How to Learn Technical Writing

Speaker: Jon Bentley , Avaya Labs Research

Date: Wednesday, December 04, 2013

Time: 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM Note: all times are in the Eastern Time Zone

Refreshments: 1:15 PM

Public: Yes

Location: 32-G449

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Host: Prof. Charles E. Leiserson

Contact: Cree Bruins, 617-253-2629, cbruins@csail.mit.edu

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Reminders to: cbruins@csail.mit.edu

Reminder Subject: TALK: Wed, 12/4/13 How to Learn Technical Writing

Abstract:
Almost every computing job requires technical writing. Skillful writing can make fair work look good, and clumsy writing can obfuscate great work. This talk sketches some of the writing tasks that arise in a technical career, and the importance of graceful communication. I will describe my personal transformation from a typical undergraduate technogeek who feared and loathed technical writing into aged technogeek who still fears writing but usually enjoys having written. As an added bonus, I hope to reveal mysteries of what made young Charles Leiserson into the painful yet incredibly useful writer that he is today.

Jon Bentley's research interests include programming techniques, algorithm design, and the design of software tools and interfaces. He has written over a hundred articles on a variety of topics, ranging from the theory of algorithms to software engineering. His books include Writing Efficient Programs (1982) and Programming Pearls (2nd Edition 2000).
Jon received a B.S. from Stanford in 1974 and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina in 1976, then taught Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon for six years. He joined Bell Labs Research in 1982, and retired in 2001 to join Avaya Labs Research, from which he retired in 2013. He has been a visiting faculty member at West Point and Princeton, and has been a member of teams that have shipped software tools, telephone switches, telephones and web services.

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Created by Cree Bruins Email at Wednesday, November 27, 2013 at 12:40 PM.