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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 e

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

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