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Ted Kaehler | |
|---|---|
| Born | Edwin B. Kaehler 1950 (age 74–75) Palo Alto, California, United States |
| Education | Stanford University (B.S., 1972) Carnegie Mellon University (MSc, 1976) |
| Known for | Work onSmalltalk,Squeak,HyperCard |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer science |
| Institutions | Xerox PARC,Apple Computer,Walt Disney Imagineering,Hewlett-Packard,Viewpoints Research Institute |
| Academic advisors | Donald Knuth |
| Website | tedkaehler |
Ted Kaehler (born 1950) is an Americancomputer scientist known for his role in the development of severalsystemmethods. He is most noted for his contributions to theprogramming languagesSmalltalk,Squeak, andApple Computer'sHyperCard system,[1] and other technologies developed atXerox PARC.[2]
Kaehler is a son of a mechanical engineer and grew up tinkering with mechanical toys. During the 1960s, he built a computer on his own following an article published inScientific American.[3] He went toGunn High School, a public school inPalo Alto, California. He graduated in 1968.[3] While in high school, Kaehler was accepted to a summer job at then namedFairchild Industries. During this work, he learned the programming languageFortran.[3] During his high school days, he was introduced to his first computer, anIBM 1620, operated by thePalo Alto Unified School District. Kaehler then attendedStanford University to studyphysics, studied programming underDonald Knuth, learned the languageAPL, and metDan Ingalls. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in physics in 1972. Later, Xerox began a pilot program withGunn High School, loaning them aXerox Alto.
Ingalls introduced Kaehler to PARC when he secured a contract with Xerox. They formed a team that included George White, who was already with the company working onspeech recognition software.[3] During his early years at PARC, he attendedCarnegie Mellon University. He graduated with a Master of Science (MSc) incomputer science in 1976. By the 1980s, he was reportedly demonstrating avirtual reality (VR) technology that involved a user inMaze War 3D game. This depiction successfully voiced a response in-world to another user in the real world.[4] The development has been touted as the firstavatar-centric reference to this kind of VR technology.[4]
Kaehler was also documented as one of the researchers at PARC who briefedSteve Jobs about the company's three innovations: thegraphical user interface (GUI) of theXerox Alto computer, Smalltalk, andEthernet network at PARC.[5]
Kaehler was part of a group led by Dr.Alan Kay who refined the concept ofnetwork computing through Smalltalk. This is a system that drew fromJohn McCarthy's languageLISP and from simulation programming languageSimula, versions 1 and 67, which were developed by theNorwegian Computing Center.[6] In Kay's account of Smalltalk's early development, he cited key milestones attributed to Kaehler. According to Kay, along with Ingalls, Dave Robson, andDiana Merry, for instance, Kaehler successfully implemented the Smalltalk-76 system from scratch within a period of seven months.[7] It constituted 50 classes that composed 180 pages of source code.[7] Kaehler was also credited for designing thevirtual memory system named Object-Oriented Zoned Environment (OOZE).[8] This system gave Smalltalk more speed, and the development of a system tracer used to clone Smalltalk-76 since the technology can write out new virtual memories from their prior iterations.[7]
With Smalltalk, Kaehler worked closely with two futureTuring Award winners. He began a lifelong professional association with Alan Kay, as described herein. Kaehler also co-authored a book,A Taste of Smalltalk, withUniversity of California, Berkeley professorDavid Patterson,[9] future leader of theRISC-V movement.
In March 1985, Kaehler moved to Apple as a researcher.[10] He became involved in the development ofMacintosh computers, primarily providing technical support.[11] However, Kaehler was more noted for improving other technologies such as the company's HyperCard system from 1985 to 1987. This is a tool that allows users to create entertainment and instructional content. Kaehler added an interface that made it possible to controlvideodiscs.[1]
In 1996, while at Apple, Kaehler received a US patent for co-inventing user interface intermittent on-demand (pop up) halos around objects, with buttons to manipulate that object.[12]
Kaehler also became part of theopen-source software community-supported Squeak Central Team in 1996, which also included Ingalls, John Maloney, Scott Wallace, and Andreas Raab. It was initially developed out of the Smalltalk-80 atApple Research Laboratory[13] and was later continued atWalt Disney Imagineering. Squeak was developed as an open and highly-portable language that is written fully in Smalltalk and included theEToys system, which allows children to see the software operation.[14] The use of Smalltalk technology allows Squeak to be easier todebug, analyze, and change.[15] Kaehler was credited for writing the code of the platform'spainting system, Squeak Paintbox, and other EToys pilot versions.
In 1982, Kaehler wed Carol Nasby, who also worked at Apple for several years, wrote the first Macintosh Owners Guide, built the HyperCard Help System for version 1.0,[16] and wrote the bookHyperCard Power.[17] In 1991, she died from complications of Type 1diabetes.[10]
In 1998, he wed his second wife Cynthia. She was a former preschool teacher for 25 years, and an artist who made fused glass pendants for necklaces and broaches.[18] They lived inLas Vegas,Nevada and had three children. In 2020, she died from cancer.
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