Stephen C. Johnson
Encyclopedia
Stephen Curtis Johnson spent nearly 20 years at Bell Labs
and AT&T
where he wrote yacc
, lint
, spell
and the Portable C Compiler machine (pccm)
.
Johnson earned his PhD in mathematics but has spent his entire career in computer science
. He has worked on topics as diverse as computer music
, psychometrics
, and VLSI design but he is best known for his work on Unix
tools and the first AT&T UNIX port. He also ran the UNIX System V
language development department for several years in the mid-1980s. In 1986 he went to Silicon Valley
where he was part of a half dozen or so startup companies including Transmeta
. In 2002 he joined MathWorks to contribute to the MATLAB
programming language.
Johnson served on the USENIX
board for ten years, four of those as president, and is now the USENIX representative to the Computing Research Association.
Johnson's famous epigram is often quoted: "Using TSO
is like kicking a dead whale down the beach".
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
and AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
where he wrote yacc
Yacc
The computer program yacc is a parser generator developed by Stephen C. Johnson at AT&T for the Unix operating system. The name is an acronym for "Yet Another Compiler Compiler." It generates a parser based on an analytic grammar written in a notation similar to BNF.Yacc used to be available as...
, lint
Lint programming tool
In computer programming, lint was the name originally given to a particular program that flagged some suspicious and non-portable constructs in C language source code. The term is now applied generically to tools that flag suspicious usage in software written in any computer language...
, spell
Spell (Unix)
Spell is the standard English language spell checker for Unix.Spell was originally written by Stephen C. Johnson of Bell Labs in 1975. Douglas McIlroy later improved its accuracy, performance, and memory use, and described his work and spell in general in his 1982 paper .Spell has a simple...
and the Portable C Compiler machine (pccm)
Portable C Compiler
The Portable C Compiler is an early compiler for the C programming language written by Stephen C...
.
Johnson earned his PhD in mathematics but has spent his entire career in 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...
. He has worked on topics as diverse as computer music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, psychometrics
Psychometrics
Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, personality traits, and educational measurement...
, and VLSI design but he is best known for his work on 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...
tools and the first AT&T UNIX port. He also ran the UNIX System V
UNIX System V
Unix System V, commonly abbreviated SysV , is one of the first commercial versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by American Telephone & Telegraph and first released in 1983. Four major versions of System V were released, termed Releases 1, 2, 3 and 4...
language development department for several years in the mid-1980s. In 1986 he went to Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
where he was part of a half dozen or so startup companies including Transmeta
Transmeta
Transmeta Corporation was a US-based corporation that licensed low power semiconductor intellectual property. Transmeta originally produced very long instruction word code morphing microprocessors, with a focus on reducing power consumption in electronic devices. It was founded in 1995 by Bob...
. In 2002 he joined MathWorks to contribute to the MATLAB
MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...
programming language.
Johnson served on the USENIX
USENIX
-External links:* *...
board for ten years, four of those as president, and is now the USENIX representative to the Computing Research Association.
Johnson's famous epigram is often quoted: "Using TSO
Time Sharing Option
In computing, Time Sharing Option is an interactive time-sharing environment for IBM mainframe operating systems, including OS/360 MVT, OS/VS2 , MVS, OS/390, and z/OS.- Overview :TSO fulfills a similar purpose to Unix login sessions...
is like kicking a dead whale down the beach".