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Barbara Liskov Wins Turing Award

Posted by kdawson on from the getting-a-clu dept.

jonniee writes "MIT Professor Barbara Liskov has been granted the ACM's Turing Award. Liskov, the first US woman to earn a PhD in computer science, was recognized for helping make software more reliable, consistent and resistant to errors and hacking. She is only the second woman to receive the honor, which carries a $250,000 purse and is often described as the 'Nobel Prize in computing.'"

7 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Turing test by ignishin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does this mean she passed the turing test?

    1. Re:Turing test by MrEricSir · · Score: 5, Funny

      I hope not. MIT professors are not human.

      --
      There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
  2. Coincidentally by counterplex · · Score: 5, Informative
    I happen to have a printout of an article on "The Liskov Substitution Principle" and was wondering just yesterday how it is that as programmers we use these principles in everyday life yet don't know their names or the stories of how they came about. As the first US woman to earn a PhD in CS, I'm sure there are some interesting stories to tell about it.

    For those who might not have her original text handy, the Liskov Substitution Principle states (rather obviously):

    If for each object o1 of type S there is an object o2 of type T such that for all programs P defined in terms of T, the behavior of P is unchanged when o1 is substituted for o2 then S is a subtype of T

    which, when stated in the words of Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin as something we probably all intuitively understand from our daily work, is:

    Functions that use pointers or references to base classes must be able to use objects of derived classes without knowing it

    --
    $x = ($x * 10) % 10 >= 5 ? 1 + int $x : int $x
  3. Re:making software more reliable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Software is ALWAYS reliable. It is the code that people write that sucks.

    No, computers are reliable. They'll do exactly what you tell them to do. Software, however, sucks, since it is simply a representation of the code that people write, which also sucks.

  4. Re:making software more reliable? by ChienAndalu · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, electrons are reliable. They'll do what you tell them to do. Hardware engineers however design crappy hardware.

  5. More women in the old days by Simian+Road · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Apparently there were far more women in computing in "the old days". The dominance of the male geeks is a relatively recent phenomenon.

  6. Re:1968 by MoellerPlesset2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why? Do you complain that we need more pregnant men also?

    Men aren't capable of becoming pregnant. I however, happen to believe women are just as capable of being good computer scientists as men are.
    The fact that only a small minority of computer scientists are women, means that upwards of half our best CS talent is going to waste.

    I think that's a pity.