My father, David Turner, who has died aged 77, was a highly respected and renowned computer scientist whose name will always be associated with functional programming, and the lead that the UK still takes in developing and fostering the discipline.
David was an early advocate for functional programming, which promises a higher-level, more abstract approach to writing software. He will be particularly remembered for designing and implementing three programming languages: St Andrews Static language (SASL, 1976), which is the basis of implementations of compiler and operating systems to this day; Kent Recursive Calculator (KRC, 1981); and Miranda (1985), which became the first “lazy”, purely functional language to be commercially supported. The elegance and simplicity of these languages showed David’s taste and skill in choosing and combining language features, and their impact can be seen in languages in use today, particularly the later Haskell language.
