Profile
Philip Wadler
My CV
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Qualifications:
Stanford 1973-1977; Carnegie Mellon 1977-1982
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Work History:
Oxford 1983-1987; Glasgow 1987-1996; Bell Labs 1996-2001; Avaya Labs 2001-2003; Edinburgh 2003-
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Current Job:
Professor
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“In their capacity as a tool, computers will be but a ripple on the surface of our culture. In their capacity as intellectual challenge, they are without precedent in the cultural history of mankind.” — Edsgar Dijkstra
I believe that in his usual style, Dijkstra was exaggerating. I think there are two precedents: the invention of writing and the discovery of mathematics. Computing give us, with prose and mathematics, a third way to describe our discoveries.
(Dijkstra is a winner of the Turing Award, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for computer scientists. He was wrote the above twenty years before the web. It’s now become clear that as a tool, computers are important. But I think there importance as ‘an intellectual challenge’ will prove more important.) -
My Typical Day:
A good day: meeting with students, writing a paper. A bad day: answering e-mail. A really good day: writing a program.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Develop a programming language for schoolkids.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
<a href="http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/killerquiz/">Not serial killer</a>
Were you ever in trouble at school?
No – I was too much of a nerd to get into trouble.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Daikaiju.
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
More time to program; More time to write papers; More time to think of ideas to program and write papers about.
Tell us a joke.
There are two kinds of people—those who think there are two kinds of people, and those who don’t.
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