John Backus Dies
Nice obit in the times as well as various articles in the blogosphere. He led the team that created Fortran and gave his name to BNF.
The more I learn, the more I am amazed by how much of what we do today is just a footnote to the pioneering computer science of the 50's and 60's.
I read that this morning. It was interesting to see the accomplishments of the mahn behind ForTran, a maligned in the field of modern programming languages.
I found the final quote in the obit to be very inspiring:
Innovation, Mr. Backus said, was a constant process of trial and error.
“You need the willingness to fail all the time,” he said. “You have to generate many ideas and then you have to work very hard only to discover that they don’t work. And you keep doing that over and over until you find one that does work.”
He also had some good ideas on how to manage technical staff.
DW
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I'm with you there.
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I mean, how much have we really learned, developed on our own, without the foundation that we were built upon.
I think we should definitely give credit where it is due.
I know this is a sad moment, but I can not help but remember an old fortran joke, that I learned, when i was learning fortran in 1981.
Q:"What do fortran programmer's eat for breakfast?"
A:"Fruit Do Loop Cereal"
That was a good obituary...
I only hope someday, that what i have done, is noticed, and worthwhile.
Clearly, we are standing on the shoulders of giants.