Eugene McDonnell & Larry Breed, Palo Alto May 2009
(October 18, 1926 - August 17, 2010) was a Computer Science pioneer and long-time contributor to the programming languages APL and J….
Studying the poems of Robert Frost, he noticed that the first two poems in Frost’s book West Running Brook, “Spring Pools” and “The Freedom of the Moon”, not only discuss reflecting, but the rhyme schemes of the two reflect each other: aabcbc and cbcbaa….
His first work at IBM was in the design of IBM’s first Time-Sharing system, which became a very early host to IVSYS, a predecessor of APL. In 1968 he became a colleague of Ken Iverson, used Iverson notation before APL was named, and was active in the very earliest days of APL…
Eugene - APL Bug Meeting May 2009
Condolences, from me and my family.
- Catherine
Hi Catherine,
Just curious if you know the family? What an amazingly man! I did not know him, but caught his obituary in the Palo Alto weekly. His photo was so, captivating, I read on. Now I am so inspired I want to paint his portrait. I simply wanted to let the family know I incase they would like to have it when I am done.
Thanks,
Erin
650 424-9363
Dear Erin,
Yes, Eugene was an unique and interesting person. And definitely a “looker”.
I see from your website that you are an artist with talent. I suggest that if you want to contact the family, you do so by way of the memorial site they have set up.
http://remembered-forever.org/eugene
Eugene McDonnell Papers and Articles:
http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/eem/
The above includes Eugene McDonnell Quotations and Anecdotes, which gives you a sense of the man and his work:
http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/eem/anecdotes
The APL2010 conference committee invited me to give a 10-minute address on Eugene. The following is a record of my presentation:
http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/eem/eemapl2010.htm