In the early 1970s, John cocke transformed computing by simplifying the set of instructions that tell computers what functions to perform.
Cocke He was born on May 30, 1925 in Charlotte, North Carolina. His father was a member of the Board of Trustees of Duke University, where Cocke did his undergraduate and graduate work, culminating with a Ph.D. in Mathematics in 1956.
He joined IBM the following year and his first project there was Stretch Computer. He soon became a large systems specialist and made many advances in system architecture and compiler optimization.
In 1974, Cocke and his research team began an attempt to build a telephone switching network that could handle 300 calls per second. To achieve this, Cocke he had to find a way to speed up the rate at which the system obtained his instructions. The systems were clogged with instructions like “multiply,” which were rarely used but essential. Cocke he decided to dismantle the more complicated instructions into simple binary code, using logic and what he called “number tricks.” These simpler instruction elements were stored in an “instruction cache” and used bit by bit as needed, allowing the system to achieve the same results as before but much faster.
The reduced instruction set computing architecture of Cocke (RISC), called “801” after being manufactured at the Thomas Watson Research Center where he worked Cocke, soon established itself as the industry standard. He later refined his system in the following years and played a key role in the development of the IBM RS / 6000 in the 1980s.
In the path, Cocke obtained more than 20 patents. He also earned a reputation as an eccentric, whose enthusiasm for his work kept him – and any colleague with whom he might share his ideas – busy day and night. Secondly, Cocke he had little interest in worldly affairs. He was famous for never cashing his paychecks, for example.
Everyone agrees that Cocke He was a great inspiration for those who knew him or his work. In addition to his work on the RISC system, he made important contributions in logic simulation, coding theory, and other aspects of compiler optimization. Although he called himself “fantastically lazy”, John cocke He was a true giant in the history of computer science and is one of the few engineers who won the National Medal of Technology (1991) and the National Medal of Science (1994).
He died on July 16, 2002, and Duke University has since appointed a chair in his honor.