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A Commentary on CACHE and Software

A Commentary on CACHE and Software. Engineering Software Taskforce 2003 Ross Taylor Tunde Ogunnaike. CACHE and software dissemination Current role Future role Should it change to reflect changes in software business? How? . Charge. Current CACHE Offerings. Key Points

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A Commentary on CACHE and Software

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  1. A Commentary on CACHE and Software Engineering Software Taskforce 2003 Ross Taylor Tunde Ogunnaike

  2. CACHE and software dissemination Current role Future role Should it change to reflect changes in software business? How? Charge CACHE Trustee Meeting July 2003

  3. Current CACHE Offerings Key Points • Source: CACHE web site • Wide variety • Special Purpose (e.g. ChemSep, THEN) • General purpose (Polymath) • Modules for various undergraduate courses CACHE Trustee Meeting July 2003

  4. Product History and Sales CACHE Trustee Meeting July 2003

  5. Product History and Sales • Key Points • Sales Leader • Process Design Case Study (GAMS) (Does it really count as a “Software Product?”) • Most Successful Products • Polymath • Multimedia Education Library; ChemSep • Low Volume Sellers • Korf Hydraulics; EMR Technology; MultiBatch DS CACHE Trustee Meeting July 2003

  6. Computing in Industry (‘97, ’03) Software usage Extent (Percentage of Engineers) • Spreadsheets 97.3% • MATLAB/MathCAD 15% • MAPLE/Mathematica 10% • Process Flowsheet 33% CACHE Trustee Meeting July 2003

  7. Computing in Instructional Practice • Source: • Academic Trustees • 5 responding institutions • VA Tech • Michigan • Penn • SUNY Buffalo • Clarkson • (Small sample size?) CACHE Trustee Meeting July 2003

  8. Computing in Instructional Practice • General Conclusions • Spreadsheets (Excel) used very widely • CACHE software used infrequently • MATLAB used fairly widely • Programming • commonly (but not universally) taught • No consensus on what language to teach • Some exposure via MATLAB • MAPLE/Mathematica often encountered in Math Classes CACHE Trustee Meeting July 2003

  9. Trustee Opinions • Largely supportive of CACHE continued involvement in software dissemination • Specific Points • Provide only packages that sell well (PolyMath, ChemSep specifically mentioned) • As long as dissemination costs do not become excessive • Rationale behind providing packages that do not sell well questioned; • What if cost for providing “low-selling” packages is minimal? • OK to continue making them available CACHE Trustee Meeting July 2003

  10. To Distribute or Not Distribute • (Responding) Trustees say continue; • Some points to consider • As a CACHE activity is support for software distribution mostly sentimental? • Is this a cost effective activity for CACHE? • Income from sales is not significant; how does it compare with the cost of providing this service? • If CACHE stops distributing software products will anyone in the academic community notice? • RT finds CACHE service as distributor helpful, but is this a good enough reason for CACHE? CACHE Trustee Meeting July 2003

  11. Possible New Ventures • Provide material for widely used software tools • (e.g. Excel, MATLAB, Mathematica) • Spreadsheets • Viable market for a collection of spreadsheets used for various aspects of the chemical engineering curriculum? • CACHE—solicit contributions (e.g. Carnahan’s compilation a good starting point); edit for uniformity of style and quality; • Assemble material in a book Chemical Engineering with Excel? • Make available via the web? CACHE Trustee Meeting July 2003

  12. Possible New Ventures • Other collections • MATLAB m files; • Maple or Mathematica worksheets; • MathCad files • Others? (even if market is small, still may wish to provide these if quality is sufficiently high). CACHE Trustee Meeting July 2003

  13. Conclusions • CACHE Trustees as a group • Believe CACHE should continue to disseminate software; • Not so sure if this is a cost effective activity, however • POSSIBLE NEW VENTURES • Create a definitive collection of Excel Spreadsheets for distribution via the web; • Compile and distribute material for other packages (MATLAB) CACHE Trustee Meeting July 2003

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