Martin Richards (computer scientist)

{{short description|British computer scientist (born 1940)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}

{{Use British English|date=April 2018}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Martin Richards

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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1940|7|21}}Cf. British Library catalogue entry for BCPL, the language and its compiler, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1979.

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| fields = Programming languages

| workplaces = University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory

| alma_mater = University of Cambridge

| thesis_title = The design and implementation of CPL-like programming languages

| thesis_year = 1967

| doctoral_advisor = David Barron, David Park and Christopher Strachey

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| doctoral_students = Eben Upton{{cite thesis |degree=DPhil |first=Eben|last=Upton|author-link = Eben Upton|title=Compiling with data dependence graphs|publisher=University of Cambridge |date=2006 |url=http://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=28585}}
Martin Vechev

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| known_for = Basic Combined Programming Language

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| awards = IEEE Computer Pioneer Award (2003)

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| website = {{URL|http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mr10}}

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Martin Richards (born 21 July 1940) is a British computer scientist known for his development of the BCPL programming language{{Cite journal | last1 = Richards | first1 = M. | author-link1 = Martin Richards (computer scientist)| title = The portability of the BCPL compiler | doi = 10.1002/spe.4380010204 | journal = Software: Practice and Experience | volume = 1 | issue = 2 | pages = 135–146 | year = 1971 }} which is both part of early research into portable software, and the ancestor of the B programming language invented by Ken Thompson in early versions of Unix and which Dennis Ritchie in turn used as the basis of his widely used C programming language.