It is always sad when someone dies, and especially so when that person was an inspiration for you. I met John at a party that I attended with my wife at PARC where he and Bob Taylor ("Boss Bob") were discussing microcode changes in the Alto that would speed up graphics rendering. As a young over confident pipsqueak I thought I could just wade into that conversation and add my thoughts but got so thoroughly trounced (but in a nice way) I just had to nod and slowly slink away :-). While hanging out with my wife another attendee came up to me and assured me that no, neither Bob nor John were being mean, they just had already covered a lot of the basics and options and their questions were at a much higher level. He assured me I'd catch up, just takes a bit of reading. I said thanks, feeling a bit better but really still feeling like the third grader who finds themselves in a college physics class.
When we got home my wife asked me what Bob had said to me, I explained that he and John and pretty much explained that I didn't know enough about graphics algorithms yet to engage in their discussion. She said, "No, not Bob Taylor, Bob Sproul."
When we got home my wife asked me what Bob had said to me, I explained that he and John and pretty much explained that I didn't know enough about graphics algorithms yet to engage in their discussion. She said, "No, not Bob Taylor, Bob Sproul."