Twenty-Five Years of Developing, Distributing, and Supporting Hydrologic Engineering Computer Programs
Abstract
The Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) performs research and provides training and technical assistances for the development, deployment, and support of hydrologic engineering methods for Corps field office use. We understood early that to successfully accomplish the task, we needed to evolve a process that would place a family of high quality computer programs in the hands of users and assure that they would be effectively used. Several single purpose programs were released in 1964 and our first major computer program releases were made in 1968. The programs were made available in source code form on punched cards, and were accompanied by user's manuals, source code compilation instructions, and test data sets. The user was offered applications training, direct phone/on-site assistances, and the opportunity to join a network of users. This same philosophy is applied today. Our computer program products are substantially more capable (and complicated) and are in use by a wider variety of professionals in a more diverse computer hardware and operating system environment. The service and support functions, however, are more diffused. The paper presents an overview of the software development, distribution, and support experience of the Hydrologic Engineering Center. Comments are made regarding the future role of HEC and others in the distribution and support of HEC programs. Keywords: Computer programs, software support, user documentation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA229764
Entities
People
- Darryl W. Davis
- Vernon R. Bonner