Barry James Mailloux (1940? – 26 May 1982) obtained his

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

(M.Sc.) in

numerical analysis Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation (as opposed to symbolic computation, symbolic manipulations) for the problems of mathematical analysis (as distinguished from discrete mathematics). It is the study of ...

in 1963. From 1966, he studied at Amsterdam's

Mathematisch Centrum The (abbr. CWI; English: "National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science") is a research centre in the field of mathematics and theoretical computer science. It is part of the institutes organization of the Dutch Research Cou ...

under

Adriaan van Wijngaarden Adriaan "Aad" van Wijngaarden (2 November 1916 – 7 February 1987) was a Dutch mathematician and computer scientist. Trained as an engineer, Van Wijngaarden would emphasize and promote the mathematical aspects of computing, first in numerical an ...

, earning a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

(Ph.D.) in 1968. He was the "first et al editor" of the original ''Report on the Algorithmic Language

ALGOL 68 ALGOL 68 (short for ''Algorithmic Language 1968'') is an imperative programming language that was conceived as a successor to the ALGOL 60 programming language, designed with the goal of a much wider scope of application and more rigorously de ...

'', and the ''Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 68''. He was a member of the

International Federation for Information Processing The International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) is a global organisation for researchers and professionals working in the field of computing to conduct research, develop standards and promote information sharing. Established in 196 ...

(IFIP)

IFIP Working Group 2.1 IFIP Working Group 2.1 on Algorithmic Languages and Calculi is a working group of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP). IFIP WG 2.1 was formed as the body responsible for the continued support and maintenance of the progra ...

, which specified, maintains, and supports the

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

ALGOL 60 ALGOL 60 (short for ''Algorithmic Language 1960'') is a member of the ALGOL family of computer programming languages. It followed on from ALGOL 58 which had introduced code blocks and the begin and end pairs for delimiting them, representing a k ...

and ALGOL 68. In 1968, he returned to the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

as an assistant professor in the Department of Computing Science. His work on ALGOL 68 made the university a world center for ALGOL 68-related activity. Mailloux's student Chris Thomson and friend Colin Broughton established Chion Corporation, which produced the ''Full Language Algol 68 Checkout Compiler'' (

FLACC FLACC is an implementation of the ALGOL 68 programming language. Chris Thomson and Colin Broughton founded ''Chion Corporation'' which developed and marketed FLACC (''Full Language Algol 68 Checkout Compiler''). This compiler and run-time system ...

). FLACC proved Mailloux's contention that ALGOL 68 could indeed be implemented, contrary to the public complaints from some, such as

Edsger Dijkstra Edsger Wybe Dijkstra ( ; ; 11 May 1930 – 6 August 2002) was a Dutch computer scientist, programmer, software engineer, systems scientist, and science essayist. He received the 1972 Turing Award for fundamental contributions to developing progra ...

References

1982 deaths Canadian computer scientists University of Alberta faculty {{Canada-compu-bio-stub