The Debugger             Spring 1995

Table of Contents

  • Editor's Notes
  • From the Chair - Gary Buterbaugh
  • Carol's Corner - Carol Miller
  • News from Tompkins' Lab - Don Rosenberger
  • ACS Reorganization - Bill Creighton
  • Check Out Our Home Page - Mary Micco
  • Note From Singapore - Yee Hwee Phuan
  • Electronic Junk Mail - Jim Wolfe
  • PACISE Programming Contest - Jim Wolfe
  • Computer Science Faculty


    • EDITOR'S NOTES

    This issue of The Debugger is about a month late, in comparison to previous Spring issues. There were a few problems: I was preoccupied with the PACISE Programming Contest until the first week of April; then final exams had to be dealt with; and, finally some creative funding was needed to cover the cost of printing this issue. Nevertheless, here it is and I think you will like it.

    If there is a theme running through this issue, it must have something to do with Internet. Mary Micco writes about her efforts to make the department presentable on the World Wide Web. Don Rosenberger discusses the installation of Netscape on faculty and lab machines. Two alumni, John Berkoski and Yee Hwee Phuan, made contributions by sending us e-mail after finding the department on WWW. And, I include a complaint of my own about e-mail, although the problem I mention is more IUP-oriented than world-wide; I think.

    Naturally, Carol provides the latest information about a large collection of alumni who have contacted her since the Fall issue. I joke with her about the length of her article, suggesting that we only put snippets involving alumni with last names beginning with A thru M in this issue and save N thru Z for the next issue. Of course, she points out that "Carol's Corner" is what all of you read and that cutting it back would be some form of editorial suicide. She is right.

    I'll end with another Internet note. Back in December, Jerome (Sparky) Sparks (12/83) sent me some e-mail asking when The Debugger would be available electronically. Well, the answer is now. I am hoping to have this issue available through WWW by about the time you receive your copy in snail mail. Use the department's URL: http://www.iup.edu/co/ You should find a link to this issue in some form.

    Jim Wolfe, Editor


    From the Chair
    Gary Buterbaugh

    Yesterday at the Honor's Convocation, where the university honors sophomores and juniors with QPA's of 3.5 and higher, Dr. Charles Cashdollar, IUP's 1994-95 University Professor, spoke on the subject of memories. He talked of the importance of memories to mankind indicating that early societies were committed to remembering certain events, e.g., the Israelites remembered their forty years of wanderings by setting up memorials. He spoke of how different people have different memories of the same event, e.g., the end of World War II. He ended by speaking of the memories he had as a student of IUP and of the excellence of the institution; and he reminded the students being honored of the rich heritage of which they are a part.

    This reminded me of the rich heritage and fond memories which we have in the Computer Science Department. For some of you, it's memories of Weyandt Hall and the Data Center there, for others it's Dr. Tompkins and the mark he left on you, for still others its your internship or special late hours in the lab. But for all of us those memories include people: students, faculty, our staff - all friends. Our profession is known by the name of an electronic machine, the computer. But what we are about is people.

    In our 23 years as a department, we have had less than 15 faculty members, two secretaries, two lab managers and well over 1,000 graduates (not to mention the countless students who started out in Comp. Sci., but for one reason or another, just did not make it). Because I have been here almost from the start, all those names and people are real to me. What an impact you all have had on my life. Often in the office one of our alumni will have just called or dropped in or one of our current students will have just been in for something and Carol and I will comment on the good memories or the good qualities of the person involved. Since last graduation we have had a picture of the graduating class of 1976 hanging on our door. What a neat reminder of all of you. YOU are what makes the Computer Science program at IUP special. YOU are a most important asset. YOU and the way you represent us and the support which you are able to give to us are our future!

    How about you? What are your memories of the Computer Science Department at IUP? Who is it you remember? When was the last time you talked with them, wrote them, sent them e-mail? Whether you are a faculty member, staff member, alumni, or current student, why not take some time to reaffirm that relationship - build your own memorial? If computer professionals are to contribute to society, we must put people first.

    A personal thanks to each of you for the enrichment which you have brought to my life. Each of you is important to me.


    Carol's Corner
    Carol Miller
    Hello to Everyone -

    It's supposed to be Spring; but Spring has not sprung in Indiana this year. We have been getting a day of 70 followed by a day of 40 with snow, sleet, hail and rain. It's not pretty. In fact, it's just plain ugly.

    But, the Maples have come home, so Spring must be coming. They had a wonderful winter in Florida and a long, slow trip back North with lots of stops along the way. Retirement seems to agree with them.

    We've had a really busy semester. Recently, we sponsored the state PACISE Conference here at IUP and that meant much extra work. Some of you probably remember the PACISE Conference. It's one where a group of students is involved in a programming contest. Some of you may remember the last time it was sponsored by IUP's Computer Science Department, and we had SUN here then and had a lot of events out at the Lodge. Anyway, all went well this time and we survived.

    I haven't heard from a lot of you guys (well, maybe I have), and the bad news is my e-mail messages disappeared again, so I've lost some of the mail I got. I think I m going to start printing them out as I get them (actually, I've already started doing that).

    One of the main bits of information, I have to give you is that my idea in the last issue worked. Remember when I suggested you give me names of somebody you wanted to hear about? Well, two people did! But first, I have been wondering about Jeanne Peoples (5/85) and Janet Harrell (5/90). Well, I didn't hear from Jeanne, but I did hear from Janet. She didn't think I'd remember her, so she never kept in touch. Isn't that just the way you guys think?? You'd be amazed how much I remember. I m old, but you know what they say about elephants. Anyway, back to Janet. A little background - Janet did an internship with JCCEOA in Punsxutawney and continued working for them during her final semester and then after she graduated. Then, she got an offer from EDS in Michigan and left for the midwest (or is that midnorth?). Now she's still in Troy, Michigan working as a consultant for Software Services, Inc. in their client server division doing relational database design. And, she's still single. Janet has another IUP Alumnus, Phil Silvio, (12/90) living in her apartment complex. Small world. Thanks so much for calling, Janet. I REALLY had been wondering about you.

    One of the two who gave me a name to ask about was Marian (Jakopac) Craig (5/85). First, some news about Marian - Marian is living in Williamsport, PA and working as a consultant while raising her three children. Marian initially went to work for General Dynamics as an Engineer and was promoted three times while there. Then, she got married and went to New Jersey and worked for New Jersey Telesciences and was involved in submarine technology. When they decided it was time to settle down, they moved to Williamsport. Sounds like you've been having an exciting life. Thanks, so much, for calling Marian.
    The person Marian asked about was Cherri Lundberg (8/87). Cherri, if you're out there or if anyone knows anything about you, please let us know.

    The other person to ask about someone was Jennie (Alleman) Buchanan (5/88). She sent me a nice long letter letting me know what she and Scott (5/88) are up to these days. They've been married five years now, can you even believe it?? Scott and Jennie started their careers at DuPont in Charlotte, but in 1992 decided they needed a change. Scott was hired by Xyplex, Inc. which is a networking hardware/software manufacturing company. He does quite a bit of traveling doing demo s, support, training and consulting. Jennie is with Encompass as a database specialist. Encompass is a start-up company owned by AMR and CSX that produces global logistics software for tracking goods worldwide. Jennie was Employee of the Quarter in the 4th quarter of 1993. Congratulations, Jennie!!! Scott and Jennie are living in Raleigh, NC and are the parents of two lovely dogs. Thanks soooo much Jennie and Scott for the update.

    Jennie asked if I'd heard anything from Maryann Mayer (5/88). I haven't Jennie, but let's see what happens. Are you out there, Maryann?

    Mark (5/85) and Bev (Green) (5/85) Landry sent me a nice Christmas letter. I told you in an earlier issue that they had been in a bad accident during Memorial Day weekend last year and both had been injured, Mark less severely. Well, Bev made it back to work in October after three surgeries and physical therapy which she has had to continue. Bev is still working for Westinghouse Communications, and Mark is still with USX. Thanks for the update, guys!

    Oh, and Bev's sister, Deb (Greene) Fritz (5/79) and her husband, Dan (5/82) had a baby boy, Andrew, on November 29. Congratulations, Deb and Dan!!

    Reed Streifthau (5/89) is having a terrific working trip. He has been in Singapore (with side trips) for DuPont since January and has been sending updates on his experiences, including his fun trips to work by cab and rail, food shopping, having his apartment fumigated and pub stops. Enjoy Reed!!

    And, speaking of Singapore, Janie (Pike) Kustaborder (5/92), is also in Singapore for HRB Systems. And, she will be in Hong Kong and then, on her way home, will be meeting her mother in Hawaii for a few days. Janie will be back in June. Have a wonderful time, Janie!! I'll see you when you get back. Janie and Ron are not going to work on their house this summer, they are remodeled out.

    AND, speaking of HRB Systems, Lisa Dillon (12/93) loves her job. She's working with the latest technology and is on the cutting edge of computing. She's finding her job challenging and exciting and I don't think we could drag her away. I told you in the last edition that Lisa was living in a little a-frame in the woods; well, her landlord is building a bigger a-frame and Lisa has first refusal on it. Somehow I don't think she'll refuse. I m
    planning on visiting Lisa in May, unfortunately I'll miss Janie, but that means I'll have to go back later in the summer. Lisa is also looking at new cars - maybe a 95 Grand Am - what do your think?

    STILL speaking of HRB Systems, I had a nice email letter from Joe Karolchik (8/87). Joe started at HRB in State College, then was sent to the DC area. While he was in DC, he worked with a music group here in Indiana. So, for a while Joe's weekends were comprised of traveling to State College Friday, to Indiana on Saturday and back to DC on Sunday. Joe is also working on his Master's in Instructional Systems at Penn State and is working on his thesis now. At HRB, Joe is working on a project called Language Dynamics or Cine Interactive which is foreign language skills enhancement using interactive video on PCs and MACs with IconAuthor, Toolbook and Hypercard. He spends much time coordinating technology and development with a team. The subject matter comes from feature films from other countries. The films are pressed onto laser discs and the script is transcribed in the native language and translated into English. Sounds REALLY interesting. And, HRB employs the people who do the translating, so Joe, as an English-speaking American, is a minority on the team. Joe is also involved in the Catholic church working with teenagers and is also involved through his music. He attended the World Youth Day in Denver in 1993 and sang (along with 800 other people) to the Pope. Thank you so much for the update, Joe, I really enjoyed hearing what you're up to.

    I heard from Lisa Dillon that Bill Smith (12/93) is no longer working for Mellon. Then, Bill called to let me know where he was. He's at Westinghouse Energy in Monroeville doing database PC work. He seems to like it real well. Bill stopped in not long ago and said hello in person Thanks, Bill, it always nice to see you.

    And, speaking of Mellon, Neal Hilty (12/90) is still at Mellon. He's working for Global Cash Management and is on the Wire Transfer team that wires money out of the country and to the federal reserve bank. He got married on August 8, 1992, to Louise who is an IUP Special Education graduate. Glad to hear from you, Neal!

    Bill Smith told me that Jack Weicht (12/93) is working for Woolworth's in Harrisburg. Let us know what you're up to, Jack!

    Also from Lisa, I heard that Lois (Edinger) Raphael (12/93) is now working at Magee Hospital in Pittsburgh. Lois had been working for SMS in Philadelphia; but, as I understand it, her husband had been offered a job in Pittsburgh, and they moved back.

    Josh Gould (5/88) sent me an update of his life since his last update. He had been working for GE Aerospace in King of Prussia, and it merged with Martin Marietta, then with Lockheed. He is in the System Integration Department which coordinates the contractors who are at different corporations, and he makes sure changes, schedules, reviews, etc. are all dealt with efficiently and economically. There is much variety in the
    SI Department, and Josh started as a programmer and got the chance to lead a project at a young age because he had software engineering under his belt - thanks to IUP and Charley Shubra. Then he got into a technical leadership training program and rotated jobs every 6-9 months for about 3 years. While doing this, he started his Masters degree from Penn and finished it in May of 93, finished his technical leadership training program in April 94. In between, he moved to Boyertown, PA, got married to Su (9/10/93), and they had a baby girl on November 16, 1994. She was born at 4:09 pm, weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz and was 20 inches long. Her name is Abigail Emily Gould. Congratulations Josh and Su!! Josh is now Deputy Manager for his group. Of interest to many, when Josh first worked in his group in 89 & 90, they worked in FORTRAN on an IBM mainframe. They are now working on SUN workstations in C or C++. Really interesting stuff you're doing, Josh. Josh also sent some personal messages which I m more than happy to pass along: Hi to Mark (BOK), Brenda and R. Congratulations to R. on your engagement to Patty, although you have probably been married for awhile. Drop Josh a line when you can (240 Estate Road, Boyertown PA 19512).

    Mike Bigrigg (5/91) called one day to say HI. He's still with Tartan Labs in Pittsburgh, but I could tell by talking with him that he's on the lookout for something more challenging. Don't be surprised if by the Fall issue I tell you Mike is blazing new trails in the computer industry. How about it, Mike?? Keep me posted!!

    Gary Perrier (5/92) stopped in one day in March. That was really a surprise. I think in the last issue I had heard Gary had changed jobs, but I didn't know where he was. Well, Gary is now working as a programmer at Pa Blue Shield in Camp Hill and is living in York, PA. He likes Blue Shield very much and likes the area he's living in. Gary also gave me some information on two other alumni who are in that area - David Freas (5/92) is working for Giant Foods in Carlisle and Stacey Hinkle (5/92) is working for Cooper Tools. Nice to see you, Gary and thanks for the updates!!

    Valerie Bonito (12/93) stopped in one day. She is still working for Premier Solutions in Wayne, PA which is a software vendor for banks. She was one of the lucky ones who had a day off for one of the President s. Val is looking great and sporting around in a new Neon. Keep in touch!! Roger Hughes (12/93) was with Val.

    Becky Salter (12/94) called to chat. She's working for a Tool and Die Company in the St. Marys area but is looking at a teaching job in the Bradford area. Good luck, Becky , and please keep me posted.

    Karl Cherry (12/86) is still with FISERV in Pittsburgh . Theresa, his wife, is working on her Master's Degree. Thanks for the update, Karl!

    For everyone who has been wondering about Dave Murphy (12/92), he is still with RPS in Pittsburgh and just bought a house in Bethel Park. I know I m not the only one who had heard rumors that Dave had left RPS, so we now know, the rumors aren't true.
    Thanks, Dave!

    And, speaking of RPS, Pamm Gindlesperger (12/94) and Vickie Pearce (12/94), aka The Inseparable Sisters are both working at RPS. They are really enjoying the work. Of course, they got an apartment together, but tell me they will live in separate homes when they get married. I got a big long letter from them which I haven't answered yet, but I will Pamm and Vickie, hopefully before you read this.

    T.J. Hall (5/88) always keeps in touch. Thank you T.J. T.J. is still at Weirton Steel and is still teaching at the community college, and our condolences go out to him on the recent death of his father. Very sorry, T.J.

    Chuck States (5/93) is working at Punxsutawney Hospital and checked in with us. Thanks, Chuck!

    Had e-mail from Andy Weiss (5/93). All is well with Andy and he's still loving his job. I don't know if I mentioned previously that Andy is going to graduate school at Penn State (at night) and is taking two software engineering courses right now. Andy attended Jamie Zettlemoyer s (12/93) wedding in October and saw Brian Pearson (12/93). Thanks for writing Andy and keep in touch!!

    You won't believe what Peggy Mogush (5/87) did. She quit her job in Upland, Indiana at Taylor University. Actually, she didn't renew her contract. Does that sound better? Peggy has been talking about coming back to PA for a couple years now, but I wasn't expecting her to jump off the bridge. But, I m glad she did. We'll be glad to have her back. Peggy is looking for something Internet related, like maybe web development or internet service provider so if anyone knows of anything, let me know and I'll contact Peggy. And, she doesn't know I know, but Mike Gutzat (5/87) and Mary are going to hide her in their attic. Well, that wasn't quite the way it was put. Mike said they invited her to stay with them until she found a job. By the way, can you believe it's been a year since I told you about Mike and Mary's son Ryan's birth. It has. Ryan celebrated his first birthday April 10. They sure are enjoying him!

    Peggy related some lab experiences she had in the past with Chris Munson (5/87) and Julie (Paserba) Lampe (12/87), a guy named Ron with a CB handle of "God" and someone spewing obscenities. Peggy thinks they were studying for a Dr. Tompkins exam cause every once in a while Julie would look at her with a goofy smile and ask if she wanted some Vivarin. Do you guys remember that?

    And, speaking of Julie (Paserba) and Roy Lampe (5/88), they have become parents for the second time to daughter Jill Elizabeth who was born on April 1 (the birth announcement didn't say April Fool, so I think it was real) at 5:39 am. She weighed 6 lbs and 7 oz and was 20 inches long. Kayla was thrilled with her little sister, too. Congratulations!! Send pictures and all that. In case I hadn't told you, Julie is working for
    ELCO Standard now and really, really loves it there.

    Speaking of babies, Mike Elder (5/94) and Lori are the proud parents of a baby girl. Mike promised me pictures, so when he sends them, I'll give more details (that's right, Mike, I m holding out). Mike and Lori both work for Prudential AARP and live in the Philadelphia area.

    Denise Cattley (5/88) sent me a nice e-mail letter. Every once in awhile one of the faculty would ask me if I had heard what she was up to. I did get a little info from Ed Meinfelder (8/89). Anyway, Denise is married to Jeff Hornberger from southern Indiana and they live in Columbus Ohio. Denise started working for Pittsburgh Business Consultants when she graduated, then moved to ComputerPeople in Columbus and is now working for World Book consulting Group which is a young consulting firm with roots in World Book Encyclopedia. She is working on AS/400 using Rumba interface from PC and lots of Microsoft applications. She's been on assignment in Chicago and Kansas City. Denise and Jeff are the proud parents of a boxer puppy named Tigger and live very close to Jesse Maxwell (12/90). Maybe Denise can get a job modeling for Victoria's Secret (or maybe Tigger can).

    Chris Claire (12/94) accepted a job with Keane, Inc., a consulting firm in Wayne, PA Dewey Miller (12/94), has also been keeping in touch with regular calls and even a visit last Friday. Dewey is in Corning, NY with STI Solutions, a company founded by David Putt (5/83). As always, Dewey, it was great to see you and it's always good to hear from you. Dewey just got two older cats. I think it was in retaliation for me not giving him that little white kitten I found. But, he wouldn't take it until it was litter trained and, by then, I was attached to it. I named her Maggie and she joined my crew. Keep in touche, Dewey, I m always happy to hear from you (and see you).

    Bo Gohn (12/94) even called me one day. Everyone told me I'd never hear from Bo once he graduated. They were wrong. Bo is at Sheridan Press in Hanover where he worked summers while in school and where he did his internship. He just moved to York and is enjoying his independence. He's still driving a Stealth, too.

    Last time I mentioned that I'd heard Anita (Costa) Louttit (5/88) was no longer at Westinghouse. Well, Mike (5/86) sent me e-mail to tell me that Anita is now working at Federal Home Loan Bank in Pittsburgh. Thanks, Mike.

    Had a note from Owen Schostak (5/86) to say he had a great time at the Alumni reception in Philadelphia last June (has it been that long already?). Thanks, Owen, we did,
    too, and it was so nice to see everyone.

    Dave Fish (5/92) dropped in one day he was in the area. Dave looks exactly the same but his hair isn't quite as blond. He says it's because he isn't in the sun as much. I won't comment. Dave is an I/S Consultant with Marriott Corporation in the DC area and really likes his job. I think he enjoys the living (translated - nightlife) down there, too, right, Dave?

    And, Mark Lacy (5/89) is with Marriott Corporation, too. He was planning a big Easter weekend trip to the PA mountains for the first day of trout season. So, did you catch any, Mark. Did you make it home to Erie?

    David Dill (5/89) stopped by on Good Friday with his friend, Michelle Miller. Dave is a consultant with Integrated Systems Consulting Group in Wayne PA. They work with Oracle, Power Builder, etc. in the PA, NY and NJ areas. His group is hiring, so if anyone is interested, give me a call, and I'll give you Dave's phone number. Dave was going home for an Easter visit with his family who live near Seward, PA. Stop in again, Dave. We really enjoyed visiting with you and Michelle. (And, see, faculty remembered you, didn't they? Tell the rest of those people that we don't forget you just because you graduated!)

    Donny Cox (12/93) called from Salem, VA. Don has an interesting job. He is a field engineer with G.E. and he travels and starts up steel mills. He has been there since June and really likes it. He doesn't get home much, though. Thanks for calling, Don. It was great hearing from you.

    In the last issue, I told you that Beth (Blum) Potter (5/88) had some news for me. Well, she did. She's now Beth Blum again, is a homeowner (with a garden and flower beds and the whole bit), and has taken up pottery for a hobby and would eventually like to start selling it. Sounds like a good idea to me. He brother and sister-in-law had a baby boy, so she has become an aunt to Christopher. She is now working for Computer Science Corporation who bought out Atlantic Research Corp. where Beth was working. She is still in the defense industry and is a Sybase database programmer working with APT and Vision as GUIs on Sun/Unix platforms in a client/server environment. They are hiring there and Beth invites anyone who is interested in defense work to send their resume to her. Give me a call and I'll give you her address.

    Beth also gave me an update on Stephanie (Hagg) Kuver (5/88). Stephanie got married a few years ago to a great guy named Jeff. She is working at Marriott and is also a homeowner. Also, Beth has recently talked with Chris (Goda) Huston (5/88). Chris is doing well, is still with IBM and is also a homeowner. Thanks, Beth, I enjoyed hearing from you and thanks for the info.

    Eric Goss (12/93) is still in Erie and is on the lookout for something new. We haven t
    forgotten you Eric and will keep in touch.

    Well, gang, this is beginning to get a bit lengthy, so I better save some space for someone else in this little ole Debugger. I apologize to anyone whose e-mail I lost, so please send it again. This time I'll print it and save it. (Please) The rest of you keep supplying me with information.

    See you in the summer!


    News from Tompkins' Lab
    Don Rosenberger

    First, I want to thank David Bender for sending me a copy of OS/2 WARP. (If I had known that discussing an item in this article would get me one free, I would have discussed Corvettes a long time ago!) I also want to thank the IBM group for the terminology regarding Microsoft's new attempt at an operating system. My staff now also refers to it as Windows 9x! Unfortunately, I am still waiting for permission from the department to install WARP on one of the lab machines. Once the tranfer takes place (see below), I may find a suitable site to install WARP, and attain even more visibility for the product than I had planned.

    I have officially transferred from the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. I am now working for the Informations Systems and Communications Center (ISCC). IUP is looking for a replacement for my duties - except the new person will support three departments - Computer Science, Math, and Psychology. Therefore, it is likely that this will be my final article for The Debugger. For those who are interested, I will likely become the new manager for the Johnson Data Center, and have already been asked to design/build an office inside the facility.
    Until a new person is recruited/hired, I will continue to keep the Tompkins Lab going.

    Tompkins Lab will soon inherit eighteen Zenith 386 machines from the Classroom of the Future in Stright 220. This will enable us to surplus the Zenith XTs (8088s) that we still have in abundance. This action is a result of the Dean's decision to upgrade Stright 220 to multimedia-oriented Pentium machines.

    Finally, we have started to study the World-Wide Web (WWW). Netscape in installed as a browser on five lab machines currently. Most of the faculty also have this browser installed. This has required us to stop thinking in terms of Novell-unique protocols, since Netscape, etc. run on top of an IP stack. We are currently configured for both IPX and IP using Novell's ODI model. (This isn't "new", except to us.....) If you are interested in viewing our home pages, IUP is known as "http://www.iup.edu/". The Computer Science Department has its own home page at "http://www.iup.edu/co/". The ~username nomenclature is the standard IUP way of doing WWW on VMS. So, if you
    know the username of a friend/faculty member, you can check that person's home page at: "http://www.iup.edu/~username/". Anyone who wants to see my home page can check the file named: "http://www.iup.edu/~don/". I advise folks to have applications installed to handle files in .GIF and .WAV formats for your browser, as you will find a few of each on my page.

    By the way, our staff received coverage by News and Views, the IUP Employee newsletter. Our documentation efforts were discussed, and I was very pleased to see some positive publicity for the students who worked so hard in preparing the manuals and other documentation.


    ACS Reorganization
    Bill Creighton

    Computing support at IUP has, for the most part, been provided centrally over the years. In the future, however, the support provided by Academic Computing Services (ACS) will be provided in a distributed manner. The change will allow individual colleges to determine the types of support most important to them and the priorities given to individual support items.

    In the central model of support, each member of the ACS staff had specific areas of responsibility. Through time, it had become impossible to meet the increasing demand for services. It had also become nearly impossible to establish and equitably distribute responsibility within the group. Technology support had become so diverse and yet intertwined that where one area of support stopped and another started was quite unclear.

    From early in its history, ACS had a primary purpose of facilitating faculty and student use of computing. Providing this support was relatively straightforward. It involved understanding the use and syntax of a few computer languages. Students were provided access to the mainframe via a small number of terminals wired directly to the mainframe or, in some cases, using a dial-up modem. Providing these services was not a major problem for a small staff and a manageable group of well-trained student employees.

    In the mid 1980s, the microcomputer began to make a serious impact on college campuses. IUP was one institution that was certainly becoming aware of this emerging technology. At the time microcomputing started to appear at IUP, the ACS group consisted of 4 full-time staff.

    Beginning in about 1984 and continuing until 1994, the number of microcomputers grew from approximately 250 to over 3000. In this same period of time 2 full-time staff were added to ACS and were charged with providing microcomputing support services to all academic and administrative microcomputing users at IUP.

    In addition to having more users demanding services, ACS was faced with the reality that many of these users were quite knowledgeable and that their support needs were complex. Local area networking, Internet use, mainframe advances, e-mail, electronic conferencing, and, in general, the rapid pace at which technology was advancing further complicated the support dynamic. Clearly the old paradigm for support had to change. Six staff could not be expected to meet the demands being placed upon them by an academic computing user community as large and complex as the one which had evolved at IUP.

    A primary concern was establishing which of the many demands placed upon ACS at any given time was most significant. It was clear that some service requests would have to be put on hold, but requests that were of strategic educational or academic importance to any college could not be unnecessarily delayed. Working with the Provost and Deans, it was determined that a distributed support model would allow each college dean to set priorities for support that were consistent with the specific technology goals of the college. The director of ACS would be able to work closely with each Dean to establish parameters for support in each college. The Director would then manage support staff assigned to each college to operate within these preset parameters.

    Directly involving the Dean and other key college personnel in the prioritization of service requests assures each college that the services needed most will be addressed first. It also means that some requests for services that are important to individuals within the college may be delayed until higher priority items are handled. It is fully expected that providing support services in a distributed manner will focus that support more appropriately. It is expected that, by allowing the college to set the priorities by which the support is provided, the college will be more aware of support issues and will be more involved in the efforts to develop better support strategies.

    Academic Computing Services is looking forward to this exciting new approach to providing services. We have been able to expand our support staff from 6 to 9 in the distributed model and that 50% increase in staffing will provide an immediate benefit to the user community. We feel that by providing a more focused effort in each college that the support for each college will improve. It will challenge us to become more aware of specific college needs and to address those needs appropriately.


    Check out our Home Page :
    http://www.iup.edu/co/ [Ed Note: This is no longer valid.]
    Mary Micco

    The ISCC has put up a Web server on the Vax and we have brought up the department's home page ... at least a prototype. We are still trying to get all of our faculty to participate..you can check out John Cross, Jim Wolfe and Mary Micco as well as Tess O'Neil and Tom Janicki our new instructors. The rest should be online shortly. Many of the students have jumped in with some creative art work and other multimedia. Don Rosenberger, the lab manager has added some unusual sound effects ... be sure to test them out. He has a dry sense of humor with a military touch.

    We have suggested to students that they may consider home pages as a way to distribute their resumes to potential employers; and they should also adhere to "accepted community standards" with regard to obscenity, sex, and racial or ethnic slurs. We would appreciate feedback from all of you about using the Internet to do a job search. Would you consider advertising a job on the Internet or look for resumes there? The seniors would be particularly glad to hear from you alumni, especially if you have suggestions or advice about jobs.

    I hope some of you will allow us to link you into our Alumni Gallery. At the moment we have only one alumnus who has given permission. It is a nice way to keep in touch. We are also planning to get this issue of The Debugger linked as a hypertext document. This summer when things are a little less hectic, I will try to get Carol involved in developing an Alumni News column accessible from our home page. This way when you send in news items we can post them for others to read. We all enjoy hearing from you and sharing your experiences.

    The University has been working on setting up a Campus wide information system that will allow us to do recruitment and provide information about IUP and its activities. We are running both a Gopher and a Web server with more emphasis on the gopher at this time. One of the big issues was how to get our schedules and calendar available in hypertext and keep them current. We have looked into getting HTML editors and found out that Word 6.0 and Word Perfect 6.1 are offering free HTML editors that will adapt a
    document but obviously you still have to code the anchors or links. We have also struggled with converting hard copy printed documents into HTML such as the IUP Catalog. Basically we have learned that it is pretty simple to get a brief home page up and running; but it is another matter entirely to convert large full text documents that are currently handled with Word Processors to hypertext and even more difficult to keep them current in volatile environments. We would appreciate suggestions from you trailblazers out there.

    We are very proud of our Guided Tour of the Internet for the CO101 classes ... our computer literacy course for non-majors. It was designed to introduce novice users to features and services available from the Web Browser. It can be reached through our Home Page and includes information on how to build your own home page, how to do image maps, and, in the very near future, a section on forms.

    In terms of the hardware and software, we are running our server from a VAX 4000; and we have installed the Netscape viewer on the 486's in the faculty offices, although we also can run Lynx on the Vax. We do not yet have SLIP connections although I undertand we are looking to a vendor to supply this service for a fee for use. We are very excited about the new Pentium 90's we are getting for our multimedia lab and expect to use them for Internet surfing as well as many other courses. They will also support our conversion to C++ for our introductory programming courses coming in the next year, we hope. For the moment we are supporting PC/TCP a commercial set of tools including Ping, Telnet and FTP.

    For those of you who are still struggling to get up to speed on the Internet, I have included some notes that may be helpful. Jim Wolfe told me I had to write five pages and I am running out of things to say so here goes.

    Using HTML

    All home pages are created as text files using the Hypertext Mark Up Language codes to control the formatting of the information as it appears on the screen. There are two ways to put in the codes. The first is by simply typing the codes into the text document yourself. The second is to obtain an HTML editor which greatly simplifies the task. Currently there is an editor available for both Word and WordPerfect 6.1. I have just installed WordPerfect 6.1 on my machine and I will be downloading the HTML editor this week if all goes well. But in the meantime, it is pretty easy to do it yourself with an ASCII editor.

    On the next page is a shell for a home page which we provide to our students. Items in italics must be replaced with their own information.
    Note: HTML will simply ignore any command it does not understand. One of the more common errors is forgetting to close a formatting command.

    Making Links

    It is very easy to put in links to other documents: You use the following syntax to define an anchor: <a HREF="URL"> string</a> e.g., <a HREF="http:// www.nasa.gov"> NASA</a> Here HREF= " is a reserved phrase indicating that what is included is a URL. The URL is http://www.nasa.gov It is typically made up of three parts:
    1. the protocol... We recognize a number of protocols including gopher, ftp, telnet and mailto.
    2. the machine name...in this case it is www.nasa.gov
    3. the directory name and file name. In this case neither are given because we are using the default index.html file in the www directory (parent).

    NASA represents the string which will appear on the screen describing the link. </A> closes the link and activates it. It will appear highlighted in blue (default color)on the finished document. When the user clicks on it s/he will immediately jump to the URL shown.

    Obtaining documentation

    Before you start using HTML it is a good idea to download the Beginner's guide to HTML. To do this: Choose Open Location: URL http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/ demoweb/html-primer.html
    You can read the instructions on the screen, save it to a file or print it locally.

    <head> (begin the document header)
    <title> Home Page for Student Name (assign a title for your home page)
    (This line appears on the blue menu line and is not part of the actual home page)
    </title> (close the title)
    </head> (close the header)
    (Most HTML codes have a begin and an end that match. The slash is used to indicate the end of that code's scope)
    <body> (begin the body of the document)
    <h3> Student's Name </h3> (headings have 6 levels..h1 through h6)
    <menu>(begin a bulleted list)
    <li>(place a bullet)
    Address: 235 Carp Ave
    <br> (to force a carriage return)
    - Indiana, PA 15701
    <li>Home Phone: 412-356-8179
    </menu>(end list)
    <p>(begin paragraph)
    I am a sophomore in the College of Arts and Humanities. I am majoring in Philosophy and hope to go into a career in College Teaching. Before coming here, I attended Indiana
    Senior High School. Anything else you want to say.
    </p>(end paragraph..text is automatically fitted to the screen in the paragraph)
    <hr>(draws a separator line across the screen)
    <h4&gtMy three favorite things in the world are:</h4>
    <menu>
    <li> Watching movies
    <li> Sunning on a beach in Florida
    <li> Eating chocolate
    </menu>
    <hr>(separator)
    </body> (end of body of document)


    Note From Singapore
    Yee Hwee Phuan (8/84)

    We just set up our workstation to run Netscape yesterday. I found your e-mail address through IUP's WWW home page. I had no idea how to locate the IUP node, so I used four11 to search for current organisation == Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Then, I followed the links to the department, the faculty and a nice picture of Jim Wolfe.

    I am still working for the same organization since the last time I wrote to you; but the company decided to change name - TriTech MicroElectronics International Pte Ltd (it is a local company). I am still a Senior CAD engineer after working for so many years. I am not working in a pure Comp Sci kind of environment, more electronics engineering, and my duty is to ensure all the EDA CAD tools are in good condition, and the foundry specs are implemented correctly.

    As for my family, I am married, have two sons - a 2 1/2 year old and a 1 year old. My brother Kok Soon (IUP 5/84) is an MIS/HR Manager with a Japanese company. He also has two kids - one boy (4 years old) and one girl (almost a year old).

    I will be going to San Jose (CA) this June for two weeks, but I don't think I will have enough time to visit you guys. Maybe one of these days, you and your family can come over and visit us.


    Electronic Junk Mail
    Jim Wolfe

    There is a disturbing trend developing at IUP with respect to how some students are choosing to use e-mail. It used to be that the only student use of e-mail here was among Computer Science students or students in Computer Science classes. That has changed; now, use of e-mail is presented in many classes; knowledge of e-mail is passed from
    student to student, as newcomers are instructed by "old-timers"; and students from all majors are asking at the beginning of a term, "When will we learn about Internet?" I have no objection to the increased use of e-mail; in fact, I am very much an advocate of its use. The unfortunate trend I referred to is in HOW the e-mail is being used.

    The problem lies with the use of mailing lists. For years, I have used mailing lists to make it easy to distribute an e-mail message to many people. I generate mailing lists for my classes, for the faculty in the department, for committees I belong to, and for other focus groups that belong to or work with. I have also subscribed to mailing lists managed outside of IUP so that I can engage in discussions with people who have interests similar to my own. All these uses of mailing lists seem completely proper to me.

    The current trend among some students is for them to form their own mailing lists, not of just their friends or of members of some organization they belong to, but mailing lists containing the usernames of almost anyone they can find. Such broad-based or miscellaneous mailing lists are then used by representatives of various organizations to send out the electronic equivalent of a "flyer" to everyone on the list. It used to be that campus groups or individuals advertised their views or activities by printing real flyers and plastering them all over campus. The new use of mailing lists seems to be a substitute for this activity.

    Actually, the problem has gone beyond building the miscellaneous mailing lists and using them to send unsolicited and unwanted e-mail. The students are now sharing their mailing list collections so that they can expand the group of people that they send to. Here are a few examples based on the fact that someone has constructed a mailing list for the IUP University Senate, of which I am currently a member.

    During the recent Student Congress Election campaign, I received flyers from several students containing various campaign promises and asking for my support. I have no vote in such an election. Last week, I received an invitation to an Animal Exposition and Pet Fair to be held at Mack Park. I don't have any pets. This week I received a message soliciting my support in lobbying Massachusetts' state legislators to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The only connection I can imagine between me and this issue is that I once lived in Massachusetts; but this fact isn't widely known. Why would an IUP student be soliciting such support? It boggles the mind.

    Naively, I thought that, like a normal subscription mailing list, if I asked to unsubscribe the students would accommodate my request. However, I encountered very different responses. I have made several requests to the different students who have sent me this junk mail to be removed from their mailing list. When I sent a polite request, it was ignored. When I sent a threatening request, I received two responses: One student was incensed that a University senator should send a threatening request and suggested that I should be required to read anything that anyone sends me or resign from the Senate. The other response was an apology for sending the flyer; but this apologetic student made it clear that he didn't know how to remove me from the list. Amazingly, neither of these
    responses came from the person to whom I sent my request (the sender of the junk mail).

    Nevertheless, my experience in requesting removal from the mailing lists tells me two disturbing facts. First, some people who make, distribute, or control these mailing lists seem to believe that everyone must hear their opinions and seem to be willing to abuse the privilege of using e-mail by dumping junk e-mail on anyone whose username they know. Second, some people are using these mailing lists without appreciating the consequences of their actions and without understanding how to manage the lists.

    So, what am I to do? Because the mailing lists are now replicated in many places, even if one student knows how and is willing to remove me from his/her copy of a mailing list, another one will still be able to send me some other off-the-wall flyer. I expect this will lead to my e-mail being as full of junk as my snail mail is. I can hardly wait.


    PACISE Programming Contest
    Jim Wolfe

    As Carol mentioned, IUP and the Computer Science Department hosted the PACISE conference this Spring (April 7-8). The conference included a programming contest which I had the pleasure and pain of being in charge of. I knew that putting on a programming contest would be a lot of work, even though I had never put one on before.

    The work began with devising the problems to be used. But, with Kathy McKelvey's help, we had an acceptable set put together by February. Then, I had to work out the logistics of the contest, reserve the facilities needed, and make sure we had the software (Turbo Pascal and Turbo C++) to hold the contest. That took a lot more work than I expected; the contest was held in Mack Data Center while the judging was done in Tompkins Lab. Finally, there was the task of collecting all the people that were needed to hold the contest: four judges, helpers to handle the sending and receiving of submitted programs, and helpers in handling the printing and submissions. Then, each of these folks had to be shown how to do their jobs. Fortunately, I had some excellent help.

    Thanks need to be distributed to many people. Kathy McKelvey helped write the problems and served as a judge. Bill McArthur of Shippensburg and Dana Madison of Clarion also served as judges. John Cross served as monitoring judge, keeper of the score and time, and solicitor of prizes. The students who helped were Ed Moore, Kristine Seigworth, and Kari Robson as submitters, Maria Polando and Ron Howe as judges' aides, and Noelle Brewer and Heather Carney as runners.

    Sixteen teams from eight SSHE universities (Bloomsburg, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Shippensburg, and Slippery Rock) entered the contest. There was a practice session on April 7 to get everyone familiar with the contest environment. A number of small procedural problems were found during the practice; we managed to
    correct them in time for the contest on the next morning. The contest itself went very smoothly. Everyone, from the judges to the contestants, thought things worked well.

    The object was to solve as many of the six problems as possible, as quickly as possible during the three hours of the contest. The results were as follows; teams are listed in order of their finish.

    Team         Problems   Total
Name           Solved    Time
Edinboro            3     210
Shippensburg #1     3     369
Lock Haven #3       2     211
Bloomsburg #2       2     217
Shippensburg #3     1      96
Lock Haven #1       1     166
Shippensburg #2     1     175
Clarion #2          1     179
Indiana #1          1     246

    Other teams did not solve any of the problems. I was a little disappointed with the numbers of problems solved and possible solutions submitted; but the faculty who read the problems thought they were all appropriate. Incidentally, Edinboro's team led almost from the beginning of the contest and came very close to solving a fourth problem.

    The two teams from IUP included Neil Fulton, Zack Howe, and Doug Blystone on team #1 and Ethan Sorkin, Doug Lute, and Aston Au Yeung on team #2.

    We had a good collection of sponsors for the contest; this made it possible to give prizes to the winners. Borland contributed nine copies of Borland C++ on CD-ROM. A small amount of money was contributed by PPG. And money to purchase T-shirts commemorating the contest was contributed by Prudential. Some of the Prudential money was not needed for the T-shirts; so it too became part of the prizes. The prizes were $30 and C++ for each first place team member, $20 and C++ for each second place team member, and $10 and C++ for each third place team member.

    Tia Watts was the designer of the contest T-shirt. All contestants and their coaches, as well as the helpers and judges, were given a T-shirt.

    Computer Science Department Faculty
    319 Stright Hall

    Dr. Gary Buterbaugh,chair    Stright 321          GLBUTER
Dr. John Cross               Stright 338 357-4478 JACROSS
Mr. Thomas Cunningham        Stright 335 357-2463 TPC 
Mr. Thomas Janicki           Stright 332 357-4491 
Dr. Mary Micco               Stright 332 357-2637 MICCO
Dr. Katherine McKelvey       Stright 305 357-7994 
Dr. William Oblitey          Stright 339 357-4491 OBLITEY
Ms. Therese O'Neil           Stright 332 357-6102 
Dr. Charles Shubra           Stright 334 357-7917 CJSHUBRA
Dr. John Sweeney             Stright 306 357-7995 
Ms. Tia Watts                Stright 305 357-4492 TIAWATTS
Mr. James Wolfe              Stright 318 357-6104 JLWOLFE
Ms. Carol Miller             Stright 319 357-2524 CAMILLER

FAX (412) 357-2724

Tompkins' Computer Lab Stright 107 357-6105
Don Rosenberger, Manager Stright 107 357-6100

E-mail usernames above are @grove.iup. edu