Joe Armstrong (programmer) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joe Armstrong
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Armstrong in 2009
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| Born | 27 December 1950 Bournemouth, England, UK
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| Died | 20 April 2019 (aged 68) |
| Alma mater | University College London, UK; Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden |
| Occupation | Computer programmer, professor, author |
| Known for | Creating the Erlang programming language |
| Spouse(s) | Helen Taylor |
| Children | Thomas Armstrong, Claire Armstrong |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Edinburgh Ericsson Computer Science Lab KTH |
Joseph Leslie Armstrong (born December 27, 1950 – died April 20, 2019) was a very smart computer scientist. He was best known for helping to create a special computer language called Erlang. This language is used to build computer systems that are very reliable and keep working even if parts of them have problems.
About Joe Armstrong
Joseph Armstrong was born in Bournemouth, England, in 1950. He became a professor and a computer programmer. He also wrote books about computer science.
Early Life and Learning
When Joe was 17, he started learning to program computers. He used a language called Fortran on a very large computer called a mainframe. These big computers were used by local councils.
He studied Physics at University College London. He earned his first degree there in 1972. Later, he got his Ph.D. (a very high degree) in Computer Science. He earned it from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden in 2003. His Ph.D. was about making computer systems reliable.
From 2014 until he passed away, Joe Armstrong was a professor at KTH.
Working with Computers
After working for a short time at the University of Edinburgh, Joe moved to Sweden in 1974. In 1984, he joined the Ericsson Computer Science Lab. This lab was in a place called Kista.
At Ericsson in 1986, Joe worked with two other people, Robert Virding and Mike Williams. Together, they invented the Erlang programming language. This language was made available for everyone to use for free in 1998.
Family Life
Joe Armstrong married Helen Taylor in 1977. They had two children, a son named Thomas and a daughter named Claire.
His Passing
Joe Armstrong passed away on April 20, 2019. He had an infection that became very serious because of a lung condition called pulmonary fibrosis.
