Larry Constantine
Encyclopedia
Larry LeRoy Constantine is an American software engineer
and professor in the Mathematics and Engineering Department at the University of Madeira
Portugal
, who is considered one of the pioneers of computing
. He has contributed numerous concepts and techniques forming the foundations of modern practice in software engineering
and applications design and development.
in 1967 with a specialization in information systems and psychology. He received a certificate in Family Therapy 1973 from the Boston Family Institute, two year post graduate training program.
Constantine started his working career as a Technical Aid/Programmer at M.I.T. Laboratory for Nuclear Science in 1963. From 1963 to 1966 he was a Staff Consultant and Programmer/Analyst at C E I R, Inc. From 1966 to 1968 he was President of the Information & Systems Institute, Inc. In 1967 also he became a Post-graduate program instructor at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. From 1968 to 1972 he was a faculty member of the I.B.M. Systems Research Institute.
In 1973 he became Director of Research, Concord (Massachusetts) Family Service Society. From 1973 to 1980 he was Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University
, School of Medicine. Until 1987 he was Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies (adjunct), University of Connecticut
. From 1984 to 1986 he was also Clinical Supervisor, Adolescent and Family Intervention, LUK, Inc., Fitchburg, Mass. From 1987 to 1993 he also worked as Independent Consultant. He remained a Chief Scientist, Principal Consultant, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd since 1993. From 1994-1999 he was Professor of Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Since 2006 has been a professor in the Mathematics and Engineering Department at the University of Madeira
Portugal
, where he headed the Laboratory for Usage-centered Software Engineering (LabUSE), a research center dedicated to study the human aspects of modern software engineering before becoming Institute Fellow at the Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute
in 2010.
In 1999 Constantine received the Jolt Award for Product Excellence, best book of 1999 for his "Software for Use". In 2001 he received the Platinum Award of Excellence (first place), Performance-Centered Design Competition 2001: Siemens AG, STEP-7 Lite. In 2006 he was recognized as a Distinguished Engineer by the Association for Computing Machinery
, and in 2007 he was made a Fellow of the ACM. He is the 2009 recipient of the Stevens Award
for "outstanding contributions to the literature or practice of methods for software and systems development." He received a Simon Rockower Award
in 2011 from the American Jewish Press Association
. He is a professional Member of the Industrial Designers Society of America
, a member of the Usability Professionals' Association
and the IEEE Computer Society
, and he is an Active Member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
. His published work includes the influential classic text, Structured Design, written with Ed Yourdon, and the award-winning "Software for Use", written with Lucy Lockwood. His is contributions to the practice of software development began in 1968 with his pioneering work in "Modular Programming" concepts.
Constantine was the primary force behind the discipline of Structured Design, in his book of the same name. The key features of Structured Design, such as Structure Chart
, the Data flow diagram
are all commonly used and taught worldwide.
, began his professional career in computers with a summer job at Scientific Computing, at the time a subsidiary of Control Data Corporation
, in Minneapolis. He went on to full-time work at MIT’s Laboratory for Nuclear Science, where he wrote routines for analyzing spark chamber photographs, and then to C-E-I-R, Inc., where he worked on economics simulations, business applications, project management tools, and programming languages.
While still an undergraduate at MIT he began work on what was to become structured design, formed his first consulting company, and taught in a postgraduate program at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School. The core of structured design, including structure charts and coupling and cohesion metrics, was substantially complete by 1968, when it was presented at the National Symposium on Modular Programming. He joined the faculty of IBM’s Systems Research Institute the same year, where he taught for four years and further refined his concepts.
As part of Structured Design, Constantine developed the concepts of cohesion
(the degree to which the internal contents of a module are related) and coupling
(the degree to which a module depends upon other modules). These two concepts have been influential in the development of software engineering, and stand alone from Structured Design as significant contributions in their own right. They have proved foundational in areas ranging from software design to software metrics, and indeed have passed into the vernacular of the discipline.
Constantine also developed methodologies that combine human-computer-interaction design with software engineering. One methodology, usage-centered design
, is the topic of his 1999 book with Lucy Lockwood, "Software For Use". This is a third significant contribution to the field, being both well used in professional practice and the subject of academic study, and taught in a number of human-computer interface courses and universities around the world. His work on Human-Computer Interaction was influential for techniques like essential use case
s and usage-centered design
, which are widely used for building interactive software systems.
and Fred and Bunny Duhl at the Boston Family Institute, completing a two-year post-graduate certificate program in 1973. From 1973 to 1980 he was an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in the Tufts University
School of Medicine training family therapists and supervising trainees at Boston State Hospital. He became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and later a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Massachusetts and was designated an Approved Supervisor by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
.
His contributions to theory and research in family therapy and human systems theory were summarized in Family Paradigms (Guilford Press, 1986), a book heralded at the time as “one of the finest theoretical books yet published in the family therapy field” and “among the most significant developments of the decade.” This work has also seen application in organization development.
Constantine is also a composer with several major works to his credit. He studied theory and composition under George Litterst and Stephan Peisch at the New England Conservatory. His first commissioned work, Concerto Grosso No. 1 in G-minor, “Serendipity,” was premiered by the Rockford (Illinois) Pops Orchestra on 9 July 1981. His choral work, “No Hidden Meanings,” based on a text by psychologist Sheldon Kopp
, was commissioned by the American Humanist Association
and premiered at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium, 20 June 1982.
His choral setting of the traditional Shehechiyanu blessing was premiered April 18, 2010 by HaShirim at the groundbreaking for Temple Ahavat Achim in Gloucester, Massachusetts
.
, is the author of numerous short stories, mostly published under several pseudonyms. He edited Infinite Loop, (Miller Freeman Books, 1993), an anthology of science fiction by writers in the computer field described in the Midwest Book Review as "quite simply one of the best anthologies to appear in recent years.”
Writing under the pen name Lior Samson, Constantine is the author of several critically acclaimed political thrillers, Bashert, The Dome, and Web Games.
Software engineer
A software engineer is an engineer who applies the principles of software engineering to the design, development, testing, and evaluation of the software and systems that make computers or anything containing software, such as computer chips, work.- Overview :...
and professor in the Mathematics and Engineering Department at the University of Madeira
University of Madeira
The University of Madeira is a Portuguese public university, created in 1988 in Funchal. It houses the following departments and autonomous sections.-Departments:* Art and Design - * Biology - * Educational Sciences -...
Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, who is considered one of the pioneers of computing
Computing
Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...
. He has contributed numerous concepts and techniques forming the foundations of modern practice in software engineering
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
and applications design and development.
Biography
Constantine grew up in Anoka, Minnesota and graduated from Anoka High School in 1961 after being active in debate and thespians as well as other extra curricular activities. He was named "Most Likely to Succeed" by his fellow classmates. Constantine received an S.B. in Management in 1967 and graduated from the MIT Sloan School of ManagementMIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts....
in 1967 with a specialization in information systems and psychology. He received a certificate in Family Therapy 1973 from the Boston Family Institute, two year post graduate training program.
Constantine started his working career as a Technical Aid/Programmer at M.I.T. Laboratory for Nuclear Science in 1963. From 1963 to 1966 he was a Staff Consultant and Programmer/Analyst at C E I R, Inc. From 1966 to 1968 he was President of the Information & Systems Institute, Inc. In 1967 also he became a Post-graduate program instructor at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. From 1968 to 1972 he was a faculty member of the I.B.M. Systems Research Institute.
In 1973 he became Director of Research, Concord (Massachusetts) Family Service Society. From 1973 to 1980 he was Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
, School of Medicine. Until 1987 he was Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies (adjunct), University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
. From 1984 to 1986 he was also Clinical Supervisor, Adolescent and Family Intervention, LUK, Inc., Fitchburg, Mass. From 1987 to 1993 he also worked as Independent Consultant. He remained a Chief Scientist, Principal Consultant, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd since 1993. From 1994-1999 he was Professor of Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Since 2006 has been a professor in the Mathematics and Engineering Department at the University of Madeira
University of Madeira
The University of Madeira is a Portuguese public university, created in 1988 in Funchal. It houses the following departments and autonomous sections.-Departments:* Art and Design - * Biology - * Educational Sciences -...
Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, where he headed the Laboratory for Usage-centered Software Engineering (LabUSE), a research center dedicated to study the human aspects of modern software engineering before becoming Institute Fellow at the Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute
Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute
The Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute was founded in December 2009 as collaboration between theUniversity of Madeira, Madeira Tecnopolo, and Carnegie Mellon University. Attached to the University of Madeira, the institute conducts research in computer science, more specifically...
in 2010.
In 1999 Constantine received the Jolt Award for Product Excellence, best book of 1999 for his "Software for Use". In 2001 he received the Platinum Award of Excellence (first place), Performance-Centered Design Competition 2001: Siemens AG, STEP-7 Lite. In 2006 he was recognized as a Distinguished Engineer by the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
, and in 2007 he was made a Fellow of the ACM. He is the 2009 recipient of the Stevens Award
Stevens Award
The Stevens Award is a software engineering award given in memory of Wayne Stevens. The international Stevens Award was created to recognize outstanding contributions to the literature or practice of methods for software and systems development...
for "outstanding contributions to the literature or practice of methods for software and systems development." He received a Simon Rockower Award
Simon Rockower Award
The Simon Rockower Award is a prestigious award given for "Excellence in Jewish Journalism". The award is sponsored by the American Jewish Press Association.- List of Categories/Divisions :Category 1: The Louis Rapoport Award for Excellence in Commentary...
in 2011 from the American Jewish Press Association
American Jewish Press Association
The American Jewish Press Association is an organization of Jewish newspapers, magazines, journalists, and affiliated organizations in North America...
. He is a professional Member of the Industrial Designers Society of America
Industrial Designers Society of America
Industrial Designers Society of America is an organization of professional industrial designers primarily in the United States. Recently IDSA has started chapters in Canada and in China...
, a member of the Usability Professionals' Association
Usability Professionals' Association
The Usability Professionals’ Association is a professional association for people interested in usability.According to the UPA official web site, the Usability Professionals’ Association supports usability specialists, people from all aspects of human-centered design, and the broad family of...
and the IEEE Computer Society
IEEE Computer Society
The IEEE Computer Society is a professional society of IEEE. Its purpose and scope is “to advance the theory, practice, and application of computer and information processing science and technology” and the “professional standing of its members.” The CS is the largest of 38 technical societies...
, and he is an Active Member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
Work
Constantine specializes in the human side of software developmentSoftware development
Software development is the development of a software product...
. His published work includes the influential classic text, Structured Design, written with Ed Yourdon, and the award-winning "Software for Use", written with Lucy Lockwood. His is contributions to the practice of software development began in 1968 with his pioneering work in "Modular Programming" concepts.
Constantine was the primary force behind the discipline of Structured Design, in his book of the same name. The key features of Structured Design, such as Structure Chart
Structure chart
A Structure Chart in software engineering and organizational theory, is a chart which shows the breakdown of a system to its lowest manageable levels. They are used in structured programming to arrange program modules into a tree. Each module is represented by a box, which contains the module's name...
, the Data flow diagram
Data flow diagram
A data flow diagram is a graphical representation of the "flow" of data through an information system, modelling its process aspects. Often they are a preliminary step used to create an overview of the system which can later be elaborated...
are all commonly used and taught worldwide.
Structured Design
Constantine, who learned programming at the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, began his professional career in computers with a summer job at Scientific Computing, at the time a subsidiary of Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation was a supercomputer firm. For most of the 1960s, it built the fastest computers in the world by far, only losing that crown in the 1970s after Seymour Cray left the company to found Cray Research, Inc....
, in Minneapolis. He went on to full-time work at MIT’s Laboratory for Nuclear Science, where he wrote routines for analyzing spark chamber photographs, and then to C-E-I-R, Inc., where he worked on economics simulations, business applications, project management tools, and programming languages.
While still an undergraduate at MIT he began work on what was to become structured design, formed his first consulting company, and taught in a postgraduate program at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School. The core of structured design, including structure charts and coupling and cohesion metrics, was substantially complete by 1968, when it was presented at the National Symposium on Modular Programming. He joined the faculty of IBM’s Systems Research Institute the same year, where he taught for four years and further refined his concepts.
As part of Structured Design, Constantine developed the concepts of cohesion
Cohesion
Cohesion may refer to:* Cohesion , the intermolecular attraction between like-molecules* Cohesion , a measure of how well the lines of source code within a module work together...
(the degree to which the internal contents of a module are related) and coupling
Coupling
A coupling is a device used to connect two shafts together at their ends for the purpose of transmitting power. Couplings do not normally allow disconnection of shafts during operation, however there are torque limiting couplings which can slip or disconnect when some torque limit is exceeded.The...
(the degree to which a module depends upon other modules). These two concepts have been influential in the development of software engineering, and stand alone from Structured Design as significant contributions in their own right. They have proved foundational in areas ranging from software design to software metrics, and indeed have passed into the vernacular of the discipline.
Constantine also developed methodologies that combine human-computer-interaction design with software engineering. One methodology, usage-centered design
Usage-centered design
Usage-centered design is an approach to user interface design based on a focus on user intentions and usage patterns. It analyzes users in terms of the roles they play in relation to systems and employs abstract use cases for task analysis...
, is the topic of his 1999 book with Lucy Lockwood, "Software For Use". This is a third significant contribution to the field, being both well used in professional practice and the subject of academic study, and taught in a number of human-computer interface courses and universities around the world. His work on Human-Computer Interaction was influential for techniques like essential use case
Use case
In software engineering and systems engineering, a use case is a description of steps or actions between a user and a software system which leads the user towards something useful...
s and usage-centered design
Usage-centered design
Usage-centered design is an approach to user interface design based on a focus on user intentions and usage patterns. It analyzes users in terms of the roles they play in relation to systems and employs abstract use cases for task analysis...
, which are widely used for building interactive software systems.
Family Therapy
Constantine trained under family therapy pioneers David KantorDavid Kantor
David Kantor, is an American systems psychologist, organizational consultant, and clinical researcher. He is the founder of three research and training institutes and the author of numerous books and articles, including Inside the Family co-Authored with William Lehr...
and Fred and Bunny Duhl at the Boston Family Institute, completing a two-year post-graduate certificate program in 1973. From 1973 to 1980 he was an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in the Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
School of Medicine training family therapists and supervising trainees at Boston State Hospital. He became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and later a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Massachusetts and was designated an Approved Supervisor by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy is the professional association for the field of marriage and family therapy representing more than 25,000 marriage and family therapists throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad....
.
His contributions to theory and research in family therapy and human systems theory were summarized in Family Paradigms (Guilford Press, 1986), a book heralded at the time as “one of the finest theoretical books yet published in the family therapy field” and “among the most significant developments of the decade.” This work has also seen application in organization development.
Patents
US Patents: 7010753 Anticipating drop acceptance indication; 7055105 Drop-enabled tabbed dialogMusic
Although he played piano, saxophone, and violin as a child, Constantine gave up instrumental performance for singing. He sang with the award-winning Burtones ensemble while a student at MIT, is a twelve-year veteran and alum of the semi-professional Zamir Chorale of Boston, and is a member of the Zachor Choral Ensemble, a Boston-based group dedicated to keeping alive the memory of the Holocaust through music.Constantine is also a composer with several major works to his credit. He studied theory and composition under George Litterst and Stephan Peisch at the New England Conservatory. His first commissioned work, Concerto Grosso No. 1 in G-minor, “Serendipity,” was premiered by the Rockford (Illinois) Pops Orchestra on 9 July 1981. His choral work, “No Hidden Meanings,” based on a text by psychologist Sheldon Kopp
Sheldon Kopp
Sheldon Kopp was a psychotherapist and author, based in Washington, D.C.. He was born in New York City, and received his PhD from the New School of Social Research. In addition to his private practice, he served as a Psychotherapy Supervisor for the Pastoral Counselling and Consultation Centres...
, was commissioned by the American Humanist Association
American Humanist Association
The American Humanist Association is an educational organization in the United States that advances Humanism. "Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that...
and premiered at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium, 20 June 1982.
His choral setting of the traditional Shehechiyanu blessing was premiered April 18, 2010 by HaShirim at the groundbreaking for Temple Ahavat Achim in Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester is a city on Cape Ann in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of Massachusetts' North Shore. The population was 28,789 at the 2010 U.S. Census...
.
Fiction
Constantine, an Active (professional) Member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of AmericaScience Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or SFWA is a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. It was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc. and it retains the acronym SFWA after a very brief use of the SFFWA...
, is the author of numerous short stories, mostly published under several pseudonyms. He edited Infinite Loop, (Miller Freeman Books, 1993), an anthology of science fiction by writers in the computer field described in the Midwest Book Review as "quite simply one of the best anthologies to appear in recent years.”
Writing under the pen name Lior Samson, Constantine is the author of several critically acclaimed political thrillers, Bashert, The Dome, and Web Games.
Publications
Constantine has more than 175 published papers to his credit, as well as 17 books. A selection:- 1974. Group marriage: A study of contemporary multilateral marriage. With Joan Constantine. Collier Books, 1974.
- 1975. Structured Design. With Ed Yourdon. Yourdon Press.
- 1981. Children and Sex: New Findings, New Perspectives. (ed.) with Floyd Martinson. Little Brown & Co (T).
- 1986. Family Paradigms: The Practice of Theory in Family Therapy. Guilford Press.
- 1995. Constantine on Peopleware. Yourdon Press Computing Series.
- 1999. Software for Use: A Practical Guide to the Essential Models and Methods of Usage-Centered Design. With Lucy Lockwood. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
- 2001. The Peopleware Papers: Notes on the Human Side of Software. NJ: Prentice Hall.
- 2001. Beyond Chaos: The Expert Edge in Managing Software Development. (ed.). Boston: Addison-Wesley.
- 2002. 'The Unified Process Transition and Production Phases. (ed.) with Scott W. Ambler. CMP Books, Lawrence 2002, ISBN 1-57820-092-X.
External links
- Larry.Constantine homepage University of Madeira. (in Portuguese).
- Constantine & Lockwood Ltd. Larry Constantine's website.
- Lab:USE research unit in the Department of Mathematics and Engineering at the University of Madeira.