Alexia Massalin (formerly Henry Massalin) is an American computer scientist and programmer. She pioneered the concept of

superoptimization Superoptimization is the process where a compiler automatically finds the optimal sequence for a loop-free sequence of instructions. Real-world compilers generally cannot produce genuinely ''optimal'' code, and while most standard compiler optim ...

, and designed the ''

Synthesis kernel In computer science, self-modifying code (SMC) is code that alters its own instructions while it is executing – usually to reduce the instruction path length and improve performance or simply to reduce otherwise repetitively similar code, ...

'', a small kernel with a

Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...

compatibility layer that makes heavy use of

self-modifying code In computer science, self-modifying code (SMC) is code that alters its own instructions while it is executing – usually to reduce the instruction path length and improve performance or simply to reduce otherwise repetitively similar code, ...

for efficiency.

Life and career

After high school, she was given a scholarship to the Cooper Union School of Engineering in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, where she obtained a bachelor's and master's degree. She went to obtain her Ph.D. in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1992, studying under professor Calton Pu. In the 1980s she worked for Philon Inc., a New York start up specializing in optimizing compilers. In October 1992, Massalin joined MicroUnity as a research scientist, where she became responsible for signal-processing modules and software architecture.

''Synthesis''

Massalin's first breakthrough product came while studying at Columbia. Massalin developed ''Synthesis'', an operating system kernel that allocated resources, ran security and low-level hardware interfaces, and created executable code to improve performance. Synthesis optimized critical operating system code using run-time information, which was a new insight previously thought impractical. To support ''Synthesis'', Massalin invented object-like data structures called

Quaject In computer science, a quaject is an object-like data structure containing both data and code (or pointers to code), exposed as an interface in the form of '' callentries'', and can accept a list of callentries to other quajects for ''callbacks'' a ...

s, which contain both data and code information. Massalin is still working on broadband microprocessors.

Personal life

Her parents were

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n refugees from

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

. In the 1940s, they moved to

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast ...

, New York, where her father became a construction worker. In a 1996 article in ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'' magazine, the author

Gary Andrew Poole Gary Andrew Poole is an American journalist and author. He has written for ''The New York Times'', ''The Atlantic'', ''Esquire'' and ''Time''. Books Poole is the author of ''The Galloping Ghost: Red Grange, An American Football Legend'' (Hought ...

said she "could be the Einstein of our time." She was well known for offering piggy back rides to people she met, which included notable computer scientists such as Dennis Ritchie,

Ken Thompson Kenneth Lane Thompson (born February 4, 1943) is an American pioneer of computer science. Thompson worked at Bell Labs for most of his career where he designed and implemented the original Unix operating system. He also invented the B programmi ...

, and artificial intelligence pioneer

Marvin Minsky Marvin Lee Minsky (August 9, 1927 – January 24, 2016) was an American cognitive and computer scientist concerned largely with research of artificial intelligence (AI), co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AI laboratory, ...

References

Living people American computer scientists American women computer scientists Columbia University alumni Transgender women 1962 births 21st-century LGBT people {{Compu-scientist-stub