computer science

Michael Kölling

Michael Kölling 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 Michael Kölling rather than just read about it. In short: Michael Kölling is a German-British computer scientist, currently working at King's College London, best known for the development of the BlueJ and Greenfoot educational development environments and as author of introductory programming textbooks. In 2013 he received the SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Computer Science Education for the development of the BlueJ.

Key takeaways

Michael Kölling 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 Michael Kölling to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Michael Kölling from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Michael Kölling is a German-British computer scientist, currently working at King's College London, best known for the development of the BlueJ and Greenfoot educational development environments and as author of introductory programming textbooks. In 2013 he received the SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Computer Science Education for the development of the BlueJ.

Education and early life Kölling was born in Bremen, Germany. He earned a degree in informatics from the University of Bremen. In 1999, he was awarded a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Sydney, for research on the design of an object-oriented programming environment and language supervised by John Rosenberg.

Career and research From 1995 to 1997 he worked at the Sydney University, followed by a position as a senior lecturer at Monash University and, from 2001, a post as an associate professor at the University of Southern Denmark. He worked at the School of Computing at the University of Kent, UK, until February 2017. He is now a professor of computer science at King's College London, where he also occupies the role of vice-dean for education. Kölling is the lead designer of 'Blue', an object-oriented programming language and integrated environment, BlueJ, and Greenfoot. All are educational development environments aimed at teaching and learning programming. BlueJ and Greenfoot are widely used in many schools and universities. Kölling co-wrote Objects First with Java with David J. Barnes, and wrote Introduction to Programming with Greenfoot. At the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group (SIG) of Computer science education (SIGCSE) 2010 conference, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his work was referenced as one of the most influential tools in the history of computer science education. This paper described Kölling's work on the Blue programming language, which preceded BlueJ.

Microsoft patent issue On 22 May 2005 Kölling entered the BlueJ website in response to a post on Dan Fernandez's blog (Lead Product Manager – Visual Studio Express). Fernandez described a new feature of Visual Studio 2005 that "helps you understand objects at Design Time, rather than runtime." This feature had striking similarities to how the object test bench functions within BlueJ. Kölling did not act on the discovery. However, on May 11, 2006 Microsoft attempted to patent the idea. As the object test bench is essential to the way it functions, had Microsoft's patent been granted, it was likely that BlueJ would have had to have been discontinued. Kölling spoke to Microsoft, namely Jane Prey, and eventually the patent was dropped. Fernandez posted a response on his blog saying "the patent application was a mistake and one that should not have happened. To fix this, Microsoft will be removing the patent application in question. Our sincere apologies to Michael Kölling and the BlueJ community."

Awards and honours His awards and honours include:

SIGCSE Test of Time Award 2020. Elected a Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS). SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Computer Science Education 2013. ACM Distinguished Member in 2011. National Teaching Fellowship 2008. Higher Education Academy, UK. Duke's Choice Award 2007 (industry award), category “Java Technology in Education”, 2007. Australasian Distinguished Dissertation Award, 2000. The Computing Research and Education Association of Australasia. Victorian Pearcey Award (for his development of BlueJ), 1999. BCS Lovelace Medal, 2025.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Michael Kölling

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Michael Kölling 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 Michael Kölling 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 Michael Kölling 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 Michael Kölling

In research: Michael Kölling 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 Michael Kölling 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: Michael Kölling is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Computer science educators, Computer scientists of King's College London, German computer programmers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Michael Kölling 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 Michael Kölling in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Michael Kölling 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 Michael Kölling out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Michael Kölling in simple terms?

Why does Michael Kölling 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 Michael Kölling?

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 Michael Kölling.