R. Nigel Horspool is a retired

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...

, formerly of the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

. He invented the

Boyer–Moore–Horspool algorithm In computer science, the Boyer–Moore–Horspool algorithm or Horspool's algorithm is an algorithm for finding substrings in string (computer science), strings. It was published by Nigel Horspool in 1980 as SBM. It is a simplification of the Bo ...

, a fast string search algorithm adapted from the Boyer–Moore string-search algorithm. Horspool is co-inventor of dynamic Markov compression and was associate editor and then editor-at-large of the journal ''Software: Practice and Experience'' from 2007 to 2017. He is the author of ''C Programming in the Berkeley UNIX Environment''. Nigel Horspool is British by birth, but is now a citizen of Canada. After a public school education at

Monmouth School Monmouth School for Boys is a public school (independent day and boarding school) for boys in Monmouth, Wales. The school was founded in 1614 with a bequest from William Jones, a successful merchant and trader. The School is run as a trust, t ...

, he studied at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he received a BA in natural science, but specializing in

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...

, in 1969. After two years employment as an assembly language programmer on a partially successful air traffic control system project, he went to the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

for an MSc followed by a PhD in

. This was followed by seven years as an assistant professor and then an associate professor at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

. In 1983, he made a permanent move to the

. As of July 2016, he retired from the university but retains the title of professor emeritus.

References

Canadian computer scientists British computer scientists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{compu-scientist-stub