12 ms·

Wow, I had no idea "Mr. CP/M" was into APL...

by MaggieL 11y ago

vezzy-fnord 11y ago
He was into quite a lot of things. One of the rare examples of a person who was simultaneously a skilled programmer, a computer scientist and a business-savvy entrepreneur (though one sadly plagued by a lot of obstacles and circumstance). I would go as far as to say that, at least as far as individuals go, he was the single most important in initiating the PC revolution, doubtlessly more so than Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or even Woz from the perspective of fundamentals. He is also virtually unknown to the public. Go figure.
- mediumdave 11y ago
  He also invented dataflow analysis, which is the basis for a huge number of compiler optimization and program analysis techniques: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.102.3450 http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.102....
- acqq 11y ago
  The contributions, from the Wikipedia entry about him: "In March 1995, Kildall was posthumously honored by the Software Publishers Association (now the Software and Information Industry Association) for his contributions to the microcomputer industry:[3] - Introduction of operating systems with preemptive multitasking and windowing capabilities and menu-driven user interfaces. - Creation of the first diskette track buffering schemes, read-ahead algorithms, file directory caches, and RAM disk emulators. - Introduction of a binary recompiler in the 1980s. - The first programming language and first compiler specifically for microprocessors. - The first microprocessor disk operating system, which eventually sold a quarter of a million copies. - The first computer interface for video disks to allow automatic nonlinear playback, presaging today's interactive multimedia. - The file system and data structures for the first consumer CD-ROM. - The first successful open system architecture by segregating system-specific hardware interfaces in a set of BIOS routines.[22][23][24][25] "
- cgcardona 11y ago
  He was a regular contributor to The Computer Chronicles and can be seen in many episodes. https://archive.org/details/computerchronicles https://archive.org/details/computerchronicles
EvanAnderson 11y ago
I really enjoyed this retrospective on Gary Kildall. He was a really interesting guy, and I'll echo the sentiments of my sibling commenter-- a major influence on the development of the personal computer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdj8gh9GPc4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdj8gh9GPc4
chl 11y ago
The list of people who implemented (Quasi-)APLs contains some further illustrious names: - Ken Thompson (APL\11): https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.lang.apl/u9sl6gz4IYs https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.lang.apl/u9sl6g... - Dan Bricklin (Multics APL): http://lowendmac.com/2006/dan-bricklin-inventor-of-the-electronic-spreadsheet/ http://lowendmac.com/2006/dan-bricklin-inventor-of-the-elect... - Bill Gates (designed, never published): http://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/gates.htm#tc30 http://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/gates.htm#tc30 - Robert Griesemer: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Go_From_Scratch/The_Origin_of_Go https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Go_From_Scratch/The_Origin_of_... - Rob Pike: https://github.com/robpike/ivy https://github.com/robpike/ivy

Wow, I had no idea "Mr. CP/M" was into APL...

by MaggieL 11y ago

Wow, I had no idea "Mr. CP/M" was into APL...

He was into quite a lot of things. One of the rare examples of a person who was simultaneously a skilled programmer, a computer scientist and a business-savvy entrepreneur (though one sadly plagued by a lot of obstacles and circumstance). I would go as far as to say that, at least as far as individuals go, he was the single most important in initiating the PC revolution, doubtlessly more so than Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or even Woz from the perspective of fundamentals. He is also virtually unknown to the public. Go figure.

mediumdave 11y ago
He also invented dataflow analysis, which is the basis for a huge number of compiler optimization and program analysis techniques: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.102.3450 http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.102....
acqq 11y ago
The contributions, from the Wikipedia entry about him: "In March 1995, Kildall was posthumously honored by the Software Publishers Association (now the Software and Information Industry Association) for his contributions to the microcomputer industry:[3] - Introduction of operating systems with preemptive multitasking and windowing capabilities and menu-driven user interfaces. - Creation of the first diskette track buffering schemes, read-ahead algorithms, file directory caches, and RAM disk emulators. - Introduction of a binary recompiler in the 1980s. - The first programming language and first compiler specifically for microprocessors. - The first microprocessor disk operating system, which eventually sold a quarter of a million copies. - The first computer interface for video disks to allow automatic nonlinear playback, presaging today's interactive multimedia. - The file system and data structures for the first consumer CD-ROM. - The first successful open system architecture by segregating system-specific hardware interfaces in a set of BIOS routines.[22][23][24][25] "
cgcardona 11y ago
He was a regular contributor to The Computer Chronicles and can be seen in many episodes. https://archive.org/details/computerchronicles https://archive.org/details/computerchronicles

EvanAnderson 11y ago

I really enjoyed this retrospective on Gary Kildall. He was a really interesting guy, and I'll echo the sentiments of my sibling commenter-- a major influence on the development of the personal computer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdj8gh9GPc4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdj8gh9GPc4

chl 11y ago

The list of people who implemented (Quasi-)APLs contains some further illustrious names: - Ken Thompson (APL\11): https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.lang.apl/u9sl6gz4IYs https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.lang.apl/u9sl6g... - Dan Bricklin (Multics APL): http://lowendmac.com/2006/dan-bricklin-inventor-of-the-electronic-spreadsheet/ http://lowendmac.com/2006/dan-bricklin-inventor-of-the-elect... - Bill Gates (designed, never published): http://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/gates.htm#tc30 http://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/gates.htm#tc30 - Robert Griesemer: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Go_From_Scratch/The_Origin_of_Go https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Go_From_Scratch/The_Origin_of_... - Rob Pike: https://github.com/robpike/ivy https://github.com/robpike/ivy