Contribution

Douglas McIlroy is a professor of computer science, mathematician, engineer and famous programmer. He is known for having invented:

   * The pipes and filters architecture of UNIX
   * The entire concept of software componentry
   * Several UNIX tools, such as spell, diff, sort, join, graph, speak, tr, etc.

He earned a Bachelor's degree in engineering physics from Cornell University in 1954, and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from MIT in 1959. Became head of the research department at Bell Labs in which Unix was born.

Languages and compilers worked on: macros, Lisp, PL/I, TMG, regular expressions; influenced Snobol, Altran, C++

Related Links

Full Biography

M. Douglas McIlroy, Adjunct Professor Home Page

Bell Labs Personal Home Page

The history of computing at the Bell Telephone Laboratories Lecture (1997)

Interview with Doug McIlroy

Wikipedia

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