I am certainly not adverse to having computers in the physics lab. I also
agree that pratical educational labs will have to include some type of
"black box."
So maybe I should ask: What rules of thumb can be applied. What general
tasks are appropriate for computers to do?
In my opinion, the computer should be used for what it has always been best
at: performing repeated, mundane, predictable tasks (number crunching, spell
checking, graphing large amounts of data).
What would really help me (and many of us?) is some simple guidelines from
respected researchers; guidelines I can present to my supervisors in support
of a restrained, thoughtful analysis of how the computer-based techniques
should be applied to the lab.