Harlan D. Mills (May 14, 1919 – January 8, 1996) was Professor of
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 Applied science, practical discipli ...
at the
Florida Institute of Technology and founder of Software Engineering Technology, Inc. of
Vero Beach,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
(since acquired by
Q-Labs). Mills' contributions to
software engineering
Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development.
A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term '' ...
have had a profound and enduring effect on education and industrial practice. Since earning his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
in Mathematics at
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...
in 1952, Mills led a distinguished career.
As an
IBM research fellow, Mills adapted existing ideas from
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
and
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 Applied science, practical discipli ...
to software development. These included
automata theory, the
structured programming
Structured programming is a programming paradigm aimed at improving the clarity, quality, and development time of a computer program by making extensive use of the structured control flow constructs of selection ( if/then/else) and repetition ( ...
theory of
Edsger Dijkstra,
Robert W. Floyd
Robert W Floyd (June 8, 1936 – September 25, 2001) was a computer scientist. His contributions include the design of the Floyd–Warshall algorithm (independently of Stephen Warshall), which efficiently finds all shortest paths in a graph and ...
, and others, and
Markov chain
A Markov chain or Markov process is a stochastic model describing a sequence of possible events in which the probability of each event depends only on the state attained in the previous event. Informally, this may be thought of as, "What happe ...
-driven software testing. His
Cleanroom software development process
In software engineering, a software development process is a process of dividing software development work into smaller, parallel, or sequential steps or sub-processes to improve design, product management. It is also known as a software devel ...
emphasized
top-down design
Top-down and bottom-up are both strategies of information processing and knowledge ordering, used in a variety of fields including software, humanistic and scientific theories (see systemics), and management and organization. In practice, they c ...
and
formal specification. Mills contributed his ideas to the profession in six books and over fifty refereed articles in technical journals.
Mills was termed a "super-programmer", a term which would evolve to the concept in IBM of a "
Chief Programmer."
Achievements
* Ph.D.:
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...
, 1952
* Visiting Professor (Part Time) 1975-1987
* Adjunct Professor, 1987-1995
* Chairman, NSF Computer Science Research Panel on Software Methodology, 1974–77
* the Chairman of the First National Conference on Software Engineering, 1975
* Editor for IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 1975–81
* U.S. Representative for Software at the IFIP Congress, 1977
* Governor of the IEEE Computer Society, 1980–83
* Chairman for IEEE Fall CompCon, 1981
* Chairman, Computer Science Panel,
U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, 1986
* Awardee, Distinguished Information Sciences Award, DPMA 1985
* Designer of initial NFL scheduling algorithm (http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_harlan/407/)
The ICSE-affiliated colloquium "Science and Engineering for Software Development" is being organized in honor of Harlan D. Mills, and as a recognition of his enduring legacy to the theory and practice of software engineering. The ICSE-affiliated colloquium "Science and Engineering for Software Development" was being organized in honor of Harlan D. Mills (1919–1996), and as a recognition of his enduring legacy to the theory and practice of software engineering. The first annual "Harlan Mills Practical Visionary Prize" award was presented in 1996. This award is given to an individual who has demonstrated a long-standing and meaningful contribution to both the theory and practice of the information sciences.
Career
Early life
Born in
Liberty Center, Iowa
Liberty Center is an unincorporated community in southern Warren County, Iowa, United States. It lies along U.S. Route 65 south of the city of Indianola, the county seat of Warren County. Its elevation is 1,024 feet (312 m), and it is ...
. As a young man, Mills studied art with
Grant Wood
Grant DeVolson Wood (February 13, 1891 February 12, 1942) was an American painter and representative of Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for '' American Gothic'' (193 ...
. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Mills became a bomber pilot in the
U.S. Army Air Corps. His skills in flying and teaching were such that rather than having him fly missions, the Army assigned him to train other pilots.
Education
Mills served on the faculties of
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...
,
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
and
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...
Universities, the Universities of Maryland and Florida,
and
Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). At Johns Hopkins and Maryland, he initiated one of the first American university courses in structured programming. At Maryland, he developed a new two-semester freshman introduction to computer science and textbook "''Principles of Computer Programming: A Mathematical Approach''" with co-authors Basili, Gannon, and Hamlet. At FIT, he developed a new freshman and sophomore curriculum for software engineering using Ada as the underlying language with colleagues Engle and Newman.
Industry
Mills was an
IBM Fellow and Member of the Corporate Technical Committee at IBM, a Technical Staff Member at GE
and RCA, and President of Mathematica and Software Engineering Technology. At GE, he developed a three-month curriculum in management science attended by hundreds of GE executives. At IBM, he was the primary architect of the IBM Software Engineering Institute where thousands of IBM software personnel were trained in the mathematical foundations of software. He later embodied the mathematical and statistical principles for software in the Cleanroom software engineering process. As founder of Software Engineering Technology, he created an enterprise for Cleanroom technology transfer.
Nation
Mills had an abiding interest in fostering sound software engineering practices through federal programs. During the formative period of the DoD DARPA STARS Program in the 1980s, he provided fundamental concepts for development of high quality software at high productivity. In 1986, he served as Chairman of the Computer Science Panel for the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. During 1974-77, he was Chairman of the NSF Computer Science Research Panel on Software Methodology.
Profession
Mills was a program committee member and invited speaker for many professional conferences, and a referee for many mathematics and
computer science journals. From 1980-83, he was Governor of the IEEE Computer Society. In 1981, he was the Chairman for IEEE Fall CompCon. During 1975-81, he served as Editor for IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. In 1977, he was the U.S. Representative for Software at the IFIP Congress. In 1975, he was the Chairman of the First National Conference on Software Engineering.
Harlan D. Mills Award
To honor Mills the
IEEE Computer Society created the ''Harlan D. Mills Award'', the first one presented in 1999, for "contributions to the theory and practice of the
information sciences,
ocused onsoftware engineering
Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development.
A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term '' ...
".
Further reading
* Linger and Witt (1979), ''Structured Programming: Theory and Practice'', presents Mills' function-theoretic approach to program verification
* ''Software Productivity'' (1983), includes a collection of his seminal papers on chief programmer teams, top-down design, structured programming, program correctness, and other fundamental ideas in software engineering
* Linger and Hevner (1986), ''Principles of Information System Analysis and Design'', includes Mills' reduction of the mathematics of specification and design to practice
References
External links
IP: Harlan Mills passed away this week- Mailing list message with details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Harlan
Iowa State University alumni
1919 births
1996 deaths
Formal methods people
IBM Fellows
Florida Institute of Technology faculty