Christopher Strachey was a British computer scientist and a founding figure of the Programming Research Group at Oxford University. With Dana Scott he developed denotational semantics, a mathematical framework for precisely describing what a computer program means independent of any particular machine, which became foundational to the theory of programming languages. Strachey also carried out early work on time-sharing systems and macro-based programming techniques in Britain during the 1960s.
Facts
AwardFellow of the British Computer Society 2 FAQs
Did Christopher Strachey write one of the first video games?
He may have: his 1951 to 1952 draughts program is described as possibly the first video game.
Possibly, according to Wikipedia. In May 1951 Strachey developed a checkers (draughts) program in his spare time for the Pilot ACE at the National Physical Laboratory. It used up the machine's memory and failed because of program errors when first run on 30 July 1951. He then rewrote it in the operation codes of the Manchester Mark 1, which had a much bigger memory, using a manual he obtained from Alan Turing. By the summer of 1952 it could play a complete game at a reasonable speed. The article says this may have been the first video game.
Connections
In Field
Source Wikipedia: Christopher Strachey
Invented
Source CPL (programming language) (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Ferranti Pegasus
Invented By
Source Programming Language Database (PLDB): CPL
In the Other Atlases
Nationality
Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Christopher Strachey
Wikimedia FoundationLead section
Strachey ( STRAY-chee; 16 November 1916 - 18 May 1975) was a British computer scientist.
- In Field: Programming Language Theory, Lead paragraph
View the Source 2. Wikidata: Christopher Strachey
Wikipedia: Ferranti Pegasus
Wikimedia FoundationInvented: Ferranti Pegasus, Lead sectionQuote, Invented: Ferranti Pegasus, Lead section
Much of the development was the product of three men: W. S. (Bill) Elliott (hardware), Christopher Strachey (software) and Bernard Swann (marketing and customer support).
Programming Language Database (PLDB): CPL
Invented By: CPL (programming language), PLDB CPL page, opening line [invented]Quote, Invented By: CPL (programming language), PLDB CPL page, opening line [invented]
created in 1963 by Christopher Strachey
CPL (programming language) (Wikipedia)
Invented: CPL (Combined Programming Language), Infobox: designerQuote, Invented: CPL (Combined Programming Language), Infobox: designer
Christopher Strachey et al.
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