2020 · Languages & software
Automata, grammars and algorithms helped make compilers teachable and dependable.
Visual guide
Identify tokens in source text.
Recover grammatical structure.
Build a representation for execution.
Compiler front ends are only part of language implementation; optimisation and machine-code generation introduce further challenges.
01 · The idea
Alfred Aho and Jeffrey Ullman developed algorithms and theory for implementing programming languages and synthesised this knowledge in influential textbooks. Source text can be recognised as tokens, parsed into structure and transformed towards executable code. Their work gave generations of programmers a common toolkit for these stages.
A shared theoretical vocabulary lets compiler techniques be taught, reused and applied to new languages.
02 · The people
Alfred Aho developed algorithms and tools that made programming-language implementation more systematic. At Bell Labs, his work included pattern matching, parsing, and compiler construction, as well as participation in the Unix tool tradition. With Jeffrey Ullman and other collaborators, he organized this knowledge into influential textbooks. His later teaching at Columbia continued that connection between deep algorithmic foundations and the practical craft of building language processors.
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Jeffrey Ullman helped establish the theoretical and educational foundations of compilers, algorithms, and databases. His collaboration with Alfred Aho produced influential results and textbooks that explained how formal languages become working language-processing systems. At Stanford, he also developed important ideas in database theory and educated generations of researchers. His role in the shared award combines original technical contributions with a remarkable ability to organize and teach a field.
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Original explanations based on the official award record. The subject label is an editorial navigation aid.
Abstraction lets a system change inside while preserving its promises outside.
The story
Model checking turns a system’s behaviour into a graph that can be explored automatically.
The story