5 ms·

RIP: Robin Milner

129 points by fogus 17y ago

fogus 17y ago
More information on his incredible contributions to computer science: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Milner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Milner
- jcl 17y ago
  One of the references in the Wikipedia article is this long interview covering the major points of his life and work: http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/users/mfb21/interviews/milner/ http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/users/mfb21/interviews/m...
gdp 17y ago
It's almost impossible to over-state his contributions to computer science, particularly within programming languages, theorem proving and concurrency theory. I never met him, but I have followed and admired his work for some time, and this is a real loss to the community.
sriram_sun 17y ago
From Wikipedia .. Doctoral advisor None, as Milner never did a PhD[1] Doctoral students - about 19
troystribling 17y ago
I purchased 'Communicating and Mobil Systems: the Pi-Calculus' last week. http://www.amazon.com/Communicating-Mobile-Systems-Robin-Milner/dp/0521658691/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269273606&sr=1-11 http://www.amazon.com/Communicating-Mobile-Systems-Robin-Mil.... This is the first computing theory book I have read. It's quite readable and very well written.
- morphir 17y ago
  Is it so that CS-books face an increase in value when the author have a passed away? Kinda like with art, where the author/artist never sees the pleasure of economical benefits during his/hers lifespan. But when death occurs -- that will be the ultimate marketing effort as we can take the time and sum up a person intellectual contributions....hmm..does this wanna make you work harder or what?
hackermom 17y ago
Died from sorrow, not from old age.
fadmmatt 17y ago
For anyone that uses an ML (e.g. OCaml), Haskell or Scala, Milner was responsible for the Hindley-Milner type system and inference algorithm that sits at the foundation of these languages. It ignited a wave of research into type theory that continues to this day, yet in many ways, Hindley-Milner is still the most significant contribution to the field. I remember reading his original paper on polymorphic typing for my qualifiers and being struck by the elegance and approachability of his writing. Well worth a read.
- j_baker 17y ago
  Any chance you could post some info about the paper? I've been itching to learn more about how type inferencing (especially polymorphic type inferencing) works. EDIT: I don't know if it's the paper you were referring to, but I did find this: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/pag/6.883/readings/p207-damas.pdf http://groups.csail.mit.edu/pag/6.883/readings/p207-damas.pd...
  - fadmmatt 17y ago
    Milner, Robin (1978), "A Theory of Type Polymorphism in Programming", Jcss 17: 348–375 I don't know if there's a free copy online anywhere. The Damas-Milner paper is the sequel; it presents an alternate algorithm for type inference. Benjamin Pierce's "Orange Book" is one of the best references now.
    - baguasquirrel 17y ago
      http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=A+Theory+of+Type+Polymorphism+in+Programming&hl=en&btnG=Search&as_sdt=2001&as_sdtp=on http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=A+Theory+of+Type+Polymor... First link.
lifestrand 17y ago
Memorial for Robin Milner, feel free to express your feelings http://lifestrand.net/robin_milner http://lifestrand.net/robin_milner
- jacquesm 17y ago
  Tasteless.
  - crad 17y ago
    Not only is the comment driving traffic to their site tasteless, the site itself is a terrible, cluttered mess.
- u238 17y ago
  asshat.
dunk010 17y ago
That is sad news. I guess the annual lecture at Edinburgh will be a memorial lecture now http://www.lfcs.inf.ed.ac.uk/events/milner-lecture http://www.lfcs.inf.ed.ac.uk/events/milner-lecture.
abless 17y ago
How very, very sad! He gave us a lecture just two years ago...
reginaldo 17y ago
Robin Milner was indeed one of a kind. One of the Great Masters of Computing, for sure. I'm currently taking a class on models for Concurrent Computing, and the first subject is Milner's CCS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus_of_communicating_systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus_of_communicating_syste... The way he thinks about processes, communication and synchronization is just beautiful. When I was able to "prove" that the implementation of a two-bit buffer as a chain of two one-bit buffers actually behaves as specified, it was as enlightening as when I first saw a higher order function in Scheme.

129 points by fogus 17y ago

fogus 17y ago

More information on his incredible contributions to computer science: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Milner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Milner

jcl 17y ago
One of the references in the Wikipedia article is this long interview covering the major points of his life and work: http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/users/mfb21/interviews/milner/ http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/users/mfb21/interviews/m...

gdp 17y ago

It's almost impossible to over-state his contributions to computer science, particularly within programming languages, theorem proving and concurrency theory. I never met him, but I have followed and admired his work for some time, and this is a real loss to the community.

sriram_sun 17y ago

From Wikipedia .. Doctoral advisor None, as Milner never did a PhD[1] Doctoral students - about 19

troystribling 17y ago

I purchased 'Communicating and Mobil Systems: the Pi-Calculus' last week. http://www.amazon.com/Communicating-Mobile-Systems-Robin-Milner/dp/0521658691/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269273606&sr=1-11 http://www.amazon.com/Communicating-Mobile-Systems-Robin-Mil.... This is the first computing theory book I have read. It's quite readable and very well written.

morphir 17y ago
Is it so that CS-books face an increase in value when the author have a passed away? Kinda like with art, where the author/artist never sees the pleasure of economical benefits during his/hers lifespan. But when death occurs -- that will be the ultimate marketing effort as we can take the time and sum up a person intellectual contributions....hmm..does this wanna make you work harder or what?

hackermom 17y ago

Died from sorrow, not from old age.

fadmmatt 17y ago

For anyone that uses an ML (e.g. OCaml), Haskell or Scala, Milner was responsible for the Hindley-Milner type system and inference algorithm that sits at the foundation of these languages. It ignited a wave of research into type theory that continues to this day, yet in many ways, Hindley-Milner is still the most significant contribution to the field. I remember reading his original paper on polymorphic typing for my qualifiers and being struck by the elegance and approachability of his writing. Well worth a read.

j_baker 17y ago
Any chance you could post some info about the paper? I've been itching to learn more about how type inferencing (especially polymorphic type inferencing) works. EDIT: I don't know if it's the paper you were referring to, but I did find this: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/pag/6.883/readings/p207-damas.pdf http://groups.csail.mit.edu/pag/6.883/readings/p207-damas.pd...
- fadmmatt 17y ago
  Milner, Robin (1978), "A Theory of Type Polymorphism in Programming", Jcss 17: 348–375 I don't know if there's a free copy online anywhere. The Damas-Milner paper is the sequel; it presents an alternate algorithm for type inference. Benjamin Pierce's "Orange Book" is one of the best references now.
  - baguasquirrel 17y ago
    http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=A+Theory+of+Type+Polymorphism+in+Programming&hl=en&btnG=Search&as_sdt=2001&as_sdtp=on http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=A+Theory+of+Type+Polymor... First link.

lifestrand 17y ago

Memorial for Robin Milner, feel free to express your feelings http://lifestrand.net/robin_milner http://lifestrand.net/robin_milner

jacquesm 17y ago
Tasteless.
- crad 17y ago
  Not only is the comment driving traffic to their site tasteless, the site itself is a terrible, cluttered mess.
u238 17y ago
asshat.

dunk010 17y ago

That is sad news. I guess the annual lecture at Edinburgh will be a memorial lecture now http://www.lfcs.inf.ed.ac.uk/events/milner-lecture http://www.lfcs.inf.ed.ac.uk/events/milner-lecture.

abless 17y ago

How very, very sad! He gave us a lecture just two years ago...

reginaldo 17y ago

Robin Milner was indeed one of a kind. One of the Great Masters of Computing, for sure. I'm currently taking a class on models for Concurrent Computing, and the first subject is Milner's CCS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus_of_communicating_systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus_of_communicating_syste... The way he thinks about processes, communication and synchronization is just beautiful. When I was able to "prove" that the implementation of a two-bit buffer as a chain of two one-bit buffers actually behaves as specified, it was as enlightening as when I first saw a higher order function in Scheme.