Closing the Generation Gap

Power system engineers have been using computers ever since the first generation computers (so named much later) came into existence. Automatic power system computations have been reported as early as 1947 [1]. According to recent statistics, the power industry is the third largest user of computers in the U.S.A. The explosive developments during the last decade have required the power engineer to be much more computer-literate and the power engineering curriculum has undergone drastic revisions to accommodate this requirement. Recent software concepts recommend a move towards using fourth generation languages for large application program development. Utilizing a fourth generation language can result in applications built in a fraction of the time with a fraction of the expenditure as compared to using third generation languages. The present day power student is going to face challenges of much greater magnitudes when he joins the power industry and the time is ripe for the introduction of fourth generation languages (4GL) and 'closing' the generation gap. Many salient features of 4GLs that make them useful as effective tools for presenting power system problems to the students are first described. The beneficial aspects of getting exposed to these new trends in software development are illustrated through a distribution analysis program being developed at the Tennessee Technological University. Specific examples of database application, line impedance calculation and very flexible load modeling are included.