Editing Alan Perlis

{{Short description|American computer scientist (1922–1990)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Alan J. Perlis
| image             = Alan Perlis.jpg
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1922|04|01}}
| birth_place       = [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]], [[United States|U.S.]]
| death_date        = {{Death date and age |1990|02|07 |1922|04|01}}
| death_place       = [[New Haven, Connecticut]], U.S.
| death_cause       = 
| resting_place     = 
| resting_place_coordinates = <!--{{coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}-->
| other_names       = 
| pronounce         =
<!--| residence         = [[United States]]-->
| fields            = [[Computer science]]
| workplaces        = {{Unbulleted list |[[Association for Computing Machinery]] |[[Carnegie Mellon University]] |[[Purdue University]] |[[Yale University]]}}
| education         = {{ubl |[[Carnegie Mellon University]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]]) |[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] ([[Master of Science|MS]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])}}
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Philip Franklin]]
| doctoral_students = {{Unbulleted list |[[Gary Lindstrom]] |[[Zohar Manna]] |[[David Parnas]] |[[John R. Levine]]}}
| thesis_title      = On Integral Equations, Their Solution by Iteration and Analytic Continuation
| thesis_year       = 1950
| known_for         = {{Unbulleted list |[[Internal Translator|IT]] |[[ALGOL]] |[[APL (programming language)|APL]]}}
| awards            = {{Unbulleted list |[[Turing Award]], 1966 |[[Computer Pioneer Award]], 1985}}
| footnotes         = 
}}
'''Alan Jay Perlis''' (April 1, 1922 – February 7, 1990) was an American [[computer scientist]] and professor at [[Purdue University]], [[Carnegie Mellon University]] and [[Yale University]]. He is best known for his pioneering work in [[programming language]]s and was the first recipient of the [[Turing Award]].<ref>Ulf Hashagen, Reinhard Keil-Slawik, Arthur L. Norberg (2002) ''History of Computing: Software Issues''. p.26</ref>

==Biography==
Perlis was born to a [[Jewish]] family in [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]]. He graduated from [[Taylor Allderdice High School]] in 1939.<ref>{{cite web|title=A.M Turing Award Winners: Alan J. Perlis|url=https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/perlis_0132439.cfm|website=Association for Computing Machinery|access-date=January 21, 2018}}</ref> In 1943, he received his [[bachelor's degree]] in [[chemistry]] from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (later renamed [[Carnegie Mellon University]]).

During [[World War II]], he served in the [[U.S. Army]], where he became interested in mathematics. He then earned both a [[master's degree]] (1949) and a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] (1950) in [[mathematics]] at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT). His doctoral dissertation was titled "On [[Integral equation|Integral Equations]], Their Solution by Iteration and [[Analytic continuation|Analytic Continuation]]".

In 1952, he participated in [[Project Whirlwind]].<ref>National Academy of Engineering (1979) "Alan Jay Perlis" in: ''Memorial tributes''. Vol 10. p.168</ref> He joined the faculty at [[Purdue University]] and in 1956, moved to the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He was chair of mathematics and then the first head of the [[computer science]] department. In 1962, he was elected president of the [[Association for Computing Machinery]].

He was awarded the inaugural Turing Award in 1966, according to the citation, "for his influence in the area of advanced programming techniques and [[compiler]] construction." This is a reference to the work he had done on ''Internal Translator'' in 1956 (described by [[Donald Knuth]] as the first successful compiler), and as a member of the team that developed the programming language [[ALGOL]].

In 1971, Perlis moved to [[Yale University]] to take the chair of computer science and hold the Eugene Higgins chair. In 1977, he was elected to the [[National Academy of Engineering]].

In 1982, he wrote an article, "[[Epigrams on Programming]]", for the [[Association for Computing Machinery]]'s (ACM) [[SIGPLAN]] journal, describing in one-sentence distillations many of the things he had learned about programming over his career. The [[epigram]]s have been widely quoted.<ref>[http://cpsc.yale.edu/epigrams-programming Computer science quotations]</ref>
He remained at Yale until his death in 1990.

== Publications ==
Publications, a selection:<ref>For a listing of his talks and lectures (1951–1988) see [http://purl.umn.edu/41304 Alan J. Perlis Papers, 1942–1989]. [[Charles Babbage Institute]], University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.</ref>
* 1957. ''Internal Translator (IT): A Compiler for the 650''. With  J. W. Smith and H. R. Van Zoeren.
* {{cite journal | doi=10.1145/367177.367202 | author=A. J. Perlis and C. Thornton | title=Symbol manipulation by threaded lists | journal=[[Communications of the ACM]] | volume=3 | number=4 | pages=195&ndash;204 | date=Apr 1960 | s2cid=18096517 | doi-access=free }} 
* 1965. ''An introductory course in computer programming''. With Robert T. Braden.
* 1970. ''A view of programming languages''. With [[Bernard Galler|Bernard A. Galler]]
* 1975. ''Introduction to computer science''
* 1977. [http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/perlis77.htm ''In Praise of APL: A Language for Lyrical Programming'']
* 1978. [http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/perlis78.htm ''Almost Perfect Artifacts Improve only in Small Ways: APL is more French than English'']
* 1981. ''Software Metrics: An Analysis and Evaluation''. With Frederick Sayward and Mary Shaw
* 1986. ''FAC: A Functional APL Language''. With Tu Hai-Chen.

;About Alan Perlis
* {{cite journal |last=Denning |first=Peter J. |author-link=Peter J. Denning |title=Alan J. Perlis—1922–1990: a founding father of computer science as a separate discipline |journal=Communications of the ACM |volume=33 |issue=5 |pages=604–605 |date=May 1990 |doi=10.1145/78607.214943|s2cid=22132301 |doi-access=free }}
*{{cite book |last=Cheatham |first=Thomas |chapter=ALGOL session |title=History of Programming Languages |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofprogram0000hist/page/171 171] |location=New York, NY |publisher=ACM Press |year=1978 |doi=10.1145/800025.1198357 |access-date=2007-09-18 |isbn=978-0127450407 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/historyofprogram0000hist/page/171 }}

==See also==
* [[List of pioneers in computer science]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://purl.umn.edu/107544 Oral history interview with Allen Newell] at [[Charles Babbage Institute]], University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.  Newell discusses the development of the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University, including the work of Perlis and [[Raj Reddy]], and the growth of the computer science and artificial intelligence research communities.
* [http://purl.umn.edu/41304 Alan J. Perlis Papers, 1942–1989]. [[Charles Babbage Institute]], University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

{{APL programming language}}
{{Turing award}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perlis, Alan}}
[[Category:Jewish American military personnel]]
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:1990 deaths]]
[[Category:American computer scientists]]
[[Category:Carnegie Mellon University alumni]]
[[Category:Carnegie Mellon University faculty]]
[[Category:Scientists from Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Association for Computing Machinery]]
[[Category:Programming language designers]]
[[Category:Turing Award laureates]]
[[Category:Yale University faculty]]
[[Category:United States Army soldiers]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:Lisp (programming language) people]]
[[Category:American computer science educators]]
[[Category:Taylor Allderdice High School alumni]]
[[Category:Jewish American scientists]]