R.C. Holt

Experience And Contributions In Software Development

• PL/C Project. Cornell University, member (1969-70) of team to design and develop a high speed one step PL/I subset compiler. Used internationally at hundreds of computer installations.
• SUE Project. University of Toronto, member (1971-76), Project organizer (1972-74), design of an operating system for the IBM 360 with supporting software tools. The SUE System Language was used at installations in Europe, USA and Canada.
• The TOPPS compiler. University of Toronto, designer (1973). The language was used to implement exemplary operating systems at various universities.
• SP/k. Project, University of Toronto (1972-78), Technical Director. Developed PL/I subset (SP/k) compiler used internationally for teaching in 40 universities, high schools, and research laboratories.
• The CSP/k compiler. University of Toronto, designer (1976). A concurrent programming language/compiler that supports parallel processes, monitors, and simulation facilities. Used at various universities and research institutes for learning and experimenting with concurrency.
• The Euclid Project. University of Toronto, member of four man team (1977-80). Project supported by Canadian and USA governments and by IBM to build a compiler for a systems programming language with verification facilities. Used at I.P. Sharp Associates (Toronto), MITRE Corp. (Boston) and various institutes for system programming and research in secure software.
• The Speckle Project. University of Toronto (1976-79). Development of portable, subset self-compiling PL/I compilers for PDP-11, 8080 microcomputer, B1700, etc.
• The Software Toolkit Project. University of Toronto (1979-81). Development of a portable, compatible Pascal subset (PT) compiler (by Alan Rosselet) and a portable text editor (by Ken Newman).
• The S/SL Project. (1980-81), With J.R. Cordy and D.B. Wortman. Development and distribution of a portable Syntax/Semantic Language, which is a software tools for compiler development. Used by various companies including BNR, IBM, and Cognos.
• The Concurrent Euclid Project. Coordinator (1980-85). Development of a portable compiler for mini/micro computers (M68000, M6809, PDP-11, Vax, Intel 432, IBM 370, Intel 8086, NS32000). Used at 200 installations internationally.
• The Tunis Project. Coordinator (1979-88). Development of a portable, UNIX compatible operating system written in Concurrent Euclid. Widely referenced in operating systems literature.
• The Turing Project. With J.R. Cordy (1982-91). Development of state-of-the-art programming language with portable compiler and interpreter. Associated development of programming environments and programming tools. Object oriented programming. Very high speed compilation. Programming environments.
• The Secure Tunis Project. Development with Thompson-Foss and Honeywell of a military secure operating system (1987-90).
• The Hector Project. Principal investigator (1987-90). Development of 100 RISC CPU shared memory computer system. Personal concentration on operating system (Polyx) suitable for this class of computer. The Polyx operating system has been used industrially in a highly parallel special purpose multiprocessor computer.
• The OOT (Object Oriented Turing) Project . Development of object oriented programming language. Associated development of programming environments and programming tools. Turing/OOT software is used widely in Ontario high schools and has been used at many universities. (1991-1999)
• Software Landscape Project. Tools for visualizing very large software. (1993-present)