Software Demands Imposed by H 0 Studies

Attempts to measure the Hubble Constant (H 0) began in the 1920's, and continue today, 70 years later. Obviously, progress was made in those rst 3{4 decades without the beneet of computers. It has become evident during the past 10 years, though, that eeorts to measure H 0 accurately require highly evolved instruments/telescopes, observing procedures, and reduction and analysis tools. Stressful demands are being placed on computer software in each of these areas. We now realize that an accurate (10%) \answer" is unknowable without computers because the methods rely heavily on statistical analyses of large data sets and models of the underlying physical systems. This paper reviews the status of the H 0 quest in terms of the software needed to further many of the primary distance determination techniques.