W. Richard Stevens
Encyclopedia
William Richard Stevens (February 5, 1951 Luanshya
, Northern Rhodesia
–- September 1, 1999) was one of the most famous and widely acclaimed authors of UNIX
and TCP/IP
books.
), where his father worked for the copper industry. The family later moved to Salt Lake City, Hurley, New Mexico
, Washington, D.C.
and Phalaborwa, South Africa. Stevens attended Fishburne Military School
in Waynesboro
, Virginia
. He received a bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering
from the University of Michigan
in 1973 and both a master's degree (in 1978) and PhD (in 1982) in Systems Engineering
from the University of Arizona
. He moved to Tucson in 1975 where he was employed at Kitt Peak National Observatory
as a computer programmer until 1982. From 1982 until 1990 he was Vice President of Computing Services at Health Systems International in New Haven, Connecticut. Stevens moved back to Tucson in 1990 where he pursued his career as an author and consultant. He was also an avid pilot and a part-time flight instructor during the 1970s.
Stevens died in 1999, at the age of 48. In 2000, he was posthumously awarded the Usenix
Lifetime Achievement Award.
(RFC) documents — informational documents for IPv6
updates to the Berkeley sockets
API and a standards document for TCP
congestion control.
Luanshya
Luanshya is a town in Zambia, in the Copperbelt Province near Ndola. It has a population of 117,579 .Luanshya was founded in the early part of the 20th century after a prospector/explorer, William Collier, shot and killed a Roan Antelope on the banks of the Luanshya River, discovering a copper...
, Northern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia was a territory in south central Africa, formed in 1911. It became independent in 1964 as Zambia.It was initially administered under charter by the British South Africa Company and formed by it in 1911 by amalgamating North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia...
–- September 1, 1999) was one of the most famous and widely acclaimed authors of UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
and TCP/IP
Internet protocol suite
The Internet protocol suite is the set of communications protocols used for the Internet and other similar networks. It is commonly known as TCP/IP from its most important protocols: Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol , which were the first networking protocols defined in this...
books.
Biography
Richard Stevens was born in 1951 in Luanshya, Northern Rhodesia (now ZambiaZambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
), where his father worked for the copper industry. The family later moved to Salt Lake City, Hurley, New Mexico
Hurley, New Mexico
Hurley is a town in Grant County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,464 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Hurley is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land....
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and Phalaborwa, South Africa. Stevens attended Fishburne Military School
Fishburne Military School
Fishburne Military School is located in Waynesboro, Virginia. Founded by James A. Fishburne in 1879, it is one of the oldest military schools in the country...
in Waynesboro
Waynesboro
Waynesboro is the name of some places in the United States of America:*Waynesboro, Virginia*Waynesboro, Pennsylvania*Waynesboro, Georgia*Waynesboro, Mississippi*Waynesboro, Tennessee...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. He received a bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
in 1973 and both a master's degree (in 1978) and PhD (in 1982) in Systems Engineering
Systems engineering
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed over the life cycle of the project. Issues such as logistics, the coordination of different teams, and automatic control of machinery become more...
from the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
. He moved to Tucson in 1975 where he was employed at Kitt Peak National Observatory
Kitt Peak National Observatory
The Kitt Peak National Observatory is a United States astronomical observatory located on 2,096 m Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono O'odham Nation, southwest of Tucson...
as a computer programmer until 1982. From 1982 until 1990 he was Vice President of Computing Services at Health Systems International in New Haven, Connecticut. Stevens moved back to Tucson in 1990 where he pursued his career as an author and consultant. He was also an avid pilot and a part-time flight instructor during the 1970s.
Stevens died in 1999, at the age of 48. In 2000, he was posthumously awarded the Usenix
USENIX
-External links:* *...
Lifetime Achievement Award.
Books
- 1990 - UNIX Network Programming - ISBN 0-13-949876-1
- 1992 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment - ISBN 0-201-56317-7
- 1994 - TCP/IP IllustratedTCP/IP IllustratedTCP/IP Illustrated is the name of a series of 3 books written by W. Richard Stevens. Unlike traditional books which explain the RFC specifications, Stevens goes into great detail using actual network traces to describe the protocol, hence its 'Illustrated' title.The first book in the series,...
, Volume 1: The Protocols - ISBN 0-201-63346-9 - 1995 - TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 2: The Implementation (with Gary R. Wright) - ISBN 0-201-63354-X
- 1996 - TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 3: TCP for TransactionsT/TCPT/TCP is a variant of the TCP protocol.It is an experimental TCP extension for efficient transaction-oriented service.It was developed to fill the gap between TCP and UDP, by Bob Braden in 1994....
, HTTP, NNTPNetwork News Transfer ProtocolThe Network News Transfer Protocol is an Internet application protocol used for transporting Usenet news articles between news servers and for reading and posting articles by end user client applications...
, and the UNIX Domain Protocols - ISBN 0-201-63495-3 - 1998 - UNIX Network Programming, Volume 1, Second Edition: Networking APIs: SocketBerkeley socketsThe Berkeley sockets application programming interface comprises a library for developing applications in the C programming language that perform inter-process communication, most commonly for communications across a computer network....
s and XTIX/Open Transport InterfaceThe X/Open Transport Interface is an Open Group specification for network application programming present in UNIX System V operating systems. It provides OSI Transport Layer services with protocol independence...
- ISBN 0-13-490012-X - 1999 - UNIX Network Programming, Volume 2, Second Edition: Interprocess Communications - ISBN 0-13-081081-9
- 2003 - UNIX Network Programming Volume 1, Third Edition: The Sockets Networking API - ISBN 0-13-141155-1 (with Bill Fenner, and Andrew M. Rudoff)
- 2005 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment, Second Edition - ISBN 0-32-152594-9 (with Stephen A. Rago)
- 2011 - TCP/IP IllustratedTCP/IP IllustratedTCP/IP Illustrated is the name of a series of 3 books written by W. Richard Stevens. Unlike traditional books which explain the RFC specifications, Stevens goes into great detail using actual network traces to describe the protocol, hence its 'Illustrated' title.The first book in the series,...
, Volume 1: The Protocols (2nd Edition) - ISBN 0-32-133631-3 (with Kevin W. Fall)
RFCs
Stevens also co-authored several IETF Request for CommentsRequest for Comments
In computer network engineering, a Request for Comments is a memorandum published by the Internet Engineering Task Force describing methods, behaviors, research, or innovations applicable to the working of the Internet and Internet-connected systems.Through the Internet Society, engineers and...
(RFC) documents — informational documents for IPv6
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 is a version of the Internet Protocol . It is designed to succeed the Internet Protocol version 4...
updates to the Berkeley sockets
Berkeley sockets
The Berkeley sockets application programming interface comprises a library for developing applications in the C programming language that perform inter-process communication, most commonly for communications across a computer network....
API and a standards document for TCP
Transmission Control Protocol
The Transmission Control Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. TCP is one of the two original components of the suite, complementing the Internet Protocol , and therefore the entire suite is commonly referred to as TCP/IP...
congestion control.
- Stevens, W. R., and Thomas, M. 1998. "Advanced Sockets API for IPv6," RFC 2292
- Gilligan, R. E., Thomson, S., Bound, J., and Stevens, W. R. 1999. "Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6," RFC 2553
- Allman, M., Paxson, V., Stevens, W. R. 1999. "TCP Congestion Control," RFC 2581
External links
- Stevens' former homepage
- Guru of the Unix gurus by Rachel Chalmers (September 1, 2000) at Salon.comSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
- Usenet post of obituary