computer science

John Cocke (computer scientist)

John Cocke (computer scientist) is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand John Cocke (computer scientist) rather than just read about it. In short: John Cocke (May 30, 1925 – July 16, 2002) was an American computer scientist at IBM and recognized for his large contribution to computer architecture and optimizing compiler design. He is considered by many to be "the father of RISC architecture." He won the 1987 ACM Turing Award.

Key takeaways

John Cocke (computer scientist) belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect John Cocke (computer scientist) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of John Cocke (computer scientist) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John Cocke (May 30, 1925 – July 16, 2002) was an American computer scientist at IBM and recognized for his large contribution to computer architecture and optimizing compiler design. He is considered by many to be "the father of RISC architecture." He won the 1987 ACM Turing Award.

Biography He was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, US. He attended Duke University, where he received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1946 and his Ph.D. in mathematics in 1956. Cocke spent his entire career as an industrial researcher for IBM, from 1956 to 1992. Perhaps the project where his innovations were most noted was in the IBM 801 minicomputer, where his realization that matching the design of the architecture's instruction set to the relatively simple instructions actually emitted by compilers could allow high performance at a low cost. He is one of the inventors of the CYK algorithm (C for Cocke). He was also involved in the pioneering speech recognition and machine translation work at IBM in the 1970s and 1980s, and is credited by Frederick Jelinek with originating the idea of using a trigram language model for speech recognition. Cocke was appointed IBM Fellow in 1972. He won the Eckert–Mauchly Award in 1985, ACM Turing Award in 1987, the National Medal of Technology in 1991 and the National Medal of Science in 1994, IEEE John von Neumann Medal in 1984, The Franklin Institute's Certificate of Merit in 1996, the Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award in 1999, and The Benjamin Franklin Medal in 2000. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the National Academy of Sciences. In 2002, he was made a Fellow of the Computer History Museum "for his development and implementation of reduced instruction set computer architecture and program optimization technology." He died in Valhalla, New York, US.

References

External links IBM obituary Duke profile from 1988 By Eileen Bryn Interview transcript IEEE John von Neumann Medal Recipients John Cocke & Victoria Markstein, "The Evolution of RISC Technology at IBM", IBM Journal of Research and Development, v.34, n.1 (1990).

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John Cocke (computer scientist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John Cocke (computer scientist) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to John Cocke (computer scientist) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about John Cocke (computer scientist) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of John Cocke (computer scientist)

In research: John Cocke (computer scientist) appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses John Cocke (computer scientist) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: John Cocke (computer scientist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1925 births, 2002 deaths, American computer scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John Cocke (computer scientist) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study John Cocke (computer scientist) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John Cocke (computer scientist) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain John Cocke (computer scientist) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John Cocke (computer scientist) in simple terms?

Why does John Cocke (computer scientist) matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study John Cocke (computer scientist)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on John Cocke (computer scientist).