Our Final Year Project at NIT(REC)-Calicut

The final year project at REC was a special learning experience. We were divided into batches of four and were matched against 12 projects and was an issue of chance. My batch mates were Narayan Kumar Anantha; Sudansu Mohan Jena; Srirangam Rangarajan Sampath ( S R Sampath) and myself P.O.Subash. We got the project "Data Processing using Electronic Spreadsheet and Data base in Electrical Engineering" and so did another batch of girls only two names I recollect in Chitra Sukumar and Sheela Furtado. Dr. S Thiruvengadam the then head of the department and Dr. K P Mohandas were the guides. Dr. Vekataramani was also involved in the planning of the projects. REC of out times had many senior faculty with many years of academic experience.

 

We had an year to do this work and were assigned the lab in the first floor of the Departmental Building and had fairly free access to this facility. It must be pointed out that REC had a mainframe computer during this period ; we were working on a PC using the software Super Calc 2 (SC2). Our project is basically based on a paper written in Electrical Engineering by Nuttaki D Rao of some American University. We were so PC illiterate that most of the time we were searching the keys on the key board but improved very fast.

 

Something about the software SC2. It was a very user-friendly DOS based Spreadsheet software and one of the best I have worked on. I liked the simplicity of the software and the ease with which it operated. Even during that time there were many Spreadsheet softwares in the market like Visicalc . These softwares gave way to Lotus 123 and eventually to Microsoft Excel which we use today.

 

It must be pointed that we had two parts in the project; one with Supercalc -the spreadsheet software and the other with Dbase III. I think I made valuable contribution during the project and enjoyed the march from the hostels to the labs at odd hours planning and doing some work related to the project. Switching on the PC and waiting for it to boot and seeing the cursor was with baited breath. I discovered during the project that I liked working to sitting in the class rooms or writing examinations. You can be creative at work and not in the other two settings.

 

I must thank the Dept for having given us this oppurtunity to work on a PC earlier on and creating a comfort level with the PC. The project report we made is still lying somewhere in my house. Making the report was pure team work which we batch mates enjoyed in the room of Sudansumohan Jena in the E hostel. Sometimes the work would stretch upto 3 AM and in the thick of the mid-night we used to go to Hamza's hotel in Kettangal for omlette and tea. The night used to be deathly quiet and Kettangal looked forlorn.