John Iliffe

Best known for his work on the Basic Language Machine in 1968, computer pioneer John Iliffe also contributed to the design of the operating system and languages installed in 1961 on the Rice University R1 computer.

Iliffe's design of the operating system and languages for the R1 demonstrated the first practical use of dynamically-assigned segmented storage based on a capability mechanism. The Basic Language Machine was the first general-purpose system to break completely with the von Neumann concept of a linear store and to use tagged memory to engineer comprehensive object management and high-precision program protection. Iliffe's work has consistently demonstrated his belief that access to information within computer memory should be controlled in detail on a need-to-know basis.