With the current emphasis on computers in science and engineering, it is felt that the undergraduate of such disciplines should be introduced to the applications of the computer as early in his educational program as feasible. With this premise in mind, an IBM 1620 computer has been put to use in an undergraduate light and optics laboratory course, generally taken by sophomores and/or juniors. Several experiments that are performed in the laboratory, together with their respective computer programs, written for the 1620 in FORTAN II language, are presented.