John Lions (19 January 1937 – 5 December 1998) was an Australian
computer scientist
A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science.
Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...
. He is best known as the author of ''
Lions' Commentary on UNIX 6th Edition, with Source Code
''A Commentary on the UNIX Operating System'' by John Lions (later reissued as ''Lions' Commentary on UNIX 6th Edition'') is a highly influential 1976 publication containing analytical commentary on the source code of the 6th Edition Unix comput ...
'', commonly known as the ''Lions Book''.
Early life
Lions gained a degree with first-class honours from the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
in 1959. He applied, and received a
scholarship
A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need.
Scholarsh ...
to study at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
where he earned his doctorate on
Control engineering
Control engineering or control systems engineering is an engineering discipline that deals with control systems, applying control theory to design equipment and systems with desired behaviors in control environments. The discipline of controls o ...
in 1963. After his graduation, he worked at the consulting firm
KCS Ltd in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada. In 1967, he briefly took a position at
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...
in
Halifax, Canada before moving on to working for
Burroughs in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
as a
Systems Analyst
A systems analyst, also known as business technology analyst, is an information technology (IT) professional who specializes in analyzing, designing and implementing information systems. Systems analysts assess the suitability of information syst ...
.
Later life
In 1972 he moved back to
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and became a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...
(UNSW). In 1980, he was promoted to Associate
Professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
and apart from sabbaticals in 1978, 1983 and 1989 at
Bell Laboratories
Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984),
then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996)
and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007),
is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...
, he remained at the school until retiring in 1995 due to bad health.
Work
* His most famous work, the
Lions Book, was written as course notes for his
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
s course at UNSW.
* Lions organised the
Australian UNIX Users' Group and was its founding president from 1984 to 1986.
* Lions was involved in the setting up of an annual conference for academics, the
Australian Computer Science Conference and he was the editor of the
Australian Computer Journal for six years and was made a fellow of the
Australian Computer Society
The Australian Computer Society (ACS) is an association for information and communications technology professionals with over 48,000 members Australia-wide. According to its Constitution, its objectives are "to advance professional excellence ...
for his contribution.
Personal life
John Lions was married to Marianne and had two children, Katherine and Elizabeth.
Contribution to UNSW
This commentary is included in an unofficial history
of UNSW's Computer Science & Engineering by
Ken Robinson (computer scientist)
Kenneth ("Ken") Arthur Robinson (30 July 1938 – 5 September 2020) was an Australian computer scientist. He has been called "The Father of Formal Methods in Australia".
Early life and education
Ken Robinson was born in 1938. He received his ...
, their longest serving member of teaching staff.
John Lions and UNIX
Also in the early seventies, the groundbreaking creation of the UNIX operating system and the C programming language by Bell Laboratories researchers Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie inspired programmers globally including Lecturers Ken Robinson (on staff from 1972) and John Lions (on staff from 1973). In 1973, Ken Robinson recognised the UNIX OS as "too good to be true" and acquired a copy of the system from Bell Laboratories. John Lions took over the management of the installation of UNIX on the department's PDP 11/40 computer and, recognising the importance of the accessibility of this system immediately incorporated a study of UNIX in his teaching, making significant modifications to two of his courses. In addition, he wrote the ‘Source Code and Commentary on Unix Level 6’ and handed cardboard bound copies on computer printout paper to his astonished students. Containing the entire UNIX 6 operating system, the book proved an invaluable teaching resource and a technical bible for a whole generation of professionals.
Legally, the book was only supposed to be available to licensees of UNIX 6 and by the time of the release of UNIX 7 in 1979, intellectual property laws were invoked to ban its publication. One programming student recalled, ‘because we couldn’t legally discuss the book in the university’s operating systems class, several of us would meet at night in an empty classroom to discuss the book. It was the only time in my life I was an active member of an underground.’ r Peter Reintjes (BE ’xx) quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald, 11 December 1999
In the early 1980s multiple copies of the Lion’s book were photocopied. (title) John Lions taught until 1991 and lived just long enough to see the ban on his book finally lifted in 1998. The importance of his work was recognised by the dedication on 26 June 2002 of the John Lions Garden outside the K17 building, with an annular placed around the largest tree bearing the inscription, ‘Lions’ books inspired a generation of operating systems designers.’ NSW Engineers, Issue 7, November 2002, p10.At the same time, a Lions Chair in Computer Science was established, funded partly through the University, but largely through the tremendous efforts of former students who he motivated and inspired with his teaching and research and who acknowledge his defining influence on their professional lives.
UNSW had the first installation of UNIX in Australia, and was one of the first places to be using that system outside of the USA. The School of Computer Science and Engineering has continued to base a significant amount of its teaching on UNIX-like systems, nowdays Linux.
Posthumous honours
John Lions Chair in Computer Science
After his death, John O'Brien, Chris Maltby,
Greg Rose and Steve Jenkin, former students of Lions, commenced a campaign to raise funds to create a chair in his name at
UNSW
The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...
, th
John Lions Chair of Operating Systems With donations from many UNSW alumni, corporations,
Usenix,
Linux Australia Linux Australia is the national, Australian Free and Open Source Software Community organisation. It was founded in 1997 and formally incorporated in New South Wales as a non-profit organisation in 1999. Linux Australia aims to represent Australian ...
, the chair wa
created in 2006 becoming the first chair at UNSW funded by contributions from alumni. In 2009,
Gernot Heiser
Gernot Heiser (born 1957) is a Scientia Professor and the John Lions
John Lions (19 January 1937 – 5 December 1998) was an Australian computer scientist. He is best known as the author of ''Lions' Commentary on UNIX 6th Edition, with ...
became the inaugural John Lions Chair. Of the
Usenix donations, US$6,000 came from th
1998 auction of the California UNIX license plateby Ted Dolotta, won by
John Mashey
John R. Mashey (born 1946) is an American computer scientist, director and entrepreneur.
Career
Mashey holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Pennsylvania State University, where he developed the ASSIST assembler language teaching software. He wo ...
, who had lent his copies of the Lions book he had gotten at Bell Labs years before and never gotten back. Lions had graciously replaced them with autographed copies on an earlier visit of Mashey to Sydney. They now ar
membersof the collection at the
Computer History Museum
The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a museum of computer history, located in Mountain View, California. The museum presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the information age, and explores the computing revolution and its impact on ...
.
John Lions Garden
In 2002,
UNSW
The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...
dedicated th
John Lions Gardenin front of the new Computer Science and Engineering building to Lions' memory.
John Lions Award for Contribution to Open Software
In 2011, The School of Computer Science and Engineering at
UNSW
The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...
initiated th
John Lions Award for Contribution to Open Software The Prize is open to high school and undergraduate university students enrolled in an Australian secondary or tertiary institution. Full-time and part-time students are eligible, as well as local and internationals students. The annual prize is valued at $1,000.
References
External links
(
Peter H. Salus
Peter Henry Salus is a linguist, computer scientist, historian of technology, author in many fields, and an editor of books and journals. He has conducted research in germanistics, language acquisition, and computer languages.
Education and c ...
, ''
USENIX News'', 22 March 1999)
Code Critic(Rachel Chalmers, ''Salon'' 30 November 1999)
The John Lions Award For Research Work in Open Systems(Australian Unix Users' Group)
The John Lions Chair in Operating Systems(University of New South Wales)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lions, John
1937 births
1998 deaths
Unix people
Australian computer scientists
University of New South Wales faculty
Burroughs Corporation people