Fun with computers

Several years ago when I was having difficulty in obtaining engineering type work, there were suggestions, including from my wife, that I should pursue another degree in a different field. It seemed quite odd to me that I should consider spending more time and money in getting another diploma on top of my Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering already.

I was also not sure if another degree in a different field at that stage of life would enhance my job prospectus later. This apprehension on my part was based on a number of strange responses from prospective employers to my job applications in the past. For example, a search committee chairman with an Ivy League type college had suddenly, for no apparent reason, suggested to me in his letter, in reply to my application for a teaching position in engineering in his department, that I should read more books in engineering before reapplying to his faculty. A few more bizarre comments like that had me convinced that a degree, including a Ph.D. (which I already possessed), was not a certainty in finding suitable employment or even getting a sensible response from employers. Anyway, not to waste altogether the unsolicited advice from that fellow about reading more books, in response to my application for engineering job, I used the opportunity, keeping my rural (farming) background in mind, to study on my own several ancient literatures including Vedic and non-Vedic texts and philosophies.

Note that, in addition to my extensive background in engineering, I also had a very good working knowledge and experience in computers (C, Fortran, PL/1, Cobol, Assembler, Nastran, Ansys, Stardyne, Autocad, Unix, MS-DOS, and so on) from my previous assignments in mechanical engineering etc. where I had used computers as part of my job. Thus, instead of going for a degree or diploma in a completely new field and then look for a job as some people had suggested, I decided to pursue the familiar field of computers. But again there was little response from prospective employers when I applied for computer related work. It was surprising considering that my bio-data accompanying the job applications indicated great expertise in using many types of computer hardware and software. Furthermore, this sadly happened when computers were still a new field and expanding quite rapidly, and companies, including in North America, were hiring people from all over the world, sometimes with a minimal background and experience in computers.

In any case, even without having suitable assignments in engineering and computers, I decided to remain active and keep on doing things on my own. I tried to expand my experience in computers to include non-engineering type work. As a result of my increased involvement in computers, I was spared from becoming idle and forgetting things that I had learnt earlier. It also helped me go through a difficult period which was brought on by sagging engineering activity and income to me and which saw my entire family encounter enormous financial and other types of constraints and pressures, with my wife Angie and daughter Hema bearing most of the brunt.

As I explored non-engineering type computer applications for my project, I selected two problems in the end, (1) to create a computer program using C language on a PC for predicting the outcome of games between sports teams; and (2) to develop a sophisticated program to find prime numbers, again by using C language on a PC.

In the first programming exercise, related to sports, a number of files were created first in the computer for storing information on scores (goals, points, runs, etc.) in games played between various teams. This information was updated regularly as the season progressed and more games played. To keep information exchange simple and easy between the user and PC, program was made interactive and user friendly. Program’s algorithm made use of several functions and subprograms to calculate information from teams’ previous records and performances. The final output indicated that this program was helpful in assessing teams’ performance in games in advance.

In the second exercise, on prime numbers, again a user friendly and interactive program was developed by using C language on a PC. A special algorithm used in the program made it possible to test any number for primeness, without making use of division and multiplication operations. Thus the program had a promise for highest accuracy while finding prime numbers because, by not using division and multiplication operations during computing, it was possible to have only the whole numbers before, during and after calculations inside the computer.

In conclusion, development of these computer programs by myself gave me a valuable experience which not only helped me in keeping my knowledge in computers up-to-date but also was useful to me in terms of exploring and working on non-engineering type computer applications.

By: Dr. Subhash C. Sharma
Email: [email protected]
Date: July 7, 2008

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