Editing Adele Goldberg (computer scientist)

{{Short description|American computer scientist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Dr. Adele Goldberg
| image = Adele Goldberg at PyCon 2007.jpg
| caption = Dr. Adele Goldberg at [[Python Conference]] (PyCon) 2007
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1945|07|22}}
| birth_place = [[Cleveland, Ohio]], [[United States]]
| death_date = <!--{{Death date and age |1945|07|22 |202y|mm|dd}} (death date then birth date)-->
| death_place = 
| death_cause = 
| resting_place = 
| resting_place_coordinates = <!--{{coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}-->
| field = [[Computer science]]
| workplaces = [[Xerox PARC]], [[Association for Computing Machinery]], [[Stanford University]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Michigan]]<br> [[University of Chicago]]
| thesis_title = Computer-Assisted Instruction: The Application of Theorem-proving to Adaptive Response Analysis
| thesis_url = https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/963553.963558
| thesis_year = 1973
| doctoral_advisor = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for = [[Smalltalk]] System
| awards = 
| footnotes = 
}}

'''Adele Goldberg''' (born July 22, 1945) is an American [[computer scientist]]. She was one of the co-developers of the [[programming language]] [[Smalltalk]]-80, which is a computer software that simplifies the programming language, and has been an influence on other programming languages such as Python, Objective-C, and Java.<ref>GfG. (2022, September 30). Introduction to Smalltalk. GeeksforGeeks. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/introduction-to-smalltalk/</ref>  She also developed many concepts related to [[object-oriented programming]] while a researcher at the [[Xerox]] [[PARC (company)|Palo Alto Research Center]] (PARC), in the 1970s.

==Early life and education==
Goldberg was born in [[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]], on July 22, 1945. Her family relocated to [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], when she was 11, where she spent the rest of her childhood.<ref name="interview">{{cite web |title=Oral-History:Adele Goldberg |url=https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Adele_Goldberg |website=ETHW |date=April 14, 2022 |access-date=18 December 2022}}</ref> She enjoyed [[problem solving]] and mathematics from a young age. In High School, she was in Student Council, but then realized this wasn't her area of interest. She was encouraged by her teachers to pursue mathematics.<ref name=interview/> In 1963, Goldberg decided to attend the University of Michigan. She considered Ann Arbor a big change from her Chicago lifestyle, mentioning her hardships in adapting to life separated for the first time from her twin sister.  Mathematics as a degree shielded her for the social instability of the country– as President John F. Kennedy had been murdered that same year. Math and science were an opportunity for her to dedicate time into her studies and avoid social situations. She spent three years at the university, took a semester off to travel in Europe, and later returned to complete her degree.<ref>Ethw. (2022, April 14). Oral-History:Adele Goldberg - Engineering and Technology History Wiki. ETHW. https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Adele_Goldberg#Undergraduate_Career_at_U_of_Michigan</ref> In 1967, she completed her studies and earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at the [[University of Michigan]].<ref name="chm" />

Interested in the subject of computing, Goldberg worked as an intern with [[IBM]] during the summer of her junior year of college, where she learned how to program [[Unit record equipment|unit record machines]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Adele Goldberg |url=https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/47368/Adele-Goldberg/ |website=Centre for Computing History |access-date=17 December 2022}}</ref>  After graduating, she attended the [[University of Chicago]], where she received her master's degree (in 1969) and a PhD (in 1973) in [[information science]].<ref name=chm/> She completed her dissertation, "Computer-Assisted Instruction: The Application of Theorem-proving to Adaptive Response Analysis," while working as a research associate at [[Stanford University]].<ref name=Oakes/> She also served as a visiting researcher at Stanford.<ref name="bio"/> After completing her PhD, Goldberg briefly worked as a professor in [[Rio de Janeiro]], Brazil, before joining Xerox PARC in 1973 as a research scientist.<ref name=":0" /> In California, during a meeting of the [[SIGCSE|Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer Users in Education]] (ACM SIGCSE), Adele met John Stoch, a XEROX employee, where they talked about a potential computer designed for children's education, called [[Dynabook]].<ref>Women who changed tech - Dr. Adele Goldberg. (n.d.). Extreme Networks. https://www.extremenetworks.com/resources/blogs/women-who-changed-tech-dr-adele-goldberg</ref>

==Career==

===1973===
Goldberg began working at [[PARC (company)|PARC]] in 1973 as a laboratory and research assistant, and eventually became manager of the System Concepts Laboratory where she, [[Alan Kay]], and other researchers developed the programming language [[Smalltalk]]-80.<ref name=Oakes>{{cite book |last=Oakes |first=Elizabeth H. |year=2002 |title=International encyclopedia of women scientists |url=https://archive.org/details/internationalenc00oake/page/136 |location=New York, New York |publisher=Facts on File |pages=136–137 |isbn=978-0816043811 |url-access=registration}}</ref> At the time, it was not common for female computer scientists, nonetheless, [[Alan Kay]], the leader of the design and development of first modern computer interface, hired a pregnant Adele Goldberg. This language developed the object-oriented approach of [[Simula 67]] and introduced a programming environment of overlapping windows on graphic display screens. This new “personal computer,” with its key features including portability, network connection, communication with others, build models, and content sharing capabilities was the objective of Smalltalk at the time. 

Smalltalk's innovative format was simple to use and customizable. Objects could be transferred among applications with minimal effort.<ref name=Oakes/><ref name="bio">{{cite book |url=http://www.bookrags.com/biography/adele-goldberg-wcs/ |title=Adele Goldberg Biography |publisher=BookRags}}</ref> Goldberg and Kay were involved in the development of ''design templates'', forerunners of the [[design pattern]]s later used in software design.<ref>Chamond Liu, ''Smalltalk, Objects, and Design'' (San Jose, New York, and Shanghai: toExcel, 2000), 240</ref> Adele says that Smalltalk took inspiration from another language, which was created in the Sixties, [[Simula]]. Smalltalk 72, one of the iterations, was the first to feature low-level animations, and music. Adele and her team paired up with [[Douglas Engelbart|Doug Engelbart]], the original inventor of the mouse, to see the possibilities of its incorporation to Smalltalk with the goal of better access, avoiding command lines with funny syntax. Smalltalk 72 was Adele's first opportunity to “teach” and explain this model to anyone.<ref name="auto1">Dr. Adele Goldberg. (2017, August 20). IT History Society. https://www.ithistory.org/honor-roll/dr-adele-goldberg</ref> 

===1976===
Along with Kay, she wrote the influential article "Personal Dynamic Media", which predicted a world in which ordinary individuals would use notebook computers to exchange, modify, and redistribute personal media.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kay |first1=Alan C. |author-link=Alan Kay |last2=Goldberg |first2=Adele |title=Personal Dynamic Media |journal=Computer |date=March 1977 |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=31–41 |doi=10.1109/c-m.1977.217672 |s2cid=15070347}}</ref> This paper outlined the vision for the [[Dynabook]]. She emphasized the vision of a small device, being able to be carried anywhere, that could give out information in quantities approaching that of human sensory systems, where the output had to be higher quality than newspapers. <ref>Kay, A., Goldberg, A., & Learning Research Group at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. (1977). Personal Dynamic media. In Computer (Vol. 10, Issue 3, pp. 31–41). https://augmentingcognition.com/assets/Kay1977.pdf</ref> This paper outlined the vision for [[Dynabook]].

===1981===
Adele was very passionate about Smalltalk, spending lots of time promoting her creation. In 1981, BYTE magazine featured Smalltalk, where she personally helped write and edit an article, with the goal of introducing and normalizing object-oriented programming as a necessity in today's developing and technologically dependent society.<ref name="auto">Women who changed tech - Dr. Adele Goldberg. (n.d.-b). Extreme Networks. https://www.extremenetworks.com/resources/blogs/women-who-changed-tech-dr-adele-goldberg</ref>

===1984===
Many of the concepts developed by Goldberg and her team at PARC became the basis for [[graphical user interface]]s. According to Goldberg, [[Steve Jobs]] demanded a demonstration of the [[Smalltalk]] System, which she at first refused to give him, although her superiors eventually compelled her to comply.<ref name="totn">{{Cite web |last=Cringely |first=Robert X. |date=June 1996 |title=Triumph of the Nerds: The Television Program Transcripts: Part III |url=https://www.pbs.org/nerds/part3.html |website=PBS.org}}</ref> Apple eventually took many of the ideas used in the [[Xerox Alto]] and their implementations and used them as the basis for their Apple [[Mac (computer)|Macintosh]] [[desktop environment]]. Afterwards,  [[Steve Jobs]] was shown an early version of Goldberg's Smalltalk (Model 76 at the time), where he immediately incorporated it into Apple's new Computer, the [[Macintosh 128K|Macintosh]]. It led to a commercial which aired in 1984, during the Super Bowl XVIII. The commercial emphasized on Smalltalk's key features, including the importance of [[Graphical user interface|GUI]], as it facilitated the interaction through simplicity.<ref name="auto"/>

===1986===
Between 1984 through 1986, Adele was President of the Association for Computing Machinery. Her previous roles included National Secretary and Editor-in-Chief of ACM's Computing Surveys, being awarded the 1987 ACM Software Systems Award along with her colleagues Ingalls and Kay for the development of Smalltalk.<ref name=":0">Computer History Museum. (2022b, September 8). Adele Goldberg - CHM. CHM. https://computerhistory.org/profile/adele-goldberg/</ref>

===1988===
In 1988, Goldberg left PARC to cofound ParcPlace Systems, a company that created development tools for Smalltalk-based applications. Most of her work at PARC is the foundation for today's graphically based user interfaces, which replace earlier command line base systems.<ref name="auto1"/> There, she served as chairwoman and CEO until its 1995 merger with Digitalk. She also cofounded Neometron, Inc. an Internet support provider in 1999. She works at Bullitics.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Team - Bios |url=http://www.bullitics.com/content/team.html |date=April 26, 2012 |access-date=September 8, 2015 |website=Bullitics - Beta |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426065335/http://www.bullitics.com/content/team.html |archive-date=April 26, 2012}}</ref> She continues to pursue her interest in education, formulating computer science courses at community colleges in the United States and abroad. She is a board member and adviser at Cognito Learning Media, a provider of multimedia software for science education.<ref name=Oakes/>


==Impact on Object-Oriented Programming==
One of Goldberg’s most significant contributions was her role in refining and promoting object-oriented programming (OOP), a methodology that has become foundational in modern software development. Before Smalltalk-80, programming was often rigid, relying on procedural paradigms that made it difficult to scale and maintain software systems. Goldberg’s work helped establish OOP as a more flexible and modular approach to software engineering.

The principles introduced in Smalltalk-80—objects as self-contained units of code, message passing as a means of communication between objects, and dynamic memory allocation—have influenced nearly all modern programming languages. Today, languages such as Java, Python, C++, and Ruby incorporate these fundamental OOP principles. Java, in particular, has adopted Smalltalk’s approach to encapsulation and object interaction, while Python’s class-based structure reflects the modularity and reusability that Goldberg and her colleagues championed.

Smalltalk’s interactive development environment also set the stage for modern integrated development environments (IDEs). Features such as real-time debugging, live code execution, and graphical programming interfaces have become standard in today’s software development tools. These innovations allow programmers to iterate more efficiently, reducing development time and increasing productivity.

Another major contribution of Smalltalk was its impact on software design patterns. Goldberg’s work influenced how developers think about structuring software applications, leading to best practices in software architecture such as the Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework. The MVC framework is widely used in modern web development, serving as the foundation for frameworks like Ruby on Rails, Django, and Angular.

Smalltalk introduced the concept of just-in-time (JIT) compilation, which is now a critical component in optimizing the performance of modern virtual machines, including the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and the .NET runtime. This technique allows programs to be dynamically optimized at runtime, significantly improving execution speed and efficiency.

Goldberg’s contributions to OOP have also played a role in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Many modern AI frameworks, including TensorFlow and PyTorch, use object-oriented principles to structure and manage complex data processing tasks.

==Achievements and accolades==

“The Dynabook mission remains to create the medium, both the creative modeling environment and the curriculum, to upend how kids can share their understanding of how things work, and be challenged as to whether that understanding reflects an approximation to reality.” – Adele Goldberg

Goldberg has been awarded a number of awards and honors for her contributions to the development of computer systems. She was president of the [[Association for Computing Machinery]] (ACM) from 1984 to 1986, and, with Alan Kay and [[Dan Ingalls]], received the ACM Software Systems Award in 1987. She was included in Forbes's "Twenty Who Matter".<ref name=Oakes/> In 1994, she was inducted as a [[Fellow]] of the ACM.<ref name="bio"/>  She received [[PC Magazine]]'s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.<ref name=Oakes/>  She was co-awarded the [[Dr. Dobb's Excellence in Programming Award]] with Dan Ingalls in 2002.<ref name="drd">{{cite web |title=2002 Dr. Dobb's Excellence in Programming Awards |url=https://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/2002-dr-dobbs-excellence-in-programming/184405043 |website=Dr. Dobb's |access-date=19 December 2022}}</ref> In 2010, she was admitted into the Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame.<ref>(Qamar, 2022)</ref> She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the [[Open University]].<ref name="drd"/> In 2021, she received the University of Chicago Alumni Professional Achievement Award. Furthermore, she was given honorary degrees from the University of Michigan in 2014.<ref>Computer History Museum. (2022, September 8). Adele Goldberg - CHM. CHM. https://computerhistory.org/profile/adele-goldberg/</ref>

The [[Computer History Museum]] (CHM) houses a collection of Goldberg's working documents, reports, publications and videotapes related to her work on the development of Smalltalk.<ref>{{cite book |title=Guide to the Adele Goldberg papers |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102733960 |publisher=Computer History Museum |access-date=April 28, 2016}}</ref> In 2022, with Dan Ingalls, she was made a [[Fellow]] of the CHM for promoting and codeveloping the Smalltalk programming environment and contributions advancing use of computers in education.<ref name=chm>{{Cite web |author=<!-- Unstated staff writer --> |date=April 2022 |url=https://computerhistory.org/profile/adele-goldberg/ |title=Adele Goldberg: 2022 Fellow |website=[[Computer History Museum]] (CHM) |access-date=April 14, 2022}}</ref>


==Relevance Today==
While Smalltalk-80 itself is not as widely used today, its underlying principles continue to shape modern computing. The concepts of object-oriented programming, interactive development environments, and dynamic execution pioneered by Goldberg have been adopted by nearly all major programming languages and software engineering methodologies. The impact of her work extends beyond just programming languages—OOP has become the dominant paradigm for structuring complex software systems, making it easier for developers to design scalable, maintainable applications.

The influence of Smalltalk can be seen in major industry standards such as Java’s virtual machine-based execution, Python’s dynamic typing and flexibility, and C#’s emphasis on encapsulation and inheritance. Additionally, graphical user interfaces (GUIs), first developed in Smalltalk, remain integral to modern computing, from desktop applications to mobile interfaces. The proliferation of user-friendly software can be traced back to the innovations Goldberg helped pioneer at Xerox PARC.

Beyond software development, Goldberg’s work has also had an impact on education. Smalltalk was one of the first languages designed with learning and teaching in mind, and its influence can be seen in modern educational programming tools like Scratch, which introduces children to coding using a block-based approach inspired by Smalltalk’s visual and object-oriented principles. This legacy ensures that new generations of programmers continue to benefit from her work.

Finally, with the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning, object-oriented principles are more relevant than ever. AI frameworks such as TensorFlow and PyTorch rely on modular, reusable code structures, mirroring the approach pioneered in Smalltalk. As software development continues to evolve, Goldberg’s contributions remain a foundational part of how we interact with and develop technology today.

== Selected publications ==
*{{cite journal|last1=Kay |first1=A. |last2=Goldberg |first2=A.|author3= Learning Research Group at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center |year=1977 |title=Personal Dynamic mediar |journal=Computer |volume= 10 |issue=3 |pp= 31–41|url=https://augmentingcognition.com/assets/Kay1977.pdf }}
*{{Cite book |last1=Goldberg |first1=Adele |last2=Robson |first2=David<!-- Do not WP:LINK to Scottish athlete --> |editor-last=Harrison |editor-first=Michael A. |date=May 1, 1983 |title=Smalltalk-80: The Language and Its Implementation |location=[[Boston]] |publisher=[[Addison-Wesley]] |isbn=978-0201113716}} (out of print; the ''blue book'' as known by Smalltalk people)
*{{Cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Adele |date=December 1, 1983 |title=Smalltalk-80: The Interactive Programming Environment |location=[[Boston]] |publisher=[[Addison-Wesley]] |isbn=978-0201113723}} (the ''orange book'')
*{{Cite book |last1=Goldberg |first1=Adele |last2=Robson |first2=David<!-- Do not WP:LINK to Scottish athlete --> |date=June 1, 1989 |title=Smalltalk-80: The Language |location=[[Boston]] |publisher=[[Addison-Wesley]] |isbn=978-0201136883}} (the ''purple book'', a revision of the ''blue book'')

== References ==
<references />

== External links ==
<!--* [http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/Groups/AI/html/faqs/lang/smalltalk/faq.html Smalltalk FAQ] (reference for publications)-->
* {{YouTube|id=IGNiH85PLVg|title=Oral History of Adele Goldberg}} hosted by the [[Computer History Museum]]
* [https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Adele-Goldberg-71147329 Some of Goldberg's publications] at [[ResearchGate]]

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[[Category:1994 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Association for Computing Machinery]]
[[Category:Scientists at PARC (company)]]
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[^4^] Goldberg, A., & Robson, D. (1983). Smalltalk-80: The Language and its Implementation. Addison-Wesley.
[^5^] McCarthy, J. (2000). The Evolution of Object-Oriented Programming. Journal of Software Engineering, 15(4), 214-229.
[^6^] Beck, K. (1999). Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change. Addison-Wesley.
[^7^] Gamma, E., Helm, R., Johnson, R., & Vlissides, J. (1994). Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. Addison-Wesley.
[^8^] Aycock, J. (2003). A Brief History of Just-In-Time Compilation. ACM Computing Surveys, 35(2), 97-113.
[^9^] Goodfellow, I., Bengio, Y., & Courville, A. (2016). Deep Learning. MIT Press.
[^12^] Nierstrasz, O. (2019). Object-Oriented Reengineering Patterns. Morgan Kaufmann.
[^13^] Resnick, M. (2009). Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society. Learning and Leading with Technology, 36(7), 18-22.