.gif)
Matt Dillon (computer scientist)
Encyclopedia
Matthew Dillon is a computer scientist
living in Berkeley, California
. He is best known for his contributions to FreeBSD
and for starting the DragonFly BSD
project.
Dillon studied electronic engineering
and computer science
at the University of California, Berkeley
, where he first became involved with BSD in 1985. He also became known for his Amiga
programming, his C compiler DICE and his work on the Linux
kernel. He founded and worked at Best Internet
from 1994 until 1997, contributing to FreeBSD
in that time. His "Diablo" internet news transit program was very popular with many ISPs.
In 1997, Dillon gained commit
access to the FreeBSD code and heavily contributed to the virtual memory
subsystem, amongst other contributions.
Concerned with problems he saw in the direction FreeBSD 5.x was headed, and coupled with the fact that Dillon's access to the FreeBSD source code repository was revoked due to a falling-out with other FreeBSD developers, he started the DragonFly BSD
project in 2003. That project also led to the development of a new file system
, called HAMMER, which he created using B-tree
s.
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...
living in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. He is best known for his contributions to FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
and for starting the DragonFly BSD
DragonFly BSD
DragonFly BSD is a free Unix-like operating system created as a fork of FreeBSD 4.8. Matthew Dillon, an Amiga developer in the late 1980s and early 1990s and a FreeBSD developer between 1994 and 2003, began work on DragonFly BSD in June 2003 and announced it on the FreeBSD mailing lists on July...
project.
Dillon studied electronic engineering
Electronic engineering
Electronics engineering, also referred to as electronic engineering, is an engineering discipline where non-linear and active electrical components such as electron tubes, and semiconductor devices, especially transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, are utilized to design electronic...
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...
at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, where he first became involved with BSD in 1985. He also became known for his Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
programming, his C compiler DICE and his work on the Linux
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....
kernel. He founded and worked at Best Internet
Verio
Verio is a global web hosting provider headquartered in the United States. Incorporated in 1996 in Denver, Colorado, it is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Communications, who acquired the company in 2000...
from 1994 until 1997, contributing to FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
in that time. His "Diablo" internet news transit program was very popular with many ISPs.
In 1997, Dillon gained commit
Commit (data management)
In the context of computer science and data management, commit refers to the idea of making a set of tentative changes permanent. A popular usage is at the end of a transaction. A commit is an act of committing.-Data management:...
access to the FreeBSD code and heavily contributed to the virtual memory
Virtual memory
In computing, virtual memory is a memory management technique developed for multitasking kernels. This technique virtualizes a computer architecture's various forms of computer data storage , allowing a program to be designed as though there is only one kind of memory, "virtual" memory, which...
subsystem, amongst other contributions.
Concerned with problems he saw in the direction FreeBSD 5.x was headed, and coupled with the fact that Dillon's access to the FreeBSD source code repository was revoked due to a falling-out with other FreeBSD developers, he started the DragonFly BSD
DragonFly BSD
DragonFly BSD is a free Unix-like operating system created as a fork of FreeBSD 4.8. Matthew Dillon, an Amiga developer in the late 1980s and early 1990s and a FreeBSD developer between 1994 and 2003, began work on DragonFly BSD in June 2003 and announced it on the FreeBSD mailing lists on July...
project in 2003. That project also led to the development of a new file system
File system
A file system is a means to organize data expected to be retained after a program terminates by providing procedures to store, retrieve and update data, as well as manage the available space on the device which contain it. A file system organizes data in an efficient manner and is tuned to the...
, called HAMMER, which he created using B-tree
B-tree
In computer science, a B-tree is a tree data structure that keeps data sorted and allows searches, sequential access, insertions, and deletions in logarithmic time. The B-tree is a generalization of a binary search tree in that a node can have more than two children...
s.