Harlan Mills
Encyclopedia
Harlan D. Mills was Professor of Computer Science
at the Florida Institute of Technology
and founder of Software Engineering Technology, Inc. of Vero Beach, Florida
(since acquired by Q-Labs). Mills' contributions to software engineering
have had a profound and enduring effect on education and industrial practice. Since earning his Ph.D.
in Mathematics at Iowa State University
in 1952, Mills led a distinguished career.
As an IBM
research fellow
, Mills adapted existing ideas from engineering
and computer science
to software development. These included automata theory
, the structured programming
theory of Edsger Dijkstra
, Robert W. Floyd, and others, and Markov chain
-driven software testing. His Cleanroom
software development process
emphasized top-down design and formal specification
. Mills contributed his ideas to the profession in six books and over fifty refereed articles in technical journals.
Dr. Mills was termed a "super-programmer", a term which would evolve to the concept in IBM of a "Chief Programmer."
The ICSE-affiliated colloquium "Science and Engineering for Software Development" is being organized in honor of Dr. Harlan D. Mills, and as a recognition of his enduring legacy to the theory and practice of software engineering. The ICSE-affiliated colloquium "Science and Engineering for Software Development" was being organized in honor of Dr. Harlan D. Mills (1919–1996), and as a recognition of his enduring legacy to the theory and practice of software engineering. The first annual "Harlan Mills Practical Visionary Prize" award was presented in 1996. This award is given to an individual who has demonstrated a long-standing and meaningful contribution to both the theory and practice of the information sciences.
. As a young man, Mills studied art with Grant Wood
. During World War II
, Mills became a bomber pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps. His skills in flying and teaching were such that rather than having him fly missions, the Army assigned him to train other pilots.
, Princeton
, New York
and Johns Hopkins
Universities, the Universities of Maryland and Florida,
and Florida Institute of Technology
(FIT). At Johns Hopkins and Maryland, he initiated one of the first American university courses in structured programming. At Maryland, he developed a new two-semester freshman introduction to computer science and textbook "Principles of Computer Programming: A Mathematical Approach" with co-authors Basili, Gannon, and Hamlet. At FIT, he developed a new freshman and sophomore curriculum for software engineering using Ada as the underlying language with colleagues Engle and Newman.
and Member of the Corporate Technical Committee at IBM, a Technical Staff Member at GE
and RCA, and President of Mathematica and Software Engineering Technology. At GE, he developed a three-month curriculum in management science attended by hundreds of GE executives. At IBM, he was the primary architect of the IBM Software Engineering Institute where thousands of IBM software personnel were trained in the mathematical foundations of software. He later embodied the mathematical and statistical principles for software in the Cleanroom software engineering process. As founder of Software Engineering Technology, he created an enterprise for Cleanroom technology transfer.
computer science journals. From 1980-83, he was Governor of the IEEE Computer Society. In 1981, he was the Chairman for IEEE Fall CompCon. During 1975-81, he served as Editor for IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. In 1977, he was the U.S. Representative for Software at the IFIP Congress. In 1975, he was the Chairman of the First National Conference on Software Engineering.
created the Harlan D. Mills Award, the first one presented in 1999, for "contributions to the theory and practice of the information sciences, [focused on] software engineering
".
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
at the Florida Institute of Technology
Florida Institute of Technology
Florida Institute of Technology, also known as Florida Tech, is an independent private technical research university located in Melbourne, Florida, United States. Founded in 1958 as Brevard Engineering College, the institute has been known by its present name since 1966. Florida Tech's curriculum...
and founder of Software Engineering Technology, Inc. of Vero Beach, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
(since acquired by Q-Labs). Mills' contributions to software engineering
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
have had a profound and enduring effect on education and industrial practice. Since earning his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Mathematics at Iowa State University
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
in 1952, Mills led a distinguished career.
As an IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
research fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
, Mills adapted existing ideas from engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
and computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
to software development. These included automata theory
Automata theory
In theoretical computer science, automata theory is the study of abstract machines and the computational problems that can be solved using these machines. These abstract machines are called automata...
, the structured programming
Structured programming
Structured programming is a programming paradigm aimed on improving the clarity, quality, and development time of a computer program by making extensive use of subroutines, block structures and for and while loops - in contrast to using simple tests and jumps such as the goto statement which could...
theory of Edsger Dijkstra
Edsger Dijkstra
Edsger Wybe Dijkstra ; ) was a Dutch computer scientist. He received the 1972 Turing Award for fundamental contributions to developing programming languages, and was the Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin from 1984 until 2000.Shortly before his...
, Robert W. Floyd, and others, and Markov chain
Markov chain
A Markov chain, named after Andrey Markov, is a mathematical system that undergoes transitions from one state to another, between a finite or countable number of possible states. It is a random process characterized as memoryless: the next state depends only on the current state and not on the...
-driven software testing. His Cleanroom
Cleanroom Software Engineering
The Cleanroom software engineering process is a software development process intended to produce software with a certifiable level of reliability. The Cleanroom process was originally developed by Harlan Mills and several of his colleagues including Alan Hevner at IBM. The focus of the Cleanroom...
software development process
Software development process
A software development process, also known as a software development life cycle , is a structure imposed on the development of a software product. Similar terms include software life cycle and software process. It is often considered a subset of systems development life cycle...
emphasized top-down design and formal specification
Formal specification
In computer science, a formal specification is a mathematical description of software or hardware that may be used to develop an implementation. It describes what the system should do, not how the system should do it...
. Mills contributed his ideas to the profession in six books and over fifty refereed articles in technical journals.
Dr. Mills was termed a "super-programmer", a term which would evolve to the concept in IBM of a "Chief Programmer."
Achievements
- Ph.D.: Iowa State UniversityIowa State UniversityIowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
, 1952 - Visiting Professor (Part Time) 1975-1987
- Adjunct Professor, 1987-1995
- Chairman, NSF Computer Science Research Panel on Software Methodology, 1974- 77
- the Chairman of the First National Conference on Software Engineering, 1975
- Editor for IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 1975-81
- U.S. Representative for Software at the IFIP Congress, 1977
- Governor of the IEEE Computer Society, 1980-83
- Chairman for IEEE Fall CompCon, 1981
- Chairman, Computer Science Panel, U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, 1986
- Awardee, Distinguished Information Sciences Award, DPMA 1985
The ICSE-affiliated colloquium "Science and Engineering for Software Development" is being organized in honor of Dr. Harlan D. Mills, and as a recognition of his enduring legacy to the theory and practice of software engineering. The ICSE-affiliated colloquium "Science and Engineering for Software Development" was being organized in honor of Dr. Harlan D. Mills (1919–1996), and as a recognition of his enduring legacy to the theory and practice of software engineering. The first annual "Harlan Mills Practical Visionary Prize" award was presented in 1996. This award is given to an individual who has demonstrated a long-standing and meaningful contribution to both the theory and practice of the information sciences.
Early life
Born in Liberty Center, IowaLiberty Center, Iowa
Liberty Center is an unincorporated community in southern Warren County, Iowa, United States. It lies along U.S. Route 65 south of the city of Indianola, the county seat of Warren County. Its elevation is 1,024 feet , and it is located at about...
. As a young man, Mills studied art with Grant Wood
Grant Wood
Grant DeVolson Wood was an American painter, born four miles east of Anamosa, Iowa. He is best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest, particularly the painting American Gothic, an iconic image of the 20th century.- Life and career :His family moved to Cedar Rapids after his...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Mills became a bomber pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps. His skills in flying and teaching were such that rather than having him fly missions, the Army assigned him to train other pilots.
Education
Mills served on the faculties of Iowa State UniversityIowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
, Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, New York
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
Universities, the Universities of Maryland and Florida,
and Florida Institute of Technology
Florida Institute of Technology
Florida Institute of Technology, also known as Florida Tech, is an independent private technical research university located in Melbourne, Florida, United States. Founded in 1958 as Brevard Engineering College, the institute has been known by its present name since 1966. Florida Tech's curriculum...
(FIT). At Johns Hopkins and Maryland, he initiated one of the first American university courses in structured programming. At Maryland, he developed a new two-semester freshman introduction to computer science and textbook "Principles of Computer Programming: A Mathematical Approach" with co-authors Basili, Gannon, and Hamlet. At FIT, he developed a new freshman and sophomore curriculum for software engineering using Ada as the underlying language with colleagues Engle and Newman.
Industry
Dr. Mills was an IBM FellowIBM Fellow
An IBM Fellow is an appointed position at IBM made by IBM’s CEO. Typically only 4 to 9 IBM Fellows are appointed each year, at the annual Corporate Technical Recognition Event in May or June. It is the highest honor a scientist, engineer, or programmer at IBM can achieve.The IBM Fellows program...
and Member of the Corporate Technical Committee at IBM, a Technical Staff Member at GE
and RCA, and President of Mathematica and Software Engineering Technology. At GE, he developed a three-month curriculum in management science attended by hundreds of GE executives. At IBM, he was the primary architect of the IBM Software Engineering Institute where thousands of IBM software personnel were trained in the mathematical foundations of software. He later embodied the mathematical and statistical principles for software in the Cleanroom software engineering process. As founder of Software Engineering Technology, he created an enterprise for Cleanroom technology transfer.
Nation
Dr. Mills had an abiding interest in fostering sound software engineering practices through federal programs. During the formative period of the DoD DARPA STARS Program in the 1980s, he provided fundamental concepts for development of high quality software at high productivity. In 1986, he served as Chairman of the Computer Science Panel for the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. During 1974-77, he was Chairman of the NSF Computer Science Research Panel on Software Methodology.Profession
Dr. Mills was a program committee member and invited speaker for many professional conferences, and a referee for many mathematics andcomputer science journals. From 1980-83, he was Governor of the IEEE Computer Society. In 1981, he was the Chairman for IEEE Fall CompCon. During 1975-81, he served as Editor for IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. In 1977, he was the U.S. Representative for Software at the IFIP Congress. In 1975, he was the Chairman of the First National Conference on Software Engineering.
Harlan D. Mills Award
To honor Dr. Mills the IEEE Computer SocietyIEEE Computer Society
The IEEE Computer Society is a professional society of IEEE. Its purpose and scope is “to advance the theory, practice, and application of computer and information processing science and technology” and the “professional standing of its members.” The CS is the largest of 38 technical societies...
created the Harlan D. Mills Award, the first one presented in 1999, for "contributions to the theory and practice of the information sciences, [focused on] software engineering
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
".
Further reading
- Linger and Witt (1979), Structured Programming: Theory and Practice, presents Mills' function-theoretic approach to program verification
- Software Productivity (1983), includes a collection of his seminal papers on chief programmer teams, top-down design, structured programming, program correctness, and other fundamental ideas in software engineering
- Linger and Hevner (1986), Principles of Information System Analysis and Design, includes Mills' reduction of the mathematics of specification and design to practice
External links
- IP: Harlan Mills passed away this week - Mailing list message with details
- Harlan D. Mills List of publications from the DBLP Bibliography Server