A farewell to Simon Peyton Jones as he leaves Microsoft Research
Subject: RE: New horizon
I would like to add a few words to what Chris has written. I know I am also speaking for Mads, the current lead designer of C# (cc’d)
Subject: RE: New horizon
I would like to add a few words to what Chris has written. I know I am also speaking for Mads, the current lead designer of C# (cc’d)
From 1997 to 2015, Simon PJ was pivotal in the Programming Principles and Tools group at MSR Cambridge. The work of that group included major contributions to the research and practice of programming, a stream of seminal publications,..
... and succeeded in changing the conceptual foundation of programming for millions of programmers through direct contributions to Haskell, C# and F# - and transitively through profound influence on other languages.
From the perspective of the 10-20 million professional developers in the world, this is amongst the most influential work to come out of Microsoft Research, because they use the results of that work every day.
Microsoft of course has made much through the position it has established in the developer market in the last 30 years – it is the bed rock of the company, and that will remain the case for many years to come.
Throughout this time Simon PJ has been an inspiration, assistance and guiding light (direct or indirect) for many of the activities that have been done in languages and libraries.
This is true whether directly through his immensely perceptive technical insight and utterly charming personality, or indirectly through his work on Haskell and other technical contributions.
One example - when the Task Parallel Library for .NET was created by Daan Lleijen, Joe Duffy and Stephen Toub, Joe was literally wearing a lambda tattoo.
That library and its counterpart in C# async programming is now used by millions directly, and influences C++, Python, TypeScript and many more.
The point of view on programming that underlay that library was functional, and compositional.
The vehicle by which that influence was conveyed into Joe Duffy’s mind was Haskell.
The man making Haskell was Simon (and other contributors, all deeply inspired by Simon).
The vehicle by which that influence was conveyed into Joe Duffy’s mind was Haskell.
The man making Haskell was Simon (and other contributors, all deeply inspired by Simon).
If you are a modern programmer, Simon PJ owns your mind.
The way we think about programming is the way Simon thinks about programming. Except where it isn’t, in which case we’re probably wrong, or you're in for a fascinating and robust conversation with the gentle man.
The way we think about programming is the way Simon thinks about programming. Except where it isn’t, in which case we’re probably wrong, or you're in for a fascinating and robust conversation with the gentle man.
That is just one example – there are countless others. Haskell itself is learned directly by many thousands and continues to be recognized as the gold standard in research in functional programming.
The influence of Haskell (and the point of view on computation it represents) shows through in almost every area of computing – from research to industry, from education to the most advanced areas of machine learning programming.
Simon's influence will resonate down the ages, long after we’re all long gone. He has made a lasting mark on history.
I want to thank Simon for his influence on my own work - again sometimes indirect - also for his limitless personal kindness, and everything he has brought to Microsoft. His charitable giving has been an inspiration to many, and he is a man of dignity.
From my perspective he has been a hugely valued asset to the company and it is deeply sad to have to say goodbye. I look forward to having him as a colleague in the world of open source and hope that our paths cross often.
With greatest fondness and deepest respect
Don
With greatest fondness and deepest respect
Don
cc @stroustrup
ps. A wonderful additional note from @panopticoncntrl, for many years the designer of Visual Basic
https://mobile.twitter.com/panopticoncntrl/status/1436208432952975362
So true about attracting talent just by being there, by inspiring
https://mobile.twitter.com/_protz_/status/1436308836193685513
Apologies to Daan Leijen for mis-spelling his name up above. To make up for it here's his homepage, please read and reference his papers :)
microsoft.com/en-us/research…
microsoft.com/en-us/research…
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