Henry Spencer
Encyclopedia
Henry Spencer is a Canadian
computer programmer and space enthusiast. He wrote "regex", a widely-used software library for regular expression
s, and co-wrote C News
, a Usenet
server program. He also authored The Ten Commandments for C
Programmers. He is coauthor, with David Lawrence, of the book Managing Usenet. While working at the University of Toronto
he ran the first active Usenet site outside the U.S., starting in 1981. His records from that period were eventually acquired by Google
to provide an archive of Usenet in the 1980s.
The first international Usenet site was run in Ottawa
, in 1981; however, it is generally not remembered, as it served merely as a read-only medium. Later in 1981, Spencer acquired a Usenet feed from Duke University
, and brought "utzoo" online; the earliest public archives of Usenet date from May 1981 as a result.
The small size of Usenet in its youthful days, and Spencer's early involvement, made him a well-recognised participant; this is commemorated in Vernor Vinge's
1992 novel A Fire Upon the Deep
. The novel featured an interstellar communications medium remarkably similar to Usenet, down to the author including spurious message headers; one of the characters who appeared solely through postings to this was modeled on Spencer (and, slightly obliquely, named for him).
He is also credited with the claim that "Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly."
Between 1981 and 1991, while running the zoology department's computer system at the University of Toronto, Spencer copied more than 2 million Usenet messages onto magnetic tapes. The 141 tapes wound up at the University of Western Ontario
, where Google's Michael Schmidt tracked them down and, with the help of David Wiseman and others, got them transferred onto disks and into Google's archives.
write C News
in 1987.
At around the same time he wrote a non-proprietary replacement for regex(3), the Unix
library for handling regular expressions, and made it freely available. Spencer's library has been used in many software packages, including Tcl
, and adapted for others, including early versions of Perl
.
Spencer was technical lead on the FreeS/WAN
project, implementing an IPsec
cryptographic
protocol stack
for Linux
.
He also wrote 'aaa' - the Amazing Awk Assembler which is one of the longest and most complex programs ever written in the awk programming language.
He also developed a 4 point font used by entomologists in labeling pinned insect specimens.
, and has served on its Board of Directors several times since 1984. He did mission analysis (planning of launch and orbits) for the CSS's Canadian Solar Sail project (now defunct), and was Software Architect for MOST
, a Canadian science microsatellite
dedicated to studying variable light from stars and extrasolar planet
s launched by Eurockot in the first quarter of . The asteroid
117329 Spencer
is named in his honour.
He is a highly regarded space enthusiast, and is a familiar and respected presence on several space forums on Usenet and the Internet
. From 1983 to 2007 Spencer posted over 34,000 messages to the sci.space.* newsgroups. His knowledge of space history and technology is such that the "I Corrected Henry Spencer" virtual T-shirt
award was created as a reward for anyone who can catch him in an error of fact.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
computer programmer and space enthusiast. He wrote "regex", a widely-used software library for regular expression
Regular expression
In computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means for "matching" strings of text, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. Abbreviations for "regular expression" include "regex" and "regexp"...
s, and co-wrote C News
C News
C News is a news server package, written by Geoff Collyer, assisted by Henry Spencer, at the University of Toronto as a replacement for B News. It was presented at the Winter 1987 USENIX conference in Washington, D.C....
, a Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
server program. He also authored The Ten Commandments for C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
Programmers. He is coauthor, with David Lawrence, of the book Managing Usenet. While working at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
he ran the first active Usenet site outside the U.S., starting in 1981. His records from that period were eventually acquired by Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
to provide an archive of Usenet in the 1980s.
The first international Usenet site was run in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, in 1981; however, it is generally not remembered, as it served merely as a read-only medium. Later in 1981, Spencer acquired a Usenet feed from Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, and brought "utzoo" online; the earliest public archives of Usenet date from May 1981 as a result.
The small size of Usenet in its youthful days, and Spencer's early involvement, made him a well-recognised participant; this is commemorated in Vernor Vinge's
Vernor Vinge
Vernor Steffen Vinge is a retired San Diego State University Professor of Mathematics, computer scientist, and science fiction author. He is best known for his Hugo Award-winning novels and novellas A Fire Upon the Deep , A Deepness in the Sky , Rainbows End , Fast Times at Fairmont High ...
1992 novel A Fire Upon the Deep
A Fire Upon the Deep
A Fire Upon the Deep is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, a space opera involving superhuman intelligences, aliens, variable physics, space battles, love, betrayal, genocide, and a conversation medium resembling Usenet...
. The novel featured an interstellar communications medium remarkably similar to Usenet, down to the author including spurious message headers; one of the characters who appeared solely through postings to this was modeled on Spencer (and, slightly obliquely, named for him).
He is also credited with the claim that "Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly."
Preserving Usenet
In mid-December 2001, Google unveiled its improved Usenet archives, which now go more than a decade deeper into the Net's past than did the millions of posts that the company got when it bought an existing archive called DejaNews.Between 1981 and 1991, while running the zoology department's computer system at the University of Toronto, Spencer copied more than 2 million Usenet messages onto magnetic tapes. The 141 tapes wound up at the University of Western Ontario
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...
, where Google's Michael Schmidt tracked them down and, with the help of David Wiseman and others, got them transferred onto disks and into Google's archives.
Free Software contributions
Henry Spencer helped Geoff CollyerGeoff Collyer
Geoff Collyer is a Canadian computer scientist. He is the senior author of C News, a protocol-neutral news transport, and the designer of NOV, the News Overview database used by all modern newsreaders....
write C News
C News
C News is a news server package, written by Geoff Collyer, assisted by Henry Spencer, at the University of Toronto as a replacement for B News. It was presented at the Winter 1987 USENIX conference in Washington, D.C....
in 1987.
At around the same time he wrote a non-proprietary replacement for regex(3), the Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
library for handling regular expressions, and made it freely available. Spencer's library has been used in many software packages, including Tcl
Tcl
Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration", according to the author, with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl gained acceptance on its own...
, and adapted for others, including early versions of Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
.
Spencer was technical lead on the FreeS/WAN
FreeS/WAN
FreeS/WAN, for Free Secure Wide-Area Networking, was a free software project, which implemented a reference version of the IPsec network security layer for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. The project goal of ubiquitous opportunistic encryption of Internet traffic was not realized,...
project, implementing an IPsec
IPsec
Internet Protocol Security is a protocol suite for securing Internet Protocol communications by authenticating and encrypting each IP packet of a communication session...
cryptographic
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
protocol stack
Protocol stack
The protocol stack is an implementation of a computer networking protocol suite. The terms are often used interchangeably. Strictly speaking, the suite is the definition of the protocols, and the stack is the software implementation of them....
for Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
.
He also wrote 'aaa' - the Amazing Awk Assembler which is one of the longest and most complex programs ever written in the awk programming language.
He also developed a 4 point font used by entomologists in labeling pinned insect specimens.
Space
Spencer is a founding member of the Canadian Space SocietyCanadian Space Society
The Canadian Space Society is a federally-incorporated non-profit Canadian corporation. Inspired by the old L5 Society and other space interest groups, its principal objective is to sponsor and promote the involvement of Canadians in the development of Space...
, and has served on its Board of Directors several times since 1984. He did mission analysis (planning of launch and orbits) for the CSS's Canadian Solar Sail project (now defunct), and was Software Architect for MOST
Microvariability and Oscillations of STars telescope
The Microvariability and Oscillations of STars telescope, better known simply as MOST, is Canada's first and only space telescope. It is also the smallest space telescope in the world...
, a Canadian science microsatellite
Miniaturized satellite
Miniaturized satellites or small satellites are artificial satellites of unusually low weights and small sizes, usually under . While all such satellites can be referred to as small satellites, different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass .One reason for miniaturizing...
dedicated to studying variable light from stars and extrasolar planet
Extrasolar planet
An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside the Solar System. A total of such planets have been identified as of . It is now known that a substantial fraction of stars have planets, including perhaps half of all Sun-like stars...
s launched by Eurockot in the first quarter of . The asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
117329 Spencer
117329 Spencer
117329 Spencer is a main-belt asteroid. It is named after Henry Spencer.- External links :*...
is named in his honour.
He is a highly regarded space enthusiast, and is a familiar and respected presence on several space forums on Usenet and the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. From 1983 to 2007 Spencer posted over 34,000 messages to the sci.space.* newsgroups. His knowledge of space history and technology is such that the "I Corrected Henry Spencer" virtual T-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
award was created as a reward for anyone who can catch him in an error of fact.
External links
- Brief biography of Spencer at O'Reilly Media
- Spencer presentation at the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
- "MOST satellite to rocket into space in October" Janet Wong, News@UofT, December 5, 2001
- The Ten Commandments for C Programmers (Annotated Edition) by Henry Spencer
- #ifdef Considered Harmful, or Portability Experience With C News - A paper he wrote with Geoff Collyer about software portability.
- aaa - the Amazing Awk Assembler by Henry Spencer
- awf - the Amazingly Workable Formatter by Henry Spencer