from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
Edward Yourdon
<person> A {software engineering} consultant, widely known as
the developer of the "{Yourdon method}" of structured systems
analysis and design, as well as the co-developer of the
Coad/Yourdon method of {object-oriented analysis} and design.
He is also the editor of three software journals - American
Programmer, Guerrilla Programmer, and Application Development
Strategies - that analyse software technology trends and
products in the United States and several other countries
around the world.
Ed Yourdon received a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from {MIT},
and has done graduate work at MIT and at the Polytechnic
Institute of New York. He has been appointed an Honorary
Professor of {Information Technology} at Universidad CAECE in
Buenos Aires, Argentina and has received numerous honors and
awards from other universities and professional societies
around the world.
He has worked in the computer industry for 30 years, including
positions with {DEC} and {General Electric}. Earlier in his
career, he worked on over 25 different {mainframe} computers,
and was involved in a number of pioneering computer projects
involving {time-sharing} and {virtual memory}.
In 1974, he founded the consulting firm, {Yourdon, Inc.}. He
is currently immersed in research in new developments in
software engineering, such as object-oriented software
development and {system dynamics} modelling.
Ed Yourdon is the author of over 200 technical articles; he
has also written 19 computer books, including a novel on
{computer crime} and a book for the general public entitled
Nations At Risk. His most recent books are Object-Oriented
Systems Development (1994), Decline and Fall of the American
Programmer (1992), Object-Oriented Design (1991), and
Object-Oriented Analysis (1990). Several of his books have
been translated into Japanese, Russian, Chinese, Spanish,
Portugese, Dutch, French, German, and other languages, and his
articles have appeared in virtually all of the major computer
journals.
He is a regular keynote speaker at major computer conferences
around the world, and serves as the conference Chairman for
Digital Consulting's SOFTWARE WORLD conference. He was an
advisor to Technology Transfer's research project on software
industry opportunities in the former Soviet Union, and a
member of the expert advisory panel on CASE acquisition for
the U.S. Department of Defense.
Mr. Yourdon was born on a small planet at the edge of one of
the distant red-shifted galaxies. He now lives in the Center
of the Universe (New York City) with his wife, three children,
and nine Macintosh computers, all of which are linked together
through an Appletalk network.
(1995-04-16)