Lesson plan

AverStar

AverStar (formerly Intermetrics, Inc.) was a software company founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1969 by several veterans of M.I.T.'s Instrumentation Laboratory who had worked on the software for NASA's Apollo Program including the Apollo Guidance Computer. The company specialized in compiler technology. It was responsible for the design and implementation of the HAL/S programming language, used to write the Space Shuttle PASS (Primary Avionics Software System). It participated in the design effort leading to the Ada programming language, designed the Red language, one of the finalists in the design competition, and wrote one of the first production-quality Ada compilers. The large-scale Ada 95 revision of the language was designed at Intermetrics. . Intermetrics also developed the CS-4 programming language for the United States Navy in the 1970s as a "language extension" to CMS-2 and as "a translator for existing CMS-2 programs". Intermetrics merged with Whitesmiths Ltd. in December 1988. In 1997, Intermetrics merged with computer game developer Looking Glass Studios In 1998, Intermetrics acquired [[Pacer Infotec], and changed its name to 'AverStar'. AverStar merged with the Titan Corporation in March, 2000; Titan was acquired by L-3 Communications in 2005.

Back to article

Article summary

AverStar (formerly Intermetrics, Inc.) was a software company founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1969 by several veterans of M.I.T.'s Instrumentation Laboratory who had worked on the software for NASA's Apollo Program including the Apollo Guidance Computer. The company specialized in compiler technology. It was responsible for the design and implementation of the HAL/S programming language, used to write the Space Shuttle PASS (Primary Avionics Software System). It participated in the design effort leading to the Ada programming language, designed the Red language, one of the finalists in the design competition, and wrote one of the first production-quality Ada compilers. The large-scale Ada 95 revision of the language was designed at Intermetrics. . Intermetrics also developed the CS-4 programming language for the United States Navy in the 1970s as a "language extension" to CMS-2 and as "a translator for existing CMS-2 programs". Intermetrics merged with Whitesmiths Ltd. in December 1988. In 1997, Intermetrics merged with computer game developer Looking Glass Studios In 1998, Intermetrics acquired [[Pacer Infotec], and changed its name to 'AverStar'. AverStar merged with the Titan Corporation in March, 2000; Titan was acquired by L-3 Communications in 2005.

Key claims

  1. date of foundation: 1969 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of foundation is "1969". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1330006118

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.