Dickinson Students Work With Alum to Breathe New Life Into 84 Lumber's Legacy Systems
The 84 Lumber team, who worked for months on a project to modernize the building materials supplier's legacy computer systems.
Computer science project sets students on their own course to tackle complex real-world problems
by Tony Moore
Say you’re the chief information officer and head of human resources at a company that’s a household name with nearly $9 billion in annual revenue, more than 300 stores and thousands of employees. And you look at some of the company’s computer systems and it hits you: These probably need to be modernized. What do you do?
If you’re Paul Yater ’94, who holds those positions at 84 Lumber, a leading national building materials supplier, you shoot off an email to Dickinson’s Steve Riccio, senior lecturer in international business & management:
Can AI scan our code set and produce some type of systems documentation/specifications that could help us train new developers on the code and business rules in the code? Was thinking maybe the students could research what, if any, companies are doing this and the pros and cons of this approach.
Launch
Riccio, who had previously worked with Yater through a Profiles in Leadership course, got in touch with Professor of Computer Science John MacCormick, and before long 12 of MacCormick’s students were on the job, with two large tasks on their plate:
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Convert the CBASIC-based codebases (CBASIC is an old programming language written in the 1970s) into newer languages, such as Java and Python.
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Automate the documentation process that explains the functionality of corporate codebases to potentially train new developers.
“Those projects are practical ones to solve real-world problems, and it was exciting to apply the software, technologies and knowledge that we learned from our computer science courses,” says Juheon “John” Chu ’24 (computer science, mathematics). “For example, all of us were able to apply the skills that we learned from the Comp 190 course (Tools and Techniques for Software Development). But to accomplish this large-scale project, it was inevitable for all of us to explore new knowledge that we are not familiar with, and we all were very excited about learning new things within the area of our interests.”
And those interests were explored as students saw fit, within the confines of the project, as MacCormick explains.
“The projects sounded like it would be most beneficial for students if it could be a student-led initiative, so the way that we structured it was that I was very much at arm’s length,” he says, adding that while he served as supervisor, or advisor, he didn’t take an active role. “For the technical content, it was purely student led: They had meetings, they’d report to Paul and in some cases they were liaising directly with 84 Lumber employees.”
Working on Their Own
Working out from under the wing of professors, gaining that “real-world” exposure, is a big part of the Dickinson experience, leading to dramatic personal, and career-oriented, growth. And it was an aspect of the project that jumped out to students in a big way.
“The project really helped me experience what it was like to guide my own learning,” says Fox Becker ’26 (computer science), whose work modernizing CBASIC code by converting it into modern languages had never been done before. “We had to come up with methods to tackle the challenge on our own, and sometimes after working on one method we would decide it wasn't leading anywhere and scrap it. It taught all of us the struggles of working on a real project, doing our own research and strategizing, an experience that can't be emulated in the classroom.”
The students worked closely with 84’s vice president of application development and director of store applications & technology across the course of the project, something that gave them a good taste of what it’s like operating in a professional environment to solve real problems. That facet was another that ramped up the experience into something truly forward-looking and palpably valuable.
“Projects like these are a must for those who want to get a taste of what their professional environments will look like once they have graduated,” says Maximo Sanchez ’26 (computer science), noting that he acquired an abundance of technical skills in the programming field while working on this project. “However, I have to say that the key lesson I take from this endeavor is how to properly tackle a project with efficient teamwork and organization. This sounds obvious, but it couldn't be further from that, as many professionals enter the digital labor force without the necessary soft skills that improve communication and workflow in the industry.”
What's Next?
Yater says his teams at 84 Lumber are moving forward with the project internally, and aspects of the ideas generated by the Dickinson team are a part of the go-forward solution and design. And he has a lot to say about that team and its ability to operate on a challenging task driven by their interest in the work and passion for the project.
“These were top-notch students who were highly engaged and very knowledgeable, and they showed tremendous commitment and dedication to the project,” says Yater, adding that students committed personal time during the project to build “innovative and interesting solutions.” “I love Dickinson, and I am truly grateful for all that it has given me and how it prepared me for life and my career. I'm grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Dickinson students and faculty, and I look forward to potentially exploring future partnerships that leverage our mutual expertise and drive for innovation.”
As for one future partnership, Chu is headed off to Cornell University’s computational biology Ph.D. program, where he hopes to continue on with collaborative research such as this project.
“I’m one of the very few accepted students whose educational background is from a small liberal-arts college like Dickinson,” he says, adding that his undergraduate experience assures him that he’ll make an impact at Cornell. “As an international student whose first language is not English, I hugely improved my verbal skills through an interdisciplinary-oriented college education, and this enabled me to professionally work with both CS & non-CS majors to accomplish the project. And I’m excited about what my breakthroughs in graduate school will look like.”
TAKE THE NEXT STEPS
Published July 23, 2024