Bertrand Meyer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since January 2007. |
Bertrand Meyer (born 1950 in France) developed the Eiffel programming language, and is an author, academic and consultant in the field of computer languages.
Meyer pursues the ideal of simple, elegant and user-friendly computer languages and is one of the earliest and most vocal proponents of object-oriented programming (OOP). His book on Object-Oriented Software Construction is often considered the best work on presenting the case for OOP. Other books include Eiffel: The Language, (description of the Eiffel language), Object Success (a discussion of object technology for managers), Reusable Software (a discussion of reuse issues and solutions), and Introduction to the Theory of Programming Languages. He has authored numerous articles and edited conference proceedings.
He is the initial designer of the Eiffel method and language and has continued to participate in its evolution, and is the originator of the development method known as Design by Contract.
Other activities include being adjunct professor at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia (1998–2003) and membership of the French Academy of Technologies. He is also active as a consultant (object-oriented system design, architectural reviews, technology assessment), trainer in object technology and other software topics, and conference speaker.
Meyer received the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in engineering from the École polytechnique in Paris, a master's degree from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. from the Université de Nancy in Nancy, France. He had a technical and managerial career for nine years at Électricité de France, and for three years was on the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Since October 2001, he has been Professor of Software Engineering at ETH Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, where he pursues research on building trusted components (reusable software elements) with a guaranteed level of quality.
His experience with object technology through the Simula language, as well as early work on abstract data types and formal specification (including the Z notation) provided some of the background for the development of Eiffel. Eiffel and Simula have been influential in the development of other languages, such as Python.
In 2005, Meyer was a winner of the AITO Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard prize. It is awarded annually to two individuals that have made significant technical contributions to the field of Object Orientation. [1]
On December 28, 2005, an anonymous user falsely announced Meyer's death on his article in the German Wikipedia. The hoax was reported five days later by the Heise News Ticker and the article was immediately corrected. Many major news media in Germany and Switzerland picked up on the story, creating the German Wikipedia's version of a Seigenthaler affair. Meyer went on to publish a positive evaluation of Wikipedia, concluding "The system succumbed to one of its potential flaws, and quickly healed itself. This doesn't affect the big picture. Just like those about me, rumors about Wikipedia's downfall have been grossly exaggerated."
