computer science

Tom Van Vleck

Tom Van Vleck 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 Tom Van Vleck rather than just read about it. In short: Thomas Van Vleck is an American software engineer specializing in time-sharing and computer security. He is notable for co-authoring an early email program.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Thomas Van Vleck is an American software engineer specializing in time-sharing and computer security. He is notable for co-authoring an early email program.

Life and work Thomas Van Vleck was born and grew up in Hinsdale, Illinois. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics. He worked on MIT's Compatible Time-Sharing System and co-authored its first email program in 1965 with Noel Morris, the brother of film director Errol Morris. In 1965, he joined Project MAC, the predecessor of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He worked on the development of Multics for more than 16 years at MIT and at Honeywell Information Systems. He has also worked at Tandem Computers, Taligent, CyberCash, Sun Microsystems, Encirq (an Internet advertising company), and SPARTA (a computer security company). He is an expert in computer security. He is related to mathematician and astronomer John Monroe Van Vleck (1833–1912), mathematician Edward Burr Van Vleck (1863–1943), and Nobel Prize–winning physicist and mathematician John Hasbrouck Van Vleck (1899–1980).

Bibliography Operational changes for MR 4.0, T. H. Van Vleck, MULTICS OPERATING STAFF NOTE MOSN-A001, Honeywell, April 23, 1976 The Multics System Programming Process, Van Vleck, T. H. and Clingen, C. T.; Invited Paper, ICSE 1978, pp. 278–280 Getting the picture; it can be done, IEEE Computer, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 112, May 1994 SPMA - Java Binary Enhancement Tool, DARPA Information Survivability Conference and Exposition - Volume II, pp. 152, April 2003; (DOI) Self-Protecting Mobile Agents Obfuscation Report, L. D'Anna, B. Matt, A. Reisse, T. Van Vleck, S. Schwab, and P. LeBlanc, Report #03-015, Network Associates Laboratories, June 2003. Anti-Phishing: Best Practices for Institutions and Consumers; Tally, Gregg; Thomas, Roshan; Van Vleck, Tom; McAfee Research, Technical Report # 04-004 Three Questions about Each Bug You Find, Software Engineering Notes 14:5:62-63 (July 1989) Cleaning Up the Basement in the Dark, Software Engineering Notes, (April 1992) --, ed., with David Walden, The Compatible Time Sharing System (1961-1973) Fiftieth Anniversary Commemorative Overview, (also at Multicians.org) IEEE Computer Society, 2011 The IBM 7094 and CTSS The IBM 360/67 and CP/CMS The IBM 7070 1401s I have Known

References

External links The Multics web site, Mirror of multicians.org Tom Van Vleck's home page Tom Van Vleck, "THVV Multics Bio", Multicians.org, most recent update 11/29/02 Jeffrey R. Yost, "An Interview with Thomas Van Vleck", 24 October 2012, Computer Security History Project, Charles Babbage Institute

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tom Van Vleck

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tom Van Vleck 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 Tom Van Vleck 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 Tom Van Vleck 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 Tom Van Vleck

In research: Tom Van Vleck 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 Tom Van Vleck 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: Tom Van Vleck is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American computer programmers, American computer security academics, American people of Dutch descent, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tom Van Vleck 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 Tom Van Vleck in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Tom Van Vleck in simple terms?

Thomas Van Vleck is an American software engineer specializing in time-sharing and computer security. He is notable for co-authoring an early email program.

Why does Tom Van Vleck 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 Tom Van Vleck?

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 Tom Van Vleck.