Virtual Museum of Computing

Pioneers of Computing

The following quotation sums up his philosophy admirably:

It has long been my personal view that the separation of practical and theoretical work is artificial and injurious. Much of the practical work done in computing, both in software and in hardware design, is unsound and clumsy because the people who do it have not any clear understanding of the fundamental design principles of their work. Most of the abstract mathematical and theoretical work is sterile because it has no point of contact with real computing. One of the central aims of the Programming Research Group as a teaching and research group has been to set up an atmosphere in which this separation cannot happen.

For an authoritative account of Strachey's life and work, see:

Christopher Strachey, 1916-1975 - A Biographical Note, Martin Campbell-Kelly. Annals of the History of Computing, Vol.7, No.1, pp.19-42, 1985.

See also:

• History and structure of the Oxford University Computing Laboratory.
• Publications by Strachey.
• The Varieties of Programming Language, Technical Monograph PRG-10, March 1973.
• Algebra and Computing, from A Brief History of Algebra and Computing: An Eclectic Oxonian View.
• Contemplative and calculative intellect, from The Ethics of Safety-Critical Systems.
• Joe Stoy, a co-author with Strachey and lecturer at the PRG.
• The Strachey Lectures in Computing Science at Oxford.
• Program Verification and Semantics: The Early Work, a seminar at the Science Museum, London, UK, 5 June 2001.