Page 12 THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1974
NASA gets computer program aid
Knotty problems in the space
program disappear by new compu
ter methods developed at TAMU.
A team of computer experts is
busy producing an automatic
documentation system and per
forming research in software (prog
ramming) reliability for NASA’s
Goddard Space Flight Center.
This research, project manager
Susan Arseven said, intends to let
one know “ . . . how to tell if a com
puter program works.’ It evolved
out of a need “ . . .to provide more
aids to help eliminate errors in
programming by trying to
categorize types of mistakes that
happen in programs. We re making
an analysis to see if there are certain
techniques and methods to use
whereby the computer programmer
ends up with a more reliable pro
duct.
In 18 months the team has writ
ten over 300 programs which com
prise the documentation system in
stalled at Goddard and at TAMU.
“The system has been designed to
produce timely, up-to-date
documentation at a relatively low
cost, Arseven explained. “It is
being extended to provide the abil
ity to monitor, improve and predict
computer program reliability. ”
“This will be useful to all the
NASA centers,’ she said. “All un
manned space shots are monitored
at Goddard. As a result they do a
tremendous amount of data collec
tion, reduction and analysis of in
formation received from satellites.
“Also they do the real time com
puting for controlling trajectories
and orbits for the unmanned space
shots,” Arseven noted. “They are
the back-up computer center for the
manned space flights. To support
these activities, NASA spends ap
proximately 6 per cent of their
budget annually or $200 million for
computer program development. ”
Documentation is constructed
from information gathered during
all phases of development. As soon
as a programmer puts in a program,
the automatic system can compile
it, produce a “tidy-ed” listing, allow
chart* a cross-reference, or show its
connections to other programs. This
information can then be used in the
testing and debugging phases of de
velopment of a computer program.
Documentation is the major
means of communication in a pro
ject so it is important that documen
tation is timely and reflects the most
current version of project informa
tion. It is kept in a central place in
the computer where changes can
immediately be re-documented so
that the program can keep pace with
the project.
“With the new system you de
scribe what results you want, what
data is needed to produce those re
sults, and the documents you wish
to produce, ’’ said Arseven. "The au
tomated system can make sure the
data is collected, monitor standards
and project status and produce the
needed documents.”
Principal investigator is Dr. Dick
Simmons of the TAMU Data Pro
cessing Center.
Preregistration
to begin soon
Preregistration for the
spring semester in only 13 days
away.
Preregistration, open only to
students currently enrolled in
the fall semester, begins at 8
a. m. Monday (Dec 2) and ends
at 5 p.m. Friday (Dec. 6).
New freshmen, transfer stu
dents, new graduate students
and old returning students will
preregister during week of Jan.
15-17.
Students enrolled in the fall
semester may obtain registra
tion card packets from the head
of their department. Heads ol
departments will be notified by
the Registrar’s Office when to
pick up the packets, Carter
said.
New students and students
returning to TAMU altera
semester’s ahscence may bet
their packets from the regis
trar.
A student who has a physical
handicap and needs help in any
phase of the sign-up should
contact the Registrar’s Office.
Any person needihg a course
at a specific time or requests
free time must have approval ol
his college dean to have there-
quest honored.
Departmental advisers have
received copies of registration
guidelines. Other information
or assistance can be gained by
contacting Willis Ritchey at
845-7117.
C hicago
kangaroo
doubted
CHICAGO (AP) - In the last
live weeks, more than a dozen
people claimed to have seen
Kinky the kangaroo, the mar
supial marauder who allegedly
clobbered a couple of Chicago
cops.
But a disbelieving zoo official
says he’ll eat the animal if any
one ever finds it.
“I’m just waiting for some
one to report a kangaroo being
seen riding a flying saucer,”
laughed Saul Kitchener, assis
tant director of Lincoln Park
Zoo, alter another sighting was
reported in Carmel, Ind., 150
miles southeast of here.
“I don’t believe there is such
a thing as a fugitive kangaroo
and if one is captured and
brought to me I’ll eat it, even if
it weighs 300 pounds,” Kitch
ener jested.
“There isn’t enough around
for kangaroo to eat this time of
the year — they eat grass but
they also need bushes with
leaves on them. It would be
possible, however, for one to
survive in the relatively mile
autumn weather wove been
having,” he said.
Over the weekend. Kinky —
as the elusive kangaroo has
been dubbed — was reported
spotted along Indiana 234 near
Carmel, an Indianapolis sub
urb. One man telephoned
police that the animal was a big
one and was sitting on its
haunches. A woman later said
she saw a kangaroo hop into
some woods.
A helicopter hunt was futile.
A kangaroo was reported a
week ago around Rensselaer,
Ind., where the Chicago Bears
football team trains in the
summer. This brought chuck
les that it belonged to the Bears
who were going to us it as a
secret weapon.
But it was no laughing mat
ter for a couple of Chicago
policemen who were the first to
report a kangaroo at large on
Oct. 13. They displayed
bruises and said they were at
tacked trying to catch the ani
mal.
Since then Kinky has been
reported seen around Chicago
forest preserves hopping over
fences and ducking into thick
ets, on residential streets
where he disappears in the
dusk and rattling garbage can
lids in alleys.
^trpfnamb*
SW
Eddie Dominguez ’66
Joe Arciniega '74
Greg Price
Mail
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