Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!harpo!floyd!vax135!ariel!houti!hogpc!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!unc!brl-bmd!Human-Nets-Request@rutgers From: Human-Nets-Request%rutgers@brl-bmd.UUCP Newsgroups: fa.human-nets Subject: HUMAN-NETS Digest V6 #32 Message-ID: <591@brl-bmd.UUCP> Date: Sat, 9-Jul-83 16:15:38 EDT Article-I.D.: brl-bmd.591 Posted: Sat Jul 9 16:15:38 1983 Date-Received: Mon, 11-Jul-83 20:38:48 EDT Lines: 345 HUMAN-NETS Digest Saturday, 9 Jul 1983 Volume 6 : Issue 32 Today's Topics: Queries - Request for Famous Bugs & Keyboards (2 messages), Programming - Debuggers, Computers and People - Jobs in the future, News Articles - DOD To Join Co-Op For Semicon Research & AP article on Computer Security, Announcements - 1984 National Computer Conference: Call for Papers & Bulletin Board For Micro Users Set Up By NBS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: John ShoreDate: Mon, 6 Jun 83 11:17:14 EDT Subject: Request for Famous Bugs In discussions of software and software engineering, it sometimes helps to cite famous bugs. To this end, I am collecting a list. I have in mind bugs that caused major problems as well as bugs that could have but were prevented by suitable human intervention. Some examples of bugs I've heard about but for which I don't have documentation: (a) bug forced a Mercury astronaut to fly a manual re-entry; (b) bugs were problems in the first two Apollo moon landings; (c) bug caused NORAD to alert U.S. forces about incoming Soviet missiles (the moon); (d) process synchronization bugs delayed the first space shuttle launch. Can you help? I would appreciate receiving brief descriptions of famous or should-have-been famous bugs of all types (space program, banking, nuclear power, census, etc.). If possible, please include references that will help me to filter out the apocryphal bugs. Please pass this message on to others who might be interested. I will send a copy of the resulting bug-list to all who contribute. Thanks in advance. John Shore Code 7591 Naval Research Laboratory Washington, D.C. 20375 (202)767-3056 shore@nrl-css ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jun 1983 1200-PDT From: Lynn Gold Subject: Keyboards Is there an ANSI standard on this? If so, could someone please direct me to it? My husband and I have been debating over where a few keys are supposed to be placed. --Lynn ------------------------------ Date: 4 Jun 1983 0:51-PDT From: Greg Davidson Subject: Keyboards are a very personal thing Spare me from having to use anyone else's ideal keyboard. I'd much rather use their toothbrush! In fact, having to use two different keyboards that I both like is terrible. I think that the best thing that could happen to keyboards is for ANSI to define a standard ASCII keyboard interface, so that people can own their own keyboards & plug them in anywhere. Once I can count on not having to go back, I'll eagerly try chord keyboards, DSK keyboards, etc., until I find the one I like best. -Greg ------------------------------ Date: 14 Jun 1983 03:20:13-PST From: whm.arizona@Rand-Relay Subject: Debuggers I have developed a recent interest in debuggers for high-level languages. I'm looking for references on source-level debuggers of various sorts. The primary interest is in novel ideas in debuggers, for instance, screen-oriented debuggers, and debuggers written in the language they serve as debuggers for. Also of interest are debuggers for unconventional languages. A secondary issue is that of interactive program development environments such as those associated with Lisp, APL, and Mainsail. I'm familiar with the various debuggers under UNIX (4.1bsd), I've used some Lisp debuggers, and I've had excruciating amounts of experience with "symbolic debuggers" of various types. I've heard about a recent (last year) conference on High-Level Debugging and understand that the proceedings are due out in a couple of months or so. That's about all that I know of in the line of debuggers. As for interactive development environments, I know of the ones mentioned; are there others? So, if you know of articles, books, etc., concerning debuggers or interactive development environments, I'd like pointers to them. If you have something in mind, please try to reply by about July 7 and I'll report my findings about a week or so after that. Thanks, Bill Mitchell whm.arizona@rand-relay {kpno,ihnp4,mcnc,utah-cs}!arizona!whm ------------------------------ From: "CACHE::TS1::BURROWS Jim Burrows c/o" Date: 7-JUN-1983 00:38 Subject: Jobs in the future I doubt things will go much like the experts in the articles Lauren submitted expect. The guy who said: "If anybody told us in 1933 that only 3 percent of the labor force would be in agriculture today, we would have foreseen all sorts of cataclysmic problems in terms of what would those poor farmers do with their skills in the big cities," is probably the most realistic of the bunch. I'm especially skeptical of the union spokesman who claimed that strong government backed union action is needed to avert the coming disaster. Somehow I just can't shake the notion that he has a vested interest in that course of action. I think the real trend was pointed to by the ex-steel-worker who's studying to be a computer technician, who said: "There's a trade-off. My income won't be as high, but the computer industry won't collapse overnight like the steel or auto industries. The future is what I'm shooting for." and the quote that Isabel V. Sawhill, an economist with the Urban Institute, predicts workers will "increasingly trade off higher wages for various kinds of non-wage benefits," such as better working conditions, job training and mobility, more flexible hours and locations and day care facilities. These demands, she says, will be caused in part by an increase in the number of two-earner and single-parent households, "where conflicts between work and family responsibilities loom large." What I see in my crystal ball is more lower paying jobs, many of them created by the high tech industries. There was an ABC (?) news report a couple of weeks ago about the "false promise" of high tech. Their main point was that high tech industry produces low tech jobs. They showed how many low paying assembly jobs were created in Austin, Texas by the computer and electronics moving there. What they failed to notice was that virtually all of the workers and city government people interviewed were really happy that there were any new jobs at all. They emphasised how much less the workers were making in their new high-tech/low-tech jobs, missing the fact that they were really thrilled to be working at all. What I think is happening is the American worker is finding that he has to compete with workers in other countries, and that in order to compete he's going to have to settle for a wage more like theirs. This cheaper labor, and automation could put us more in competition with other high tech countries (where the wages are coming up towards ours). I expect the lowering of individual incomes will cause the trend towards multi-income families to continue. I also suspect it will head off the shortening work week. (You ain't gonna be happier about working few hours for fewer dollars per hour. Finally, just to be heretical, I am also skeptical about some of the claims made for the degree to which computers will dominate our lives. Specifically I am not expecting either the predictions that Office personnel eventually will simply dictate into a machine that will type the letter itself. or that the need for sales clerks will decline as consumers start using home computers to make purchases. I, for one, don't trust machines enough to let them shop or take dictation for me. ------------------------------ Date: 20-Jun-83 15:38 PDT From: WBD.TYM@OFFICE-2 Subject: DOD To Join Co-Op For Semicon Research i just read that the DOD will be joining the Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC) within the next 2 weeks. Does this mean that research done by the institute will have to be cleared by DOD before it can be published? --William Daul ------------------------------ Date: 6 July 1983 00:06 edt From: TMPLee.DODCSC at MIT-MULTICS Subject: AP article on Computer Security Sometime between June 24th and July 5th the Associated Press put out a story on their wires about a recent article written by a couple of Naval lieutenants dealing with computer security. The article, which appeared an an obscure publication called the Naval Institute Proceedings is entitled "The Eagle's Own Plume" and deals with a hypothetical set of scenarios reflecting the results of subversion (trap doors and trojan horses) of Naval combat computer systems. Has anyone here seen either the article or the AP story, and, if so, could they please comment. (comments directly to me; I'll summarize/redistribute to HNets and to my Security-Forum if that seems appropriate). It would be even more interesting if one of the sites that seems to be plugged into the AP wires managed to capture the story. Ted Lee ------------------------------ Date: Fri 17 Jun 83 05:09:09-PDT From: Jim Miller Subject: 1984 National Computer Conference: Call for Papers The call for papers for the 1984 National Computer Conference has been released; a copy of it is enclosed below. As the program chair for the artificial intelligence / human-computer interaction track, I hope that you will give serious thought to preparing papers and sessions for NCC. This meeting offers us a real voice in the conference's program, as six program sessions will be devoted to these topics, far more than in the past. Proposals on any aspect of AI or human-computer interaction are welcome; I would only note that most of the people attending the conference will have little familiarity with these topics. Consequently, extremely technical papers or sessions are probably not appropriate for this meeting. I am particularly interested in sessions that would summarize important subareas of AI or HCI at an introductory or tutorial level, perhaps especially those that that are beginning to have an impact on the computer industry and society at large. Please contact me if you have any questions about the conference; my address, net address, and phone are below. Jim Miller ------------------------------------------------------------------ A CALL FOR PAPERS, SESSIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS 1984 NATIONAL COMPUTER CONFERENCE July 9-12, 1984 Convention Center Las Vegas, Nevada E N H A N C I N G C R E A T I V I T Y You are invited to attend and to participate in the 1984 NCC program. The 1984 theme, "Enhancing Creativity," reflects the increasing personalization of computer systems, and the attendant focus on individual productivity and innovation. In concert with the expanded degrees of connectivity resulting from advances in data communications, this trend is leading to dramatic changes in the office, the factory, and the home. The 1983 program will feature informative sessions on contemporary issues that are critically important to the industry. Sessions and papers will be selected on the basis of quality, topicality, and suitability for the NCC audience. All subjects related to computing technology and applications are suitable. YOU CAN PARTICIPATE BY: - Writing a paper * Send for "Instructions to Authors" TODAY. * Submit papers by October 31, 1983. - Organizing and leading a session * Send preliminary proposal (title, abstract, target audience) by July 15, 1983. * After preliminary approval, send final session proposal by August 30, 1983. - Serving as a reviewer for submitted papers and sessions Authors and session leaders will receive final notification of acceptance by January 31, 1984. Send all submissions, proposals, correspondence and inquiries about papers and sessions on ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE or HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION to: James R. Miller Computer * Thought Corporation 1721 West Plano Parkway Plano, Texas 75075 214-424-3511 JMILLER@SUMEX-AIM Send all other proposals or inquiries to: Dennis J. Frailey, Program Chairman Texas Instruments Incorporated 8642-A Spicewood Springs Road Suite 1984 P.O. Box 10988 Austin, Texas 78766-1988 512-250-6663 ------------------------------ Date: 17-Jun-83 16:42 PDT From: WBD.TYM@OFFICE-2 Subject: Bulletin Board For Micro Users Set Up By NBS WASHINGTON, D.C. -- An electronic bulletin board that will inform microcomputer users about upcoming conferences, seminars and workshops, as well as update them on the latest telecomputing services, publications and users groups, has been established by the Commerce Department's National Bureau of Standards (NBS). Dubbed the Microcomputer Electronic Information Exchange (MEIE), the service will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Both federal and nonfederal users with Asci terminals that communicate at 300 bit/sec with eight data bits, no parity and one stop bit can reach the exchange by calling (301) 948-5718. Further information on MEIE can be obtained fom the NBS. From June 13th issue of COMPUTERWORLD ------------------------------ End of HUMAN-NETS Digest ************************