Re: EMC Cookbook

["Matt Shaver" <mshaver-at-erols.com>]

>From: Ray Henry <rehenry-at-up.net>
>I'm jealous of Matt's proximity to EMC Mecca.

Actually, I've only been there a few times. Besides, proximity !=
involvement. As an example Ray, you've obviously done a lot more with the
var file and tkemc than I have. 

} From: Arne Chr.Jorgensen <instel-at-online.no>
} Well,  I wonder if they have a lawn outside, - I would like to camp !

They have a heck of a lawn! I don't know how big the place is, but it's
entirely fenced in and they have deer and geese and other animals that seem
to live there. The animals seem pretty tame and I have had to stop my car and
wait for a mother duck trailing a line of ducklings to cross the road before
I could proceed. It's really unusual because NIST is located in suburban
Rockville, MD which is a busy place with lots of traffic and shopping
centers, etc. I don't know how the deer got there, but they ought to stay
because they're surrounded by city!

>I think it was Arne who referred to EMC as this "gift."  Sure NIST gets
>some feedback from our use of it and they make changes at the code level
>based on some of what we find, but I don't think that's central to their
>mission or their vision.

} From: Arne Chr.Jorgensen <instel-at-online.no>
} 1:
} This is my reason for intruding.  It would have been very nice if Fred et
al
} could say a few words what their
} agenda is.   I do understand that there might be a lot they can't tell us,
} but I have been worried for a long time
} as I once read some initial stuff about EMC, - that this project one day
soon
} should close down.
} ( The initial stuff, showed a planned schedule,  and I think they already
have
} past the due date. )

As far as I know, there's nothing secret about the EMC project, so the agenda
is entirely public. I doubt they will stop working on the EMC anytime soon
for reasons I have listed below.

} 2:
} (  I tried to find it, but I had an old link to the FTP site, and now I get
} this message:                        )
} (   WARNING**This is a United States (NIST) computer system, which may be
} accessed and   )
} (    used only for official Government business by authorized
} personnel.                                           )
} (  - I might have to look up my dictionary - am I authorized - or am
} I trespassing ?                         )
} (   I just remember that they was going to put up a firewall, or move the
web
} site                             )

The firewall job is complete, try:

http://www.isd.mel.nist.gov/projects/emc/

and:

ftp://ftp.isd.mel.nist.gov/pub/emc/

Well, from:

http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/guide/glpage.htm

' The National Institute of Standards and Technology was established by
Congress "to assist industry in the development of technology ... needed to
improve product quality, to modernize manufacturing processes, to ensure
product reliability ... and to facilitate rapid commercialization ... of
products based on new scientific discoveries." '

If we were lawyers examining this statement, we could safely conclude that
the EMC project is pretty well completely covered by "improve product
quality" and "modernize manufacturing processes". The only remaining question
is: What is "industry"? I think I could stand up in front of any judge or
jury and make a convincing argument that WE are industry. Dan Falck is
engraving guitar parts for the Gibson guitar company, Jon Elson does contract
manufacturing of assorted scientific apparatus (I think mainly for a
university), Dan Mauch markets a line of industrial automation products, Ray
and I retrofit machine tools and sell them to machine shops that use them for
manufacturing purposes, etc.
I also do some contract machine work and I get a sense of personal
satisfaction seeing the things I make used by others and incorporated into
other companies products. I'm sure the folks at NIST are no different in that
they derive satisfaction from seeing the results of their work utilized by
people who appreciate all the effort that went into them. In that sense the
feedback EMC users provide is not only useful to the people at NIST for
technical reasons, but it is a component of their compensation (ok maybe I'm
stretching this a little too far, but it's my closing argument and I'm
allowed a little leeway).

I guess I should state for the record that I'm a registered Libertarian. If
the Libertarian party ever becomes the majority party on the US, we will seek
to drastically reduce the size of the Federal government. As far as the
Commerce Department and NIST are concerned the only relevant reference is the
Constitution itself:

Section 8. The Congress shall have Power:

[3] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the
several States, and with the Indian Tribes; 

[5] To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin,
and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

Section 9, paragraphs 5 and 6 having to do with interstate commerce may also
apply here (they might as well, they've been stretched to imply that the
government has authority over everything that might conceivably have been
transported across state lines!).

Until such time as the Libertarians achieve political dominance, and the
future of NIST becomes a matter of debate (or an asteroid strikes the earth
and kills us all, an event of equal likelihood), the logical thing to do is
help the folks at NIST to "ensure relevance and focus in [their] programs"
(from http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/nist_mission.htm ).

I believe there were two basic purposes for the EMC project (from
http://www.isd.mel.nist.gov/projects/emc/ ):

1. "The purpose of the EMC program is to develop and validate this open
system environment, based on real-world implementations in shop floor
environments, together with a consortium of users, vendors, and technology
providers." 

2. "A second purpose ... is to further the NIST Real-time Control System
methodology."

While considerable progress has been made on both of these items, I doubt
that either can be said to be complete given the rather open ended definition
of these goals. In addition the EMC software is intended to be the platform
for testing other advanced cnc control ideas in NIST's shop as the need
arises.

<To Be Continued> (I'm tired!)

Matt