Larry Tesler
While at PARC, Tesler's work included Smalltalk, the first dynamic object-oriented programming language, and Gypsy, the first word processor with a graphical user interface (GUI) for the Xerox Alto.Tesler was born on April 24, 1945, in the Bronx in New York City, to Jewish parents Isidore, an anesthesiologist, and Muriel (née Krechmer).[1][2] At Stanford, he had spent time as a student programmer for Joshua Lederberg on the LINC platform,[1] and was a colleague of Larry Breed, Charles Brenner, Douglas Hofstadter, Roger Moore, and Bill Strachan.[4] He called Stanford to see if they had anything, and learned that Alan Kay, whom Tesler had worked with while at SAIL and then a member of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), had been actively looking for him shortly after his departure.[4] While working on Gypsy, Tesler and his colleague Tim Mott started writing ideas down envisioning the future of interactive computer use, considering current text-based user interfaces would move to GUIs with icons representing documents, and to develop ease-of-use.[4][9] Tesler also was part of a team with Adele Goldberg and Douglas Fairbairn that worked on the Xerox NoteTaker, a portable computer system Alan Kay had envisioned.[4] Tesler and Fairbairn took the 16 kilograms (35 lb) NoteTaker prototype on cross-country trips to demonstrate the unit to Xerox executives.Tesler is considered the originator of the phrase "user-friendly" as a measure of usability after a salesman told him that word processors were difficult to sell because they were "just so unfriendly".During the first visit, Tesler demonstrated to Jobs the Xerox Alto, including its computer mouse-driven GUI features, Gypsy, and Smalltalk.[17] However, Tesler claimed some decisions related to the Newton's release, such as deciding against an Apple-developed handwriting recognition software, over a third-party which slowed down the device, were estimated to have cost Apple millions of dollars.One of his last acts was to close the Advanced Technology Group as Apple was struggling too much financially to support such a research program at that time.Stagecast Creator was released in 1999, just at the time that the education market had turned financially downhill, and sales of the program were not sufficient to keep the company in business.He also maintained an attitude that being successful in Silicon Valley was a "rite of passage", and those who succeed should try to help fund new ventures and to educate others.
The BronxNew York CityPortola ValleyCaliforniaStanford UniversityCopy and pasteHuman–computer interactionXerox PARCAmazonYahoo!computer scientistSmalltalkobject-oriented programmingword processorgraphical user interfaceXerox AltomodelessApple LisaApple NewtonObject PascalMacAppBronx High School of Scienceprime numbersColumbia Universitycomputer scienceJoshua LederbergLarry BreedCharles BrennerDouglas HofstadterRoger MooreStanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratoryfunctional programmingcounterculture of the 1960santi-Vietnam War protestsMidpeninsula Free UniversityFree Speech MovementTesler's TheoremVietnam WarAlan KayXerox Palo Alto Research CenterLes Earnestmarkup languageAdele GoldbergXerox NoteTakerEthernetusabilitywhat you see is what you getbrowserSteve JobsApple Computercomputer mouseApple MacintoshAppleNetAdvanced Technology GroupPascalNiklaus Wirthclass librarypersonal digital assistantstablet computerhandwriting recognitionScientific AmericanCommunications, Computers, and NetworksCocoa application programming interfaceStagecast CreatorSeattleventure capitalists23andMeComputer History Museummodeless softwareTwitterPortola Valley, CaliforniaAI effectList of programmersList of computer scientistsLaw of conservation of complexityMarkoff, JohnThe New York TimesCellan-Jones, RoryHofstadter, DouglasIEEE SpectrumAmerican Federation of Information Processing SocietiesACM InteractionsGladwell, MalcolmThe New YorkerElmer-DeWitt, PhilipFortuneRandom HouseMacworldThe Seattle TimesAssociated PressBibcodeBusiness WireWayback MachineSoftwareImplementationsDolphin SmalltalkGemStone/SGNU SmalltalkSqueakVisualAgeVisualWorksDialectsLittle SmalltalkNewspeakStepTalkStrongtalkVirtual realityplatformsCroquet ProjectOpen CobaltGraphical user interfacesModel–view–controllerMorphicAIDA/WebSeasideWorkstationCommunityCincom SystemsGemstoneL. Peter DeutschDan IngallsTed KaehlerDiana MerryDavid UngarLars BakGilad Bracha