News Ada debuts; bigger computer facility for CRAGS By Neil Myers Computers seem to be moving in everywhere these days, and Capitol Campus is no exception. In January, Capitol became one of the first schools in central Pennsylvania to teach a new com puter language, while it also ex panded its micro-computer facilities. The Ada programming In most jobs, at 22 care of sophisticated you're near the bottom equipment worth of the ladder. millions of dollars. In the Navy, at It's a bigger chal -22 you can be a leader. lenge and a lot more After just 16 weeks responsibility than of leadership training, most corporations give you're an officer. You'll you at 22. The rewards . have the kind of job - are bigger, too. There's your education and training prepared a comprehensive package of benefits, you for, and the decision-making au- including special duty pay. The starting thority you need to make the most of it. salary is sl7,ooo—more than most com- As a college graduate and officer panies would pay you right out of college. candidate, your Navy training is geared After four years, with regular promo to making you a leader. There is no boot tions and pay increases, your salary will camp. Instead, you receive professional have increased to as much as $31,000. training to help you build the technical As a Navy officer, you grow, through and management skills you'll need as a new challenges, new tests of your skills, Navy officer. i and new opportunities This training is I NFO r NAVY RM OPPOA TION CENTER V 1 RTUNITY 206 I to advance your edu designed to instill P.O. Box 5000, Clifton, NJ 07015 cation, including the confidence by first- 0 I'm ready to take charge. Tell me more about possibility of attending the Navy's officer programs. I OG I hand experience. You graduate school while Name learn by doing. On First tPlease Pratt) Last you're in the Navy. Address Apt # your first sea tour, City State Zip Don't just take a you're responsible for Age tCollege/University job. Become a Navy managing the work of Year in College *CPA__ officer, and take charge. up to 30 men and the aMator/Mmor Even at 22. Phone Number (Area Code) lust Time to Call This is far general recruitment infnrnuttion. You do not have to fur nish any of the unfurmat inn requested fit course, the more we know, the are we can help to determine the kinds of Navy posi- L bens for which quo qualify. _I language is being taught for the first time here in Math Science 408 by. Dr. M. Susan Richman, Associate Professor of Mathematics. The "Ada"trademark is licens ed to the Defense Department, which developed the language to replace well-known languages like FORTRAN and COBOL. Accor ding to Dr. Richman, it is ex pected to make maintenance of sou ware (programs) easier and Take Charge At 22. Navy Officers Get Responsibility Fast. eliminate the confusion of what she said were "450 to 1500 in compatible languages". This is the first time such a course has been offered anywhere within Penn State, Richman noted, and it is one of the first in central Pennsylvania. Dr. Richman, one of 15 univer sity educators who attended an Ada training program last sum mer at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, said Ada is also unique Page 5 because its variable names are especially easy to use, and because it can avoid program failure even if the operator goofs Ada, she said, is "very possibly" the wave of the future, since the Defense Department is slowly requiring that most of its computer operations convert to the language. Based on that assumption, Dr. Richman is planning ahead. She said the introductory Ada course and a more advanced course will be offered here in the fall. She is also anticipating a grant that would allow the campus to purchase what she called a "large-ish" computer. That would open more positions in the Ada courses, which are currently limited to 10 students because Ada uses relatively large amounts of computer time on the Penn State network. Meanwhile, it was moving day last month for Continuing Educa tion's micro-computer lab in the CRAGS Building. Continuing moved its 17 Apple 2-E's to a larger facility in the same building. Ronald Melchiorre, Area Direc tor for Continuing Education, said the move provided better lighting and more room for the computers without reducing classroom space. Although the change forced the relocation of Police Services within CRAGS and bumped the Photo Club into new quarters across the street, the dust seems to be settling. "I like the change," said, Charles Alesky, Supervisor of Police Services. "Maintenance really did a super job," Melchiorre added He said Continuing Ed is cur rently using the computers in an array of seminars and courses for business, industry, the Bureau of Prisons, teacher instruction, and computer certification. There are even three "computer camps"for children being offered this semester. Because the Apples are, as Melchiorre put it, "really being heavily used,"he is hoping for a loan or donation to purchase some IBM personal computers. He plans to expand offerings in FORTRAN and COBOL with the new machines. The existing Apples were pur chased in April of 1983.
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