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To: mlocher

My C-contribution was a small part of a much larger project and mostly a lot of fun. It was a display for an ATC radar. ATC radar don’t really use displays, the display was for maintenance. (The radar sends tracks, plots and weather maps to the ATC center.)

It had an A-Scope and PPI, with analog and digital data. You could see “range vs. video” on the A-Scope or range vs. STC, or one of about 32 tests points available in A-Scope and PPI format. It was really pretty slick. It’s fun to see real aircraft on “your” display in real time.

The Basic was a bunch of stand alone code to run radio frequency factory and depot test equipment for radar hardware. The 40,000 lines were really more like 10,000 independent lines, mostly you just cut and paste from something else. It was fun, though. It actually did something. When a $25,000 receiver pops off the line, your test station gives it thumbs up, or thumbs down.

Fortran was used for analysis and simulation, a lot like the CRU. I was always very conscientious, and have to admit that some people “advanced” by me by taking shortcuts. Their work was junk, but a lot of these analyses were poorly validated and imho, not particularly reliable. I like deliverables and products because the real world is a very harsh validator.


48 posted on 03/14/2010 11:30:34 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (The naked casuistry of the high priests of Warmism would make a Jesuit blush.)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets
My brother is an EE major who sometimes has to write SW. Generally speaking, EEs are pretty versatile, in my opinion.

I designed, wrote SW for and managed (also some Prod Mgt) products used in the communication network. I was involved in local systems, long distance services, advanced services, wireless systems and pre-paid solutions. I enjoyed it while it lasted.

49 posted on 03/14/2010 11:37:41 AM PDT by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
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