Niklaus Wirth at PARC

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Paolo Amoroso

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Jan 3, 2024, 4:05:08 PM1/3/24
to Medley Interlisp core
You may have already read the sad news of the passing of Niklaus Wirth on January 1, 2024.

Since he spent sabbaticals at PARC before the mid 1980s, I was wondering whether he also had collaborations or interactions with the Interlisp group or whether any of you worked with him.


Paolo
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Nick Briggs

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Jan 3, 2024, 4:16:01 PM1/3/24
to Paolo Amoroso, Lisp Core
I hadn’t seen that.  Thanks for passing on the news.

I suspect Wirth would have been spending his sabbatical in CSL - I don’t recall him being around ISL in 1984-85.

-- Nick

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Herb Jellinek

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Jan 3, 2024, 4:26:37 PM1/3/24
to lisp...@googlegroups.com, Nick Briggs, Paolo Amoroso, Lisp Core
Sad news, thanks for forwarding it.

I could be mistaken, but I seemed to recall he'd spent two sabbaticals at PARC.

I don't recall having had the opportunity to meet or even see him. Maybe our times there didn't overlap.

Herb
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Nick Briggs

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Jan 3, 2024, 4:30:25 PM1/3/24
to Herb Jellinek, Lisp Core, Paolo Amoroso
Yes, in the mid ‘70s and mid ‘80s, according to his Wikipedia article.

Paolo Amoroso

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Jan 3, 2024, 4:42:22 PM1/3/24
to Herb Jellinek, lisp...@googlegroups.com
On Wed, Jan 3, 2024 at 10:26 PM Herb Jellinek <jell...@newscenter.com> wrote:
I could be mistaken, but I seemed to recall he'd spent two sabbaticals at PARC.

Yes, Wirth's sabbaticals at PARC were in 1976-1977 and 1984-1985.

Ron Kaplan

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Jan 3, 2024, 4:52:00 PM1/3/24
to Nick Briggs, Herb Jellinek, Lisp Core, Paolo Amoroso
Yes, I remember interacting with him during his earlier visit (I was in CSL then, moved to ISL later on).  I remember a comment he made that has seemed more prescient as the years have gone by.  I think it was at the end of Warren’s Dlisp talk. Warren had pointed out that you could now get alerts whenever an email arrived.  Niklaus put up his hand and asked, why would anybody want such constant interruption?  How could you ever concentrate?

Herb Jellinek

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Jan 3, 2024, 4:52:52 PM1/3/24
to Paolo Amoroso, lisp...@googlegroups.com
That second sabbatical did overlap with my time, and now that I think about it I have a vague memory of being shown some kind of "Modula computer" with a raster display and mouse, made by a Swiss company - Logitech, I think the name was? - sitting in someone's office.  It reminded me of a Three Rivers PERQ.

Maybe that was Dr. Wirth's machine, or maybe it's just a false memory.

            Herb

Nick Briggs

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Jan 3, 2024, 4:57:29 PM1/3/24
to Herb Jellinek, Paolo Amoroso, Lisp Core
That would have been the “Lilith” machine.  I don’t know who made built them, though.

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Herb Jellinek

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Jan 3, 2024, 5:09:32 PM1/3/24
to Nick Briggs, Paolo Amoroso, Lisp Core
That's right!  Of course, it's all trickling back.

Wikipedia says that the Lilith's mouse "inspired" Logitech's, but maybe the one I saw was a production Logitech mouse?  I had certainly never heard of Logitech before, but the company name stuck in my mind.

And I just learned from Wikipedia that there was a Soviet-produced version of the Lilith.

            Herb

Paolo Amoroso

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Jan 4, 2024, 2:59:29 AM1/4/24
to Ron Kaplan, Lisp Core
On Wed, Jan 3, 2024 at 10:51 PM Ron Kaplan <ron.k...@post.harvard.edu> wrote:
Yes, I remember interacting with him during his earlier visit (I was in CSL then, moved to ISL later on).  I remember a comment he made that has seemed more prescient as the years have gone by.  I think it was at the end of Warren’s Dlisp talk. Warren had pointed out that you could now get alerts whenever an email arrived.  Niklaus put up his hand and asked, why would anybody want such constant interruption?  How could you ever concentrate?

Quite funny. What did Teitelman say?

Larry Masinter

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Jan 4, 2024, 3:25:27 PM1/4/24
to Paolo Amoroso, Ron Kaplan, Lisp Core
http://www.warrenteitelman.com/memoir.html

are you sure it was Wirth and not Dijkrsra
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Ron Kaplan

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Jan 4, 2024, 5:35:09 PM1/4/24
to Larry Masinter, Paolo Amoroso, Lisp Core
No, it was Wirth, that stood out. I don’t remember ever interacting with Dijksra.

I also don’t remember how Warren responded.
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