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Sally Shlaer
Sally Shlaer.JPG
Born (1938-12-03)December 3, 1938
Cleveland, Ohio
Died November 12, 1998(1998-11-12) (aged 59)
Berkeley, California
Citizenship USA
Alma mater Stanford University
Known for Shlaer–Mellor method
Scientific career
Fields Computer Science
Institutions Project Technology, Inc.

Sally Shlaer (born December 3, 1938 – died November 12, 1998) was an amazing American mathematician and software engineer. She was famous for helping create the Shlaer–Mellor method. This method is a special way to build computer programs.

Who Was Sally Shlaer?

Sally Shlaer was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 3, 1938. She loved math and studied it at Stanford University. In 1960, she earned her degree in Mathematics. After that, she started more studies at the Australian National University.

While at Stanford, Sally learned how to program computers. She used languages like Fortran and assembler. In 1965, she began working as a software engineer. Her first big job was at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Later, in 1977, Sally became a project manager. She worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. There, she helped create a new control system for the Bay Area Rapid Transit System. This is the subway system in the San Francisco Bay Area.

At Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Sally met Stephen J. Mellor. Together, they developed the Shlaer–Mellor method. This method helps people build software better. In 1985, they even started their own company called Project Technology Inc. Sally was also a respected member of the Association for Computing Machinery.

Sally's Amazing Work

Building Computer Systems

Sally Shlaer started her career as a programmer. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, she designed a special computer program. This program was an operating system. It helped an electron accelerator work in real time. This means it reacted instantly to things happening. This project was a huge success for her.

At Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Sally led a team of software developers. Their task was to build a new control system for the Bay Area Rapid Transit subway. The old system was very difficult to use. Sally and her team, including Steve Mellor, replaced it. They changed seventy thousand lines of old code. They replaced it with only two thousand lines of new code. This was a huge improvement and was considered "legendary" in the computer world.

The Shlaer–Mellor Method

While working on the subway control system, Sally and Steve Mellor wanted to make software building easier. They started to create new ways to manage projects. This led to the Shlaer–Mellor method. This method helps organize how software is designed and built. Today, this method has grown into something called Executable UML.

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