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Larry Tesler Has Died

gizmodo.com

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Re: Larry Tesler Has Died

#121

Post by oblio »

alankay wrote: post #117

I knew Larry Tesler as a colleague, friend, member of my research group, manager, etc. for more than 50 years, almost as long as I knew Bert Sutherland. There is an excellent obit for Larry at: https://gizmodo.com/larry-tessler-modeless-computing-advocat... ... and I expect another one from John Markoff -- who was a friend of his -- in the NYTimes. In many ways, Larry did too many interesting things and had so much i…

Is anyone from Parc still involved in research these days? Or is everyone retired or just chugging along at regular corporate jobs?

Re: Larry Tesler Has Died

#123

Post by jusujusu »

alariccole wrote: post #34

This breaks my heart. I used to work next to Larry—literally sat next to him—on Yahoo’s central design team. We were in frequent meetings together, but didn’t talk one-on-one often. One evening commuting from work, during one of many Caltrain failures, he noticed me as I waited outside the train and offered me a ride home. I remember sitting nervously in the car, a bit awestruck, and I finally got up the courage to a…

> he noticed me as I waited outside the train and offered me a ride home

Ctrl-X + Ctrl-V

Re: Larry Tesler Has Died

#124

Post by rhn_mk1 »

manthideaal wrote: post #116
crobertsbmw wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still don’t get it.

python, decoding and encoding the message a="53414e544120414e442048495320574f524b53484f50" "".join([chr(int(a[i:(i+2)],16)) for i in range(0,len(a),2)]) => 'SANTA AND HIS WORKSHOP' a = 'SANTA AND HIS WORKSHOP' "".join([hex(ord(c)) for c in a]).replace('0x','') => '53414e544120414e442048495320574f524b53484f50'

An easier version and IMO more true to what's actually going on:

>>> bytes.fromhex('53414e544120414e442048495320574f524b53484f50')

b'SANTA AND HIS WORKSHOP'

>>> b'SANTA AND HIS WORKSHOP'.hex()

'53414e544120414e442048495320574f524b53484f50'

Re: Larry Tesler Has Died

#125

Post by alankay »

oblio wrote: post #121
alankay wrote: post #117

I knew Larry Tesler as a colleague, friend, member of my research group, manager, etc. for more than 50 years, almost as long as I knew Bert Sutherland. There is an excellent obit for Larry at: https://gizmodo.com/larry-tessler-modeless-computing-advocat... ... and I expect another one from John Markoff -- who was a friend of his -- in the NYTimes. In many ways, Larry did too many interesting things and had so much i…

Is anyone from Parc still involved in research these days? Or is everyone retired or just chugging along at regular corporate jobs?

Most of the people who were at Parc who are still alive are still doing research.

Pretty much only one wanted to get rich (and did). Several were more or less forced into becoming rich. Money has its own dynamics and none of these folks wound up doing further research.

But Butler Lampson (the "Oppenheimer" of Parc) is still going strong, as am I and many others.

It was a calling, never a job.

Re: Larry Tesler Has Died

#126

Post by manthideaal »

rhn_mk1 wrote: post #124
manthideaal wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

python, decoding and encoding the message a="53414e544120414e442048495320574f524b53484f50" "".join([chr(int(a[i:(i+2)],16)) for i in range(0,len(a),2)]) => 'SANTA AND HIS WORKSHOP' a = 'SANTA AND HIS WORKSHOP' "".join([hex(ord(c)) for c in a]).replace('0x','') => '53414e544120414e442048495320574f524b53484f50'

An easier version and IMO more true to what's actually going on: >>> bytes.fromhex('53414e544120414e442048495320574f524b53484f50') b'SANTA AND HIS WORKSHOP' >>> b'SANTA AND HIS WORKSHOP'.hex() '53414e544120414e442048495320574f524b53484f50'

Thanks, nice. bytes.fromhex is really reading bytes from a hex string, so perhaps a better name should be bytes.fromhexstring, but since python names are short I understand the trade-off. Also, my first impression is that hex should be called bytes.tohexstring, but for those using python daily I understand the need of shorter names.

Re: Larry Tesler Has Died

#127

Post by lukego »

mikelevins wrote: post #58

I met Larry in about 1992 when I went to work on the Newton project. I had seen him around Apple before, and I knew who he was and what he was known for, but I didn't actually meet him until I joined the Newton team. I found him friendly, modest, smart, shrewd, compassionate, full of interesting knowledge and ideas, and interested in other people and their ideas. I got to know him better when John Sculley ordered him…

(I'm having trouble with this seeming to be a feel-good anecdote about a high-pressure working environment in which people are burning out and killing themselves.)

Re: Larry Tesler Has Died

#128

Post by danmaz74 »

alankay wrote: post #125
oblio wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is anyone from Parc still involved in research these days? Or is everyone retired or just chugging along at regular corporate jobs?

Most of the people who were at Parc who are still alive are still doing research. Pretty much only one wanted to get rich (and did). Several were more or less forced into becoming rich. Money has its own dynamics and none of these folks wound up doing further research. But Butler Lampson (the "Oppenheimer" of Parc) is still going strong, as am I and many others. It was a calling, never a job.

> Pretty much only one wanted to get rich (and did).

Metcalfe?

Re: Larry Tesler Has Died

#130

Post by vanderZwan »

lukego wrote: post #127
mikelevins wrote: post #58

I met Larry in about 1992 when I went to work on the Newton project. I had seen him around Apple before, and I knew who he was and what he was known for, but I didn't actually meet him until I joined the Newton team. I found him friendly, modest, smart, shrewd, compassionate, full of interesting knowledge and ideas, and interested in other people and their ideas. I got to know him better when John Sculley ordered him…

(I'm having trouble with this seeming to be a feel-good anecdote about a high-pressure working environment in which people are burning out and killing themselves.)

I guess the feel-good part is remembering that Larry Tesler was a good person inside of and despite that environment.

And I think it's a polite way of reminding everyone that being an asshole is not required to do great, world-changing work.

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