Steve Russell
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| Stephen Russell | |
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| Born | 1937 |
| Residence |  U.S. |
| Fields | Computer science |
| Alma mater | Dartmouth College |
| Known for | Spacewar!, Lisp |
Steve "Slug" Russell (born 1937 (age 75–76)) is an American programmer and computer scientist most famous for creating Spacewar!, one of the earliest videogames.
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Biography [edit]
Russell graduated in 1958[clarification needed] from Dartmouth College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[citation needed]
Russell wrote the first two implementations of Lisp for the IBM 704. It was Russell who realized that the concept of universal functions could be applied to the language. By implementing the Lisp universal evaluator in a lower-level language, it became possible to create the Lisp interpreter (previous development work on the language had focused on compiling the language).[1] He invented the continuation to solve a double recursion problem for one of the users of his Lisp implementation.[2]
In 1961, Russell created Spacewar!, with the fellow members of the Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT, working on a DEC Digital PDP-1.[3]
The precise origin of the concept of computer-based games in general has been debated.[clarification needed][citation needed] Spacewar!, however, was unquestionably the first to gain widespread recognition, and it is generally recognized as the first of the "shoot-'em' up" genre.[citation needed]
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ John McCarthy. "History of Lisp".
- ^ "Steve "Slug" Russell". Computer History.
- ^ Markoff, John (2002-02-28). "A Long Time Ago, in a Lab Far Away . . .". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
External links [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Steve Russell |
- The Dot Eaters entry on Russell and the development of Spacewar
