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Meet The
GOPHER
Master
GOPHER
was designed by Rick Hully, a software/hardware engineer who is
all too familiar with the extensive upfront time spent
determining which microcontrollers will best
fit a project. From the start, Rick knew that a successful search
engine is only as good as the database that supports it, and
that developing and maintaining a comprehensive MCU
database would require painstaking attention to the integrity
of the data within each record.
Rick's
40+ years
experience in hardware/software development has included designing and
building computer systems, peripherals, embedded systems,
real-time operating systems, applications and compilers. Through the
years he has acquired knowledge of most every major
software language that's been released.
Around the age of 8, like his (mechanical)
engineer father before him, Rick knew he wanted to be an (electrical) engineer.
As a young teen he treasured his radio kit and morse oscillator from Heathkit.
In the mid 1960's Rick would add his
passion for computers to these youthful EE experiences.
Early in college around 1966 Rick discovered
his deep affinity for computer technology. Sylvania hired him to maintain their 6 PDP-8
computers but it was their new SDS-92 with extensive
customized interfaces to a massive integrated circuit tester that intrigued him.
These interfaces came with minimal documentation and no one was trained to maintain
it. Before the system failed, anticipating the need, Rick had quietly created a
master set of schematics for some 200+ boards which allowed for an understanding of
the inner workings of the system. Shortly after completing the schematics the system
failed. He was widely credited for his foresight since the solution to analyze,
diagnose and repair the system had now
taken only a few minutes instead of days that previous system failures had taken.
The late 1960's marked the development of
Rick's passion for learning computer technology, hardware first (designing
computer interfaces and later his own computer) then software. He has since
mastered well over 100 computer languages including more than 50
assembly languages, Fortran, APL, Algol, and Pascal through the present with
the likes of C and C++. Additionally he is fluent in many database
languages.
Over the years Rick has enjoyed the independence of contracting (developing products
and consulting) with
multinational companies such as Digital Equipment Corp, Hewlett Packard, Exxon,
DuPont, Sylvania, IDX and others spanning numerous industries including
medical, nuclear, automotive, industrial control, consumer
products and computer hardware & software products. Later in his career,
Rick also created his own hardware products including nuclear data acquisition
computer systems using discrete logic, and software products including medical
laboratory systems, medical intensive care systems, and others.
This vast background in engineering, software and hardware design uniquely
qualified Rick to
create GOPHER --
the complex database and search engine with unparalleled comprehensiveness,
flexibility, accuracy, and speed.
The GOPHER
products benefit from his skill in combining numerous
languages into the same application and switching back and
forth depending on the most advantageous language for the
operation, overall speed and product performance.
Rick earned a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Lowell
Technological Institute (now University of Massachusetts,
Lowell) and an MS degree in Computer Science from Worcester
Polytechnic Institute. He is a member of the Upsilon Pi Epsilon International
Honor Society for the Computing and Information Disciplines.
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