Jeff: "Richard Gabriel and Guy Steele are beasts in the world of computer science, and they are creative and witty geeks."
I have an extensive autobiography in "Patterns of Software," so I won't go into the details of my life much here. If you want to look at a curriculum vitae, I’ve put one here. Of more interest and not discussed many places is that very few years since 1967 have gone by when I wasn’t in a band. I started out playing keyboards—mostly Hammond organ (a model A100, which is the classic B3 but with a built-in amplifier) and Leslie speaker (the famous rotating speaker—I have a model 146, I believe)—but in the late 1970s I took up guitar. Since the early 1980s I’ve played co-lead in a band named "The Wizards" and lead in a band named "Not Dead Yet."
I have three guitars: a 1962 reissue Stratocaster, a mid-1970s Les Paul Custom (a black Beauty), and a Gibson 335. My amplifier is a Mesa Boogie Mark IV. Here is a photo of me playing at a gig with "Not Dead Yet."
In 1983, my then-band, The Wizards, played a gig at Jack Alpert's place on Stanford campus. The invitation included a letter purported to have been written by Hunter S. Thompson about an earlier Jack Alpert party my band played at. Despite what you might think about his politics, his morality, or his sanity, Hunter S. Thompson was a fine writer.
For people interested in inviting me to a conference, meeting, or event, here are my official photo and bio.
I've written 5 books; here is some information on them.
In April 1999 my father died; in June 2002 my mother joined him. In July I composed an essay on their lives to read at a memorial for them. If you'd like to read it, it is here.
In March 2005, I won the 2004 AAAI/ACM Allen Newell Award.
For innovations not only on fundamental issues in programming languages and software design but also on the interaction between computer science and other disciplines, notably architecture and poetry.
On June 11, 2005 I read a statement at the ACM Awards ceremony. Several asked me to put it up on this site.
For more information about the award....