computer science

William Jolitz

William Jolitz 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 William Jolitz rather than just read about it. In short: William Frederick Jolitz (February 22, 1957 – March 2, 2022), commonly known as Bill Jolitz, was an American software engineer best known for developing the 386BSD operating system from 1989 to 1994 along with his wife Lynne Jolitz. Biography Born in Muskegon, Michigan, on February 22, 1957, Jolitz was the third child of engineer William Leonard Jolitz and Norma Isabelle Jolitz, who both were from Duluth, Minnesota.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

William Frederick Jolitz (February 22, 1957 – March 2, 2022), commonly known as Bill Jolitz, was an American software engineer best known for developing the 386BSD operating system from 1989 to 1994 along with his wife Lynne Jolitz.

Biography Born in Muskegon, Michigan, on February 22, 1957, Jolitz was the third child of engineer William Leonard Jolitz and Norma Isabelle Jolitz, who both were from Duluth, Minnesota. Jolitz received his BA in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. Before 386BSD, Bill Jolitz designed the Symmetric 375 with an NSC 16032 (NS32000) CPU running 4.2BSD. His own Symmetric Computer Systems sold them from 1987 until 1988. He and his wife resided in Los Gatos, California. On March 2, 2022, Jolitz died from sarcoma. His death was announced on April 8, 2022, on The Unix Heritage Society (TUHS) mailing list.

References

External links William Jolitz at the Wayback Machine (archived February 8, 2019) - personal website Chalmers, Rachel (May 17, 2000). "The Unknown Hackers". Salon.com. article

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with William Jolitz

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what William Jolitz 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 William Jolitz 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 William Jolitz 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 William Jolitz

In research: William Jolitz 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 William Jolitz 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: William Jolitz is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1957 births, 2022 deaths, BSD people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for William Jolitz 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “William Jolitz” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study William Jolitz in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is William Jolitz in simple terms?

Why does William Jolitz 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 William Jolitz?

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 William Jolitz.