Barbara Liskov
Developed the Liskov Substitution Principle and a pioneer in programming language design.
Most quoted
"If for each object o1 of type S there is an object o2 of type T such that for all programs P defined in terms of T, the behavior of P remains unchanged when o1 is substituted for o2, then S is a subtype of T."
— from A Behavioral Notion of Subtyping, 1994
"If for each object o1 of type S there is an object o2 of type T such that for all programs P defined in terms of T, the behavior of P is unchanged when o1 is substituted for o2 then S is a subtype of T."
— from Paper, 1987
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
— from Attributed (often to Saint-Exupéry, but used in her context)
All quotes by Barbara Liskov (315)
The power of abstraction is in allowing us to reason about complex systems.
We need to move beyond ad-hoc programming to principled software engineering.
The design of a programming language influences how we think about programming.
The challenge of distributed systems is not just about communication, but about consistency and fault tolerance.
The best way to learn is by doing, but doing with a purpose and a plan.
Computer science is an engineering discipline, and we should treat it as such.
The importance of formal methods is often underestimated.
Building large software systems requires a systematic approach.
The goal of research is to advance the state of the art, not just to solve immediate problems.
We need to build systems that are not just efficient, but also secure and reliable.
The power of abstraction allows us to manage complexity by ignoring irrelevant details.
The future of computing is about building increasingly complex and interconnected systems.
The most exciting problems in computer science are often at the intersection of different fields.
Good software engineering practices are essential for building trustworthy systems.
The ability to reason about programs is fundamental to building correct software.
Contemporaries of Barbara Liskov
Other Computer Sciences born within 50 years of Barbara Liskov (1939).