Andrew Stuart Tanenbaum is an American computer scientist. He is an emeritus professor of computer science at Amsterdam Free University. Tanenbaum conducted research in the field of compilation and compilers, operating systems, networks and locally distributed systems. He gained fame in the world thanks to the development of the Unix-like Minix system and as the author of several important works in various fields of computer science.
Biography
Andrew Tanenbaum was born March 16, 1944. The childhood and youth of the future scientist took place in the city of White Plains, New York. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, where he acquired a bachelor's degree in physics. This was followed by a doctorate under the guidance of John Marsh Wilcox in 1971 at the University of California at Berkeley. The theme of the dissertation was the following: "Study of five-minute oscillations, hypergranulation, and related phenomena in the solar atmosphere."
After the wedding, he moved with his wife of Dutch descent to the Netherlands, but retained American citizenship and began working at the Amsterdam Free University as a computer science professor, where he lectured, led doctoral studies and headed the department. Tanenbaum was Technical Director of the School of Computing and Image Processing until January 1, 2005. In 2014, the scientist retired.
Work at the School of Computing and Image Processing
In the early 90s of the 20th century, the Dutch government began to create a number of thematically oriented research schools spanning several universities. These schools were designed to attract professors and candidates of sciences. Tanenbaum was one of the founders and first director of the School of Computing and Image Processing. The team of this school initially consisted of almost 200 teachers and candidates of science who worked on solving problems in modern computer systems at that time.
Tanenbaum remained dean for 12 years, until 2005, when he was awarded the title of professor at the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of the Netherlands. Since then, the school has included researchers from nearly a dozen universities in the Netherlands, Belgium and France.
Textbooks and books
Andrew Tanenbaum is known for his literary work in computer science and computer architecture, computer networks and operating systems. His works are characterized by a combination of high information content with good readability and writing style, which can be called humorous. Many of his books contain self-study exercises at the end of the chapter. Below are his main works:
- "Computer architecture. Structures - Concepts - Fundamentals." Written in conjunction with James R. Goodman. The basic structure of computers is described using a detailed model. Levels are described as digital logic, including Boolean algebra, microarchitecture, assembly language, and a model of an ordinary machine or an OS machine.
- "Computer networks". Andrew Tanenbaum devoted this work to network protocols. Based on the OSI reference model, network layers are described that are built on the basis of the electronic and physical layer, as well as the communication layer, including error detection. The book concludes with chapters on network security with topics such as cryptography, signatures, WEB security, and social issues.
- "Modern operating systems." The book provides the current status (at the time of publication) of the development of operating systems. Numerous illustrations and many examples provide a better understanding of the presented theories and concepts. Theoretically, the main components of operating systems are presented, such as processes and threads, memory management, file systems, multiprocessor systems and IT security.
- "Distributed systems: fundamentals and paradigms." Together with Maarten van Steen, Tanenbaum describes seven basic principles of distributed systems. Then presents them with specific examples. Including CORBA, DCOM, NFS and WWW systems.
- "Development and implementation of operating systems." In the book, Tanenbaum, together with Albert S. Woodhall, first outlines the general principles for operating systems, the most important of which he discusses and examines in detail in the source code of the Minix operating system that he developed.
Degrees and Awards
Here are Andrew's rewards:
- In mid-May 2008, Tanenbaum received an honorary degree from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest. The award was presented by members of the Senate Academic Chamber. After graduation, Tanenbaum gave a lecture on his assumptions regarding the future of computer science and computers. A degree was awarded in recognition of the scientist's work.
- On October 7, 2011, Petru Major University in Targu Mures awarded Tanenbaum the title of Honorary Doctor for his outstanding work in the field of computer science and achievements in education. The community of scientists thereby pays tribute to his dedication to teaching and research. At the ceremony, the rector, dean of the faculty of sciences and literature and others spoke about Tanenbaum and his works.
Minix Operating System
In 1987, Tanenbaum developed a Unix-like system called Minix (Mini-Unix) for IBM personal computers. The system was aimed at students and those who wanted to understand how a computer works under the control of an operating system. Then a book was published in which Tanenbaum published pieces of the system source code and described them in detail in context. The source code itself was available on digital media. Within a couple of months after the publication of the book, the group at Yuznet gathered more than 40 thousand subscribers discussing and improving the system. One of these subscribers was a student from Finland, Linus Torvalds, who began to add new features to Minix and adapt the system to his needs. In early October of the 91st, Torvalds unveiled data on a new OS kernel called Linux.
Andrew Tanenbaum's operating system, Minix, continues to improve. The main focus is on the development of a highly modular, reliable and secure OS. The system is based on a microkernel. In kernel mode, only five thousand lines of code work. Another part of the system works as a series of stand-alone processes: a file system handler, a process manager, and device drivers.
US Election Analytics
In 2004, Tanenbaum developed the electoral-vote.com website, which analyzes social opinion polls about US presidential elections. A map was displayed on the site, which was updated daily and displayed forecasts of the votes of every state in the United States. For most of the campaign time, Tanenbaum kept his identity anonymous. Having indicated his support for the Democrats, he revealed his name in early November 2004, the day before the election.
By the 2008 election, Tanenbaum had managed to predict almost all of the results by state except Missouri and Indiana. He accurately predicted all the winners in the Senate, with the exception of the “Gopher State” - Minnesota.