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115 Tony Brooker

Tony Brooker graduated in Mathematics from Imperial College in 1945 and returned there in 1947 as Assistant Lecturer. His first computer project was the construction of a fast multiplier unit from electro-mechanical relays. This was taken over by Professor K D Tocher and incorporated into ICCE, the Imperial College Computing Engine based on the same technology. By then (1949) Tony had moved to the Computing Laboratory at Cambridge to work for Professor Maurice Wilkes on software development for EDSAC.

In October 1951 Tony joined the Computing Machine Laboratory at Manchester University, where he took over from Alan Turing the task of writing programming manuals and running a user service on the Ferranti Mark I computer. It was his experience with the rather tedious Manchester machine-coding conventions that led him to devise what was probably the world's first publicly-available High-Level Language. This was the Mark I Autocode, available from March 1954 and therefore about two years ahead of the first Fortran compiler.

Throughout the 1950s Tony led a group at Manchester working on the theoretical underpinnings of compilers. This culminated in the Compiler Compiler, a seminal idea first presented at a British Computer Society Conference in July 1960 by Brooker and Morris. This was subsequently implemented on the Ferranti ATLAS and used for high-level language development. The ATLAS was regarded as the world's most powerful computer when it was brought into service in December 1962.

In the mid-1960s Tony helped to inaugurate the UK's first Computer Science degree course at Manchester. He moved to Essex in 1967 to take up the University's founding Chair of Computer Science. The first Essex Computer Science graduates obtained their degrees in the summer of 1970.

Languages:

References:

  • Brooker, R. A., and D. J. Wheeler, (1953) Brooker, R. A., and D. J. Wheeler, "Floating operations on the EDSAC" pp37-47  E A
          in (1953) Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation 7  E
  • Brooker, R (1955) Brooker, R "An atempt to simplify coding for the Manchester electronic computer" pp307-311  E A
          in (1955) British Journal of Applied Physics 6 (1955)  E
  • Brooker, R. A. (1956) Brooker, R. A. "The Programming Strategy used with the Manchester University Mark 1 Computer," p.151.  E A
          in Proc. (1956) Proc. I.E.E., Vol. 103, Part B, Supplement No. 2, 1956  E
  • Brooker, R.A. (1956) Brooker, R.A. "The Programming Strategy Used with the Manchester University Mark I Computer" pp151-157  E A
          in (1956) Proc IEE 103B Supplement1956  E
  • R.A. Brooker, (1956) R.A. Brooker, "The Programming Strategy Used with the Manchester University Mark I Computer" pp151-157  E A
          in (1956) Proc IEE 103B Supplement1956  E
  • Brooker, R.A. (1958) Brooker, R.A. "The Autocode Programs Developed for the Manchester University Computer"  E A Abstract Online copy
          in (1958) The Computer Journal 1(1) 1958  E
  • Brooker, R.A. (1958) Brooker, R.A. "Further Autocode Facilities for the Manchester (Mercury) Computer"  E A Abstract Online copy
          in (1958) The Computer Journal 1(1) 1958  E
  • R.A. Brooker, B. Richards, E. Berg, R.H. Kerr, (1959) R.A. Brooker, B. Richards, E. Berg, R.H. Kerr, "The Manchester Mercury Autocode System", typescript, May 1959, pp.56  E A
          in (1958) The Computer Journal 1(1) 1958  E
  • Brooker and Morris (1960) Brooker, R. A. and Morris, D. "A Description Of MERCURY Autocode in Terms of a Phrase Structure Language" pp29-67  E A
          in Goodman (ed) (1961) Goodman, Richard (ed) "Annual Review in Automatic Programming" (2) 1961 Pergamon Press, Oxford  E
  • Brooker (1960) Brooker, R. A. "Mercury Autocode, Principles of the Program Library" pp93-110  E A
          in Goodman (ed) (1960) Goodman, Richard (ed) "Annual Review in Automatic Programming "(1) 1960 Pergamon Press, Oxford  E
  • Brooker, R. (1962) Brooker, R. A. review of Shaw et al 1961 (JOVIAL)  E A
          in (1962) ACM Computing Reviews 3(03) May-June 1962  E
  • Brooker, R.A. et al (1963) Brooker, R.A. et al"The Compiler-Compiler" pp229-276  E A
          in Goodman (ed) (1963) Goodman, Richard (ed) "Annual Review in Automatic Programming" (3) 1963 Pergamon Press, Oxford  E
  • Brooker, RA (1967) Brooker, RA "Atlas Austocode" Manchester University 1967  E A Extract: Statements
          in Goodman (ed) (1963) Goodman, Richard (ed) "Annual Review in Automatic Programming" (3) 1963 Pergamon Press, Oxford  E
  • Brooker, R.A., Morris, D. and Rohl, J. S. (1967) Brooker, R.A., Morris, D. and Rohl, J. S. "Compiler Compiler facilities in Atlas Autocode" pp350-352  E A Abstract Online copy
          in (1967) The Computer Journal 9(4) 1967  E
  • Brooker, RA (1982) Brooker, RA "A 'database' subsystem for BCPL" pp448-464  E A Online copy Abstract
          in (1982) The Computer Journal 25(3) 1982  E
  • Brooker, T. (1996) Brooker, T. (1996). DataPlan : a databased language. London ; New York, McGraw-Hill.  E A
          in (1982) The Computer Journal 25(3) 1982  E
  • Brooker, Tony (1996) Brooker, Tony "DATAPLAN: A Databased Language" UNSW SCSE Seminar Tuesday, 19 November, 1996  E A
          in (1982) The Computer Journal 25(3) 1982  E