Alan Kotok
Alan Kotok (born November 9, 1941 in Philadelphia , † May 26, 2006 in Cambridge , Massachusetts ) was an American computer scientist and co-developer of Spacewar! , the first computer game in the world. Kotok developed the forerunner of the modern gamepad , a giant joystick with separate sticks for horizontal and vertical movements.
From 1958 to 1962 Kotok studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT ) in the field of artificial intelligence research. He developed one of the first chess programs during his studies and participated in the Space War program . For his work he used the TX0 computer , an MIT development, an IBM 7090 and a PDP-1 that had been made available to MIT by the manufacturer DEC .
After completing his studies, Kotok joined DEC. Although his main focus was the development of computer architectures and their implementation in hardware, he also worked on software developments (e.g. on a Fortran compiler for the PDP-4 or on a Lisp interpreter that was exclusively programmed in TECO ), programmed one of the first worldwide remote computer connections over a telex line between the USA and Australia.
In computer development, his focus was on the 36-bit family. He was significantly involved in the design and implementation of the PDP-6 and all central units of the PDP-10 (the type designation of the first PDP-10 CPU, KA10 , is based on his initials). After the end of the 36-bit family, he built the central processing unit 8600 (code name Venus ) from the VAX series .
As head of a strategy group within DEC, he then tried to gear the company more towards Internet applications. One result of these efforts was the AltaVista search engine , which was the market leader before Google .
In 1994 Kotok Digital became a representative in the World Wide Web Consortium . In 1997 he joined the W3C board full-time, of which he was a member until his death.
He died of a heart attack in 2006.
Individual evidence
- ↑ LISP written in TECO ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ Computer connection USA - Australia via Telex (English)
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kotok, Alan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American computer scientist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 9, 1941 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Philadelphia |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 26, 2006 |
| Place of death | Cambridge, Massachusetts |