Alfred Jack Cole (1925 – May 30, 1997) was a professor at the School 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 practical disciplines (includi ...

University of St. Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. He is credited with building on the establishing of Computer Science at St Andrews.

Career

Cole studied mathematics at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, completing his PhD on the theory of numbers in 1952. He then worked as a lecturer at

Heriot-Watt College Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

until 1956, when he moved to Queen’s College, Dundee. His interest in the potential of computer technology resulted in a move to

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_lab ...

in 1962, as Director of the Computing Laboratory. In 1965 he returned to Scotland and St Andrews, as Director of the Computing Laboratory and Reader in Computational Science. From 1965 Cole devoted his next twenty years to establishing computer science at St Andrews. His innovative approach included pioneering the teaching of Information Technology to Arts students. He developed techniques for

space-filling curve In mathematical analysis, a space-filling curve is a curve whose range contains the entire 2-dimensional unit square (or more generally an ''n''-dimensional unit hypercube). Because Giuseppe Peano (1858–1932) was the first to discover one, spa ...

s to be used in video compression, leading to his invention of murray polygons. One applied use of murray polygons is the

halftoning Halftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous-tone imagery through the use of dots, varying either in size or in spacing, thus generating a gradient-like effect.Campbell, Alastair. The Designer's Lexicon. ©2000 Chronicle, S ...

of rectangular images without using

dithering Dither is an intentionally applied form of noise used to randomize quantization error, preventing large-scale patterns such as color banding in images. Dither is routinely used in processing of both digital audio and video data, and is often ...

edge enhancement Edge enhancement is an image processing filter that enhances the edge contrast of an image or video in an attempt to improve its acutance (apparent sharpness). The filter works by identifying sharp edge boundaries in the image, such as the e ...

methods. He initiated the ''Distinguished Lecture Series'' in 1969. This series kept costs lower than similar conferences, with the intention of exposing students and others to leading edge topics. Costs were reduced through industry sponsorship and support from the university's School of Computer Science.

Jack Cole Building

To recognize his service, the school moved to the new ''Jack Cole Building'' in 2004. This was formally opened on .

Personal life

Cole's interests included cats, hill walking,

home brewing Homebrewing is the brewing of beer or other alcoholic beverages on a small scale for personal, non-commercial purposes. Supplies, such as kits and fermentation tanks, can be purchased locally at specialty stores or online. Beer was brewed do ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

(and

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

playing), golf, gardening and football. He was a supporter of East Fife F.C.

Published works

*"The preparation of examination time-tables using a small-store computer", 1964 *"Plane and Stereographic Projections of Convex Polyhedra from Minimal Information", 1966 *"A note on peano polygons and gray codes", 1985 *"Direct transformations between sets of integers and hilbert polygons", 1986 *"Compaction Techniques for Raster Scan Graphics using Space-filling Curves", 1987

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Jack Alumni of University College London Academics of the University of St Andrews 1997 deaths 1925 births