computer science

Richard Bornat

Richard Bornat 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 Richard Bornat rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Bornat (29 June 1944 – 8 January 2026) was a British author and researcher in the field of computer science. He was a Professor of Computer Programming at Middlesex University.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Richard Bornat (29 June 1944 – 8 January 2026) was a British author and researcher in the field of computer science. He was a Professor of Computer Programming at Middlesex University. Previously, he was at Queen Mary, University of London.

Background Bornat was the son of Charles Bornat, an English architect. From 1977 to 2002, Richard was an academic at Queen Mary, University of London. He then moved to Middlesex University.

Research Bornat's research interests included program proving in separation logic. His focus is on the proofs themselves, as opposed to any logical underpinnings. Much of the work involved discovering ways to state the properties of independent modules in a manner that makes their composition into useful systems conducive. Bornat (in conjunction with Bernard Sufrin of the Oxford University Computing Laboratory) developed Jape, a "proof calculator"; he was involved in research on the usability of this tool for exploration of novel proofs. Richard Bornat's PhD students included Samson Abramsky in the early 1980s. In 2004, one of Bornat's students developed an aptitude test to "divide people up into programmers and non-programmers before they ever come into contact with programming." The test was first given to a group of students in 2005 during an experiment on the use of mental models in programming. In 2008 and 2014, Bornat partially retracted some of the claims, impugning its validity as a test for programming capability. Over the last few years, Bornat worked on Quantum Programming. He implemented Qtpi, which is based on Gay and Nagarajan's CQP (Communicating Quantum Processes), using OCaml.

Publications Bornat published a book entitled "Understanding and Writing Compilers: A Do It Yourself Guide" (first published in 1979), which is regarded as one of the most extensive resources on compiler development. Although it has been out of print for some time, he made it available as an online edition. Other publications from Bornat include:

R. Bornat; 1987; Programming from First Principles; Prentice Hall International Series in Computer Science; ISBN 0-13-729104-3. Richard Bornat and Harold Thimbleby; 1989; The life and times of ded, display editor; in J.B. Long & A. Whitefield (eds); Cognitive Ergonomics and Human-Computer Interaction; Cambridge University Press; pp. 225–255. Richard Bornat and Bernard Sufrin; 1999; Animating Formal Proof at the Surface: The {Jape} Proof Calculator; The Computer Journal; Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 177–192. Aczel, J. C., Fung, P., Bornat, R., Oliver, M., O'Shea, T., & Sufrin, B.; 1999; Influences of Software Design on Formal Reasoning; in Brewster, S., Cawsey, A. & Cockton, G. (Eds.) Proceedings of IFIP TC.13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction INTERACT '99; Vol. 2; pp. 3–4; Swindon, UK, British Computer Society; ISBN 1-902505-19-0. R. Bornat; 2000; Proving Pointer Programs in Hoare Logic; in Backhouse & Oliveira (eds) MPC 2000; LNCS 1837; pp. 102–126. C. Calcagno, P. O'Hearn, R. Bornat; 2002; Program Logic and Equivalence in the Presence of Garbage Collection. To appear in Theoretical Computer Science special issue on Foundations. R. Bornat, J. Boender, F. Kammueller, G. Poly and R. Nagarajan; 2020; Describing and Simulating Concurrent Quantum Systems, Tool Demonstration Paper, In TACAS ’20: 26th International Conference on Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems, Dublin, Ireland, April 25–30, 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Bornat, R., Nagarajan, R.; (2023); Describing and Animating Quantum Protocols, In: Palmigiano, A., Sadrzadeh, M. (eds), Samson Abramsky on Logic and Structure in Computer Science and Beyond. Outstanding Contributions to Logic, vol 25. Springer, Cham. He also gave lively talks.

References

External links

Middlesex University official page Middlesex University personal page Richard Bornat publications on ResearchGate Richard Bornat homepage (as of 2023)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard Bornat

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard Bornat 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 Richard Bornat 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 Richard Bornat 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 Richard Bornat

In research: Richard Bornat 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 Richard Bornat 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: Richard Bornat is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1944 births, 2026 deaths, Academics of Middlesex University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard Bornat 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 Richard Bornat in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard Bornat in simple terms?

Richard Bornat (29 June 1944 – 8 January 2026) was a British author and researcher in the field of computer science. He was a Professor of Computer Programming at Middlesex University.

Why does Richard Bornat 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 Richard Bornat?

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 Richard Bornat.