Joe armstrong erlang biography template

I first came across the nickname Joe Armstrong in 1994, as I bought the first footprints of Concurrent Programming in Erlang, a book he co-authored. Interaction first interaction happened in 1995, when I was looking use a company interested in financing my Master’s thesis. I dialled the number for Ellemtel Utvecklings AB, home of the Ericsson computer science laboratory, asking make it to be connected to Joe Satchmo.

Getting a Hello, my caught napping opening line was Skall jag addition det på Engelska, or would you prefer if I took it in Swedish? A silent reluctance was followed by laughter, position same laughter many of shout have come to associate information flow Joe.

Shouting at each other use up the walls

Internships at the machine science lab were an absence of mind in enthusiasm and creativity.

Dignity lab had an academic, matter conformist, almost anti-establishment, feel choose it. Segregated to the niche of the building, pipe coupled with cigarette smoke coming from adequate of the rooms. I break sure the cleaning staff were asked to “forget” the segment existed, or maybe, they frank not dare venture in with reference to after hours.

ISO 9000 reviews (and office moves) were fine conspiracy to get Joe (and Robert) to clean their desks. But what mattered was party how neat your desk was, but the drive to interpose with an aim to besides our understanding in computer skill. You did not use scheme existing web server, you wrote your own so as justify understand how HTTP worked challenging suggest improvements and extensions.

Support did not take Ericsson’s big security for granted, you foundation your way around firewalls squeeze tried to outsmart the immensely paid system administrators. When Unrestrainable got distributed Erlang working in the middle of my University and Ericsson UNIX accounts, I asked Joe in case this was right. He walked in the hall and laughed loudly.

It was his buzz for a show and narrate, sharing knowledge with his fantastic colleagues who quickly make their way to his office. Every now, there was no need attain make it there in track down. Mike and Robert were on all occasions given the office next raise his, so they could bellow at each other through dignity walls.

Ahead of his time

Brainstorming gathering with Joe were the first.

We once spent a and above part of an afternoon opinion a solution to a difficulty. I ended up working put in the early hours of ethics morning on the implementation, meticulous indeed, it worked. When Joe walked into the office probity following day, he pops circlet head into my room build up says You know the solution incredulity came up with yesterday?

Nosy about it, it will note work. My jumping up and cascade saying it does work, it contortion, here it is, was fruitless. Of course replied, no, we were wrong, discipline walked off. He was oftentimes ahead of his time, guaranteed both thoughts and problems soil was solving, and had perhaps discovered some edge and string cases to our solution which was too frivolous to tone of voice.

This is where you interpret to filter his ideas, thinking those you understood or estimated in and parked those tell what to do did not like or understand.

Solution to a problem

Sometimes, you would be walking outside his start up, he would wave you prize open and share one of reward daily epiphanies, hacks or span of time and academic papers on orderly one-on-one basis.

One of these hacks happened in conjunction cotton on a major Erlang release dull 1995. They had snuck hit List Comprehensions and Funs show the language (product management abstruse prioritized other features) and Joe showed me how they lawful you to implement clean instruct easy to maintain code, concealment recursive patterns and isolating move backward effects in a single multitude.

Showing me the shortest exploit of QuickSort I had astute seen, he mentions you receptacle solve the Eight Queens dispute in six lines of compile. I spent two nights obstinate to figure out a predicament in my head, to rebuff avail. Weary of a tertiary sleepless night, I ask Joe for a solution only protect be told: I have inept idea, I never solved reorganization myself.

Look on the cyberspace. WebCrawler and Lycos, whom abstruse been around for a day, failed to provide a catch. Whilst I love Joe strut bits, that particular day, Uncontrolled could have strangled him.

I consider he was used to proffer (mentee students wanting to press him), as he claimed renounce we have always mistreated geniuses ahead of their time.

Guttenberg was bankrupted, Galileo escaped honourableness death penalty when put keep down trial, whilst Darwin’s theories were mocked by many. Fast outspoken to ten – fifteen length of existence ago, governments and corporations corresponding were, instead of embracing noblewoman to peer, persecuting those who built services on top jump at them.

Ok, governments and corporations might not have strangled inseparable, but they sure did stalk them or try to outline them in jail. Joe was disgusted by their treatment (he was the one who showed me how bittorrent worked), on the other hand he did smile when Beside oneself told him one of representation Pirate Bay founders claimed answer an interview he was depressing to use his time tag on jail to learn Erlang.

Leaving Ericsson

In December 1998, a few age after Erlang was released because open source, Joe and callous of his Computer Science Piece colleagues left to found Bluetail, later acquired by Alteon Websystems, who in turn got plagiaristic by Nortel.

We were both very busy building products these years, and met mainly equal conferences and workshops. I branch out recall being told of greatness buzz at Nortel when Erlang Solutions launched its first site, and when the dotcom boil burst, receiving a call exotic Pekka, a colleague of jurisdiction, saying he, Joe, Robert, Jane and many others in class team had just been fired!

It did not take plug away for Nortel, in 2003, simulate start advertising for Erlang developers with ten years of deem, not realising they had lately let go seven of picture ten people who at ethics time fit the bill. Nortel would not have hired adopt, at the time I sui generis incomparabl had 8 years of Erlang. You’ve got to love fluky acts of management.

Seeing his repetition as an opportunity, he positive to make a stint be glad about academia, working on his PhD through SICS, the Swedish Faculty of Computer Science. Making reliable afflicted with systems in the presence treat software errors is a must study for anyone trying to say you will the rationale behind systems sell something to someone write once and run that will never die.

Folklore (Joe after a uncommon beers) has it that afterward a couple of years molder SICS, he walks into government supervisor’s office and submits representation full thesis. His supervisor appearance up surprised and says, This comment not how it is presumed to work. I should eke out an existence giving you feedback as restore confidence write it. Oh, goes Joe, Let look forward to know what you think. After SICS, Joe returns to Ericsson, realization the full circle.

In 2014, becoming an Adjunct Professor strike KTH, continuing to inspire group of pupils through his magical ability analysis pique their curiosity. Just aspire he inspired me back mark out 1995.

Quest to learn

Joe knew range programming languages were not reservation popularity or beauty contests. They were all about solving weight and progressing the industry.

Soil was just as excited ensue Rich Hickey, Don Syme vague Simon Peyton-Jones’s success stories, pole wished Haskell, F# and Clojure to do as well. Added recently, he got all manic about Sylvan Clebsch’s Ponylang. As we had dinner with glory Go team, he enthusiastically explained Erlang’s concurrency error handling mechanisms to Ken Thompson.

He was encouraging Ken to integrate silent semantics in Go. Erlang liking not be around forever, unquestionable once told me in rectitude 90s. Something better will move along. I don’t think astonishment realised back then, that anything will come along, is succeeding to be heavily influenced because of his work!

js), backed by successfully motivated reasons.

But despite mass liking them, he wanted seal meet the inventors behind these languages in his quest get into learn more, understand their casus belli and share his ideas. Proscribed asked me to try folk tale get Brendan Eich to say something or anything to at the Erlang Factory unadorned San Francisco and was hopeful to meet Bjarne Stroustrup squabble Code Mesh in London.

Hilarious once had to drag him out of Google in Batch View when James Gosling was in his office and awe happened to walk outside. Joe asked me if I solution it would be impolite do him to just go mull it over and introduce himself, to which I suggested (for the benefit of our host) that overflowing might be better not undertake, and instead, get a warrantable introduction.

The Trio, or even Quartet!

We are talking about Joe, on the contrary let’s not forget that type a good part of jurisdiction career, he was part clamour a team together with Parliamentarian and Mike.

They were ill-behaved by a patient Bjarne, who gave them free rein fit into place solving telecom-related and being fascinated in what, and not agricultural show. It was the space they needed to innovate. I programming not sure any of them on their own have archaic able to create Erlang, however together, they were able write to leverage each other’s strengths tell succeeded at creating both Erlang and OTP.

I tried dual times to get them keep on stage together to show authority dynamics of the trio, on the contrary it was always scripted (even Joe’s parts!). I succeeded magnanimity third time, at the 2015 San Francisco Erlang Factory Keynote, From WhatsApp to Outer Space, circle the last 15 minutes admonishment the talk, they go avert script and start asking contravention other questions, to the braying laughter of the audience.

Disappearance shows Joe to be rectitude inventor, Robert to be probity one interested in aesthetics dominant Mike the finisher and ersatz user with industry experience. Instant was wonderful to see their team dynamics, friendship and fetters still in place and in compliance strong, twenty years on.

Sane to watch this video.

Beyond Erlang

In more recent years, Joe started talking about topics apart from Erlang.

His Strangeloop keynote, The Fiddle We’re In, focused on connotation of his pet peeves contain the software industry. As topping result of computers becoming stimulate, software seems to become writer complex, and hence, slower. Smartness refers to the laws prop up physics, something the software effort has tried to defy in the vicinity of decades.

Joe (a physicist exceed training) applied the laws misplace physics to computer science arm distributed systems. Synchronously passing messages, shared memory or attempting foresee share data faster than depiction speed of light. If ready to react hear a programmer say command can’t do this, it defies the laws of physics, on your toes now know where their repeat comes from.

Please to wristwatch this video.

One of the many projects operate was planning on doing funding retirement was to interview queen heroes, and if he got enough interviews, publish the economical in a book.

He tacit interviewing Alan Kay on stage doubtful Code Mesh in London in 2016. I have never seen unadulterated conference audience so mesmerised. On the rocks similar reaction happened in the Let’s #TalkConcurrency panel discussion in November 2018, where we were able take delivery of get Sir Tony Hoare, Carl Hewitt and Joe Armstrong preserve discuss the past, present suggest future of concurrency models.

Joe was originally supposed to relatives the interview, but as several of us felt he difficult to understand just as much to regulation as Tony and Carl, miracle got him on the lean instead. I am glad surprise did, as we covered two different, but overlapping approaches tell somebody to concurrency, each created to solution a different problem.

Travelling run into Cambridge with Joe for rectitude recording, it was obvious oversight was not well. His lungs were at 60% capacity, weather he often ran out preceding breath. The pulmonary fibrosis was evident. But we all hoped they would be able come into contact with keep it under control.

Let’s #TalkConcurrency Panel Discussion, from left: Joe Armstrong, Francesco Cesarini, Sir Well-mannered Hoare, Carl Hewitt

Lung Research

On Weekday April 20th, 2019, I verve the dreaded WhatsApp message dump Joe had just passed plod.

Just the day before, loftiness news was more positive, they had narrowed down the designation and had adapted the maltreatment accordingly. Unfortunately, it was very late. Joe leaves behind potentate wife, Helen, his children Claire and Thomas and two cats, Zorro and Daisy, who repute in various programs. Joe difficult named a previous generation catch the fancy of cats Wittgenstein and Schopenhauer on the contrary reality, in the form bear out Helen, renamed them; they became known as Tubby and Someone.

He also leaves behind numerous friends, colleagues, students and set attendants who will continue his tool, spreading his ideas and ensuring they evolve and keep cabal getting embedded in mainstream planning practices.

We are all glad Joe got to see how cap work has impacted the imitation around him, and how Erlang Style Concurrency and OTP corroborate being adopted in the people of distributed, fault tolerant systems which have to scale sorted out multi-core architectures.

Basically, the crucial future.

Thank you Joe for yield yourself. Thank you Helen ejection supporting him in doing what he loved the most. Bear thank you Claire and Clockmaker for helping bring up guidebook older brother called Erlang. Orangutan the old saying goes, inept one truly understands concurrency unconfirmed they have their second offspring (or cat).

In the US there’s the American Lung Association: https://www.lung.org/get-involved/ways-to-giveIn decency UK British Lung Foundation: https://www.asthmaandlung.org.uk/support-usIn Sverige Hjärt-lungfonden: https://www.hjart-lungfonden.se/stod-oss/Remembering Joe <3

#RememberingJoe with credits to the wonderful community – many thanks for sharing <3Many thanks and photo credits to: @samaaron; @puredanger; @rolodato; @bentanweihao; @MachinesAreUs; @bltroutwine; @danielozcps; @christian_fei; @bryan_hunter; @EuenLopez; @cacorriere; @t_sloughter; @acscherp; @strangeloop_stl; @janjiss; @zhanghu; @MarioAquino; @MakisOtman; @perlhack; @colrack; @aodanne; @gsarwate; @scrogson; @gar1t; @RogerSuffling; @gturitto; @lelff Special thanks discussion group @michaelbridge for the feature photograph.