ENGINEERING
TECHNICAL
FIELD
INFORMATION
NOTES
DATA
TECHNICAL
RETRIEVAL
REPORTS
TEXTS
CURRENT AWARENESS
SYSTEM
Notes
FIeld
Volume
Trial
2
Use of
Number
New
2 February
Products
1970
and Materials
Adrian Pelzner
Computer Time Sharing
C.
ITýS
J.
Montgomery
FOREST
SERVICE
U.S.
DEPARTMENT
OF AGRICULTURE
ENGINEERING FIELD NOTES
This publication
is a monthly
newsletter published to exchange
ideas
Forest
Service
among
personnel.
Engineering information and
The
However
publication
is
not
intended
material in the publication
is
all
to
be exclusive
for engineers.
and engineering technicians
engineers
because
should
of the
type
of
read each monthly
sue.
Office directly to all Forest Regional
The publication is distributed from the Washington
Center Station Area Laboratory and Research Offices.
Adequate
copies are printed
If you are not now receiving
a personal copy and
to provide all who wish a personal copy.
would like one ask your Office Manager or the Regional Information Coordinator to increase
the number of copies
Use form 7100-60 for this purpose.
sent to your office.
Copies of back
Office and can be ordered
issues are also available from the Washington
on form 7100-60.
It is
intended
Service
Field
that the
and used by Forest
Notes be primarily written
material from other publications
may be used.
material in the Field
Engineers however
accom-modate
always be informative and cannot contain mandatory instructions
or policy.
The length of an article may vary from several sentences to several typewritten
Material need not-be typed neatly written or printed is acceptable or edited before
pages.
Office.
This will be done in the Washington
Office to
being submitted to the Washington
Field Note material should
our format and allowable
space.
has an Information Coordinator to whom
and material for publication.
The Coordinators are
Each Region
Kenneth
R-2
Marshall
R-3
Dan Roper
R-4
R-5
Fleet
Chuck
R-6
R-8
R-9
Yeager
Fox
R-1
field
R-10
Stanton
WO
Paletti
personnel
Don
should submit both questions
Loff
Rollie
Bailey
David Jones
Gerald Schauwecker
Norman
Sears
DISCLAIMER
Information contained
in this report has been developed for the guidance of employees of the
Department of Agriculture - Forest Service its contractors and its cooperating
The Department of Agriculture assumes no responsibility for
Federal and State agencies.
the interpretation or use of this information by other than its own employees.
U. S.
The use
the
of
trade firm or corporation names
reader.
endorsement
be suitable.
Such
use does not
or approval
constitute
of any product
an
is
for the information and convenience
official
or service
of
evaluation conclusion
recommendation
to the exclusion of others which may
F
TRIAL
E
I
L
D
N
USE OF NEW PRODUCTS
O
E
T
S
AND MATERIALS
WO
by Adrian Pelzner
A program was
recently initiated to evaluate
materials for use in selected Forest Service
new
products and
construction or
A complete description of the program
projects.
objectives and procedures can be found in FSM 7115 TRIAL
maintenance
its
NEW PRODUCTS AND MATERIALS
USE OF
We hope
the
will prove useful to the Forests
program
and
the
and
materials currently on the market
the
future.
Washington
December
Office
in evaluating the
1969.
Regions
many new
products
and those to be offered in
The basic idea
of the program is to incorporate selected products
materials into construction and maintenance projects and
evaluate them under actual service conditions.
The products and
and
materials should have a resonable
have been subjected
laboratory
testing
of the promotional
to
some
for success
and
should
evaluation such as
preliminary
of other users and
experience
literature
chance
and
careful analysis
claims of the manufacturer or
producer.
There probably
and materials currently under
evaluation.
Generally the knowledge gained from these evaluations
With
is not being reported within the Region
or to other Regions.
the issuance of FSM 7115 these evaluations can be coordinated
and
the results
are
many
made know
products
Service-wide.
The objectives
of this
are to
1.
Determine
the
incorporating
program
merits of new materials and products by
them in selected Forest Service construction
or maintenance
projects
and
observing
their behavior
under
actual service conditions.
2.
Avoid uncoordinated
trial-use installations
of
the
same
or
similar new materials and products at more than one location
and thus avoid duplication of effort within the Forest Service.
Provide
3.
for coordinated
trial-use installations
at several
where deemed necessary or desirable
locations
so that the new material or product will be evaluated under
different environmental conditions and use.
different
Document
4.
and
disseminate
whether or
installations
or unsatisfactory
the
findings
of trial-use
not the findings
performance
FSM 7115
of the
indicate
product
satisfactory
or material.
program was reviewed by
Regions.
Regions
comments and suggestions
which have improved and strengthened the program and all indicated
the need and desirability of the program and their willingness to
This new program is still unused and untried.
support it.
Prior to the issuance
of
Several
all
the
offered
Hope-fully
it
mission
can be of help in efficiently accomplishing
of the Forest Service.
the
engineering
COMPUTER TIME SHARING
by
C.
J.
Getty
Montgomery
Oil
Manager Systems
Company Box 1404 Houston
Data
Texas
Processing Dept.
77001
for-a
INTRODUCTION
A new
and
growing method
sharing is making itself felt
This computer time sharing
person with no computer
of the
power
speed
makes
possible
to take
advantage
scale computer.
training
of a large
it
Regional and Forest Offices are
a computer time sharing program and others
Several
using
and
computer resource
in the technical world.
of
of our
have plans for its future use.
The following article
Mr.
is
by
Montgomery
very enlightening on the use
of computer time sharing.
COMPUTER TIME SHARING
Almost everyone knows
take the square
root
they can perform
bridge structure
of
computers have been programmed to
that
ten-digit numbers in microseconds
that
stress analysis of the most complicated
and that they can compute your utility bill
the
correctly most of the time.
But the
2
engineer
who
needs
the
answer
to
some problem may
wait hours or even days for the results of
which were performed at
whole been pleased with the
these calculations
He has
on the
at having
the
speed of light.
results but not happy
wait.
to
something is up in the world of
The
of new ideas.
is an air of the excitement
in
several
with
Time
ideas are dealing
Sharing
Computer
Almost anyone can
There
computing.
new
tell
that
ramifications.
Time
In this concept
sharing is a new kind of resource sharing.
a central computer has the apparent ability to serve the requests
called a number of
It is
of a number of users at the same time.
names
by different
responsive mode.
and that
is
when
a
people conversational
They
all
person who
mean
needs
interactive
approximately
same
the
thing
answers from a computer can
He
and think in interaction with the computer.
in
the
by-passes the programmer and algorithms altogether
problem-saving stage supplies his data using intuition guesses
sit at
a terminal
computa-tions
or even hunches as freely as he wishes and receives his
Of course
from the computer in real time.
directly
able to do this someone
user
this
to do his
must have previously written
or to handle the
computations
a
to be
program
for
data he wishes to
use.
The growth of computer use has been phenomenal.
Only 16 years
informed
well
person estimated
ago for instance a particularly
that only a half dozen or so computers would suffice to satisfy the
computational
needs
of the
The magazine Computers
50
950
computer
world.
entire
and Automation
installations
in use
today.
reports that there are
There are over 26 000
systems on order making it easy to predict that by 1975
there could easily be nearly 100 000 computer systems in use.
additional
com-puters.
In 1965
time sharing has been equally rapid.
no more than 500 terminals were on-line to time sharing
Today General Electric alone serves more than 50 000
time sharing customers. There are countless other companies
The growth
of
time sharing services and no way to even guess at how
Commercial time sharing
many customers they are now serving.
is reported to have a $70 million dollar market in 1968 and is
At this rate the industry will be at
expected to double each year.
offering
one billion dollars in 1972.
by permission of the publisher from Proceedings of
the Semi-annual Meeting of A. C. S. M. and A. S. P. in Portland
Reprinted
Oregon
1969.
3
Time
sharing probably
had
beginning back in 1940
its
George Steiblitz of Bell Labs demonstrated
to use the telephone lines to transmit data.
until 1952 that the
first
when
was possible
However it was not
This was an
system became operational.
that
it
on-line inquiry system at American Airlines for reservation
service.
The second system was at the Toronto Stock Exchange
stock quotations.
for
M. developed their RAMAC system which made a
with
a large memory available.
In 1958 A. T.
computer
T.
In 1956
I.
B.
began
to install their dataphones
which are
transmitting data over the telephone lines.
At M.
I.
widely used for
time sharing system was initiated
Compatible Time-Sharing
in 1961 the first true
T.
now
serving
was
This was later expanded into Project MAC
System CTSS.
which makes a large scale computer accessible to more than
Each user has a secret password that
separate terminals.
8
users.
called
It
permits only him to access
the
the
data stored in his
file.
It
is
100
quite
students to try to break the code of some
some
professors file and put some inane remark in his data.
a sport for
favorite
of the
The Rand Corporation famous West Coast think tank took a
major step in developing a prototype of the conversational
type
now used in time sharing.
languages
They developed a system to
make an in-house computer available to members of their technical
staff.
The computer was an ancient vacuum tube machine built in
1950-1953 called the Johnniac.
The language developed
called
JOSS Johnniac Open - Shop System was put in full use in 1964.
non-computer
JOSS
and
is
is
a simple algebraic type language which permits
people with an hour or so of training to solve problems
available only to
RAND
people.
first commercial time sharing services came. on line.
end of 1967 a major magazine reported 19 services were
time sharing and at the end of 1968 4rmajor firms were
offering
In 1965 the
By
the
There are
reported offering time sharing on 121 processors.
other small services which were not included in this
numerous
figure.
new
mystique has
In such a
and
esoteric field as computers a certain
computer
Computer programmers and systems
have
to
specialists
tended
attempt to convince us that the computers
are some all-powerful diety that only they the high-priests
can
developed.
approach.
4
The new concept of computer languages called Problem-oriented
programs permits the engineer surveyor or other user without
training in computer programming to communicate with the
language--and
In many cases
computer in the technical language he understands.
everyday English technical words are used--not machine
these are terms which have a precise meaning to the user.
The impact of these languages is that the technically trained
person
is
freed
more
permitted
from tedious
chores and is thus
computational
time to devote to creative work.
Many of these
programs developed
for
time sharing also provide
hints
helpful
to unskilled users.
sharing the user is encouraged to think of the computer
as a black box somewhere across town and to not concern himself
In time
how computers
with
He
is
access
urged
not to be
time
alone but
work.
Inside
of no value
is
concerned about compilers
A user
to him.
word length
now
buying computing power
buying a service which includes application type
as well as computer time.
Furthermore there is no
etc.
is
not
is
programs
layer of people or processes
such as key punching
down.
By
knowledge
to slow
him
around a prospective user can find a firm with library
which
can do almost any kind of computation he desires.
programs
If he wants to get sophisticated and learn more there are several
shopping
quite universal
such as
type computer languages
BASIC FORTRAN
QUICKTRAN or
all easily
learned which will permit him to write his own programs.
Now
conversational
CAL
ALGOL
lets again consider Time Sharing.
sense we will use it Time Sharing
in the
man
with the problem and the
provides a continuous
This
it.
Generally there
is
a central
dialogue
the
computer
when
thirty to ninety
in reality
problems
between
large capacity
many remote terminals.
such that it appears to each user
is attached
is
is
it
Basically
using two-way
queries and answers between the
computing power he needs to solve
man-machine
conversational
What
means
it
The
computer
speed
that he has
may
of the
and machine.
to
which
computer
exclusive use of
be operating on as
same time
at the
man
many
as
devoting a tiny slice
type-writer
of a
second
of its
attention
to each
The remote terminal can be
problem
in sequence.
a special electric
reader.
The remote terminal
paper tape
is usually connected
to an ordinary voice grade telephone line
through a device called a dataphone.
or
some
sort
a teletype
of
5
In
operation
number
across
user picks up his telephone and dials the
remote computing facility which may be half-way
the
of his
receiver
When
nation.
the
in the
number
he has his
connection
he places
dataphone and
special cradle of the
the
types his
The computer responds
on the
teletype.
The user
teletype asking what program the user wishes to use.
then types the program name and when ready the computer types
In COGO the user
or COMMAND.
something like
code
on the
READY
CLEAR
might answer
storage areas for 999
READY
or
again
and the solution
1
999
telling the
survey
The
points.
COMMAND.
computer to clear
computer then replies
Each command
processed
is
im-portant
orig-inators
command
and
is
to
mass
This
requested.
mode
answer
problem
to the
know
storage
until the
out before
typed
interaction continues
is
entire
problem
that desired data can be
use
for later
is
the
next
in a question
solved.
It
is
computers
saved in the
available only by use of the
special password.
An example
in Figure
1
of this type
which
is
of
user--computer response
with
a solution
is
underlined
since
reflected
many
The users response
are familiar with that language.
case
COGO
is
of
in
you
each
by us for emphasis.
Some
specialized computer service organizations have time
sharing programs that deal only with special problems. The
larger nation-wide companies generally have other computing
such as BASIC FORTRAN
capabilities
payroll
COBOL ALGOL
computation
Now
all
earthword programs and many others
of this sounds
For any such service
a teletype
amounts
about
about
I
know
but
how much
a first cost is usually the
does
it
cost
installation
typewriter terminal for those systems
installation.
This averages
about $125 and
of
of electric
requiring a fixed
one-time
great
available.
cost.
to about
Then one must pay rent on the teletype
$75 to $100
per
month
and
is
a
which
rent on the dataphone
So our first cost for a fixed installation is
$35 per month.
will
be out $110 to $135 per month for equipment
$125 and we
we do any computing or not. Other costs will be
determined by our contract with the computer service organization
for use of the computer.
rental whether
I. B. M.
Corporation and Com-Share Inc. provide their own
remote terminals and do not require a fixed installation. I. B. M.
has an installation charge of $40 and rentals ranging upward from
The
6
Com-Share
$87/month.
are a
Both
purchased.
own
office
Briefly
use
of a
no installation
charges
minimumof $63/month.
This
fee
and rentals
may
equipment
latter
be
systems contemplate your using your
rather than a special installation.
of these
telephone
summarizing
it
would be possible for you
high-speed electronic
computer
in
your
to
have the
office
for as
For a little
as $63 per month for a minimuminstallation.
hour
s computer
more say $100 to $140 per month including an
little
time
You
you
may
may have
feel that
a
more
sophisticated installation.
this concept
Time
of
Sharing
will force
you
questions
and
pre-pared
pro-vided
to sit at the
keyboard
of a teletype
playing
cross
crooked answers with
can
Not so. Your secretary
the computer.
learn
to
instructions
from a data sheet
the
easily
type
by the professional. The teletype machines can be
The secretary can
with a paper tape reader and punch.
for
off
while
not connected
the problem
line or
punch a tape
to the computer and consequently at no cost.
This tape can be
played back on the teletype for editing then when error free
can be transmitted to the computer at a time when the long
distance rates are low and at a speed of about 250 to 700 characters
per minute rather than the 50 or so words
can manually send on a teletype.
per minute an operator
An intriguing factor of this whole concept is the knowledge that
from the beginning of Data Processing history computers have
been used as task doers far more often than as problem solvers.
Couple this with the fact that we are moving toward the day when
we shall have personal computers. These will have an effect
Conversa-tional
destina-tion
on us
at least
car.
It
as profound
will be as
as the effect
pointless to ask what
of
the personal
Time
passenger
Sharing
Computers will be used for as it is to ask to what
you can drive an automobile or what kinds of letters you can
write on a typewriter.
But here are
some
things
that
are being tried.
Computer-Assisted Instruction
CAI
systems have been devised
which require learner-computer interaction.
The student can
call on the computer for help with something he doesnt
Several
learner-centered
teaching
under-stand.
The use
of the
System is possible
Socratic
7
in
which
This
computer .carr on a dialogue in depth.
Business
School
for
method is being used at Harvard
case studies
in business management.
It is also
being used at Harvard Medical
the
student and
School
for case
Students at M.
Schools
I.
studies
in
medical diagnosis.
T. Dartmouth
many High
computers from convenient terminals as
The impact of
they would use a slide rule.
other Universities and
today are using
nonchalantly
as
Computer Time Sharing on American education
change its entire concept and the ways in which
may
men
well serve to
learn.
Other possible uses are 1 educational testing and evaluation
2 solution of actual business management problems.
Time Shared Computing
in Business
auto-matically
Systems have been devised which can accommodate entire business
They update files keep inventory records
operations.
When
etc.
type invoices
purchase orders paychecks
given the proper information they can also produce the required
tax forms management reports etc. required by a business.
Computer
With
all
a time
line.
a
CRT
visual display device
engineer can sketch a design
sharing terminal having a
are possible. An
with a light pen.
Pushing the proper key on a keyboard
true up a badly drawn circle or produce a perfectly straight
kinds
on the
will
Graphics
of things
CRT
The user can lengthen or shorten lines
drawing or repeat
some programs
it
scores
he can
see the deformation
draw
of times
a bridge
all
change the scale of
with his console.
With
truss load
it
and
actually
caused by these loads.
Perhaps the best known
Pad developed at M. I.
of this type
of
program
is
called
Sketch
T.
Other Uses
A system known
inform
MEDINET
new patient
on his medication monitor his condition and type
when he is released. Other Hospital Information Systems
as
can find a bed
a nurse
up his bill
have been or are being developed
a single
for a
hospital or
all
by various firms
hospitals in a given
8
region.
to
serve
either
In a business
it is possible to model the
entire
with
variable
factors.
One
could
play
experiment
environment
trans-portation
business
and
what if
the
costs of such variables
changed.
etc.
could be a powerful
A
central data
real estate
A
aid in
with
file
may
as labor
affect
it
materials
the
business
This
making business decisions.
many
companies and
The pentagon
to play
How would
terminals could be very useful for
their Multiple Listing Services.
well already be using
Time
Sharing
Terminals
war games.
recent
news
computerized
article
their
famous Las Vegas casino has
game with ten remote terminals for
stated
KENO
a
on-line gambling.
The computer will make it possible for twice
as many games as before to be played in a given time.
No doubt
the profits will double also.
We are
moving toward the non-monopoly computer
Just as each home owner cannot afford a personal
utility
concept.
electric
However
generator each user cannot afford a computer.
without doubt
responsive
time sharing can
give
even
the
smallest user
the
ter-minal
a real computer of his own through a terminal device
The future
by a phone line to a data-processing
system.
terminal device may be as simple as a touch-tone telephone with
effect
of having
connected
voice-response
may
output.
It
is
soon cost as
surmised
that
such a touch-tone
could be carried by
the user ready for use at any time on any telephone.
This whole
is
and
these
few
I
have
uses
mentioned
concept
fascinating
possible
unit
are only a few obvious
little
as
$100 and
ones.
conversa-tional
As one writer says there is only one application of
computers and that is whatever you do during
a
normal
day.
9
the
course
of
COGO
FIGURE
W1558.
1
3
COGO IS READY. TYPE READ/DISK IF FIRST COMMAND WILL
BE READY FROM DISK OR ELSE BEGIN TYPING IN COMMANDS
ON THE REMOTE CONSOLE
READY
clear
1
500
store
1
5000.
READY
READY
5000.
locate/azimuth
PT
YCOORD
2
READY
2
PT
3
3
4
4
READY
4
PT
5
5
1
3
4
READY
4
PT
5
1
locate/angle
2
READY
locate/
PT
1
21
locate/line
READY
2
22
locate/line
1
2
3
22
161.
21
23
XCOORD
4652.080
XCOORD
4553.002
XCOORD
5690. 975
48
XCOORD
5100. 055
XCOORD
5000.
977
XCOORD
4965.
551
XCOORD
5045. 963
833
05
37
50
4999.
822
-67
05
5028.613
32
5154.
743
25.31
52
30.
-90
00
00.
5161.801
XCOORD
5021.657
5317.374
XCOORD
5087.900
-5.13
YCOORD
3
5243. 000
54
45.65
YCOORD
52
XCOORD
4701.452
341
21
5528.565
05.
4744.
YCOORD
deflection
READY
PT
2
XCOORD
50.
19
265
51
1
5092.979
5966.650
YCOORD
51
READY
PT
37
YCOORD
READY
locate /line
48
162
39
314
XCOORD
5668.280
YCOORD
1
PT
661
341
592.51
5
5
5711.
YCOORD
READY
PT
54.
265
535.11
4
40.
19
50.
21
5254.701
162
39
314.
05
98
YCOORD
592. 51
16
5316.651
YCOORD
1
READY
PT
535.11
330.02
YCOORD
5
READY
PT
439.97
YCOORD
3
READY
PT
2
1
-120.89
SOME DATA IS MISSING ON THE LAST CARD
PLEASE CORRECT THIS ERROR OR TYPE IN A NEW COMMAND
READY
10
APPENDIX
WHERE TO BUY TIME
Number
Simultaneous
Typical
Computer
Company
Computer Network
Washington D. C.
Corp.
SDS
Com-Share
Houston
Burroughs
3
Texas
GE-420
Statistical /Engineering
Use Charge
$
-$10
7
Analysis
Business
$15
Engineering
-
$30
Research
Co.
design
Systems
GE-420
GE-415
Burroughs B-5500
Scientific
$85
per month
$
8
-
$10
Engineering
Financial Analysis
Computational
Inc.
New York
N.
Technology
for Information
Management
30
Datanet-30
Mo.
Louis
Engineering
Finance Statistics
Mathematics
Corp.
Northbrook Ill.
McDonnell Automation
Realtime
Users
Applications
Hourly
Terminal
Scientific
Information Supplies
St.
of
$15
Programs
Y.
GE-420
Ill.
Academy
Computing
Statistics
GE-420
Corporation
Houston Texas
ITT Data Services
Houston Texas
30
$ 8
40
$10
Mathematics
Inc.
Chicago
design
Engineering
Finance
Surveying Scientific
Business Finance
Mathematical
IBM-360/50
Scientific
IBM-360/65
Mathematics
$7. 00/min.
$12.00/min.
Statistics
Control Data Corp.
Minneapolis Minn.
CDC
6600
3600
Scientific
Engineering
11
64
plus
connect
time
3600/$500/hr.
6600/$l 200/hr.
Number
Company
Computer
Computrol Systems
IBM
360/40
Inc.
of
Typical
Simultaneous
Applications
Users
Linear Programming
Hourly
Terminal
Use Charge
31
Scientific
Atlanta Ga.
Concap Computing
Systems
Palo Alto Calif.
Bolt Beranek
Newman
IBM UNIVAC
SDS
GE
Dig.
Equip.
Civil/ Structural
Const.
Cambridge Mass.
UNIVAC
Management
Dres
CDC
Traverse analysis
Inc.
Los Angeles
3300
Calif.
-
200
32
analysis
PDP-7 PDP-8
Inc.
40
$24
Engineers
Land Surveyors
$12
-
$15
-
$10
analysis
Transportation
$20
systems
Mapping
Graphic Controls
Corp.
Buffalo
Computer
N.
Y.
Sharing
GE-235
PDP-10 PDP-8
Engineering
Datanet-30
Business
SDS-940
Engineering
40
PDP-10
40
Business
Inc.
Bala
Scientific
Cynwyd
Pa.
Sci-Tek Computer
Center Inc.
Delaware
Wilmington
Scientific
UNIVAC
Scientific
Engineering
12
6
64
$ 7
Number
Typical
Company
UNIVAC
Computer
Information
Services
UNIVAC
Users
Applications
Use Charge
16
$576
40
$6. 50
39
$7. 50
50
$13
Business
Pa.
Engineering
Call-A-Computer
Raleigh N.
Simultaneous
Scientific
Div.
Philadelphia
Hourly
Terminal
of
GE-265
Engineering
C.
Scientific
Financial analysis
GE-265
GE-600
General Electric
Md.
Bethesda
20
Scientific
Houston
Texas
Engineering
Business
Chicago
Ill.
Education
Other Major
I.
B.
Cities
M.
White Plains N.
Y.
Adam
Keydata
Associates Inc.
IBM
IBM
7044
5
360 System
IBM 360/40-65K
General Purpose
General Purpose
40
Scientific
Business
Engineering
Tech-Mac
VDM
620
12
Surveying
$10
This Data from Survey
Sharing Services
A. C. S.
M. Committee
Computing during 1968
13
of
Time
conducted
on
by
-
$9