computer science

Ravi Sethi

Ravi Sethi 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 Ravi Sethi rather than just read about it. In short: Ravi Sethi (born 1947) is an Indian computer scientist retired from executive roles at Bell Labs and Avaya Labs. He also serves as a member of the National Science Foundation's Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Advisory Committee.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Ravi Sethi (born 1947) is an Indian computer scientist retired from executive roles at Bell Labs and Avaya Labs. He also serves as a member of the National Science Foundation's Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Advisory Committee. He is best known as one of four authors of the classic computer science textbook Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools, also known as the Dragon Book. He also authored Software Engineering: Basic Principles and Best Practices and Programming Languages: Concepts & Constructs (1989, 1996) textbooks. Sethi was born in 1947 in Murdana, Punjab. He attended the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) and went on to obtain a Ph.D. at Princeton University. He worked as an assistant professor at Penn State University, before joining Bell Labs in 1976. While working for Bell Labs he was awarded the "Distinguished Technical Staff award", and in 1996 he was named a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. Also in 1996 he was named research vice president in charge of computing and mathematical sciences and, additionally, in 1997, chief technical officer for Lucent's Communications Software Group. In 2014, Sethi left senior executive positions at Avaya Labs and Bell Labs and returned to academia to join the department of computer science at the University of Arizona.

References

External links Home page (University of Arizona) Autobiographical note at Avaya website Publication list Archived 12 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine on DBLP

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ravi Sethi

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ravi Sethi 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 Ravi Sethi 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 Ravi Sethi 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 Ravi Sethi

In research: Ravi Sethi 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 Ravi Sethi 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: Ravi Sethi is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1947 births, Avaya employees, Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ravi Sethi 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 Ravi Sethi in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Ravi Sethi in simple terms?

Why does Ravi Sethi 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 Ravi Sethi?

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 Ravi Sethi.