The stability of a digital control system and its performance in terms of the continuous plant output are studied. A two-step controller design is proposed. In the first step, the assumption of no modelling error is made and a controller that combines properties of the algorithm that minimizes the sum of squared errors and a deadbeat-type algorithm is designed so that no intersample rippling appears. In the second step, a filter is designed so that appropriate conditions which guarantee robust stability and performance in the presence of model-plant mismatch are satisfied. The effect of the sampling time on the achievable performance and the robustness properties of the system is examined and the results are incorporated in a complete procedure for sampling-time selection and robust controller design. Finally, the procedure and some theoretical implications are illustrated with examples.