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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!hao!kpno!grandi
From: grandi@kpno.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.astro.expert
Subject: astronomical computing
Message-ID: <270@kpno.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 28-Nov-83 21:35:37 EST
Article-I.D.: kpno.270
Posted: Mon Nov 28 21:35:37 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 29-Nov-83 05:50:09 EST
Organization: Kitt Peak Natl. Obs.  Tucson, AZ
Lines: 31

Since net.astro.expert has just magically appeared this morning, I
thought I would try to get an interesting discussion going.  Given
that the medium of the discussion is a computer network, my topic may
seem rather obvious -- the state of computing in professional
astronomy. Let me pose two questions and make a few comments about
each one--
	Should a national astronomy supercomputing center be set up?
Supercomputing seems to have become a "hot" topic lately, and the NSF
is responding by holding back some of its money (which caused KPNO's budget
to be cut slightly) for such purposes.  What priority should such a
program have compared to the dessimination of VAX class computers (for both
data reduction/analysis and theoretical work) to university
departments and research groups?  I'm inclined to support more VAXes,
but I am no doubt biased being both an observer and a KPNO computer bureaucrat.
	Are astronomy graduate students getting a proper grounding in
software engineering?  In my previous incarnation as an astronomy
professor at UCLA, I was sometimes almost shocked at the awful programming
practices used by some of the graduate students.  Should we make it
our business to teach students about coding standards, structured
programming and software tools or do we "let them pick it up on their
own" much as we expect many to pick up electronics or machine shop
skills?  Have you ever had to use software on an instrument that was
written by a new grad student who was shown an 11/23, handed a FORTH
writeup and told "go to it!"?   If we do not teach software skills, 
how about numerical techniques? use of the Fourier Transform? 

I hope these questions get the discussion off to a good start--

steve grandi,  kitt peak national observatory, 950 n. cherry ave, tucson, az
      (602) 325-9228
      {arizona,decvax,hao,ihnp4,seismo,unc,utastronomy,ut-sally}  !kpno!grandi