1964 NASA RFP Solutions and Timing Analysis

About the Book

This volume of the technical proposal concerns itself with the solution of certain segments of important problem types encountered at the Institute for Space Studies in New York City and at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Since the arithmetic times and logical execution times of the newer generation of computing equipment are, in themselves, an inadequate measure of overall computer performance, these problem kernels are designed as a basis of relative performance analysis. Contained herein are the calculated run times for the problem kernels on the proposed Control Data 6800, 6600, and 6400 computer systems. Since the 6600 system is operational today we have included several representative program listings with source and object coding and compilation generated on the 6600 computer in Control Data’s Los Angeles, California, facility. Emphasis has been placed on format, equipment and problem breakdown, and definition of terms to better facilitate performance analysis.

About the Author

I was born in Kiyiv on November 1, 1937. My father, a world-class chemist, was murdered by the Soviets in 1941, six days before Kiyiv fell to the Germans. We retreated with the German front to Berlin in 1943. My mother remarried (George, a Russian journalist) in 1943. I got my elementary schooling in Berlin (1945–1949). We were rescued by the Allied commander in Berlin in 1949 and transferred to West Germany in 1949 (Cornberg-Fulda-Mittenwald)—with the intervention by Eleanor Roosevelt. My parents were debriefed in Mittenwald by Americans (1949–1951). We moved to Munich (1951–1957). When George was nearly caught by the Soviets in Munich again in 1957, we immigrated to the USA, March 15, 1957. I graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 1960 with a BS degree in mathematics. I entered the workforce in 1960 and continued with my postgraduate work at CCNY (MS in math in 1963). I took further graduate work at Adelphi University in mathematics while working full-time.