computer science

Richard E. Ladner

Richard E. Ladner 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 E. Ladner rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Emil Ladner (born August 22, 1943) is an American computer scientist known for his contributions to both theoretical computer science and assistive technology. Ladner is a professor emeritus at the University of Washington.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Richard Emil Ladner (born August 22, 1943) is an American computer scientist known for his contributions to both theoretical computer science and assistive technology. Ladner is a professor emeritus at the University of Washington.

Biography Richard Ladner was born as one of four children of deaf parents. Both of his parents were teachers at the California School for the Deaf when it was in Berkeley, California, and used American Sign Language and speech for communication. He grew up around deaf people and ASL but did not become fluent until he took some ASL classes in his early thirties. Ladner earned his undergraduate degree from St. Mary's College of California in 1965, and his doctorate in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1971. Among other work, he obtained important results in computational complexity theory and in automata theory. Since 1971, he has been a professor at the University of Washington. In 1985, Ladner was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1995, Ladner was appointed an ACM Fellow, and in 2009 an IEEE Fellow. He has served as an Area Editor for the Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery, Editor for SIAM Journal on Computing, an Associate Editor for the Journal of Computer and System Sciences, and Theory of Computing Systems. He is currently on the Editorial Boards for ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing and Communications of the ACM.

References

External links Official website Richard E. Ladner at DBLP Bibliography Server Richard Emil Ladner at the Mathematics Genealogy Project My Path from to Becoming an Accessibility Researcher

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard E. Ladner

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard E. Ladner 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 E. Ladner 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 E. Ladner 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 E. Ladner

In research: Richard E. Ladner 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 E. Ladner 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 E. Ladner is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1943 births, American computer scientist stubs, American computer scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard E. Ladner 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 E. Ladner in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard E. Ladner in simple terms?

Why does Richard E. Ladner 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 E. Ladner?

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 E. Ladner.