HEC-RAS – Then and Now

Written by Chris Goodell | August 2, 2013

The first version of HEC-RAS I ever used was Version 2.2 back in 1999.  There are very few of us who actually used the first version of HEC-RAS which came out in 1995, but for those who do remember that, here’s an image showing the very first HEC-RAS Version 1.0:

Version 1 was very simple, only allowing steady flow water surface computations with very few optional features.  Most users probably ran this on Windows 3.1, NT, or 95.  It’s actually suprisingly similar to today’s current version 4.1:

Notice a lot of the buttons are still there from the original version.  I think one of the reasons HEC-RAS is so successful and widely used is the consistency in form and usability that the developers at HEC have adhered to when developing new versions of HEC-RAS.