Elliot Koffman

Elliot Bruce Koffman (born 7 May 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts)[1] is a noted computer scientist and educationist. He is the author of numerous widely used introductory textbooks for more than 10[2] different programming languages, including Ada, BASIC, C, C++, FORTRAN, Java, Modula-2, and Pascal. Since 1974, he has been a professor of computer and information sciences at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Elliot Bruce Koffman
Born (1942-05-07) May 7, 1942
Boston, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
OccupationComputer scientist
Known forEducational development and textbooks

Education and career

Koffman attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned his Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Engineering degrees in 1964. He received his PhD in 1967 at Case Institute of Technology with a dissertation on learning games through pattern recognition.[3]

That same year, Koffman began work at the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, Maryland as an electrical engineer. He was promoted to captain of the U.S. Army and assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C. from 1967 to 1969.[1]

Koffman also began his teaching career in 1967, serving as a professorial lecturer at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. (1967–1969); an Assistant Professor (1969–1972) and Associate Professor (1972–1974) in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Connecticut; and an Associate Professor (1974–1978) and Full Professor (1978–present) in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at Temple University.[1]

Koffman's early research was in artificial intelligence and intelligent tutoring systems. In 1974 he began writing and co-authoring textbooks for introductory programming courses for computer science majors (CS1) in programming languages such as Ada, BASIC, C, C++, Fortran, Java, Modula-2, and Pascal. He also wrote textbooks for the first data structures course (CS2) in C++, Java, and Pascal.[2]

In 2009 he was awarded the SIGCSE Outstanding Contribution Award "for an extraordinary record of teaching, curriculum development, publishing papers as well as numerous textbooks, and for helping to shape Computer Science education".[4]

Other activities

Koffman chaired the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) task force to revise CS1 and CS2 courses from 1983 to 1985. He was also chairman of the ACM Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) from 1987 to 1991.[2]

Family

Koffman married Caryn Jackson[5] in 1963.[3] She is a photographer whose work has won awards[6] and been featured in a local gallery.[7] They have three children, Richard, Deborah and Robin. They live in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.[5]

Bibliography

References
  1. "Curriculum Vita". Temple University. 1 October 2000. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  2. "CSC Colloquium: Elliot Koffman". Villanova University. 28 April 2008. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  3. Koffman, Elliot. "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in CS1" (PDF). Temple University. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
  4. "Outstanding Contribution Award". Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  5. "Death Notices: Jackson". The Jewish Exponent. 20 October 2005. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  6. Pinard Bogaert, Pauline (13 November 1994). "Luncheon And Fashion Show Raise $9,500 For Scholarships To Nurses". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  7. Dove, Pheralyn (22 April 1996). "Gallery Highlights Works Of 3 Women: The Artforms Exhibit Features Sculpture, Paintings And Photographs By The 3 Montco Artists". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
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