Tony Barr was born in New York and educated at North Carolina State University (MS Physics 1968). He has contributed to the computer industry for over 36 years, developing programs in the academic environment and in private enterprise. He created a computer language, SAS, that has made a major impact on computer data analysis in industry, government and education. A few of the software solutions Barr has implemented include: pioneering workstations for the IBM mainframe, the first commercial linking loader for IBM OS/360, the ACME program used in production of U.S. and international mortality statistics, and computing exact probabilities for 4-deck blackjack. Barr also holds three patents used in the furniture industry for optimizing lumber yield.
He is President and CEO of Barr Systems, Inc. a Gainesville, Florida company that develops the Barr Enterprise Model, an agile language for unity of purpose, productivity improvement, and quality management.
Sandy Mullin and Tony Barr founded Barr-Mullin, Inc. in 1972 to optimize the usage of lumber in the furniture industry. It has been an industry leader in computer optimization and control of sawing lumber into dimensioned parts. The web site is www.barrmullin.com.
In 1976, Tony Barr, Jim Goodnight, John Sall and Jane Helwig incorporated SAS Institute with percentage ownership 40% Tony Barr, 35% Jim Goodnight, 17% John Sall, and 8% Jane Helwig. The web site is www.sas.com.
Education
BS in Applied Physics (with honors), North Carolina State University, 1962.
MS in Physics, North Carolina State University, 1968.
Authored the General Analysis of Variance and Multiple Regression programs used by the Department of Statistics and North Carolina State University.
1966-1972
Founder, language designer, and the major developer of the Statistical Analysis System. The 1972 version of the system was used by over 100 installations around the world.
1967-1969
Developed the software for the ACME System for automatic processing of death records at the National Center for Health Statistics. US and many other countries use the software to produce determine underlying cause of death from death records. Mortality statistics are produced from the output of the ACME program.
1968
Authored a Lumber Yield program using the tables developed by the Forestry Department at North Carolina State University. The program identifies the optimum choice of grades of lumber to produce a given cutting order.
1968
Developed a Linking Loader for IBM OS/360. The use of the Loader cut typical program testing times by twenty-five percent. IBM did not offer the equivalent Loader for over eighteen months after the Barr Loader was commercially available. The Loader was marketed by University Computing Company.
1969
Authored a simulator for the IBM 2780 terminal for University Computing Company, Dallas, Texas. The simulator enables the COPE terminal to communicate with IBM 360/370. The simulator was implemented on a small PDP8 minicomputer.
1970
Implemented the HASP work station for the University Computing Company COPE terminals. The result was twice the performance of their IBM 2780 simulator. The program was the first non-IBM created software for this purpose. Thousands of UCC Remote Batch Terminals using HASP software have been sold.
1971
Implemented the HASP workstation for M & M Computer Industries, Orange, CA. The program became the Singer Remote Batch Terminal. Both Singer and UCC sold their terminal divisions to Harris Corporation, which still markets these products. The program was implemented on the Data General Nova minicomputer.
1971-1972
Developed the algorithms, procedures and software in the Yield-A-Matic system for optimizing the use of lumber in the furniture industry. The Yield-A-Matic scanned the lumber for manually marked defects. The computer determined the optimal method of cutting the board. The optimal cutting pattern was written on the board by the System. The machine was demonstrated at the International Woodworking Machinery and Furniture Supply Fair in Louisville, Kentucky, October 1972. The Yield-A-Matic won a Special Challenger Award for innovation in woodworking machinery design.
1973
With A. G. Mullin formed BARR-MULLIN, INC., a software and hardware vendor to the furniture industry. Authored the first version of the MINI- MAX I, II and III software for Texas Instruments minicomputer 980A. The MINI-MAX maximizes the utilization of lumber.
1976
Rewrote the MINI-MAX I, II and III software for the Digital Equipment Corporations LSI/11 minicomputer.
1973-1976
Architect of the 1976 version of the Statistical Analysis System. The 1976 version is a comprehensive system for statistics, data management and report writing. Designed and implemented all of the programming language, data management, report writing, and systems areas.
1976
Formed with three other associates SAS INSTITUTE, INC. Was the major stockholder and chairman of the board. The Statistical Analysis System has made a major impact on computer data analysis in industry, government, and education. The system has changed the way statistics is taught at many major universities and has greatly increased the use of statistical methodology by all departments on campuses.
1978
Formed BARR SYSTEMS, INC. with the purpose of developing an automated system for cutting dimensioned parts from lumber for the furniture industry. The heart of the system is a computer. The system scans lumber for defects that have been manually marked. The computer then calculates the optimal way to cut the board. A network of rip and crosscut saws cut the boards into the desired dimensioned parts. The parts are then sorted into bins by length and width.
1980-1982
Worked on a new model of language for use in computing. It is a consistent and complete system in which all computing can be described in a linguistic framework. Every item in system is a member of a language, which is described by a grammar. The editor knows all languages in the system and will not allow ungrammatical statements to be entered. Presented a talk on this subject as the invited speaker at the 1983 winter meeting of the Mid-Southeast Chapter of the ACM.
1983
Developed hardware and software for performing HASP remote job entry communication on the IBM PC.
1984
Moved the 3 person company from Raleigh to Gainesville, Florida.
1997
Moved the 72 person company into Barr Systems Campus with 4 buildings, 54,000 square feet, and 25 acres.
1999
Company revenues of 16 million and employees 110.
2006
Sold controlling interest in Barr Systems intellectual property to Gabriel Schwartzman. The web site is www.barrsystems.com.
2006
Assumed management and design of the Barr Enterprise Model, an agile language for unity of purpose, productivity improvement, and
A. J. Barr, J. H. Goodnight, J. P. Sall and J. H. Helwig. SAS Programmers' Guide. Published by SAS Institute, Inc. Raleigh, North Carolina, 1977.
A. J. Barr, J. H. Goodnight, J. P. Sall and J. H. Helwig. A User's Guide to SAS 76. Published by SAS Institute, Inc. Raleigh, North Carolina, pp. 1-329. 1978.
A. J. Barr. "Data Management in SAS and Interfaces to Other Systems," proceedings of the Computer Science and Statistics: Eleventh Annual Symposium on the Interface, Institute of Statistics, North Carolina State University, pp. 261-264, 1978.
A. J. Barr. "The Distribution and Maintenance of SAS," Computer
Sciences and Statistics: Tenth Annual Symposium on the Interface, NBS Special publication 503, pp. 215-220. 1977.
A. R. Manson, A. J. Barr and J. H. Goodnight. "Optimum Zero-Memory Strategy and Exact Probabilities for 4-Deck Blackjack." The American Statistician. 29 (2), 84-88. 1975.
Barr, Anthony J. and Mullin, Alexander G., Apparatus and method for optimizing the yield of usable pieces from boards and the like. 3,931,501, 1-6-76, Cl. 235-151.100.
Barr, Anthony J. and Mullin, Alexander G., Apparatus for optimizing the yield of usable pieces from boards and the like. 3,942,021, 3-2-76, Cl. 250-572.000.
Barr, Anthony J. and Mullin, Alexander G., Apparatus and method for maximizing utilization of elongated stock. 4,017,976, 4-19-1977, Cl. 235-151.l.
