COMPUTERS ON CAMPUS UNIVERSITY CENTRE BEGAN LIFE IN A MUDDY PADDOCK

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33779, 27 February 1975, Page 16

COMPUTERS ON CAMPUS UNIVERSITY CENTRE BEGAN LIFE IN A MUDDY PADDOCK

'By

B. A. M. MOON,

, director of the Computer Centre

When the Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canterbury met one day late in 1960 to sign an order for the first computer ever bought by a New Zealand university — a small IBM 1620 — they could hardly have envisaged what the scale of computing operations would be in the university today.

Computing now ranks as one of the university’s most substantial activities. The capital equipment now installed is worth some 30 times that of the original system, there are 26 staff members in the Computer Centre (compared with the original two) and more than a dozen “mini-computers” in various roles throughout the university.

Computing activities have always been centred at the Ham site, two small rooms in the Engineering School being set aside for the original system and its staff. Yet use of the computer by departments on the central city site soon became substantial, even though it was not always easy to meet their heeds.

Quite early, it was decided to install a card punch in the city buildings for their use in preparing programmes. As science departments had not then moved to Ham, the only place that could be found for it was a broom cupboard. By 1964 the computing staff, then three, was working in hopelessly overcrowded conditions, and the machine itself was in use up to 165 hours a week. The need for further developments was clear. The idea of a special building for computing was novel enough, and so it was fortunate that at the same tim • the need arose for a central telephone exhange at Ham. The university was able to have one building constructed to house both — telephones below and computer above. This was a boon, as it later turned out with the substantial developments of computer communications, to have telephone cables radiating out so conveniently just below. In September, 1966, the staff moved into the middle of a muddy paddock so far from other buildings that the female staff were issued with gumboots to make access feasible in wet weather.

This phase was not to last long. In October, 1967, another significant step was taken when an IBM 360-44 was installed — at the time the most powerful computing device in the country and about 40 times faster than its predecessor. The older machine was not yet to be placed in honourable retirement.

With the continuing demand not only for more powerful facilities but also a greater range, a graph plotting unit was purchased and attached to the old computer for which a plotter-driving programme was written. Around the same time the Computer Centre was established as a separate entity within the university, independent of the mathematics department within which its early development had been nurtured.

While much of the university’s computing resources have been applied to the work of graduate students working for advanced degrees and staff undertaking research, the importance of undergraduate education about computers was recognised early. The Computer Centre achieved its first major success in writing system “software” when it produced the “Cantran” programming system, (Canterbury Fortran System) for undergraduate work. Using Cantran, typical undergraduate programming exercises could be processed and run in a few seconds

I each so that vastly more work could be attempted. Its success was so marked that Iby 1971 nearly 40,000 under- ■ graduate programmes were I being run annually — and ’ this only represented about 12 per cent of the cumputer’s ! total workload. By this time the need was [evident for substantial com-, I puting facilities in the universities on a national scale, I particularly to make up the deficit at other centres ’which had not progressed so ■ far on their own initiative jas Canterbury. Discussions [between the various umver- , sity institutions began in the j expectation of a considerable grant from the Government for capital equipment in the [l9'o-4 quinquennium. (The [ sum of $3.35 million was eventually allocated). The resulting development was a major exercise in universtiy collaboration and in the establishment of a consensus at all sites.

Initially it was not surprising that there was some divergence of views. There was a strong lobby in some quarters at first in favour of one or at most two very large computers with communication links to all universities, for some felt that only in this way could the existing deficit be made up. At one stage agreement in principle was reached to go this way and it was proposed that one machine be sited in Christchurch to serve all sites from Massey University south. Attractive though this might have seemed, it was viewed with little favour at Canterbury. With more extensive practical experience to call upon it could be seen here that, whatever the technological possibilities might be, the difficulties of management, policy-making and inter-per-sonal communication in such a big step into the unknown would have seriously reduced its chance of success.

Eventually a better solution was worked out, to the advantage of all, even though in relation to the established need at Canterbury, it meant that rather less computing power would be installed here. In November 1972 a 86718, the second of five Burroughs computers for the New Zealand Universities, was installed in the Computer Centre building on the Ham site. This was not achieved until some extensive reconstruction of the building had been undertaken by the University’s own maintenance staff.

The plan for all the universities provided for the needs of Lincoln College to be met by a terminal connected by telephone lines to the central machine at Ham. Information from punched cards read at Lincoln are passed along the line to be processed at Ham and the results returned to be printed at Lincoln. The University welcomed the establishment of this association with Lincoln College. Lincoln staff had made much use of the original computer which the University had made available freely to them.

Meanwhile steady extension of other facilities has continued. Nine interactive terminals are now in use. These are typewriters or keyboards with screens at

• which a computer user can sit and interact directly with the computer itself in the i process of programme development and testing. Two were placed at first on the : town site and they have just ! been transferred to the James Hight library building as part of the general shift to 11am.

i Limitations of the central • system have meant so far that these can only be operated for two short periods daily, but is is hoped that ; additional equipment about to be installed will ease this (constraint considerably. It is expected that a big increase ;in such terminal use will take place quite soon.

I A step forward in comput(er graphics was taken late 'in 1973 when the first order (in the world was placed for ' a DEC GT44 graphics sysitem. This unit, which was ’delivered in 1974, displays computed information graphically on a cathode ray screen in real time, with animation if desired. Using a light pen, the investigator may interact directly with the display and vary the presentation of his data or alter the features of the system under design as he wishes.

Concurrently, the centre has been learning a great deal about the management and development of data communications. It has developed its own line driver which has received Post Office approval. More than 60 of these units are now in use in New Zealand universities and some have also been exported to Australia.

Remote “batch" terminals (each with card reader and line printer) similar to the Lincoln terminal have been installed in the Engineering School and the registry. The Engineering School terminal has an electro-static printer, which has the ability, should the need arise, to print Chinese or Japanese characters or indeed any other sort which users may wish to contruct Equally it may be developed to generate snapshots of the graphical screen display. The university registry for many years has had its own computer for administrative work. As it was becoming overloaded, it was decided that the move to Ham was a good time for a new development and the terminal to the Burroughs machine was installed in the new registry building for this purpose. Success with this unit so far has been most encouraging. Master files were transferred to the 86718 over the New Year weekend and production of pre-enrol-ment schedules on it for the first time during January went smoothly. To speculate on the developments in years ahead would be almost as unreliable as it would have been to predict in 1960 what has happened since then. Construction of the new wing of the Computer Centre building will be a new stimulus.

There is no sign of a lessening in the demand for computing facilities of more power and diversity. And as long as this is the case the centre will be a signifcant focus of activity on the campus of the University of Canterbury.