Douglas Earl Comer - Internet Hall of Fame 2019

Douglas Earl Comer is a professor of

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

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, where he teaches courses on

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

s and

computer network A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must be connected by wired media like copper cables, optical fibers, or b ...

s. He has written numerous research papers and textbooks, and currently heads several networking research projects. He has been involved in

TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suite are ...

and internetworking since the late 1970s, and is an internationally recognized authority. He designed and implemented X25NET and Cypress networks, and the

Xinu XINU Is Not Unix (XINU, a recursive acronym), is an operating system for embedded systems, originally developed by Douglas Comer for educational use at Purdue University in the 1980s. The name is both recursive, and is ''Unix'' spelled backwar ...

operating system. He is director of the Internetworking Research Group at Purdue, editor of Software - Practice and Experience, and a former member of the

Internet Architecture Board The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) is a committee of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and an advisory body of the Internet Society (ISOC). Its responsibilities include architectural oversight of IETF activities, Internet Standards ...

. Comer completed the original version of Xinu (and wrote correspondent book ''The Xinu Approach'') in 1979. Since then, Xinu has been expanded and ported to a wide variety of platforms, including:

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the List of IBM Personal Computer models, IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible ''de facto'' standard. Released on ...

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president until ...

VAX VAX (an acronym for virtual address extension) is a series of computers featuring a 32-bit instruction set architecture (ISA) and virtual memory that was developed and sold by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the late 20th century. The V ...

and

DECstation 3100 The DECstation was a brand of computers used by Digital Equipment Corporation, DEC, and refers to three distinct lines of computer systems—the first released in 1978 as a word processing system, and the latter (more widely known) two both ...

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...

Sun-2 The Sun-2 series of UNIX workstations and servers was launched by Sun Microsystems in November 1983. As the name suggests, the Sun-2 represented the second generation of Sun systems, superseding the original Sun-1 series. The Sun-2 series used ...

Sun-3 Sun-3 is a series of UNIX computer workstations and servers produced by Sun Microsystems, launched on September 9, 1985. The Sun-3 series are VMEbus-based systems similar to some of the earlier Sun-2 series, but using the Motorola 68020 mic ...

and

SPARCstation The SPARCstation, SPARCserver and SPARCcenter product lines are a series of SPARC-based computer workstations and server (computing), servers in desktop, desk side (pedestal) and rack-based form factor configurations, that were developed and sol ...

s, and

Intel Pentium Pentium is a series of x86 architecture-compatible microprocessors produced by Intel from 1993 to 2023. The original Pentium was Intel's fifth generation processor, succeeding the i486; Pentium was Intel's flagship processor line for over ...

. It has been used as the basis for many research projects. Furthermore, Xinu has been used as an embedded system in products by companies such as

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

, and

Lexmark Lexmark International, Inc. is a privately held American company that manufactures laser printers and imaging products. The company is headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky. Since 2016 it has been jointly owned by a consortium of three multination ...

Education and career

Comer holds a BS in

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from

Houghton College Houghton University is a Private university, private Christian liberal arts college in Houghton, New York, United States. Houghton was founded in 1883 by Willard J. Houghton and is affiliated with the Wesleyan Church.PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

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

from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

earned in 1976. He is a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and professor of

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

and

computer engineering Computer engineering (CE, CoE, or CpE) is a branch of engineering specialized in developing computer hardware and software. It integrates several fields of electrical engineering, electronics engineering and computer science. Computer engi ...

in the US. Beginning in the late 1970s he started his continuing research into

, which has earned him international fame in the field of Computer Science and

computer networking A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must be connected by wired media like copper cables, optical fibers, or b ...

Achievements

Douglas Comer headed a number of research projects associated with the creation of the Internet, and is the author of a number of books on Operating Systems, the Internet and

networking, and computer architecture. Comer is also the developer of the

operating system. Comer is well known for his series of ground breaking textbooks on computer networks, the Internet, computer operating systems, and computer architecture. His books have been translated into sixteen languages, and are widely used in both industry and academia. Comer's three-volume series ''Internetworking With TCP/IP'' is often cited as an authoritative reference for the Internet protocols. For twenty years, Comer served as editor-in-chief of the research journal Software—Practice And Experience, published by John Wiley & Sons. Comer is a Fellow of the ACM and the recipient of numerous teaching awards.

Research Grants

*Csnet Protocol Development – 1981 *High-Level Network Protocols: Computer Research – 1983 *Feasibility Studies of High-Performance Communication Over Public Packet-Switched Networks – 1984 *Cypress: A Proposed Cost Effective Packet-Switched Interconnection Strategy – 1985 *Shadow Editing – 1986 *Computer Research Equipment – 1987 *Extensible Terascale Facility (ETF): Indiana-Purdue Grid (IP-grid) – 2003 *FIA: Collaborative Research: NEBULA: A Future Internet That Supports Trustworthy Cloud Computing – 2010

Publications

Comer has authored numerous research papers and seventeen popular textbooks that have been translated into sixteen languages.

Networks and Internets (including TCP/IP Protocols)

*Internetworking With TCP/IP Volume III: Client-Server Programming and Applications, AT&T TLI Version – 1996 *Internetworking With TCP/IP Volume III: Client-Server Programming and Applications, BSD Socket Version – 1996 *Internetworking With TCP/IP Volume III: Client-Server Programming and Applications, Windows Sockets Version – 1997 *Internetworking With TCP/IP Volume II: Design, Implementation, and Internals – 1999 *Internetworking With TCP/IP Volume III: Client-Server Programming and Applications, Linux/POSIX Socket Version – 2000 *Hands-on Networking with Internet Applications – 2004 *Network Systems Design Using Network Processors – 2004 *Network Systems Design Using Network Processors, Agere version – 2005 *Automated Network Management Systems – 2006 *Network Systems Design Using Network Processors, Intel 2xxx version – 2006 *The Internet Book: Everything you need to know about computer networking and how the Internet works – 2007 *Internetworking With TCP/IP Volume 1: Principles, Protocols, and Architecture, 6th edition – 2013 *Computer Networks And Internets Sixth Edition – 2014

Computer Architecture And Operating Systems

*Operating System Design Volume 2: Internetworking with XINU – 1987 *Operating System Design Volume 1: The XINU Approach, PC version – 1988 *Operating System Design Volume 1: The XINU Approach, Macintosh version – 1989 *Internetworking With TCP/IP Volume II: Design, Implementation, and Internals – 1994 *Essentials Of Computer Architecture – 2005 *Operating System Design - The XINU Approach, Second edition – 2015

Awards

*Usenix "The Flame" Lifetime Achievement Award (as part of the Software Tools Project) – 1996 *Listed in Purdue University Book of Great Teachers – 1999 *Fellow of the ACM – 2000 *Fellow of the Purdue University Teaching Academy – 2003 *School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Courtesy Appointment – 2003 *Purdue University Distinguished Professor – 2004 *Joel and Ruth Spira Excellence in Teaching Award – 2012 *Internet Hall of Fame - 2019

References

Comer's homepage at Purdue University

Information about all of Comer's books

Comer's description as listed by the Purdue Department of Computer Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comer, Douglas American computer scientists Computer systems researchers American computer science educators American technology writers Houghton University alumni Internet pioneers Penn State College of Engineering alumni Purdue University faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people)