Re: Peter Naur wins ACM Turing Award
Kay Schluehr wrote: Terry Reedy wrote: http://campus.acm.org/public/pressroom/press_releases/3_2006/turing_3_01_2006.cfm Peter Naur was co-developer of Backus/Naur grammar notation, co-author and editor of the Algol 60 specification, and co-developer of a successful Algol compiler. That's very fine. Peter Naur has to be honored before he dies and Algol gets forgotten forever. Sarkasm mode off. Is it just me who thinks that this grand-old-man gala should be cancelled and replaced by a fields medal mode where the jury has to prove that it is a little more up to date? Maybe being at age of 50 would be good upper limit ( our societies grow older ;) This mode would enable to honor Simon Peyton Jones and Philip Wadler for Haskell and introducing monads to Haskell before the language is phased out in 20+ years. Without detracting from the last sentence, I disagree. Peter Naur's honour is long overdue. Colin W. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Peter Naur wins ACM Turing Award
Colin J. Williams [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Terry Reedy wrote: http://campus.acm.org/public/pressroom/press_releases/3_2006/turing_3_01_2006.cfm Peter Naur was co-developer of Backus/Naur grammar notation, co-author and editor of the Algol 60 specification, and co-developer of a successful Algol compiler. Peter Naur's honour is long overdue. That was my reaction also, tempered by three observations. 1. I do not have enough detailed knowledge of who invented what when to judge details of credit allocation. 2. The importance of Algol60 (and the impetus of the award) is not its usage in the 60s but the dominance of the family of languages it inspired, including, at least in some important parts, Python. But this has been a gradual development. So when did the award become 'due', to make it 'overdue' now? (I would say by 1990, at least.) 3. To call it overdue suggests that it should have been awarded before, *instead of* to someone else. But I am not about to suggest which of the previous (worthy, I am sure) recipients he should have been instead of ;-). Nobel's will specificed awards for the most important contribution in the previous year. The Nobel committees recognized that this is ludicrous in that recognition of importance can take decades. Terry Jan Reedy -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Peter Naur wins ACM Turing Award
Colin J. Williams wrote: Without detracting from the last sentence, I disagree. Peter Naur's honour is long overdue. Colin W. Sometimes it's hard for me to figure out about what somebody else disagrees with me in particular when I agree with him. Is it possible that Peter Naur was forgotten when John Backus received the Turing Award right in time in 1977? Kay -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Peter Naur wins ACM Turing Award
Kay Schluehr wrote: Colin J. Williams wrote: Without detracting from the last sentence, I disagree. Peter Naur's honour is long overdue. Colin W. Sometimes it's hard for me to figure out about what somebody else disagrees with me in particular when I agree with him. Is it possible that Peter Naur was forgotten when John Backus received the Turing Award right in time in 1977? Kay If you are going to publish, its important to choose a last name that starts with a letter at the front of the alphabet, lest you languish indefinitely in anonymity like Peter Naur. James -- James Stroud UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics Box 951570 Los Angeles, CA 90095 http://www.jamesstroud.com/ -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Peter Naur wins ACM Turing Award
Kay Schluehr wrote: Colin J. Williams wrote: Without detracting from the last sentence, I disagree. Peter Naur's honour is long overdue. Colin W. Sometimes it's hard for me to figure out about what somebody else disagrees with me in particular when I agree with him. Kay, You wrote: That's very fine. Peter Naur has to be honored before he dies and Algol gets forgotten forever. Sarkasm mode off. Is it just me who thinks that this grand-old-man gala should be cancelled and replaced by a fields medal mode where the jury has to prove that it is a little more up to date? Maybe being at age of 50 would be good upper limit ( our societies grow older ;) This mode would enable to honor Simon Peyton Jones and Philip Wadler for Haskell and introducing monads to Haskell before the language is phased out in 20+ years. Perhaps I should have been careful to identify what I disagreed with. Is it possible that Peter Naur was forgotten when John Backus received the Turing Award right in time in 1977? Kay John Backus of IBM made a very different contribution with the development of the FORTRAN compiler. The Algol60 Report was more than BNF, although that was an important component. Best wishes, Colin W. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Peter Naur wins ACM Turing Award
http://campus.acm.org/public/pressroom/press_releases/3_2006/turing_3_01_2006.cfm Peter Naur was co-developer of Backus/Naur grammar notation, co-author and editor of the Algol 60 specification, and co-developer of a successful Algol compiler. Connection with Python: I believe Python owes more to the form and spirit of Algol than to any of the other early languages. Algol introduced the block structuring and, at least in practice, the indentation, that is a hallmark of Python. It was purposefully not tied to any particular architecture. It was designed for communication among humans as well as with computers even though human readability made compiler writing more challenging. Python: Algol for the 21st century? Terry Jan Reedy -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Peter Naur wins ACM Turing Award
Terry Reedy wrote: http://campus.acm.org/public/pressroom/press_releases/3_2006/turing_3_01_2006.cfm Peter Naur was co-developer of Backus/Naur grammar notation, co-author and editor of the Algol 60 specification, and co-developer of a successful Algol compiler. That's very fine. Peter Naur has to be honored before he dies and Algol gets forgotten forever. Sarkasm mode off. Is it just me who thinks that this grand-old-man gala should be cancelled and replaced by a fields medal mode where the jury has to prove that it is a little more up to date? Maybe being at age of 50 would be good upper limit ( our societies grow older ;) This mode would enable to honor Simon Peyton Jones and Philip Wadler for Haskell and introducing monads to Haskell before the language is phased out in 20+ years. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
