Tony Brooker

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Tony Brooker
Born
Ralph Anthony Brooker

(1925-09-22)22 September 1925
Essex University

Ralph Anthony Brooker (22 September 1925 – 20 November 2019),

Mark 1 Autocode.[2]

He was educated at

University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory to work for Maurice Wilkes on software development for EDSAC
.

In October 1951 Brooker joined the

Mark 1 Autocode available from March 1954 and therefore about two years ahead of the first Fortran compiler
.

Throughout the 1950s Brooker led a group at Manchester working on the theoretical underpinnings of compilers. This culminated in the compiler-compiler, a seminal idea first presented at a British Computer Society Conference in July 1960 by Brooker and Derrick Morris.[5] This was subsequently implemented on the Ferranti ATLAS and used for high-level language development. The ATLAS was regarded as the world's most powerful computer when it was brought into service in December 1962.

In the mid-1960s Brooker helped to inaugurate the UK's first Computer Science degree course at Manchester. He moved to

Essex University in 1967 to take up the university's founding Chair of Computer Science. The first Essex Computer Science graduates obtained their degrees in the summer of 1970. He retired in 1988[6] and died on 20 November 2019 in Hexham.[7][8][2]

Further reading

References

  1. ^ Gregori, Sven (2 January 2020). "Tony Brooker And Autocode – The First High-level Language". Hackaday. Retrieved 2 January 2020. Sadly, one of them, [Tony Brooker], a pioneer of the early programming language concept known as Autocode, passed away in November. Reaching the remarkable age of 94, the truly sad part however is that this might be the first time you hear his name, and there's a fair chance you never heard of Autocode either.
  2. ^
    ISBN 1573565210
    .
  3. ^ "Imperial College Computing Engines".
  4. S2CID 56974328
    .
  5. ISBN 1-884964-47-8
    . morris computing manchest compiler -tim.
  6. ^ "Staff in the Department: Emeritus Professors Professor TONY BROOKER". University of Essex School of Computer Science. 7 August 2008. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  7. ^ "Tony Brooker obituary". The Guardian. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  8. ^ Metz, Cade (13 December 2019). "Tony Brooker, Pioneer of Computer Programming, Dies at 94". The New York Times.

External links

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