Charles H. Lindsey
Born
Charles Hodgson Lindsey

18 Apr 1931
Died13 Feb 2023, age 91
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
Known forRevised Report on Algol 68
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science
InstitutionsMathematical Laboratory, Cambridge
Ferranti/ICT
Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester
Websitewww.cs.man.ac.uk/~lindsec

Charles Hodgson Lindsey was a British computer scientist, most known for his involvement with the programming language ALGOL 68.

He was an editor of the Revised Report on Algol 68,[1][2] and co-wrote a ground breaking book on the language An Informal Introduction to Algol 68,[3] which was unusual because it was written so that it could be read horizontally (i.e., serially, in the normal manner) or vertically (i.e., starting with section 1.1, then 2.1, then 3.1, etc., before going back to section 1.2, then 2.2, and so on) depending on how a reader wanted to learn the language.

He was responsible for the research implementation of ALGOL 68 for the experimental MU5 computer at Manchester University, and maintained an implementation of a subset named ALGOL 68S.

He wrote the complete History of ALGOL 68 in:

Lindsey, C. H. (1996). "A History of ALGOL 68". In Bergin, T. J.; Gibson, R. G. (eds.). History of Programming Languages-II. ACM Press. ISBN 0-201-89502-1.

He was involved with developing international standards in programming and informatics, as a member of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) IFIP Working Group 2.1 on Algorithmic Languages and Calculi,[4] which specified, maintains, and supports the programming languages ALGOL 60 and ALGOL 68.[5] He was awarded the IFIP Silver Core Award in 1977.[6]

He was involved in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Working Group which produced the two RFC standards, of which he was a co-author, providing the Usenet distributed discussion system specification. He was also a member of the IETF DKIM Working Group which produced a scheme for signing email headers.[6]

He was a member of the Computer Conservation Society, North West Branch, and part of the team restoring Douglas Hartree's Differential Analyser at Manchester Museum of Science and Technology.[7]

References

  1. ^ van Wijngaarden, Adriaan; Mailloux, Barry James; Peck, John Edward Lancelot; Koster, Cornelis Hermanus Antonius; Sintzoff, Michel; Lindsey, Charles Hodgson; Meertens, Lambert Guillaume Louis Théodore; Fisker, Richard G., eds. (1976). Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 68 (PDF). Springer-Verlag. ISBN 978-0-387-07592-1. OCLC 1991170. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  2. ^ Marcotty, Michael; Ledgard, Henry F. (1987). The world of programming languages. Springer-Verlag. p. 324. ISBN 978-0-387-96440-9.
  3. ^ Lindsey, Charles H.; van der Meulen, S. G. (1977). An Informal Introduction to Algol 68. Amsterdam; Oxford: North-Holland Publishing. ISBN 0-7204-0726-5.
  4. ^ Jeuring, Johan; Meertens, Lambert; Guttmann, Walter (17 August 2016). "Profile of IFIP Working Group 2.1". Foswiki. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  5. ^ Swierstra, Doaitse; Gibbons, Jeremy; Meertens, Lambert (2 March 2011). "ScopeEtc: IFIP21: Foswiki". Foswiki. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Vale Charles H Lindsey". IFIP News. 27 March 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  7. ^ Lindsey, Gillian (Summer 2023). "Obituary : Charles H. Lindsey". Resurrection (102). Computer Conservation Society. ISSN 0958-7403. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

External links

ALGOL programming
Authority control databases
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