David Wheeler was a British computer scientist on the EDSAC team at the University of Cambridge, credited with inventing the closed subroutine, a technique for calling a block of reusable code and reliably returning to the point of the call, which became a foundational building block of programming and was for a time known as the Wheeler jump. He later co-invented the Tiny Encryption Algorithm, a simple and widely implemented cipher, and contributed to the Burrows-Wheeler transform, a data-rearrangement technique used in later data compression tools.
Facts
AwardFellow of the Royal Society 2 AwardComputer History Museum Fellow 2 AwardFellow of the British Computer Society 2 David Wheeler
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FAQs
What was the Wheeler jump and who else is credited with the idea?
It was the common name for the jump to subroutine instruction; credit for subroutines is shared with Wilkes and Gill and predates them in Turing's 1945 paper.
The Wheeler jump was the name often given to the jump to subroutine instruction, after David Wheeler. Around 1951 Wheeler, Maurice Wilkes and Stanley Gill are credited with inventing what they called the closed subroutine, and Wheeler gave the first explanation of how to design software libraries. The credit is not exclusive: Alan Turing had already discussed subroutines in a paper of 1945 on design proposals for the NPL ACE, even inventing the concept of a return address stack.
Connections
Credited
Source Burrows-Wheeler transform (Wikipedia)
Source Tiny Encryption Algorithm (Wikipedia)
In Field
Source IEEE Computer Society History Committee: Computer Pioneers: David J Wheeler
Invented
Source Burrows-Wheeler transform (Wikipedia)
David Wheeler worked on the implementation of the Cambridge CAP computer.
Source Tiny Encryption Algorithm (Wikipedia)
Invented By
In the Other Atlases
Nationality
Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
Source Wikipedia: David WheelerLead sentence 1tier 2Quote, Lead sentence 1
David John Wheeler (9 February 1927 – 13 December 2004) was an English computer scientist and professor of computer science at the University of Cambridge.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: David Wheeler
Wikimedia FoundationLead sectionQuote, Lead section
David John Wheeler (9 February 1927 - 13 December 2004) was an English computer scientist and professor of computer science at the University of Cambridge.
2. David Wheeler (Wikidata)
Wikidata P166: Fellow of the Royal Society
Wikidata P166 (award received): Fellow of the Royal Society.
Wikidata P166: ACM Fellow
Wikidata P166 (award received): ACM Fellow.
Wikidata P166: Computer History Museum Fellow
Wikidata P166 (award received): Computer History Museum Fellow.
Wikidata P166: Computer Pioneer Award
Wikidata P166 (award received): Computer Pioneer Award.
Wikidata P166: Fellow of the British Computer Society
Wikidata P166 (award received): Fellow of the British Computer Society.
View the SourceBurrows-Wheeler transform (Wikipedia)
Credited: Burrows-Wheeler Transform Algorithm, Intro, lead sentence
David Wheeler
Invented: Burrows-Wheeler Transform Algorithm, Intro, lead sentence
David Wheeler
View the SourceIEEE Computer Society History Committee: Computer Pioneers: David J Wheeler
IEEE Computer Society History CommitteeIn Field: Programming Language Theory, Biography headerQuote, In Field: Programming Language Theory, Biography header
introduced the concept of the subroutine
XTEA (Wikipedia)
Invented By: XTEA, Lead [invented]
The cipher's designers were David Wheeler and Roger Needham of the Cambridge Computer Laboratory
Credited: XTEA, Lead [invented]
The cipher's designers were David Wheeler and Roger Needham of the Cambridge Computer Laboratory
View the SourceXXTEA (Wikipedia)
Invented By: XXTEA, Lead [invented]
The cipher's designers were Roger Needham and David Wheeler
Credited: XXTEA, Lead [invented]
The cipher's designers were Roger Needham and David Wheeler
View the SourceTiny Encryption Algorithm (Wikipedia)
Invented: Tiny Encryption Algorithm, Infobox, designers field
Roger Needham, David Wheeler
Credited: Tiny Encryption Algorithm, Lead paragraph
It was designed by David Wheeler and Roger Needham of the Cambridge Computer Laboratory; it was first presented at the Fast Software Encryption workshop in Leuven in 1994, and first published in the proceedings of that workshop.
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