Inventing language
Last Thursday, the day after the New York Yankees won their first World Series of the 21st century, MIT Institute Professor Barbara Liskov, the 2008 recipient of the Turing Award — frequently called the Nobel Prize for computer science — delivered the first lecture of the 2009 Dertouzos Lecture Series.John Guttag, the Dugald C. Jackson Professor in the Department for Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, introduced Liskov, and he greeted the crowd of more than 150 people wearing a Yankees cap. The cap, he claimed, had a purpose other than pouring salt in the wounds of disappointed Boston Red Sox fans: His PowerPoint presentation was titled “Barbara Liskov: the Derek Jeter of Computer Science” — a reference to the Yankees’ star shortstop that drew hisses from the audience. Guttag’s presentation also featured photos of Liskov dressed in renaissance clothing and putting a tray of cookies in the oven — “moonlighting...