Helped with programming the overlapping windowing graphical user interface gui while at xerox parc. Kay is a prominent codeveloper of the computer, focusing on its educational software using squeak and etoys. Scott wallace, ted kaehler, john maloney, dan ingalls. Alan kay s visionary ideas about computers were instrumental in transforming the computer from an office machine into a mainstream communication device. He is one of the earliest pioneers of objectoriented programming, personal computing, and. Clicking on any of the below links will open a biography for that person. I said, well, the mac is the first personal computer good enough to.
As early as the 1960s and 1970s, researchers were working on the idea of a personal computer. Alan kay, the pioneering computer scientist, has observed that hardware is really just software crystallized early. No playwright, no stage director, no emperor, however powerful, has ever exercised such absolute authority to arrange a stage or field of battle and to command such unswervingly dutiful actors or troops. It is software that gives form and purpose to a programmable machine, much as a sculptor shapes clay omputers are to computing as in struments are to music. Fifty years on, alan kay is still waiting for his dream to. People who are really serious about software should. As we all know, it produces its own hardware integrated with its own software os. Born in 1940, computer scientist alan curtis kay is one of a handful of visionaries most responsible for the concepts which have propelled personal computing forward. Alan curtis kay was born on may 17, 1940, in springfield, massachusetts.
Hes a great software architect, and came up with oop as a perfectly reasonable policy for managing complexity. See the complete profile on linkedin and discover alan s connections. People who are really serious about software should make. Helped develop ethernet, laser printing, and the clientserver network model. I rather agree with most of alan kays thoughts, i do though tend to question nearly all of his projects after leaving parc. Alan kay is one of the pioneers of personal computing. Scientific american article, issue 251, september 1984. Alan kay not only coined this favorite techworld adage, but has proven its truth several times. The father of mobile computing is not impressed he influenced jobs and dreamed up a digital future designed for learning and thinking. Alan curtis kay born may 17, 1940 is an american computer scientist. Alan is driven by the vision of the computer s potential role in. His second career as a computer scientist led to him being the creative catalyst at xerox, atari and apple.
The third episode of the machine that changed the world covers the development of the personal computer and the modern graphical user interface, which made computing easy to use for everyone. The one laptop per child program and the childrens machine have adopted his concepts about children and learning. A true polymath, as well as inventor, he has combined engineering brilliance with knowledge of child development, epistemology, molecular biology and more. In the early 1970s, he unveiled his concept for the dynabook machine, which represented the ideal of a personal computer. You may not know alan kay s name, but if youre reading this on a computer or mobile device, youre touching technology directly influenced by his work. Instituto di elaborazione della informazione, pisa, italy. The quest to make code work like biology just took. He was a child prodigy, and was a national quiz kid at age ten.
His role in developing the graphical user interface gui at xeroxs palo alto research centre parc that set off the proliferation of hundreds of millions of computers is wellstoried. He is known for his early pioneering work on objectoriented programming, laptop computers, graphical user interfaces, and dedication to improving the education of children. Alan kay s title slide, up during the intro says is the best way to predict the future to invent,prevent it. The development of objectoriented programming, the windowing userinterface, ethernet and the laptop all had essential contributions from a brilliant, visionary, former professional jazz and rock guitarist. Alan kay people who are really serious about software.
Alan kay rethinking design, risk, and software duration. Until the macintosh introduced alan kays inventer of the personal computer, graphic user interfaces, object oriented programming, and software agents ground breaking ideas on humancomputer interfaces, operating systems didnt include support. Below is a listing of computer pioneers, inventors, and other people who have contributed to the computer industry that have a first or last name beginning with the letter a. Covert narcissist signs you are dealing with a master manipulatorlisa a romano podcast duration. Computers in schools are a failure, says computer pioneer alan kay apple in education americans generally think computer in school is about jobs, but its main purpose is to create a voting public who are sophisticated enough to sustain a democratic republic, where the ultimate powers of the. Kay received a doctorate in computer science from the university of utah in 1969. This is a shorter term than local retention and protection and hiding of stateprocess. Dynabook complete history of the dynabook computer. Alan kay is a computer scientist and pioneer who was part of the xerox parc team of about 30 researchers that developed many of the key concepts of todays hardware and software technologies. The original etoys development team at disney included. View alan kay s profile on linkedin, the worlds largest professional community.
Computer people a computer hopes free computer help. Alan kays tribute to ted nelson at intertwingled fest. Kay leader of the group at xerox parc which originated many of the concepts now common in personal computing, including the alto workstation and the basic concepts of objectoriented programming which led to the programming language smalltalk. Turing award, the highest honour in computer science, for his contributions to objectoriented programming languages, including smalltalk. Well, i have got two examples to support the statement given by alan kay. Quotations by alan kay, american scientist, born may 17, 1940. Born in 1940, computer scientist alan curtis kay is one of a handful of visionaries most responsible for the concepts which have propelled personal computing forward over the past thirty years. Alan kay is considered by some as the father of personal computers because he envisioned a small computing system in the 1970s, long before notebook computers were available. The computer programmer is a creator of universes for which he alone is the lawgiver.
Alan kay, education, process science, and economics of mediocrity. Alan kay is an american computer scientist, known for his early pioneering work on computers, objectoriented programming and windowing graphical user interface design. Help create the idea of a laptop computer with his dynabook prototype while at xerox parc. Alan kay the father of modern computing, is a man with ideas who can forecast future. Alan kay, in the parc days in july of 1982, while i was in the midst of writing the control manager part of the macintosh toolbox, my friend bill budge invited me to a computer industry seminar called creative think, where interesting people gave purportedly inspiring talks. One in particular, alan kay, was working for ibm when he first began to consider how computing would change once personal computers became more affordable. He is one of the earliest pioneers of objectoriented programming, personal computing, and graphical user interfaces. In rope memory, bits of information are represented by threads of wire and tiny doughnutshaped magnetic cores. People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware. This is a wiki for collecting computer pioneer alan kay s research, including the personal computer and the advancement of humanity. Throughout his career at xerox parc, he attempted to encourage his colleagues to design small notebook size computers and create software that children could learn. Alan kay software engineer iii principal financial. Etoys development began and was directed by alan kay at disney to support constructionist learning, influenced by seymour papert and the logo programming language. This post contains some famous keynotes and other talks by alan kay.
Reinventing programming edit kay has lectured extensively on the idea that the computer revolution is very new, and all of the good ideas have not been universally implemented. He jokes that this afternoons talk can be summed up by the fact that he has to wear two microphones to speak instead of one. There is a famous quote by him, the best way to predict the future is to invent it, he followed it so. Kay formulated the idea of a graphical user interface or gui. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to australia where they lived for a few years before moving permanently back to the united states. Alan kay classifies most real world code as pop culture.
Alan kay, president of viewpoints research institute, inc. The rope memory device shown here, a prototype created in 1963 by burroughs corp. He worked on one of the ancestors to the ipad, at the active book company 1980, where he worked to produce the first commercial version of alan kay s dynabook concept. Alan kay, disney fellow and vice president of research and development, the walt disney company, is best known for the idea of personal computing, the conception of the intimate laptop computer, and the inventions of the now ubiquitous overlappingwindow interface and modern objectoriented programming. Though mac os is available for most of the hardware devices, to use it to th. Computer software by alan kay presenting a singletopic issuc on thc concepts and techniques needed to make the computer do ones bidding. For his fundamental contributions to personal computing and humancomputer interface development. Kay s conception of oop starts with a single question. Software tools and management are crap, i have been fortunate to have worked on one of the best teams i know of but we were successful because we kept head count low.
1467 988 423 48 1084 433 519 511 806 975 1381 809 648 1179 1154 1427 41 690 408 900 1113 172 520 51 1055 89 615 209 506 88 991 1293 953 1370 354 1281 605 913 876