10 ms·

Simon Peyton Jones Elected into the Royal Society Fellowship

297 points by augb 10y ago

johnklarson 10y ago
Shows you that you don't need the union card of a PhD to do world-leading research in CS. Inspiring!
- mathetic 10y ago
  Yes, but he has followed career of a researcher with 7 years as a lecturer and 9 years as a professor before joining industrial research.
andy_boot 10y ago
I met him once back then I didn't know who he was. Weirdly I was reading the book: http://www.codersatwork.com/ http://www.codersatwork.com/ at the time - ofcourse I got a shock when I realised he was the next chapter! Anyway he was a nice guy.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- flurdy 10y ago
  I sat next to him at a conference once (scala-exchange). Had a nice chat before the keynote started. I had no idea who he was. But when at the Q&A he started grilling the speaker the fog lifted and I realised who was next to me. And yes, he was a nice guy.
carterschonwald 10y ago
Simon Peyton Jones is the mister Rogers of computer science. He is an incredible role model for how to treat others while managing to be balance being clear, benign, and constructive. (I've been a recipient of such feedback a time or three, and It was incredibly helpful for me each time. ) well deserved!
- joehillen 10y ago
  Don't forget the sweaters.
- eternalban 10y ago
  > .. role model .. And don't forget, the superior way to project confidence [1] in your 'precious'. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSmkqocn0oQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSmkqocn0oQ
- tmptmp 10y ago
  >>Simon Peyton Jones is the mister Rogers of computer science. Can you please tell whom are you referring to here with the term "the mister Rogers"?
  - alcari 10y ago
    Mister Rogers[0] was the host of an American children's show, and was known for being extremely nice, both on and off the show. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rogers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rogers
    - tmptmp 10y ago
      Thanks for the reply. I am not an American, so I didn't get it. Also, I didn't know that politely asking for clarification is a valid reason for downvotes on HN.
emeryberger 10y ago
Well deserved and absolutely couldn't happen to a nicer guy. After giving a talk at PLDI when I was a grad student, Simon made a point of walking up to me and saying "Nice talk." That had me walking on air for quite a while (if you watch the videos below, you will understand why). Now, Simon got the award for his (fantastic) research and for his impact on CS education in the UK, but everyone in all of computer science should set aside a couple of hours this weekend to watch his talks on "How to Give a Good Research Talk" and "How to Write a Great Research Paper." Go ahead, I'll wait. http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=168648 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=168... http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=168649 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=168... Also, Simon's home page is here: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/simonpj/ http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/simonpj/
- the_af 10y ago
  Even if I didn't find Haskell or CS interesting (which I do), I'd still find Simon a nice, funny and engaging speaker. At least judging by the talks I could find online. Researchers, and especially computer-related researchers, sometimes sound arrogant. But in all of Simon's talks I could find, he sounds like a genuinely nice guy. And funny! He sure knows how to give a great talk.
  - eru 10y ago
    He also knows how to ask exactly the right question after a talk, to give the speaker great insight into something that stumbled them.
- nv-vn 10y ago
  Haven't had the chance to meet him ever, but watching his talks or hearing about him from others, it seems like he really breaks the Haskell/functional programmer stereotypes of being a pretentious asshole or being unwelcoming to beginners. Wish people would pay more attention to some of the awesome people like SPJ rather than focusing on the vocal minority.
  - 10y ago
quchen 10y ago
I recently read his (first) paper [1] on the Spineless Tagless Graph Redunction Machine (STG), which forms one of the lower-level backends of the main Haskell compiler GHC. After understanding the paper well enough to implement it from scratch (without any further literature), I have to say, albeit some 25 years late, how impressed I am by both his research and his ability to convey it. If you're interested in understanding how Haskell evaluation is done, I cannot recommend the paper enough. [1]: http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=67083 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=6708...
shadytrees 10y ago
The Dumbledore of functional programming has just been awarded the Order of Merlin.
aseipp 10y ago
I'm happy and honored every day that a nobody like me gets to work with Simon, and talk to him regularly. His work on Computing at School, in particular his ICFP 2013 keynote, continues to be incredibly inspiring to me. Aside from his wonderful technical prowess.
davidw 10y ago
That guy is awesome. I went to a conference in Portugal a number of years ago, and met him at the dinner for the speakers. He was super humble, and quite interested in my own very practical experience as a consultant/contractor and what kinds of problems I faced. I came away deeply impressed not only by how bright he is, but what a good person too.

297 points by augb 10y ago

johnklarson 10y ago

Shows you that you don't need the union card of a PhD to do world-leading research in CS. Inspiring!

mathetic 10y ago
Yes, but he has followed career of a researcher with 7 years as a lecturer and 9 years as a professor before joining industrial research.

andy_boot 10y ago

I met him once back then I didn't know who he was. Weirdly I was reading the book: http://www.codersatwork.com/ http://www.codersatwork.com/ at the time - ofcourse I got a shock when I realised he was the next chapter! Anyway he was a nice guy.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
flurdy 10y ago
I sat next to him at a conference once (scala-exchange). Had a nice chat before the keynote started. I had no idea who he was. But when at the Q&A he started grilling the speaker the fog lifted and I realised who was next to me. And yes, he was a nice guy.

carterschonwald 10y ago

Simon Peyton Jones is the mister Rogers of computer science. He is an incredible role model for how to treat others while managing to be balance being clear, benign, and constructive. (I've been a recipient of such feedback a time or three, and It was incredibly helpful for me each time. ) well deserved!

joehillen 10y ago
Don't forget the sweaters.
eternalban 10y ago
> .. role model .. And don't forget, the superior way to project confidence [1] in your 'precious'. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSmkqocn0oQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSmkqocn0oQ
tmptmp 10y ago
>>Simon Peyton Jones is the mister Rogers of computer science. Can you please tell whom are you referring to here with the term "the mister Rogers"?
- alcari 10y ago
  Mister Rogers[0] was the host of an American children's show, and was known for being extremely nice, both on and off the show. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rogers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rogers
  - tmptmp 10y ago
    Thanks for the reply. I am not an American, so I didn't get it. Also, I didn't know that politely asking for clarification is a valid reason for downvotes on HN.

emeryberger 10y ago

Well deserved and absolutely couldn't happen to a nicer guy. After giving a talk at PLDI when I was a grad student, Simon made a point of walking up to me and saying "Nice talk." That had me walking on air for quite a while (if you watch the videos below, you will understand why). Now, Simon got the award for his (fantastic) research and for his impact on CS education in the UK, but everyone in all of computer science should set aside a couple of hours this weekend to watch his talks on "How to Give a Good Research Talk" and "How to Write a Great Research Paper." Go ahead, I'll wait. http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=168648 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=168... http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=168649 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=168... Also, Simon's home page is here: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/simonpj/ http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/simonpj/

the_af 10y ago
Even if I didn't find Haskell or CS interesting (which I do), I'd still find Simon a nice, funny and engaging speaker. At least judging by the talks I could find online. Researchers, and especially computer-related researchers, sometimes sound arrogant. But in all of Simon's talks I could find, he sounds like a genuinely nice guy. And funny! He sure knows how to give a great talk.
- eru 10y ago
  He also knows how to ask exactly the right question after a talk, to give the speaker great insight into something that stumbled them.
nv-vn 10y ago
Haven't had the chance to meet him ever, but watching his talks or hearing about him from others, it seems like he really breaks the Haskell/functional programmer stereotypes of being a pretentious asshole or being unwelcoming to beginners. Wish people would pay more attention to some of the awesome people like SPJ rather than focusing on the vocal minority.
- 10y ago

quchen 10y ago

I recently read his (first) paper [1] on the Spineless Tagless Graph Redunction Machine (STG), which forms one of the lower-level backends of the main Haskell compiler GHC. After understanding the paper well enough to implement it from scratch (without any further literature), I have to say, albeit some 25 years late, how impressed I am by both his research and his ability to convey it. If you're interested in understanding how Haskell evaluation is done, I cannot recommend the paper enough. [1]: http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=67083 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=6708...

shadytrees 10y ago

The Dumbledore of functional programming has just been awarded the Order of Merlin.

aseipp 10y ago

I'm happy and honored every day that a nobody like me gets to work with Simon, and talk to him regularly. His work on Computing at School, in particular his ICFP 2013 keynote, continues to be incredibly inspiring to me. Aside from his wonderful technical prowess.

davidw 10y ago

That guy is awesome. I went to a conference in Portugal a number of years ago, and met him at the dinner for the speakers. He was super humble, and quite interested in my own very practical experience as a consultant/contractor and what kinds of problems I faced. I came away deeply impressed not only by how bright he is, but what a good person too.