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John Warnock

 
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John Warnock (born October 6, 1940) is an American computer scientist
Computer scientist

A computer scientist is a person who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
 best known as the co-founder with Charles Geschke
Charles Geschke

Charles M. "Chuck" Geschke is best known as the co-founder with John Warnock of Adobe Systems Inc., the graphics and publishing software company, in 1982....
 of Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems Incorporated is an United States computer Computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California, USA. The company has historically focused upon the creation of multimedia and creativity software products, with a more-recent foray into rich Internet application software development....
 Inc., the graphics and publishing software company. Although retired as CEO in 2001, he still co-chairs the board with Geschke.

Warnock was born in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is the Capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC....
. He has a B.S.
Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an bachelor's degree academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years ....
 in mathematics
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
 and philosophy
Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
, an M.S.
Master of Science

A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in a large number of countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences and occasionally in the social sciences....
 in mathematics, and a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated Ph.D. or PhD for the Latin , meaning "teacher of philosophy", is an postgraduate academic degree awarded by University....
 in electrical engineering
Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering, sometimes referred to as electrical and electronic engineering, is a field of engineering that deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism....
, all from the University of Utah
University of Utah

The University of Utah is a public university research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. One of ten institutions that make up the Utah System of Higher Education and Utah's premier research school currently enrolls 21,526 undergraduate and 6,684 graduate student students and has 1,419 regular Faculty members....
.

Prior to co-founding Adobe, Warnock worked for Geschke at Xerox
Xerox

Xerox Corporation is a global document management company which manufactures and sells a range of color and black-and-white Computer printer, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies....
's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC
Xerox PARC

PARC , formerly Xerox PARC, is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California with a distinguished reputation for its contributions to information technology....
), where he had started in 1978.






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Encyclopedia


John Warnock (born October 6, 1940) is an American computer scientist
Computer scientist

A computer scientist is a person who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
 best known as the co-founder with Charles Geschke
Charles Geschke

Charles M. "Chuck" Geschke is best known as the co-founder with John Warnock of Adobe Systems Inc., the graphics and publishing software company, in 1982....
 of Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems Incorporated is an United States computer Computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California, USA. The company has historically focused upon the creation of multimedia and creativity software products, with a more-recent foray into rich Internet application software development....
 Inc., the graphics and publishing software company. Although retired as CEO in 2001, he still co-chairs the board with Geschke.

Warnock was born in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is the Capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC....
. He has a B.S.
Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an bachelor's degree academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years ....
 in mathematics
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
 and philosophy
Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
, an M.S.
Master of Science

A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in a large number of countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences and occasionally in the social sciences....
 in mathematics, and a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated Ph.D. or PhD for the Latin , meaning "teacher of philosophy", is an postgraduate academic degree awarded by University....
 in electrical engineering
Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering, sometimes referred to as electrical and electronic engineering, is a field of engineering that deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism....
, all from the University of Utah
University of Utah

The University of Utah is a public university research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. One of ten institutions that make up the Utah System of Higher Education and Utah's premier research school currently enrolls 21,526 undergraduate and 6,684 graduate student students and has 1,419 regular Faculty members....
.

Prior to co-founding Adobe, Warnock worked for Geschke at Xerox
Xerox

Xerox Corporation is a global document management company which manufactures and sells a range of color and black-and-white Computer printer, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies....
's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC
Xerox PARC

PARC , formerly Xerox PARC, is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California with a distinguished reputation for its contributions to information technology....
), where he had started in 1978. Unable to convince Xerox management of the approach to commercialize Warnock's InterPress
InterPress

InterPress is a page description language developed at Xerox PARC, based on the Forth and an earlier graphics language called JaM. As with many PARC projects, Interpress was not commercialized at its time of creation, and its primary effect on the world was to cause some of its creators to get fed up, form their own company, and publish the...
 graphics language for controlling printing
Printing

Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
, the two left Xerox to start Adobe in 1982. At their new company, they developed an equivalent technology, PostScript
PostScript

PostScript is a dynamically typed concatenative programming language programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982. PostScript is best known for its use as a page description language in the electronic and desktop publishing areas....
, from scratch, and brought it to market for Apple's LaserWriter
LaserWriter

The Apple Inc. LaserWriter was one of the first laser printers available to the mass market. The combination of the LaserWriter printer with its built-in PostScript interpreter, publishing software Aldus Adobe PageMaker, and the graphical user interface-based Apple Macintosh, was an industry-standard configuration at the beginning of the desk...
 in 1984.

Warnock invented what is now called the Warnock algorithm
Warnock algorithm

The Warnock algorithm is a Hidden surface determination invented by John Warnock that is typically used in the field of computer graphics. This is a divide and conquer algorithm with run-time of , where n is the number of polygons and p is the number of pixels in the viewport....
 for hidden surface determination
Hidden surface determination

In 3D computer graphics, hidden surface determination is the process used to determine which surfaces and parts of surfaces are not visible from a certain viewpoint....
 in computer graphics
Computer graphics

Computer graphics are graphics created by computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of pictorial data by a computer....
.

Warnock outlined a system called "Camelot", that evolved into the Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format

Portable Document Format is a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. PDF is used for representing two-dimensional documents in a manner independent of the application software, hardware, and operating system....
 (PDF) file-format.

One of Adobe's popular typeface
Typeface

In typography, a typeface is a set of one or more fonts, in one or more sizes, designed with stylistic unity, each comprising a coordinated set of glyphs....
s, Warnock, is named after him.

Adobe's PostScript technology made it easier to print text and images from a computer, revolutionizing media and publishing in the 1980s.

Recognition

In 1999 Warnock was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery

The Association for Computing Machinery, or ACM, was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership was approximately 83,000 as of 2007....
. In October 2006, Warnock—along with Adobe co-founder Charles Geschke—received the American Electronics Association
American Electronics Association

AeA is a nationwide Non-profit organization trade association that represents all segments of the technology industry and is dedicated solely to helping our members? top line and bottom line....
's Annual Medal of Achievement Award, being the first software executives to receive this award.

In 2004, Warnock received the Lovelace Medal
Lovelace Medal

The Lovelace Medal, established by the British Computer Society in 1998, is presented to individuals who have advanced Information Systems or added significantly to their understanding....
 from the British Computer Society
British Computer Society

The British Computer Society is a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in Information Technology. Established in 1957, it is the largest United Kingdom-based professional body for computing....
 in London.

See also

  • Warnock algorithm
    Warnock algorithm

    The Warnock algorithm is a Hidden surface determination invented by John Warnock that is typically used in the field of computer graphics. This is a divide and conquer algorithm with run-time of , where n is the number of polygons and p is the number of pixels in the viewport....


External links