From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f43e6,663a361086c18d91,start X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,663a361086c18d91,start X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-Thread: ff6c8,663a361086c18d91,start X-Google-Attributes: gidff6c8,public X-Google-Thread: 10db24,663a361086c18d91,start X-Google-Attributes: gid10db24,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,663a361086c18d91,start X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: cseic@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us (CFCSEIC) Subject: CFCSEIC News Briefs Week Ending April 10, 1998 Date: 1998/04/10 Message-ID: <6glq49$9og@ns1.sw-eng.falls-church.va.us> X-Deja-AN: 342844591 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=US-ASCII Organization: Center for Computer Systems Engineering Information Clearinghouse Mime-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.edu,comp.sw.components,comp.object,comp.software-eng Date: 1998-04-10T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Center for Computer Systems Engineering News Briefs Week Ending: April 10, 1998 ***************************************************************************** CONTENTS: OPM CHANGES RULES TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN Y2K PROGRAMMERS GPS: WILL YOU BE LOST IN SPACE? GAME PITS PLAYERS AGAINST Y2K MONSTER ****************************************************************************** OPM CHANGES RULES TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN Y2K PROGRAMMERS Topic: Y2k According to an article in the Apr. 6 edition of Federal Computer Week, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has announced that it would let agencies supplement the salaries of programmers working on Y2k projects, and waive rules that limit salaries of retired programmers who return to government work. Programmers who are doing work that is considered necessary to avert threats to life or property, including monetary losses, would be eligible for "premium pay". Agencies who obtain OPM permission would be able to hire back retirees for programming jobs at full pay. OPM's new policy is designed to attract and retain programmers familiar with COBOL and FORTRAN. According to a Senate Governmental Affairs Committee aide, lawmakers are hoping that the agencies will use the "flexibilities" offered by the new policy to help address the Y2k problem. Olga Grkavac, a Sr. V.P. with the Information Technology Association of America's System Integration Division, believes that OPM's decision sends "a powerful message that a potential emergency is at hand", but feels "this move may be too little too late." According to OPM, the new policy for hiring retirees applies only to retired civilian workers or regular military officers, not to military enlisted personnel or reserve officers. Source: Nicole Lewis and Elana Varon, Federal Computer Week, Apr. 6, 1998, p. 1 http://www.fcw.com/pubs/fcw/1998/0406/fcw-fronty2kwork-4-6-1998.html ***************************************************************************** GPS: WILL YOU BE LOST IN SPACE? Topic: Y2k Over the past few years, millions of global positioning system (GPS) receivers have been sold to sportsmen, geologists, archeologists, the military, taxi cab drivers, and others who want to, or need to, know where they are at any given time. A time differential is required to fine-tune rough triangulations when determining exact locations, and GPS distributes time information as part of the algorithm that lets the GPS receiver pinpoint location. Since GPS time data is available throughout much of the world, other applications, such as financial computers. piggyback on GPS time/date information for a variety of purposes. Every millisecond, thousands of computers take time calibrations from GPS broadcasts and use them to calculate interest on huge short-term electronic-funds transactions. In the GPS signal standard, dates use 13 bits to represent a time-unit offset from a conventional epoch date consisting of two fields (epoch + offset). GPS time receivers that have been programmed to update the epoch field will experience little or no trouble. However, receivers that have this information burned into programmable read-only memory (PROMs) will likely fail because on, or about, August 22, 1999, the date value will overflow this 13-bit type as satellites broadcast a new epoch. These hardcoded epoch time subsystems will think the calendar has been reset to the epoch in 1980. In short, any system that hardcodes the GPS epoch, and is sensitive to the fact that "1980" is not "1999", will fail. This is only one type of problem faced by GPSs. The problem is compounded by the fact that it is almost impossible to construct valid GPS test cases to see what will happen at the year 2000. According to GPS experts, the future (time) states of the system depend on physical values, such as orbital elements and gravitational forces, which can only be accurately determined within approximately three months of the year 2000. Source: Jonathan Erickson, "Fear and Loathing on the Y2k Trail", Dr. Dobb's Journal, May 1998, v23, n5, p. 6 http://www.ddj.com ***************************************************************************** GAME PITS PLAYERS AGAINST Y2K MONSTER Topic: Y2k Remember the text-based dragon-chasing adventure games of the 1980s? Future Media's text-based game, Uh-Oh, brings back those adventures of yesteryear, only this time the monster you are chasing is the Y2k software crisis. Uh-oh is not only a fun, interactive adventure game, it is a Y2k training tool. It puts you into realistic Y2k situations, and is full of Y2k information. Uh-Oh quotes more than 50 real-life lawmakers, corporate officials, and information technology professionals on the scope of the Y2k crisis, and takes you through five phases of increasingly more difficult play. It is a lot more fun than many other training packages, and your quest to conquer the Y2k crisis begins in the same way that most of you start your day -- sitting in a cubicle surrounded by unfinished paperwork. You can download a trial version of the game free at http://www.successinformation.com/game.htm. Source: John Breeden II, "Fixing date codes is no game, but one can help you prepare", Government Computer News, Mar.16, 1998, v17, n6, p.1, http://www.gcn.com. ************************************************************************ The DISA CFCSEIC welcomes suggestions for and pointers to software engineering-related articles. Contact the DISA CFCSEIC at: mailto:info@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us To subscribe to the "Center for Computer Systems Engineering News Brief" electronic mailing list, send a message to: mailto:listproc@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us In the body of the message, write: subscribe newslist To unsubscribe, write: unsubscribe newslist No signatures please. 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