Michael Kölling
Encyclopedia
Michael Kölling is a professor and software developer currently with the School of Computing at the University of Kent
. Originally from Bremen, Germany, he is also a key member of the team that developed the BlueJ
and Greenfoot
Java
learning environments. BlueJ is used in over 900 institutions world wide. Kölling was also involved in the development of the Blue programming language
which was an object-oriented programming language that was developed especially for teaching. This led on to what is now BlueJ. BlueJ is currently being maintained by a joint team at the University of Kent in Canterbury and Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.
Launched in 2006, Greenfoot is an environment created for teaching programming and computer science concepts and is targeted for a demographic of 15 years old and up. The software is available in both English and German.
Kölling co-wrote Objects First with Java (4th edition), with David J. Barnes, which has been translated into six languages, including German, Italian, French and Dutch. BlueJ is available in over a dozen languages.
At the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group of Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) 2010 conference, held in Milwaukee, WI, his work was referenced as one of the most influential tools in the history of computer science education. This paper described Kölling's work on the Blue programming language, which preceded BlueJ.
Kölling did not act on the discovery. However, on May 11, 2006 Microsoft
attempted to patent the idea. As the object test bench is essential to the way it functions, had Microsoft's patent been granted, it was likely that BlueJ would have had to have been discontinued.
Kölling spoke to Microsoft, namely Jane Prey, and eventually the patent was dropped.
Fernandez posted a response on his blog where he says "the patent application was a mistake and one that should not have happened. To fix this, Microsoft will be removing the patent application in question. Our sincere apologies to Michael Kölling and the BlueJ community."
University of Kent
The University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...
. Originally from Bremen, Germany, he is also a key member of the team that developed the BlueJ
BlueJ
BlueJ is an integrated development environment for the Java programming language, developed mainly for educational purposes, but also suitable for small-scale software development....
and Greenfoot
Greenfoot
Greenfoot is an interactive Java development environment designed primarily for educational purposes at the high school and undergraduate level. It allows easy development of two-dimensional graphical applications, such as simulations and interactive games....
Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
learning environments. BlueJ is used in over 900 institutions world wide. Kölling was also involved in the development of the Blue programming language
Blue programming language
Blue is a system for teaching object-oriented programming, developed at the University of Sydney, Australia. It is an integrated development environment and a programming language. Blue has been used for teaching since 1997...
which was an object-oriented programming language that was developed especially for teaching. This led on to what is now BlueJ. BlueJ is currently being maintained by a joint team at the University of Kent in Canterbury and Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.
Launched in 2006, Greenfoot is an environment created for teaching programming and computer science concepts and is targeted for a demographic of 15 years old and up. The software is available in both English and German.
Kölling co-wrote Objects First with Java (4th edition), with David J. Barnes, which has been translated into six languages, including German, Italian, French and Dutch. BlueJ is available in over a dozen languages.
At the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group of Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) 2010 conference, held in Milwaukee, WI, his work was referenced as one of the most influential tools in the history of computer science education. This paper described Kölling's work on the Blue programming language, which preceded BlueJ.
Microsoft Patent issue
On the 22nd May 2005 Kölling made an entry to the BlueJ website in response to a post on Dan Fernandez's blog (Lead Product Manager - Visual Studio Express). Fernandez described a new feature of Visual Studio 2005 that "helps you understand objects at Design Time, rather than runtime." This feature had striking similarities to the way the object test bench functions within BlueJ.Kölling did not act on the discovery. However, on May 11, 2006 Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
attempted to patent the idea. As the object test bench is essential to the way it functions, had Microsoft's patent been granted, it was likely that BlueJ would have had to have been discontinued.
Kölling spoke to Microsoft, namely Jane Prey, and eventually the patent was dropped.
Fernandez posted a response on his blog where he says "the patent application was a mistake and one that should not have happened. To fix this, Microsoft will be removing the patent application in question. Our sincere apologies to Michael Kölling and the BlueJ community."
Miscellany
- Kölling received a "Best PhD Thesis Award" in 2000 from The Computing Research and Education Association of Australasia
- Kölling was awarded the first Victorian Pearcey AwardPearcey AwardThe Pearcey Awards are a set of prizes presented annually since 1998 by the Pearcey Foundation for achievement in the Australian ICT industry.-Pearcey Award Categories:Each year, the Pearcey Foundation presents 3 categories of award:...
for his development of BlueJBlueJBlueJ is an integrated development environment for the Java programming language, developed mainly for educational purposes, but also suitable for small-scale software development....
. - Kölling holds an honorary research position at Deakin UniversityDeakin UniversityDeakin University is an Australian public university with nearly 40,000 higher education students in 2010. It receives more than A$600 million in operating revenue annually, and controls more than A$1.3 billion in assets. It received more than A$35 million in research income in 2009 and had 835...
. - Kölling took part in a debate titled "Resolved: Objects First has failed" at SIGCSESIGCSESIGCSE is the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education, which provides a forum for educators to discuss issues related to the development, implementation, and/or evaluation of computing programs, curricula, and courses, as well as syllabi,...
in 2005. He believes that "Objects First has not failed. We have failed to do it".
Books
- Michael Kölling, Introduction to Programming with Greenfoot: Object-Oriented Programming in Java with Games and Simulations, Pearson Education, August 2009, ISBN 978-0-13-603753-8.
- David J. Barnes & Michael Kölling, Objects First with Java: A Practical Introduction using BlueJ, Prentice Hall / Pearson Education, 2008, ISBN 0-13-606086-2.
- Bennedsen, Jens; Caspersen, Michael E.; Kölling, Michael (Eds.), Reflections on the Teaching of Programming Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science , Vol. 4821. Springer, 2008, ISBN 978-3-540-77933-9.
External links
- Michael Kölling Professor of Computer Science University of KentUniversity of KentThe University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...