U Khin Maung Zaw (KMZ, SPHS70, EC76, UCC) lives in Seattle, USA. He visited Yangon several times.
U Than Tun spends his time between Yangon and Northern California.
U Ngwe Soe / Silver spends his time between Yangon and Singapore.
U Tun Shwe worked for UN assignments abroad.
U Thet Lwin used to work in Thailand and Singapore. He hosted a breakfast gathering for the UCC Old Timers.
KMZ wrote :
Another UCC old-timers, a. k. a. Ah Pho Gyi’s, Ah Pho Lats & Ah Pho Lay’s, met for breakfast at Halpin Feel, 17th Dec 2018. Treat by U Thet Lwin
U Maung Maung Gyi, U Than Tun, U Tun Shwe (TS), U Thet Lwin, U Khin Maung Zaw (KMZ) , U Myint Swe, U Myint Oo, U Ngwe Soe (Silver), U Aung Myint (AM).
I happened to be flanked by two long time friends since their days at SPHS – St. Paul’s High School. Sadly, both of them are now GBNF, may their beautiful souls rest in peace, looking down on us from somewhere above.
Father : Saya U Kar (former Minister in Caretaker Government in 1958).
Received his doctorate in Mathematics from Queen Mary College.
Succeeded Saya Dr. Chit Swe as Director of UCC.
During his tenure, the Department of Computer Science (DCS) and the Institute of Computer Science and Technology (ICST) were established.
Served as the first Rector of ICST.
U Ko Ko Lay
U Ko Ko Lay
Saya Dr. Chit Swe founded UCC with the help of Saya U Soe Paing, Saya U Myo Min and Saya U Ko Ko Lay.
Received his BSCE and MSCE from Stanford University.
Joined PWD
Transferred to UCC as Operations Manager.
Served as Scientific Applications Manager, Professor of Computer Science at DCS, and Professor of Information Technology at ICST.
CO U Hla Min
He is my namesake. Those outside UCC were not aware that he was one year junior to me at St. Paul’s High School and RIT.
Graduated from RIT with Electrical Power in 1970.
Joined UCC as Chief Operator (CO).
Attended post-graduate course in UK Met his beloved one doing Advanced Nurse Training in UK
I became a “Tone Kyaw” when he passed away at the tender age of 30+. Two government training centers (where I had given guest lecturers) planned to send “Lwan Thu Pann Chway” to me. My classmate U Moe Hein (Ajala) took leave to attend my “funeral” at the Kyandaw Cemetery.
U Mya Thein
Joined the Department of Commerce, Institute of Economics.
Transferred to UCC as Business Applications Programmer along with U Thein Oo.
Succeeded me as Business Applications Manager.
Taught not only at UCC, DCS and ICST, but also at the International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University (ITBMU).
Ken Olson and several other MIT alumni founded DEC (Digital Equipment Corporate).
Grapevine says that there was a protocol in government departments to “purchase computer”. In order to circumvent that, DEC named their mini-computers as PDP (Programmable Digital Processors).
CHM (Computer History Museum) has a PDP-1 on display. Retired DEC engineers “restored” a PDP-1. The exhibit has demos : one for play a “primitive” Space War game, another for “playing” music …
PDP-8 is a 12-bit mini-computer used in many universities of that period.
PDP-11 is a 16-bit mini-computer. UCC acquired PDP11/70
VT-101 (or similar) terminals became the “new” mode of entering and running programs.
DEC later introduced VAX (Virtual Address eXtended) series.
Gordon Bell was the VAX architect and co-author of the book using CMS (Computer Memory System) and “formal” methods to describe and evaluate computer systems. The artifacts that he collected for the book project were displayed in DEC as BCM (Boston Computer Museum) with Gwen Bell as the Curator. It later became CHM (Computer History Museum) in Mountain View, California.
CHM (Computer History Museum)
I volunteered as a Docent for CHM for a couple of years. I had to give guided tours (for 45 minutes to an hour).
One child asked his father how fast the 10 Million Dollar computer (Cray 1) was. The reply, “It’s slower than your PC and your smart phone”.
Feedback
KMZ wrote :
It was a shame that DEC/VAX/VMS did not take off well as some people hoped. Fortunately, Bill Gates hired VAX/VMS main architect Dave Cutler in 1988, who brought many of his team from DEC, 20+ as reported, as part of the hiring agreement of Dave Cutler.
Dave Cutler and his team developed Windows NT, New Technology – a 64bit OS, and the rest is history. He has his hands on RedDot, which be came Microsoft Azure.
Dr. Mark Russinovich, received his doctorate in 1989 from Carnegie Mellon, developed a very popular Windows utility suite called ‘SysInternals’ with his partner. This was a godsend for all Windows Systems Engineers, a Swiss Army Knife, if you will. He also had a short stint at IBM, he also wrote a series of articles comparing Windows NT with VMS?? in Windows Internals magazine. Microsoft eventually acquired the SysInternals, Mark included. Mark is now CTO of Microsoft Azure.
He earned the nickname Pauk Si at SPHS (St. Paul’s High School). His father had lent money to a Pauk Si vendor, but the vendor could not pay back the loan. So, at break time, he would go to claim one Pauk Si (or more depending on his appetite).
Since there were two Hla Min, he was called CO (Chief Operator).
Under the UCC program, he studied for a year in UK and also found his soul mate (Ma Tin Win), who was undergoing “advanced” nursing training.
CO was afraid of getting hospitalized.
CO was healthy. He would rarely wear the “coat/jacket” that is mandated for those working in the “air conditioned” Computer Room. He would often wear a sports shirt.
So, it was a surprise to learn that CO, after returning from spending as a temporary monk at Taung Pu Lu monastery, fell ill. He was admitted to RGH (Rangoon General Hospital) where Dr. Min Lwin (Maurice Hla Kyi, 5th in Burma in 1964, Roll Number Two at IM(2), cousin of “Lake” Win Maung) examined and found out that his friend had a serious problem.
CO’s voice had lost intensity during his stay in the hospital. He told us to be good towards the sayas, colleagues, friends and family members. We sensed that it was his farewell message. Sad to say, he passed away in his mid-thirties. He did not drink or smoke, but he ate (may be a little bit indiscriminately). He presumably had Hepatitis and later “cirrhosis”.
Some people were not aware that there were two Hla Min who attended SPHS & RIT & worked at UCC. They both have spouses from the medical profession.
So it was not surprising when two government departments where I had given guest lectures inquired UCC where and when they could send wreaths (Lwan Thu Pann Khwe) for me.
A representative from the first department said, “It is said that people laugh a lot before they die. U Hla Min was telling us jokes.”
A person from the second department said, “U Hla Min looked frail and unsteady when he walks. No wonder he passed away.”
To top it all, Ko Moe Hein (Ajala, ChE69) stared at me like a ghost at the Kyandaw Cemetery. He was RIT Selected for Swimming and Water Polo. He had a loud voice that can drown the voices of ten or so “normal” people. So he became the de facto “Cheer Leader” for the RIT Sports Teams. He was working at HI (Heavy Industries). At Kyan Daw Cemetery, he came down from a bus. When he saw me, he appeared “staring at a ghost”. He explained, “Your brother seemed so calm when we learned that you had passed away. So I look a day off to give you last respects thinking that ‘If your brother does not care about you, there will not be many people at last journey’”.
CO was partly responsible for the UCC staff members visiting Kaba Aye Sun Lun Gu Kyaung and then later participating in the Thingyan Su Paung Yahan Khan Pwes.
He and Saya U Soe Paing were temporary monks at the monastery where U Wara (Win Paing, ChE70, younger brother of Saya Paing, GBNF) was Taik Oak Sayadaw.
Ko Soe Myint (M72, GBNF) and his family (parents, asiblings, …) are devotees.
I visited CO and Saya Paing and later became a devotee.
After we started working there, we hanged around the beautiful & attractive ladies in the machine room, like bee to the honey. CO didn’t like us there and issued a verbal warning not to talk to the ladies there, he’s the king/chief of the machine room, unless it’s work related.
He got really mad when we removed the covers of some of the machines there, pretending we were working on fixing those, while having good chitchat with the ladies there.
Some of them are now GBNF, several are still kicking, I mean alive and well. Those were the days, we really miss those old days.
Heartfelt love and thanks to those who had nothing but forgiveness to many of our shenanigans there.
Cherry Hlaing (St. John’s Convent) and Lyn Aung Thet (Methodist English High School) Has same total marks. Using the ILA system, Cherry was admitted as Roll Number One to IM(1).
Aung Win Chiong (SPHS) Based on ILA, he was admitted as Roll Number One to IM(2).
Indian lady Probably moved overseas
Min Lwin (SPHS) Based o ILA, he was admitted as Roll Number Two to IM(2).
UCC was founded in 1971 with Saya Chit (Dr. Chit Swe, GBNF) as Director, Saya Paing (U Soe Paing) as Systems Manager, Saya Myo (U Myo Min) as Applications Manager, and Saya Lay (U Ko Ko Lay, GBNF) as Operations Manager.
The UCC Project was started by Saya Chit (then Head of Mathematics Department at the Institute of Economics) with the help of Saya Paing (then Assistant Lecturer of Electrical Engineering at the Rangoon Institute of Technology) and several others.
It took a long time before the UCC Project was approved by UNDP. UNDP was the Funding Agency. UNESCO was assigned as the Executing Agency.
ICL won the contract to provide ICL 1902S Computer System, Software, Training and Support.
Dr. Harry D Huskey (UCSC) won the sub-contract for offering expertise in Academics & Research for UCC.
The early days of Computing in Burma/Myanmar has been presented in several articles in Burmese and English by Saya Paing including “Computer ah sa UCC ga”.
Saya U Aung Zaw (GBNF) has also recorded his memories about UCC in his book “Ba Wa and Dhamma”.
ICST/UCSY published a commemorative magazine for the 30th Anniversary of UCC.
In the beginning Saya U Myo Min managed all application programmers.
After the reorganization, Saya U Myo Min managed the business applications.and Saya U Ko Ko Lay managed the scientific & engineering applications
Application Programmers include U Mya Thein (Bo Shoke, GBNF), U Thein Oo, U Tun Shwe, U Htin Kyaw, U Soe Than, U Kyaw Nyein, U Boe Ba Shan, U Myint Oo, U Sein Myint Maung, U Win Myint, U Soe Thein (GBNF), U Aung Hlaing, Daw Tin May Lwin, Daw Nwe Nwe Win, Daw Nge Ma Ma Than (GBNF), …
Saya Dr F Ba Hli (GBNF) received Sc.D. (Doctor of Science) from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). At MIT, Saya helped “fresh” scholars including Saya Dr. Aung Gyi and Saya U Min Wun acclimatize with the environment and studies.
Saya served as DG (Director General) of UBARI (Union of Burma Applied Research Institute) and Advisor for the Ministry of National Planning. Saya was a supporter of UCC Project and served as a member of the Board of Directors and as an External Examiner for the Computer Science graduates.
Daw Myint Thwe (Saya’s spouse) is the sister of Saya U Tin U (C), Saya U Ba Than (M), Dr. Myo Tint, U Tin Htoon (A60), Saya U Myo Min (UCC) and U Thaung Lwin (EC66).
Saya’s children Daw Tin Tin Hlaing and U Tha Hlaing (EC83) are UCC Alumni. U Htay Aung (EC80, spouse of Daw Tin Tin Hlaing and nephew of Saya U Sein Hlaing) and team “programmed” a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory) to print Burmese characters on the Cromemco System Three micro-computer. He worked on Burmese Word Processing for Wang Computers. He migrated to Australia. For the past few years, U Htay Aung came back to Yangon to volunteer as an interpreter for the “10-day Mediation Retreat for Foreign Yogis” at the Mahasi Sasana Yeik Tha.
During my visit to Sydney in 2006, Saya U Aung Zaw hosted a UCC reunion and mini-PZP (Pu Zaw Pwe) for Saya F Ba Hli and Saya Chit.
U Sein Win (GBNF)
Saya U Sein Win (GBNF) is the younger brother of Dr. Tin U (Medical Superintendent, Rangoon Children’s Hospital) and Dr. Saw Lwin.
Saya served as Technical Advisor for UCC. Saya worked closely with U Win Htein (Purdue University, EE at PWD, GBNF) for the design and maintenance of the Electrical Systems (including Motor Alternator, Diesel Generator, Air conditioning) at UCC.
Saya was a top student at the University of Michigan. His friends jokingly called him “Khone Swa Khone Swa” referring to his brisk walking style.
Saya served as Lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering. When the EE Department was formally reorganized into EC (Electrical Communications, also known as EcE and Electronics Engineering) and EP (Electrical Power), Saya U Sein Win served as Professor of EP. Saya Dr. San Tint served as Professor of EC.
Grapevine says that Saya is an absent minded Professor. Saya married late. One day, Saya drove Sayagadaw to Bogyoke Market. He taught (or discussed with) his students for quite some time and almost forgot to pick up Sayagadaw. There are variations on this anecdote regarding the place (e.g. Hledan Zay).
Saya served as Line Judge at the RUBC (Rangoon University Boat Club) Regattas. Saya managed the RIT Swimming and Water Polo team.
Saya stays fit by swimming regularly (even when he was visiting Singapore on a business trip).
Saya has a vast knowledge. Saya Dr. San Hla Aung (C58) remembers Saya U Sein Win discussing about Civil Engineering and other subjects.
U Win Htein (GBNF)
U Win Htein matriculated from SPHS in 1956 with Saya U Soe Paing and Saya U Ko Ko Lay.
They were selected as State Scholars to study in the USA. U Win Htein studied at Purdue University. Saya Paing and Saya Lay studied at Stanford University.
Upon his return, he joined PWD.
He was EE during our UCC days.
For the UCC project, U Win Htein and his team maintained the Electrical Systems (including Motor Alternator, Diesel Generator, Air conditioning) at UCC.
U Win Htein is the elder brother of U Myo Myint (EC67) and Daw Myint Myint Thein (Susan, FERD).
Dr. San Tint (GBNF)
Saya Dr. San Tint (GBNF) graduated in 1961 and joined the EE (Electrical Engineering) Department at RIT. He later served as Professor of EC (Electrical Communications AKA Electronics Engineering).
Saya served as External Examiner at UCC.
He played on the RIT Saya Soccer team with U Soe Paing (EE), Dr. Tin Win (M), Dr. Aung Soe (C), U Aung Soe (Maths), U Tin Maung Nyunt (M) and Des Rodgers (English).
Saya suffered stroke and his right hand was paralyzed. He practiced writing with his left hand hoping that he will recover and continue teaching.
Saya spent four decades teaching and passing the torch to the younger generation.
His nephew U Hlaing Myint (UCC) was with Saya in Saya’s final days.
U Myint Sein (GBNF) is my childhood friend. He became the Principal at BARB (Burmese Astro Research Bureau). He asked me if I can help him to speed up some Veda processes (e.g. generation of a Natal Horoscope).
I assigned two students Ko Win Latt and Ko Zaw Tun and supervised them for the Veda projects.
Ko Win Latt owned a computer and was also an excellent programmer. Under my supervision and with the guidance of Ko Myint Sein, Ko Win Latt came up with three versions. He named them WinHoro V3, V6 and V9.
V3 produces the “basic” horoscope with Yathi (Rasi), Bawa and Nawin (Navamsa). It is also known as “Tri Cekka Zatar” referring to the three parts. It takes some time (a few minutes to an hour) if done manually.
V6 produces a better horoscope.
V9 produces the best horoscope.
WinHoro was implemented using BASIC (an interpretive language).
BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) was designed by Professors Kemeny & Kurtz for use with the Dartmouth College Time Sharing System (CSS).
Bill Gates and Paul Allen implemented “Tiny BASIC” for the MITS Altair. They co-founded Microsoft.
BASICA, GWBASIC and variants became a popular language for microcomputers and PCs.
One needs expert knowledge to “interpret” a Zartar. Ko Zaw Tun used Prolog (language for Logic Programming) to implement the Bedin Rules. He tested his program with several sets of data. He was surprised when his program said that “the Two Year Old is a rich person (possibly a Millionaire)”. He thought that there must be a bug. It turned out that the Two Year Old is a grand son of a wealthy Sawbwa, who decided that his grand son should inherit his wealth.
Sad to note that my good friend Ko Myint Sein is now GBNF. It was good news and bad news for his son, who was back in Yangon to take examination for Master Mariner. He was present at Ko Myint Sein’s last journey.
0 comments
U Myint Sein (GBNF) is my childhood friend. He became the Principal at BARB (Burmese Astro Research Bureau). He asked me if I can help him to speed up some Veda processes (e.g. generation of a Natal Horoscope).
I assigned two students Ko Win Latt and Ko Zaw Tun and supervised them for the Veda projects.
Ko Win Latt owned a computer and was also an excellent programmer. Under my supervision and with the guidance of Ko Myint Sein, Ko Win Latt came up with three versions. He named them WinHoro V3, V6 and V9.
V3 produces the “basic” horoscope with Yathi (Rasi), Bawa and Nawin (Navamsa). It is also known as “Tri Cekka Zatar” referring to the three parts. It takes some time (a few minutes to an hour) if done manually.
V6 produces a better horoscope.
V9 produces the best horoscope.
WinHoro was implemented using BASIC (an interpretive language).
BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) was designed by Professors Kemeny & Kurtz for use with the Dartmouth College Time Sharing System (CSS).
Bill Gates and Paul Allen implemented “Tiny BASIC” for the MITS Altair. They co-founded Microsoft.
BASICA, GWBASIC and variants became a popular language for microcomputers and PCs.
One needs expert knowledge to “interpret” a Zartar. Ko Zaw Tun used Prolog (language for Logic Programming) to implement the Bedin Rules. He tested his program with several sets of data. He was surprised when his program said that “the Two Year Old is a rich person (possibly a Millionaire)”. He thought that there must be a bug. It turned out that the Two Year Old is a grand son of a wealthy Sawbwa, who decided that his grand son should inherit his wealth.
Sad to note that my good friend Ko Myint Sein is now GBNF. It was good news and bad news for his son, who was back in Yangon to take examination for Master Mariner. He was present at Ko Myint Sein’s last journey.
To help speed up the computerization in Burma, Saya Dr. Chit Swe (Founder / Director) mandated the “training & knowledge transfer” component in the UCC project.
The component was awarded to Professor Harry D. Huskey (Past ACM President), who taught at University of California Berkeley (UCB) and University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC).
Dr, Huskey is a computer pioneer, ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) Fellow, and CHM (Computer History Museum) Fellow.
Dr. Huskey persuaded several top Computer Scientists and Educators to transfer their knowledge and expertise.
Experts for UCC Project
The following is a partial list of the experts provided by Dr. Huskey.
Professor Anthony Ralston (SUNY Buffalo & Past President of ACM) Structured Programming
Professor Peter Wegner (Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island) Programming Languages, Compilers
Dr. Malcolm P. Atkinson (Cambridge University Mathematics & Computer Lab) Supervised M.Sc. (Computer Science) students
Professor Foreman Acton Numerical Methods, Author of “Algorithms that [almost] work”
Professor Michael Stonebraker (UC Berkeley) Ingres (early Relational Data Base Management System)
RDBMS
At UCB, Michael Stonebraker, Eugene Wong and Gerald Held designed and implemented INGRES (Relational Database Management System). They went on to found INGRES and several other DB companies (e.g. Postgres).
Stonebraker won the prestigious ACM Turing Award (“Nobel Prize” for Computer Professionals) a few years ago.
Dr. Htay Lwin Nyo, Sai Aung Thurein, Ko Kyaw Zwar Than, Ko Sein Myint, … implemented projects (based on INGRES and other Databases) on ICL under the supervision of Saya Paing and several other sayas.
Feedback
KMZ wrote :
In my line of work, prior to my retirement, Knowledge Transfer is one of the several criteria for the success of the Organization/Company. The others are “Documentation” and some mechanism to transfer/document “Tribal Knowledge”.
It was a major challenge for all of us, it was, and still is, a thankless catch up process in the very fast changing Internet. When someone from the management and/or product wanted some new features, the timeline always was ‘yesterday’. They almost always wanted it done ‘yesterday’ as we jokingly called it.
There are innumerable projects/processes we spent so much time could get shelved due to whatever reasons. Documentation and Knowledge Transfer became after thought. And when the key people moved on to other projects it became a nightmare for people who took over.
KMZ added :
There was a story told by Dr. Stonebraker where he learnt of the amazement on our faces when we saw his gigantic shoe. It was about the tough drill sergeant Stone and a small recruit called Stonebraker at the boot-camp. Since I was not a good story teller, I googled/binged Internet but none came up yet.
I believe Rafiul went to work for Stonebraker at Ingres when he moved to California. Htay Lwin Nyo told me about it when I met him. Ingres was eventually sold to CA, Computer Associates.
Editor’s Note :
One of my early assignments was to work with developers from Fujitsu and some subsidiaries, Computer Associates and some subsidiaries (including Ingres).
Rafiul studied at UCC, AIT and USC. He taught at the University of Maryland before moving to Silicon Valley. He retired as Vice President of Oracle USA. He was a Commencement Speaker at AIT.
UCC and RIT alumni attended the welcome party for Saya U Soe Paing (co-founder of UCC).
Party at Rafiul’s house
CPC
UCC conducted Computer Programming Classes.
Dr. Tin Maung (GBNF) succeeded Dr. Chit Swe as Director of UCC.
Teaching staff : U Hla Min, U Win Myint (1), U Win Myint (2), Daw Tin May Lwin, Daw Nge Ma Ma Than (GBNF), Daw Than Than Tint, Daw Thi Thi Aye, Daw Thida Kyi, Daw Thandar Htwe
CPC
UCC Group in front of Convocation Hall
Dress rehearsal for the Convocation
UCC conducted post-graduate diploma called DAC
Ko Win Hlaing, Ko Henry Maung Maung (GBNF), Ma Kyu Kyu Lwin (GBNF), Ma Khin Si Thaung, Ma Khin Khin Win, Ma Phyu Phyu Win, Ma Win May Thaung (GBNF), Ma Tin Tin Yee, Ma Hla Win (GBNF), Ko Aung Myint (GBNF), Ko Soe Myint (GBNF)
Their Departments : UCC, Census / CSO, Social Security Board, Five Star Line
Some worked at RIT and UCC. e.g U Aung Myint (GBNF).
Some RIT alumni worked at UCC.
Some RIT alumni attended UCC courses.
Some are alumni of UCC but not RIT.
UCC RIT 1UCC RIT 2UCC RIT 3UCC RIT 4UCC RIT 5UCC RIT 6UCC RIT 7UCC RIT 8UCC RIT 9UCC RIT 10UCC RIT 11UCC RIT 12UCC RIT 13UCC RIT 14UCC RIT 15UCC RIT 16UCC RIT 17UCC RIT 18UCC RIT 19UCC RIT 20UCC RIT 21