Alan J. Perlis (April 1, 1922 - February 7, 1990) was an American computer scientist and professor at Purdue University, Carnegie Mellon University and Yale University. He is best known for his pioneering work in programming languages and in 1966 became the first recipient of the ACM Turing Award, an honor often described as the Nobel Prize of computing.
Perlis's career spanned the formative decades of computer science, from his early work on the Whirlwind project to his leadership in establishing academic departments dedicated to the field. His contributions include the Internal Translator (IT) compiler, a key role in the development of the ALGOL programming language, and a widely quoted collection of epigrams on programming practice.
Early Life and Education
Perlis was born to a Jewish family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in 1939. In 1943, he received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, later renamed Carnegie Mellon University.
During World War II, Perlis served in the U.S. Army, where his exposure to mathematical problems sparked a lasting interest in the subject. After the war, he pursued graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning a master's degree in 1949 and a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1950. His doctoral dissertation, titled "On Integral Equations, Their Solution by Iteration and Analytic Continuation," focused on numerical methods.
In 1952, Perlis participated in Project Whirlwind at MIT, one of the first digital computers to operate in real time. This experience introduced him to the practical challenges of computing and programming, setting the stage for his later work.
Academic Career and Programming Languages
Perlis joined the faculty at Purdue University in the early 1950s, then moved to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1956. At Carnegie, he served as chair of mathematics and later became the first head of the newly established computer science department, one of the earliest such departments in the United States. His leadership helped define computer science as a distinct academic discipline, separate from mathematics and electrical engineering.
In 1956, Perlis and his colleagues developed the Internal Translator (IT), a compiler for the IBM 650 computer. Computer scientist Donald Knuth later described IT as the first successful compiler, a milestone in making programming more accessible. Perlis also served as a member of the team that developed ALGOL, a programming language that influenced many subsequent languages, including C and Pascal. His work on compiler construction and advanced programming techniques earned him the inaugural Turing Award in 1966.
In 1962, Perlis was elected president of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), reflecting his standing in the professional community. In 1971, he moved to Yale University to take the chair of computer science and hold the Eugene Higgins chair. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1977.
Epigrams on Programming
In 1982, Perlis published "Epigrams on Programming" in the ACM SIGPLAN journal. The article presented a series of short, humorous, and programming-language-neutral statements about computers and programming, distilling lessons from his career. The epigrams have been widely quoted and remain a touchstone for programmers.
One notable epigram, number 54, coined the term "Turing tarpit," describing a programming language where "everything is possible but nothing of interest is easy." Other epigrams touch on topics such as software complexity, debugging, and the relationship between programming and mathematics. The collection first appeared in SIGPLAN Notices 17(9) in September 1982.
Later Work and Legacy
Perlis remained at Yale until his death in 1990. His later research and publications included work on APL, a high-level array programming language, and contributions to software metrics. He co-authored several books, including "An Introductory Course in Computer Programming" (1965) and "A View of Programming Languages" (1970).
Perlis's influence extended beyond his technical contributions. As a founding figure in computer science education, he helped shape curricula and research agendas at multiple institutions. His papers are archived at the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota, and his epigrams continue to be cited in discussions of programming practice.
See Also
- List of pioneers in computer science
- Artificial intelligence
- MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory