary to Hexadecimal
Convert Binary to Hex
 1100001110011111b
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Binary to Hexadecimal
Convert Binary to Hex
1100 0011 1001 1111 b
12
3
9
15 d
C
3
9
F h
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(grouping 4 bits)
C39Fh
 12 * 163 + 3 * 162 + 9 * 161 + 15 * 160 =
50,079
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Representations
Decimal (default)
Binary
Hexadecimal
108
0’01101100
0x6C
108d
0110 1100b
6Ch
10810
0110 11002
6C16
108 dec
0110 1100 bin
6C hex
Group by 3s with a
comma
Group by 4s with a
space or an underbar
Generally don’t group
Spoken short form
Decimal to binary
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Many ways, this is how I do it
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120
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120 < 128, 0 in 7th position
120 > 64, 1 in 6th position
 120 – 64 = 56
56 > 32, 1 in 5th position
 56 – 32 = 24
24 > 16, 1 in 4th position
 24 – 16 = 8
8 = 8, 1 in 3rd position
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8–8=0
Binary
Decimal
1
1
10
2
100
4
1000
8
10000
16
100000
32
1000000
64
10000000
128
Once we hit zero, all other values are zero
0111 1000
Why do I do it this way? It is quick when I don’t have a
calculator. Your mileage may vary
References
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Nicholas, P. (1994). Digital Design. Minneapolis/St. Paul: West
Publishing Company
Kochran, S. (2014). Programming in C 4th Edition. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Addison-Wesley