Generations One and Two: Nuclear Physics Experience with On-Line Computers

The installation of an SDS 910 computer at the Brookhaven 60¿ Cyclotron four years ago represented one of the first on-line computer applications in nuclear physics. The experience gained with this computer and its application to the design of a second-generation system indicates some of the problems inherent in a computer-oriented laboratory as well as possible solutions. The development of a new system has been undertaken jointly at the Rutgers/Bell Accelerator at which the 910 system is now located and at the Brookhaven Cyclotron, in view of the common data handling problems at the two laboratories. In its present location the 910 is used 90% of the time by staff and students for data collection, leaving very little time for data analysis and programming. Experience indicates that these activities each require at least as much time as data collection in order to use the accelerator to best advantage. The solution to this problem is to use an advanced time-sharing computer to handle all applications from a number of user consoles. By using a fast disc file both to store data being accumulated and to furnish display information directly to the oscilloscopes, the central processor will be freed most of the time for program compiling and computation. Program development will be greatly speeded by the storage of source programs on the disc, with conversational editing and debugging from the consoles.