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John Iliffe (computer designer)

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378:) was restricted to privileged code, preventing some types of program error. Codewords referenced vectors of data items, sequences of instructions or other codewords . Storage was accessed by reference to a codeword and this was resolved to a conventional address or program counter giving direct access to store when necessary. The system provided functions to create, manage and update codewords, for example changing them to reflect storage management decisions. It also supported an algebraic programming language (called Genie) which was implemented using object-oriented design concepts in 1961. The Genie compiler and associated assembler were unusual in enabling the entire system to be treated as an object-management discipline. Genie was also amongst the first languages to include intrinsic operations on real and complex vectors and matrices. 132: 220: 340:, R1 (1958–61) and the ICL Basic Language Machine (1963–68). A key feature in the architectures of both machines was control by the hardware of the formation and use of memory references so that the memory could be seen as a collection of data objects of defined sizes whose integrity is protected from the consequences of errors in address calculation, such as overrunning memory pointers (whether by accident or malicious intent). 36: 501: 77: 439:. The internal representation of codewords was opaque to user programs but specific machine instructions were provided to manipulate them in ways that maintained the data structure. That represented a substantial refinement of the Rice R1 architecture, providing for the efficient management of multiple processes, each having a separate tree-structured data and instruction store. 405:. Both of these require a computer architecture in which the operating system could guarantee the separation, security and integrity of several concurrently-running programs. It seemed clear that the simplified model of architecture derived from the Princeton IAS and followed by all the β€œvon Neumann” models would run into severe difficulties in satisfying that requirement. 464:
In parallel with construction of the BLM a separate evaluation team assessed it in terms of (1) program efficiency (2) operating characteristics (3) coding and debugging costs and (4) system overheads. For meaningful comparison, legacy high-level languages (Cobol, Fortran, file management) were
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Levy discusses the wider impact of descriptor-based computer architectures with reference to both the Burroughs B5000 and the BLM (p. 38) "... whether or not they were long-lived, these machines demonstrated the feasibility of using descriptors and segmentation to greatly increase programming
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Changes in semiconductor technology in the 30 years following the development of the BLM led to refinements of the architecture. In the absence of research funding they were evaluated mainly by simulation using low-cost microprocessors and Iliffe's
336:(18 September 1931 – 16 February 2020) was a British computer designer who worked on the design and evaluation of computers that supported fine-grained memory protection and object management. He implemented, evaluated and refined such designs in the 348:
Iliffe attended the EDSAC programming course in Cambridge in 1952. He eventually learned about computing by running the IBM (UK) service bureau in London. In 1958 he was invited to join the team building the R1 computer at
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series of computers developed and marketed by the Burroughs Corporation. All these descriptor-based computers included hardware mechanisms designed to support the reliable addressing of data segments. They are closely related to
353:, Houston, in which he took responsibility for operating system and language design and implementation. In the next 30 years he put into operation four computers demonstrating and evaluating new concepts in design. 416:. Instead of basing the architecture on a single linear address space, the BLM offered segmented memory addressing, enabling automatic storage management and access within precise security boundaries. 371:. His design included an early instance of dynamic memory allocation and management, enabling programs to acquire storage on demand and automatically recover it when it was no longer accessible. 469:
flexibility for the user, the compilers, and the operating system". Levy also notes that "an excellent discussion of the BLM within the context of modern capability systems appears in Iliffe's
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In the early 1960s there was a strong requirement for general-purpose computers to provide for the concurrent execution of multiple user programs, both in the form of
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storage structure for multi-dimensional and irregular arrays emerged from the R1 work. It exploits a similar addressing structure but without system enforcement.
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In the year 2000 Iliffe received the IEEE Harry H. Goode Memorial Award "For lifetime achievement in the practice of computer system design and evaluation."
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The BLM design was rejected by ICL management in an internal review of options to select a new architecture for ICL's mainframe products in December 1969.
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used. It was shown that despite the precision of the addressing mechanism there was no noticeable loss of efficiency or additional system overhead.
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vectors seen in most other systems. He developed a design based on the use of codewords to represent all memory references. A codeword included a
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Iliffe took the engineering view that it should be possible to offer a way, based on the memory management techniques already demonstrated in the
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In the R1 Iliffe and his colleagues introduced a protection scheme for all data objects. The manipulation of references to memory (termed
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to ensure the integrity of concurrent programs without resorting to relatively expensive mechanisms involving the frequent swapping of
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Describes the architectural principles, storage organisation and the programming functions of the experimental Basic Language Machine.
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Education: Carpenter Scholarship to City of London School (1945–1948). Mathematical Tripos at St John's College, Cambridge 1949–1952.
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aimed both at the efficient protection of concurrently-executing programs and the reliable implementation of high-level languages
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Iliffe was married to Dorothy Bannister 1955–2015 (her death). They had three children: Louise, Jonathan and Kate.
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Describes the codeword-based system of program and data representation used on the Rice University computer.
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The Rice R1 and the BLM were examples of descriptor-based computer architectures that emerged in the 1960s
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Design of computer systems with secure object management and fine-grained program protection; the
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The Basic Language Machine (BLM), constructed and evaluated in the research department of
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Iliffe led the development of the operating system and programming language for the
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Chapter 2 Early Descriptor Architectures, Chapter 3 Early Capability Architectures
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to optimise the use of a computer's resources and in the form of
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Notes on the Genie compiler for the Rice University Computer
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IEEE Computer Society Harry H. Goode Memorial Award, 2000
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City of London School: John Kenneth Iliffe, Class of 1948
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A Study of Cache Memories for a Parallel/Planar Machine.
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Rice University presents β€œThe Completed Computer,” 1961
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The Use of The Genie System in Numerical Calculations
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Service: Royal Navy 1953–1956. Instructor Lieutenant.
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Sports: President of Otter Swimming Club 1990–1996.
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may be too technical for most readers to understand
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(1 November 1962). 1109: 723:"A Brief History of the Rice Computer 1959-1971" 435:specifying the length of a data object and some 739:(mostly written in 1994, and archived by the 684: 682: 680: 678: 1039:"Storage organization in programming systems" 388: 797: 838: 675: 64:Learn how and when to remove these messages 832: 589:"John Iliffe | IEEE Computer Society" 343: 218: 1090: 1054: 815: 630: 194:Learn how and when to remove this message 176:Learn how and when to remove this message 114:Learn how and when to remove this message 98:, without removing the technical details. 875:"From Torsional Mode Delay Lines to DAP" 139:This article includes a list of general 1104:Ph.D. Thesis, University of London 1989 909: 907: 356: 14: 1133:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 1110: 1072: 1036: 938: 913: 656: 612: 800:"A Dynamic Storage Allocation Scheme" 96:make it understandable to non-experts 27:British computer designer (1931-2020) 904: 752: 720: 716: 714: 688: 652: 650: 494: 125: 70: 29: 24: 979:. Computer History Museum. 1958–89 966: 872: 145:it lacks sufficient corresponding 25: 1149: 746: 711: 692:Descriptor-Based Computer Systems 647: 45:This article has multiple issues. 753:Iliffe, J.K. (23 January 1969). 743:on a date indicated in the URL) 499: 490: 461:that emerged a few years later. 449:The other major example was the 130: 75: 34: 1003:. Rice University. January 1964 932: 866: 613:Iliffe, J. K. (1 August 1969). 487:describes them in some detail. 410:International Computers Limited 316:Queen Mary University of London 313:International Computers Limited 53:or discuss these issues on the 1037:Jodeit, Jane (November 1968). 791: 606: 595: 581: 567: 514:format but may read better as 13: 1: 560: 1073:Iliffe, John (August 1969). 7: 1128:British computer scientists 756:Store Management Techniques 10: 1154: 389:The Basic Language Machine 360: 1043:Communications of the ACM 873:Scarrott, Gordon (1995). 327: 303: 296: 288: 276: 265: 257: 245: 226: 217: 210: 916:Advanced Computer Design 659:Basic Machine Principles 485:Advanced Computer Design 471:Advanced Computer Design 414:Von Neumann architecture 1092:10.1093/comjnl/12.3.251 689:Levy, Henry M. (1984). 632:10.1093/comjnl/12.3.251 523:converting this article 363:Rice Institute Computer 344:Technical contributions 338:Rice Institute Computer 321:Imperial College London 271:University of Cambridge 160:more precise citations. 939:Buckle, J. K. (1978). 817:10.1093/comjnl/5.3.200 18:Basic Language Machine 1138:IEEE award recipients 1056:10.1145/364139.364152 914:Iliffe, J.K. (1982). 879:Computer Resurrection 661:. London: MacDonald. 657:Iliffe, J.K. (1968). 403:interactive computing 1079:The Computer Journal 839:J.K. Iliffe (1961). 804:The Computer Journal 619:The Computer Journal 357:The Rice R1 Computer 269:St. John's College, 942:The ICL 2900 series 729:on 24 February 2008 334:John Kenneth Iliffe 212:John Kenneth Iliffe 525:, if appropriate. 1075:"Elements of BLM" 918:. Prentice Hall. 852:978-1-4832-2282-0 615:"Elements of BLM" 544: 543: 331: 330: 310:, Houston, Texas 298:Scientific career 284:storage structure 237:18 September 1931 204: 203: 196: 186: 185: 178: 124: 123: 116: 68: 16:(Redirected from 1145: 1100:Ageu C. Pacheco 1096: 1094: 1068: 1058: 1032: 1026: 1022: 1020: 1012: 1010: 1008: 988: 986: 984: 978: 960: 959: 947: 936: 930: 929: 911: 902: 901: 899: 897: 870: 864: 863: 861: 859: 836: 830: 829: 819: 795: 789: 788: 782: 778: 776: 768: 766: 764: 750: 744: 738: 736: 734: 725:. 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Index

Basic Language Machine
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Portrait
University of Cambridge
Iliffe vector
Rice University
International Computers Limited
Queen Mary University of London
Imperial College London
Rice Institute Computer
Rice Institute
Rice Institute Computer
Rice Computer
Iliffe vector
multiprogramming
time-sharing
interactive computing
International Computers Limited
Von Neumann architecture

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