Melvin Edward Conway is an American computer scientist, computer programmer, and
hacker
A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...
who coined what is now known as
Conway's law
Conway's law is an adage that states organizations design systems that mirror their own communication structure. It is named after the computer programmer Melvin Conway, who introduced the idea in 1967. His original wording was:
The law is bas ...
: "Organizations, who design systems, are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations."
The
adage
An adage (; Latin: adagium) is a memorable and usually philosophical aphorism that communicates an important truth derived from experience, custom, or both, and that many people consider true and credible because of its longeval tradition, i.e. ...
remains relevant in modern
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 '' ...
and is still being referenced and investigated.
Apart from the above, Conway is perhaps most famous for developing the concept of
coroutines. Conway coined the term ''coroutine'' in 1958 and he was the first to apply the concept to an
assembly program.
He later authored a seminal paper on the subject of coroutines, titled "Design of a Separable Transition-diagram Compiler",
which included the first published explanation of the concept.
In this paper, he proposed organizing a compiler as a set of coroutines, which allows using separate passes while debugging and then running a single pass compiler in production. Another famous paper is his 1958 proposal of an
UNCOL UNCOL (Universal Computer Oriented Language) is a universal intermediate language for compilers. The idea was introduced in 1958, by a SHARE ad-hoc committee. It was never fully specified or implemented; in many ways it was more a concept than a l ...
,
a Universal Computer Oriented Language, which attempted to provide a solution to economically produce compilers for new
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 ...
s and
computer architecture
In computer engineering, computer architecture is a description of the structure of a computer system made from component parts. It can sometimes be a high-level description that ignores details of the implementation. At a more detailed level, t ...
s.
Conway wrote an
assembler
Assembler may refer to:
Arts and media
* Nobukazu Takemura, avant-garde electronic musician, stage name Assembler
* Assemblers, a fictional race in the ''Star Wars'' universe
* Assemblers, an alternative name of the superhero group Champions of ...
for the
Burroughs model 220 computer called SAVE. The name SAVE was not an acronym, but a feature: programmers lost fewer
punched card
A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a piece of stiff paper that holds digital data represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Punched cards were once common in data processing applications or to di ...
decks because they all had "SAVE" written on them.
His work on Pascal compiler for Rockwell Semiconductor (an immediate-turnaround Pascal trainer for the Rockwell AIM-65) led to an arrangement between Apple and Think Technologies (where he served as a principal) under which the latter produced the original (1984) Mac Pascal and Apple II Instant Pascal.
In the 1970s, he was involved with the
MUMPS (Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System) medical programming language standard specification for the
National Bureau of Standards
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
.
He also wrote a reference book on MUMPS in 1983.
Conway was granted a
US patent
Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited ...
in 2001 on "Dataflow processing with events", concerned with
programming using
graphical user interface
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
s. The patent expired in 2019.
In 2002, Conway obtained a
teacher license for high school math and physics in
. He taught at
Chelsea High School from 2002 to 2006.
Education
* Ph.D. Mathematics,
Case Western Reserve University (1961). Dissertation: "A Set-Theoretic Model For Logical Systems", Advisor:
Raymond John Nelson
* M.S. Physics,
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
* B.S. Physics,
Case Western Reserve University
Selected publications
* Conway, Melvin E. (July 1963)
"Design of a separable transition-diagram compiler" ''
Communications of the ACM
''Communications of the ACM'' is the monthly journal of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). It was established in 1958, with Saul Rosen as its first managing editor. It is sent to all ACM members.
Articles are intended for readers with ...
'', vol. 6, num. 7, pp. 396–408. doi: 10.1145/366663.366704
* Conway, Melvin E. (April 1968)
"How do Committees Invent?" ''
Datamation'', vol. 14, num. 4, pp. 28–31.
References
External links
melconway.comConway's personal home page
@conways_lawConway's
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
profile
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Melvin
American computer scientists
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Burroughs Corporation people