Peter J. Denning
Encyclopedia
Peter J. Denning is an American
computer scientist
, and prolific writer. He is best known for pioneering work in virtual memory
, especially for inventing the working-set model for program
behavior, which defeated thrashing in operating system
s and became the reference standard for all memory management
policies. He is also known for his works on principles of operating systems, operational analysis of queueing network systems, design and implementation of CSNET, ACM
digital library, codifying the great principles of computing
, and most recently for his groundbreaking book The Innovator's Way", on innovation as learnable practices.
, botany
, radio
, and electronics
while in grade school. At Fairfield Prep, he submitted home designed computers to the science fair in 1958, 1959, and 1960. The second computer, which solved linear equations using pinball
machine parts, won the grand prize. He attended Manhattan College
for a Bachelor in EE
(1964) and then MIT for a PhD
(1968). At MIT he was part of Project MAC and contributed to the design of Multics
. His PhD thesis
, "Resource allocation in multiprocess computer systems", introduced seminal ideas in working sets, locality, thrashing, and system balance.
At Princeton University
from 1968 to 1972, he wrote his classic book, Operating Systems Principles, with E G Coffman. He collaborated with Alfred Aho
and Jeffrey Ullman
on optimality proofs for paging algorithms and on a simple proof that compilers based on precedence parsing do not need to backtrack. At Purdue University
(1972–1983) he supervised numerous PhD theses validating locality-based theories of memory management and extending the new mathematics of operational analysis of queueing networks. He co-founded CSNET
. He became department head in 1979. He completed another book on computational models, Machines, Languages, and Computation, with Jack Dennis
and Joe Qualitz.
At NASA Ames from 1983 to 1991 he founded the Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS) and turned it into one of the first centers for interdisciplinary research in computational and space science.
At George Mason University
from 1991 to 2002 he headed the Computer Science Department, was an associate dean and vice provost, and founded the Center for the New Engineer. The Center was a pioneer in web-based learning. He created a design course for engineers, called Sense 21, which was the basis of his project to understand innovation as a skill. He created a course on Core of Information, Technology the basis his Great Principles of Computing project.
At Naval Postgraduate School
since 2002 he heads the Computer Science Department, directs the Cebrowski Institute for Innovation and Information Superiority. He chaired the faculty council.
Denning served continuously as a volunteer in Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM) since 1967. In that time he served as president, vice president, three board chairs, Member-at-Large, Editor of ACM Computing Surveys
, and Editor of the monthly ACM Communications
. He received seven ACM awards for service, technical contribution, and education. ACM presented him with a special award in June 2007 recognizing 40 years of continuous service.
Denning has received 26 awards for service and technical contribution. These include one quality customer service award, three professional society fellowships, three honorary degrees, six awards for technical contribution, six for distinguished service, and seven for education.
He married Dorothy E. Denning
in 1974. She went on to become a noted computer security expert.
American Scientist magazine, focusing on scientific principles from across the field. Beginning in 2001 he has written quarterly "IT Profession" columns for Communications of the ACM
, focusing on principles of value to practicing professionals.
In 1966 he proposed the working set as a dynamic measure of memory demand and explained why it worked using the locality idea introduced by Les Belady of IBM
. His working set paper became a classic. It received an ACM Best paper award in 1968 and a SIGOPS Hall of Fame Award in 2005.
In the middle 1970s he collaborated with Jeffrey Buzen on operational analysis, extending Buzen's basic operational
laws to deal with all queueing networks. The operational framework explained why computer performance models work so well, even though violating the traditional stochastic Markovian assumptions. It has become the preferred method for teaching performance prediction in computing courses.
In the early 1980s, he was one of the four founding Principal investigators of Computer Science Network
, sponsored by the National Science Foundation
The other three were Dave Farber, Larry Landweber, and Tony Hearn. They led the development of a fully self supporting CS community network that by 1986 included 165 sites and 50,000 users. CSNET was the key transitional stepping stone from the original ARPANET
to the NSFNET
and then the Internet
. In 2009, the Internet Society
awarded CSNET its prestigious Jon Postel award, recognizing its key role in bridging from the ARPANET to NSFNET.
He led the ACM Digital Library project 1992-97, which went live in 1997. The Association for Computing Machinery
became the first professional society to offer a fully searchable library of everything it ever published.
The Great Principles framework revealed that "innovating" is a core practice of computing. Unable to find anyone who understood how to teach the skill of innovating, he joined with Bob Dunham and identified eight foundational practices of innovation. They published The Innovator's Way, a book laying the eight essential practices of successful innovation.
functional areas and three cognitive processes, the basis of ACM Curriculum 1991. In the 1990s he set out on a quest to codify the great principles of computing. He maintains that computing is a science both of natural and artificial information processes. NSF designated him a Distinguished Education Fellow in 2007 to launch a movement to use the Great Principles framework for innovations in education and research. In 2009, ACM's SIGCSE (Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education) recognized his contributions with its lifetime service award.
Articles, a selection:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
computer scientist
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
, and prolific writer. He is best known for pioneering work in 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...
, especially for inventing the working-set model for program
Computer program
A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
behavior, which defeated thrashing in operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s and became the reference standard for all memory management
Memory management
Memory management is the act of managing computer memory. The essential requirement of memory management is to provide ways to dynamically allocate portions of memory to programs at their request, and freeing it for reuse when no longer needed. This is critical to the computer system.Several...
policies. He is also known for his works on principles of operating systems, operational analysis of queueing network systems, design and implementation of CSNET, ACM
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
digital library, codifying the great principles of computing
Computing
Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...
, and most recently for his groundbreaking book The Innovator's Way", on innovation as learnable practices.
Biography
Denning was born January 6, 1942, in Queens, NY, and raised in Darien, CT. He took an early interest in science, pursuing astronomyAstronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, and electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
while in grade school. At Fairfield Prep, he submitted home designed computers to the science fair in 1958, 1959, and 1960. The second computer, which solved linear equations using pinball
Pinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...
machine parts, won the grand prize. He attended Manhattan College
Manhattan College
Manhattan College is a Roman Catholic liberal arts college in the Lasallian tradition in New York City, United States. Despite the college's name, it is no longer located in Manhattan but in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, roughly 10 miles north of Midtown. Manhattan College offers...
for a Bachelor in EE
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
(1964) and then MIT for a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
(1968). At MIT he was part of Project MAC and contributed to the design of Multics
Multics
Multics was an influential early time-sharing operating system. The project was started in 1964 in Cambridge, Massachusetts...
. His PhD thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
, "Resource allocation in multiprocess computer systems", introduced seminal ideas in working sets, locality, thrashing, and system balance.
At Princeton University
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....
from 1968 to 1972, he wrote his classic book, Operating Systems Principles, with E G Coffman. He collaborated with Alfred Aho
Alfred Aho
Alfred Vaino Aho is a Canadian computer scientist.-Career:Aho received a B.A.Sc. in Engineering Physics from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science from Princeton University...
and Jeffrey Ullman
Jeffrey Ullman
Jeffrey David Ullman is a renowned computer scientist. His textbooks on compilers , theory of computation , data structures, and databases are regarded as standards in their fields.-Early life & Career:Ullman received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering...
on optimality proofs for paging algorithms and on a simple proof that compilers based on precedence parsing do not need to backtrack. At Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
(1972–1983) he supervised numerous PhD theses validating locality-based theories of memory management and extending the new mathematics of operational analysis of queueing networks. He co-founded CSNET
CSNET
The Computer Science Network was a computer network that began operation in 1981 in the United States. Its purpose was to extend networking benefits, for computer science departments at academic and research institutions that could not be directly connected to ARPANET, due to funding or...
. He became department head in 1979. He completed another book on computational models, Machines, Languages, and Computation, with Jack Dennis
Jack Dennis
Jack Dennis is a computer scientist and retired MIT professor.Dennis entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1949 as an electrical engineering major; he received his MS degree in 1954, and continued doctoral research and received his ScD in 1958...
and Joe Qualitz.
At NASA Ames from 1983 to 1991 he founded the Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS) and turned it into one of the first centers for interdisciplinary research in computational and space science.
At George Mason University
George Mason University
George Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...
from 1991 to 2002 he headed the Computer Science Department, was an associate dean and vice provost, and founded the Center for the New Engineer. The Center was a pioneer in web-based learning. He created a design course for engineers, called Sense 21, which was the basis of his project to understand innovation as a skill. He created a course on Core of Information, Technology the basis his Great Principles of Computing project.
At Naval Postgraduate School
Naval Postgraduate School
The Naval Postgraduate School is an accredited research university operated by the United States Navy. Located in Monterey, California, it grants master's degrees, Engineer's degrees and doctoral degrees...
since 2002 he heads the Computer Science Department, directs the Cebrowski Institute for Innovation and Information Superiority. He chaired the faculty council.
Denning served continuously as a volunteer in Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
(ACM) since 1967. In that time he served as president, vice president, three board chairs, Member-at-Large, Editor of ACM Computing Surveys
ACM Computing Surveys
ACM Computing Surveys is a peer reviewed scientific journal published by the Association for Computing Machinery. The journal publishes survey articles and tutorials related to computer science and computing. It was founded in 1969; the first editor-in-chief was William S...
, and Editor of the monthly ACM Communications
Communications of the ACM
Communications of the ACM is the flagship monthly journal of the Association for Computing Machinery . First published in 1957, CACM is sent to all ACM members, currently numbering about 80,000. The articles are intended for readers with backgrounds in all areas of computer science and information...
. He received seven ACM awards for service, technical contribution, and education. ACM presented him with a special award in June 2007 recognizing 40 years of continuous service.
Denning has received 26 awards for service and technical contribution. These include one quality customer service award, three professional society fellowships, three honorary degrees, six awards for technical contribution, six for distinguished service, and seven for education.
He married Dorothy E. Denning
Dorothy E. Denning
Dorothy Elizabeth Denning is an American information security researcher and a graduate of the University of Michigan. She has published four books and 140 articles...
in 1974. She went on to become a noted computer security expert.
Work
Denning's career has been a search for fundamental principles in subfields of computing. He writes prolifically. From 1980 to 1982 he wrote 24 columns as ACM President, focusing on technical and political issues of the field. From 1985 to 1993 he wrote 47 columns on "The Science of Computing" forAmerican Scientist magazine, focusing on scientific principles from across the field. Beginning in 2001 he has written quarterly "IT Profession" columns for Communications of the ACM
Communications of the ACM
Communications of the ACM is the flagship monthly journal of the Association for Computing Machinery . First published in 1957, CACM is sent to all ACM members, currently numbering about 80,000. The articles are intended for readers with backgrounds in all areas of computer science and information...
, focusing on principles of value to practicing professionals.
Virtual memory
In 1970 he published a classic paper that displayed a scientific framework for virtual memory and the validating scientific evidence, putting to rest a controversy over virtual memory stability and performance.In 1966 he proposed the working set as a dynamic measure of memory demand and explained why it worked using the locality idea introduced by Les Belady of 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...
. His working set paper became a classic. It received an ACM Best paper award in 1968 and a SIGOPS Hall of Fame Award in 2005.
Operating system principles
In the early 1970s he collaborated with Ed Coffman, Jr., on Operating Systems Theory, which became a classic textbook used in graduate courses and stayed in print until 1995. That book helped to erase doubts that the OS field could be approached as a science.In the middle 1970s he collaborated with Jeffrey Buzen on operational analysis, extending Buzen's basic operational
laws to deal with all queueing networks. The operational framework explained why computer performance models work so well, even though violating the traditional stochastic Markovian assumptions. It has become the preferred method for teaching performance prediction in computing courses.
In the early 1980s, he was one of the four founding Principal investigators of Computer Science Network
CSNET
The Computer Science Network was a computer network that began operation in 1981 in the United States. Its purpose was to extend networking benefits, for computer science departments at academic and research institutions that could not be directly connected to ARPANET, due to funding or...
, sponsored by the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
The other three were Dave Farber, Larry Landweber, and Tony Hearn. They led the development of a fully self supporting CS community network that by 1986 included 165 sites and 50,000 users. CSNET was the key transitional stepping stone from the original ARPANET
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
to the NSFNET
NSFNet
The National Science Foundation Network was a program of coordinated, evolving projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation beginning in 1985 to promote advanced research and education networking in the United States...
and then 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...
. In 2009, the Internet Society
Internet Society
The Internet Society or ISOC is an international, nonprofit organization founded during 1992 to provide direction in Internet related standards, education, and policy...
awarded CSNET its prestigious Jon Postel award, recognizing its key role in bridging from the ARPANET to NSFNET.
He led the ACM Digital Library project 1992-97, which went live in 1997. The Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
became the first professional society to offer a fully searchable library of everything it ever published.
Great Principles of Computing
In 1999, he expanded the search for fundamental principles to cover all of computing. The discovery of natural information processes in biology, physics, economics, materials, and other fields convinced him that the basic definitions of computation had to be modified to encompass natural information processes as well as artificial. He and his team have produced a draft framework.The Great Principles framework revealed that "innovating" is a core practice of computing. Unable to find anyone who understood how to teach the skill of innovating, he joined with Bob Dunham and identified eight foundational practices of innovation. They published The Innovator's Way, a book laying the eight essential practices of successful innovation.
Computing education
Denning has been a major influence in computing education. In the early 1970s he led a task force that designed the first core course on operating systems (OS) principles. OS became the first non-math CS core course. In the mid 1980s he led a joint ACM/IEEE committee that described computing as a discipline with ninefunctional areas and three cognitive processes, the basis of ACM Curriculum 1991. In the 1990s he set out on a quest to codify the great principles of computing. He maintains that computing is a science both of natural and artificial information processes. NSF designated him a Distinguished Education Fellow in 2007 to launch a movement to use the Great Principles framework for innovations in education and research. In 2009, ACM's SIGCSE (Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education) recognized his contributions with its lifetime service award.
Humor
Denning is an inveterate punster who frequently uses humor to get points across. Examples:- April Fool special section (when he was editor), ACM CommunicationsCommunications of the ACMCommunications of the ACM is the flagship monthly journal of the Association for Computing Machinery . First published in 1957, CACM is sent to all ACM members, currently numbering about 80,000. The articles are intended for readers with backgrounds in all areas of computer science and information...
(April 1984). - On Active and Passive Writing, a treatise exhorting students to write in the active voice.
- A Tale of Two Islands. Fable about a controversy in queueing theory over operational analysis. First published in 1991. Contained as an appendix to a 2006 overview of operational analysis
Quotes
- Computation is the principle; the computer is the tool.
- All speech is free. It's just the consequences that get you.
- A request is not in the words you speak. It is in the listening of those who hear you.
- After many years of trying to make computers think like brains, AI researchers got brains that think they are computers.
- Locality is a principle of nature. Caching works because our brains organize information by localities.
- Innovation is not brilliant new ideas; it is new practice adopted by a community.
- Solidarity, not software, generates collaboration.
Publications
He is author or editor of 340 technical papers and seven books. Books, a selection:- 1973, with Ed Coffman. Operating Systems Theory. Prentice-Hall.
- 1978, with Jack Dennis and Joe Qualitz. Machines, Languages, and Computation. Prentice-Hall.
- 1997, with Bob Metcalfe (eds.) Beyond Calculation: The Next 50 Years of Computing. Copernicus Books.
- 2001. The Invisible Future: The Seamless Integration of Technology in Everyday Life. McGraw-Hill.
- 2010. The Innovator's Way: Essential Practices for Successful Innovation. MIT Press.
Articles, a selection:
- 1968. "The Working Set Model for Program Behavior". ACM Communications (May).
- 1970. "Virtual memory." ACM Computing Surveys (September).
- 1976. "Fault tolerant operating systems". ACM Computing Surveys (December)
- 1978. with Jeff Buzen. "Operational Analysis of Queueing Network Models." ACM Computing Surveys (September).
- 1980. "Working sets past and present". From IEEE Transactions Software Engineering, January 1980.
- 1984, with Robert Brown. "Operating Systems". Scientific American issue on software.
- 1990, with Walter Tichy. "Highly parallel computation". Science magazine, November.
- 1992. "Educating a new engineer". ACM Communications (December).
- 2006. "The Locality Principle". Chapter in Communication Networks and Systems (J Barria, Ed.). Imperial College Press.
- 2007. "Computing is a natural science." ACM Communications (July).
- 2009, with Peter Freeman. "Computing's Paradigm". ACM Communications (December).
- 2010, with Fernando Flores and Peter Luzmore. "Orchestrating Coordination in Pluralistic Networks". ACM Communications (March).
External links
- Great Principles site.
- Art of Operating Systems book site.
- CS Unplugged, a working application of principles in education.
- ACM Digital Library