Humans are allergic to change, so I keep a backward clock
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I am a computer scientist and mathematician who devised the theory of machine-independent programming languages, built the compiler technology behind FLOW-MATIC and COBOL, and wrote the first computer manual.
Prioritizing training the next generation
4 milestones
Realized mentoring young engineers mattered most after compiler work while lecturing at DEC.
Led Navy and DoD standards and systems work in the 1970s, promoting distributed computing and language testing.
FLOW-MATIC fed into CODASYL's work and helped define COBOL, enabling English-like business programming.
Developed the A-0 compiler at Eckert-Mauchly/Remington Rand for the UNIVAC I, pioneering automatic programming.
I rank training young people as my most important accomplishment after building the compiler: when they ask whether they can do something, I say "Try it," back them up, and keep stirring them to take chances.
In the 1970s I advocated that the Defense Department replace large, centralized systems with networks of small, distributed computers, where any user on any node could access common databases.