Turkey RPCV David Wilson is computer programmer at the Waisman Center
Welcome to David Wilson's Homepage.
David L. Wilson Waisman 543A, 608/263-5899 Tue., Wed. PM, Thu.
Home: 608/233-7211 CAE 192 , 608/265-3879 Mon., Wed. AM, Fri.
title: SENIOR INFORMATION PROCESSING CONSULTANT
division: COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
department: COMPUTER-AIDED ENGINEERING
address: 1410 ENGINEERING DRIVE MADISON, WI 53706
title2: SENIOR SYSTEMS PROGRAMMER
division2: GRADUATE SCHOOL
department2: WAISMAN CTR MENTAL RETARD & HUMAN DEV
address2: 1500 HIGHLAND AVE MADISON, WI 53705
I work as a computer programmer at the Waisman Center and as a technical writer at CAE. I grew up in Milwaukee (Pulaski High School). My degrees are B.S. in "Applied Mathematics and Engineering Physics" from UW-Milwaukee in '65; M.S. in Math from UW-Milwaukee '66; M.S. in Computer Sciences from UW-Madison '67; and "all but dissertation" in Computer Sciences from UW-Madison. I first worked at CAE (then called the Engineering Computing Lab) in '66. From '67 through '69 I served in the Peace Corps in Ankara, Turkey. I taught calculus and programming at METU (Middle East Technical University) there. I started working for the Waisman Center in '74 and have worked the two half time jobs every since.
During the 1970 TAA (Teaching Assistants Association, AFT, AFL-CIO) strike, I decided to just picket rather than strike. I was on their executive committee as the Engineering area representative. I was back in Turkey for the summer of 1970 writing a student records system for METU at the time of the Sterling Hall bombing. Still pro-union, I dropped my membership in the UFAS (United Faculty and Academic Staff, AFT, AFL-CIO) to save money and joined the unaffiliated WUU (Wisconsin University Union) and MASA (Madison Academic Staff Association). Still a socialist, I dropped my membership in the Socialist Party, USA in 1994. On the other hand, I own stock--my first purchase was Computer Science Corp. in 1974. I have been an entrepreneur, selling an early Macintosh spelling checker through a partnership called "Champion Swiftware." Sometimes, I even listen to Rush.
I have never drunk (alcohol that is) and never smoked. Sometime during the 70s, I gave up eating red meat because mammals are relatively intelligent animals. Thus, for me, pork is not the "other white meat." In 1996, I give up caffeine due to an irregular heart beat. Even though I play sheepshead (the German card game schafkopf) regularly, I do not gamble.
My wife, Ann (married '71) has a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from UW. She retired from being the director of Wingra School in Madison (an independent progressive K-8 school) in 1998. She currently teaches a Children's Literature course at Edgewood College. We have two daughters, Sonja (born 1978) and Lydia (born 1981). Lydia is a National Merit scholar and a senior at Bryn Mawr. Sonja was a National Merit finalist and All-State Scholar, finished 2.5 years at Bard College and is now at Edgewood College. We are Quakers, even though Ann and I were both Unitarians in our youth.
My niece, Heather Shively, is CEO of CapitalThinking, a leading application software company for the commercial real estate finance industry and other financial services sectors.
At home we have a Macintosh Performa 6214CD computer. My first computer was an S100 bus system I built from a kit from the now defunct Digital Group. We owned a Lisa computer from 1984 to 1999, which we ran as a Macintosh.
I first started programming in 1963 at UW-Milwaukee. We had an IBM 1620.
IBM 1620 Performa
Memory 0.01 Megabtyes 16 Megabytes
Disk None--everything loaded Hard disk, floppy & CD
from cards each time
Speed Slow 200,000 times faster
Input Indirect--punch cards on a Keyboard
keypunch and feed into
computer's card reader
Printing Indirect--computer punched Laser Printer
cards which were listed by
a tabulating machine
Display Typewriter Monitor
Editing Off-line--update cards in On the computer
the input card deck
Cost $500,000 in 1995 dollars $2,500 w/laser printer
Size Pickup truck TV set
Programming the IBM 1620 was bizarre by today's standards.
On the Web, I maintain the College Football Performance Rating System and the College Football World Wide Web Site.
