Simon Peyton Jones Biography

A multiple choice question based on the life of Simon Peyton Jones, discussing his successes and everything he has done, while at the same time making it unique

published on November 10, 2017
1/17

What effected my decision on choosing a key software engineer?

Effect they had on coding itself
How it differentiated from conventional coding
The effects it had on current software engineers
A & B
B & C
A & C
A & B & C
None of the above
2/17

After that I valued:

Lack of Celebrity Status
Celebrity Status
Honours
Publications
A & C
B & C
B & D
A & D
B & C & D
A & C & D
3/17

What is Jones regarded with the creation of?

Main developer of Haskell
Main developer of Java
Main developer of C
Main developer of Python
4/17

What was his biggest contribution to compilers?

Creation of the Chalmers Haskell Compiler
Creation of the Glasgow Haskell Compiler
Creation of the Scottish Haskell Compiler
Creation of the Cambridge Haskell Compiler
5/17

What was the reason for the creation of the GHC?

What was the reason for the creation of the GHC?
“To make freely available a robust and portable compiler for Haskell that generates high performance code”
“To provide a modular foundation that other researchers can extend and develop”
"To reduce the number of individuals being forced to use inefficient compilers"
“To learn how real programs behave, so that we can design and build better compilers”
A & B & C
A & B & D
A & C & D
6/17

How many libraries does the GHC run?

<3,000
<2,000 3,000>
<1,000 2,000>
1,000>
7/17

GHC at its highest level can be divided into three distinct things

The Assimilation Storage
The compiler itself
The Runtime System
The Boot Libraries
A & B & C
B & C & D
A & B & D
A & C & D
8/17

What language is the GHC run time system written in?

C--
C++
C
Java
Haskell
9/17

What was the reasoning behind using C--?

Less limitations with code
Portable garbage collectors
Exception handling systems
Other run time features which work with any C-- compiler
B & C & D
A & C & D
A & B & C
A & B & D
10/17

Where does Jones' degree originate from?

University of Cambridge
University of Oxford
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stanford University
11/17

Haskell Programming can be seen as

A game of checkers
A game of Chess
A game of Connect Four
A game of Pac Man
12/17

Where does Haskell get its name from?

A private joke from the developers
A mathematician
James Haskell the English Rugby Player
13/17

What is Haskell known as from many programmers?

The Combination Language
The Chess Language
The Lazy Language
The GHC Language
14/17

What books have Jones written?

The Implementation of Functional Programming Languages
Implementing Functional Languages: A Tutorial
Cybernauts Awake
Developing Compilers Done Easliy
A & C & D
B & C & D
A & B & D
A & B & C
15/17

What Organisation is Jones credited with creating?

"Code Club"
"Sugar Labs"
"Computing at School"
"Codecademy"
16/17

What are the Awards Jones has achieved over his career?

2004 he was inducted into the Association for Computing Machinery
2011 he was awarded the SIGPLAN programming Languages Software Award for his work on the Glasgow Haskell Compiler
2013 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow
2016 was introduced as a Fellow of the Royal Society
2017 Distinguished as a Fellow of the British Computer Society
All of the Above
17/17

How big has Jones' impact been?

Huge++
Massive--