He will be missed. On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 12:19 PM, Jim Russell <[email protected]>wrote:
> Very sad. I considered him one of the giants here. > > > > On Aug 18, 2010, at 11:12 PM, Roger Hui <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Eugene McDonnell (1925-2010) died peacefully at home in > > Palo Alto in the evening of August 17, surrounded by > > family and friends. All of us in the APL world owe him > > a debt for his pioneering work in APL. > > > > I recently had the honor of writing the preface to Eugene's > > "At Work and Play with J" (a collaborate editing effort of the > > J community and a work of which Eugene was very proud). > > I reproduce it here because it gives a sense of the man > > and his work. > > > > In my youth, when I was just starting in APL, on receiving > > an issue of the APL Quote-Quad I would inevitably and > > eagerly first turn to Eugene McDonnell’s “Recreational APL” > > column. Through these columns I learned that it was possible > > for technical writing to be erudite, educational, and entertaining, > > and through them I learned a lot of APL. > > > > Thus it was with Eugene’s “At Play with J” articles > > in Vector. In topics ranging from primes to permutations > > to pyramids to pi, with a cast of characters that included > > Apter, Black, and Crelle, Jacob and Josephus, > > Blanda and Montana and Taylor, and Scholes, the articles > > offered up the “smoother pebbles” and “prettier shells” > > found while playing on the seashore bordering the great > > ocean of knowledge. And we are all beneficiaries > > of this play. > > > > I am pleased that Vector is publishing the collection of > > At Play with J as a book. I look forward to being > > educated and entertained once more. > > > > ------------------------------------------------ > > > > Wikipedia entry: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_McDonnell > > > > Collected papers and articles: > > http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/eem/ > > > > Quotations and Anecdotes: > > http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/eem/anecdotes.htm > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > -- Devon McCormick, CFA ^me^ at acm. org is my preferred e-mail ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
