File:Niklaus_Wirth,_UrGU.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Niklaus Wirth
Sign in to saveAlso known as Niklaus Emil Wirth, Niklaus E. Wirth
Swiss computer scientist (1934–2024)
Niklaus Wirth was a Swiss computer scientist who made significant contributions to programming languages and software design during his long career from the mid-20th century onward. He is best known for creating several influential programming languages and for his work on making computer programming more systematic and reliable, which helped shape how software is developed today.
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Person · Open Library
- Works
- 38
Top works
- Algorithms+ Data Structures= Programs
- Algorithmen und Datenstrukturen mit Modula -- 2
- Algorithmen und Datenstrukturen
- Algoritmos e Estruturas de Dados
- Programmieren in Modula-2
via Open Library + Wikidata
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- Novel methods improve prediction of species’ distributions from occurrence data
· 2006 · cited 7,144x
- Present and future Köppen-Geiger climate classification maps at 1-km resolution
· 2018 · cited 5,505x
- Predictive habitat distribution models in ecology
· 2000 · cited 4,951x
- Climatologies at high resolution for the earth’s land surface areas
· 2017 · cited 3,896x
- The global spectrum of plant form and function
· 2015 · cited 2,944x
via Crossref · CC0
Quotes
- “Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster.”
- “Go To statement considered harmful.”
- “In our profession, precision and perfection are not a dispensable luxury, but a simple necessity.”
- “Reliable and transparent programs are usually not in the interest of the designer.”
- “... we do not consider it as good engineering practice to consume a resource lavishly just because it happens to be cheap.”
- “As a matter of fact, the adaptability of a program to changes in its objectives (often called maintainability) and to changes in its environment (nowadays called portability) can be measured primarily in terms of the degree to which it is neatly structured.”
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Wikidata facts
- Official website
- people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth
- Image
- Niklaus Wirth, UrGU.jpg
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Niklaus Wirth
- date of birth
- 1934-02-15
- Erdős number
- 3
- name in native language
- Niklaus Emil Wirth
- date of death
- 2024-01-01
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
~8 min read
Article
Niklaus Emil Wirth (IPA: /vɛrt/) (15 February 1934 – 1 January 2024) was a Swiss computer scientist. He designed several programming languages, including Pascal, and pioneered several classic topics in software engineering. In 1984, he won the Turing Award, generally recognized as the highest distinction in computer science, "for developing a sequence of innovative computer languages".
Early life and education