Donald McIntyre
Roger Hui
passed away peacefully in the afternoon of
October 21. Donald was an eminent geologist
who pioneered the use of computers in geology.
He was a gifted and inspiring teacher, an early
and long-time APL and J user, and a friend and
colleague of Ken Iverson and myself. He is
survived by his wife Ann and his son Ewen.
A memorial service will be held in St. John's
Kirk in Perth, Scotland, this coming Friday,
October 30.
Information about Donald's life and times and
his work can be found at
http://www.dbmcintyre.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
Curtis A. Jones
A marvelous man has left us. He and I were close when Donald taught
at Pomona.
In May, 1989, shortly before Donald returned to Scotland after his
years in
Southern California, SOCAL SIGAPL presented him with a lifetime
membership
in the British APL Association. Here's the presentation speech:
Our speaker and honoree this evening
needs no introduction to anyone who
can spell APL. Donald McIntyre's
30 years in Southern California are
drawing to a close as he prepares to
return to his native Scotland.
Donald, could you please step up.
England, by the way, which was
erroneously mentioned in the
Newsletter, is a small and
insignificant country located
somewhat south of Scotland on
the island of Great Britain.
Donald, we will sorely miss your
cheerful visage. To start you off
on the right-to-left foot back home,
we are pleased to present you with
a lifetime membership in the
British APL Association.
And, to punctuate your long service
and last appearance before this group,
we present you with this plaque, which
reads:
A teacher yet always a student,
a linguist at home with Burns or APL,
a raconteur of wisdom and wit,
a geologist without parallel.
Thank you,
Donald B. McIntyre
for your inspiration, your
friendship, and your loyalty,
Southern California SIGAPL
May 24, 1989
I recall many wonderful visits to his homes in both Pomona and
Scotland. The
libations of his native land were shared liberally.
Roger Hui
http://www.dbmcintyre.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
provided in my original msg no longer worked.
It turns out that the ISP has a policy
barring access to personal websites of
deceased persons. Nevertheless, due to
a flaw in the execution of that policy,
for the nonce, most if not all of the contents
of Donald's website are still available via:
http://www.dbmcintyre.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index_f/menu.htm
I have taken steps to preserve the information
in the website.
Roger Hui
is at http://www.mcintyre.me.uk/ .
What a remarkable life that the website recounts.
For example:
Ma Xingyuan and Donald were fellow graduate students
in geology in 1946-1948. On obtaining his doctorate
Ma returned to China in 1948. Due to the Communist
Revolution and the subsequent tumults, all contact
between Ma and Donald were lost. Donald did not
even know whether Ma was alive or dead.
In March 1985, out of the blue, Donald in Claremont CA.
received a phone call from Ma in New York. It turned
out that in the intervening years Ma had become the
Director of the State Seismological Bureau in Beijing
and President of the Geological Society of China,
and had been "following" Donald through the geological
literature. The reacquaintance of Ma and Donald led
to Donald giving a series of lectures and workshops
in China on computing and geology.
On Oct 28, 8:32 pm, Roger Hui <RHui...@Shaw.CA> wrote:
> It was brought to my attention that the URLhttp://www.dbmcintyre.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
Catherine Lathwell
get buried and lost in cyberspace.
CPN
> I wish you were posting these notes on my blog. I'll be sad if they
> get buried and lost in cyberspace.
Have no fear Catherine. Myself and Donald's brother Ranald along with
help are making sure that nothing gets lost and that Donald's entire
website will remain visible "in perpetuity". It's the least we can do
for such a towering man who was my close friend for 20 year and whom I
shall miss dearly.
Colin Nowell
Björn Helgason, j-programming
He had written down some formulas and some of them were using names of
some entities that had not been previously defined.
Someone in the auditorium asked "what does it mean when a name is not
defined?"
Donald immediately replied "It means it is defined somewhere else"
Roger Hui
very proud of the SOCAL SIGAPL plaque.
When I visited him in Perth in June 2008
I saw that the plaque was displayed prominently
in his study. (I have photographic evidence.)