John Fitch (computer scientist)

Last updated

John Fitch
Born
John Peter Fitch

1945 (age 7879) [1]
Other namesJohn ffitch
Alma mater University of Cambridge
Awards Adams Prize (1975)
Scientific career
Institutions University of Bath
University of Leeds
Maynooth University
Thesis An algebraic manipulator  (1971)
Doctoral advisor David Barton [2]
Doctoral students Tom Crick [3]
James Davenport [2]

John Peter Fitch (also known as John ffitch) is a computer scientist, mathematician and composer, who has worked on relativity, planetary astronomy, computer algebra and Lisp. [4] Alongside Victor Lazzarini and Steven Yi, he is the project leader for audio programming language Csound, [5] having a leading role in its development since the early 1990s; and he was a director of Codemist Ltd, [1] which developed the Norcroft C compiler. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

Contents

Education and early life

Born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England in December 1945, [1] Fitch was educated at St John's College, Cambridge where he gained a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1971 supervised by David Barton. [2] [11] [12]

Career and research

Fitch spent six years at Cambridge as a postdoctoral researcher - winning the Adams Prize for Mathematics in 1975 for a joint essay with David Barton on Applications of algebraic manipulative systems to physics .[ citation needed ]

Fitch was a visiting professor the University of Utah for a year, then lectured at the University of Leeds for 18 months, before becoming professor and then chair of software engineering at the University of Bath, [12] which his biography claims is "a subject about which he knows little"; his 31-year career there lasted April 1980 – September 2011, [12] after which he was named an adjunct professor of music at Maynooth University. [13] [14]

Fitch lectured for the module CM20029: The Essence of Compilers, as well as optional modules involving computer music and digital signal processing. According to his biography, "despite his long hair and beard, [15] and the uncertain spelling of his name, [he] was never a hippie". [16] [17]

His former doctoral students include James Davenport [2] and Tom Crick. [3]

Personal life

Fitch is married to historian Audrey Fitch.[ citation needed ]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Officers - Codemist Limited, Company number 02197915". companieshouse.gov.uk. Companies House . Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 John Fitch at the Mathematics Genealogy Project OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  3. 1 2 Crick, Thomas (2009). Superoptimisation: provably optimal code generation using answer set programming. bath.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Bath. OCLC   757105245. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.518295. Lock-green.svg
  4. John Fitch at DBLP Bibliography Server OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  5. https://csound.github.io
  6. John Fitch's home page at Bath (archived)
  7. John Fitch's academic profile at Bath
  8. Musical Output of John ffitch
  9. John ffitch at GitHub
  10. Codemist Ltd, John's former company
  11. Fitch, John Peter (1971). An algebraic manipulator. cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC   500442208. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.455552.
  12. 1 2 3 "John fitch". LinkedIn . Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  13. "Prof John ffitch" . Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  14. anon (24 October 2011). "Minutes of the Meeting of the Academic Council". Appointment of Adjunct Honorary Professor.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  15. "John ffitch". Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  16. "John ffitch - the composer". 5 September 2001. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015.
  17. John ffitch (6 May 2011). "Invited Session: Running Csound in Parallel". Linux Audio Conference 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2016.