The School of Niklaus Wirth: The Art of Simplicity

Niklaus Wirth is one of the great pioneers of computer technology and winner of the ACM's A.M. Turing Award, the most prestigious award in computer science. he has made substantial contributions to the development of programming languages, compiler construction, programming methodology, and hardware design. While working at ERH Zurich, he developed the languages Pascal and Modula-2. He also designed an early high performance workstation, the Personal Computer Lilith, and most recently the language and operating system Oberon.

While Wirth has often been praised for his excellent work as a language designer and engineer, he is also an outstanding educator—something for which he is not as well known. This book brings together prominent computer scientists to describe Wirth's contributions to education. With the exception of some of his colleagues such as Professors Dijkstra, Hoare, and Rechenberg, all of the contributors to this book are students of Wirth. The essays provide a wide range of contemporary views on modern programming practice and also illuminate the one persistent and pervasive quality found in all his work: his unequivocal demand for simple solutions. The authors and editors hope to pass on their enthusiasm for simple engineering solutions along with their feeling for a man to whom they are all so indebted.

Contents

Part 1: Niklaus Wirth - a Pioneer of Computer Science
Niklaus Wirth - a Pioneer of Computer Science
Gustav Pomberger, Hanspeter Mossenbock, Peter Rechenberg
Part 2: Niklaus Wirth and Edsger W. Dijkstra
From Programming Language Design to Computer Construction
Niklaus Wirth
On the transitive closure of a wellfounded relation
Edsger W. Dijkstra

Part 3: The Teachings of a Scholar as Told by his Pupils - Common Work in Retrospect
Oberon - the Overlooked Jewel
Michael Franz
Compiler Construction - The Art of Niklaus Wirth
Hanspeter Mossenbock

Medos in Retrospect
Svend Erik Knudsen

Lean Systems in an Intrinsically Complex World
Peter Schulthess

Learning the Value of Simplicity
Stephen W. Gehring

Part 4: New Ways in Education and Research
Compiler Construction versus Lotus Notes: A Strange Battle
Jurg Gutknecht
Modules and Components - Rivals or Partners
Clemens Szyperski

A Compiler for the Java HotSpot Virtual Machine
Robert Griesemer, Srdjan Mitrovic

Designing a Cluster Network
Hans Eberle

Programming With Functional Nets
Martin Odersky

Part 5: Mastering Simplicity - in the Industry
Lilith meets the World of Business
Bernhard Wagner
the Chip Company that made $100M with MODULA-2
Robert Burton, Farrell Ostler, Thom Boyer, Fon Brown, Matt Morrise

FFF97 - Oberon in the Real World
Dr. Josef Templ

Part 6: The World According to Wirth - Personal, Anecdotal Reviews
Serendipity
Kathleen Jensen
Daily Life with N. Wirth
Jirka Hoppe

Third Millennium Culture
Ann Dunki

Authors and Editors