Event (computing)

In computing, an event is an action or occurrence recognised by software that may be handled by the software. Computer events can be generated or triggered by the system, by the user or in other ways. Typically, events are handled synchronously with the program flow, that is, the software may have one or more dedicated places where events are handled, frequently an event loop. A source of events includes the user, who may interact with the software by way of, for example, keystrokes on the keyboard. Another source is a hardware device such as a timer. Software can also trigger its own set of events into the event loop, e.g. to communicate the completion of a task. Software that changes its behavior in response to events is said to be event-driven, often with the goal of being interactive.

Description

Event driven systems are typically used when there is some asynchronous external activity that needs to be handled by a program; for example, a user who presses a button on his mouse. An event driven system typically runs an event loop, that keeps waiting for such activities, e.g. input from devices or internal alarms. When one of these occurs, it collects data about the event and dispatches the event to the event handler software that will deal with it.

TED (conference)

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a global set of conferences run by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan "Ideas Worth Spreading". The emphasis is on the entertainment aspect. TED was founded in 1984 as a one-off event; the annual conference series began in 1990. TED's early emphasis was technology and design, consistent with its Silicon Valley origins, but it has since broadened its focus to include talks on many scientific, cultural, and academic topics.

The main TED conference is held annually in Vancouver, Canada, and its companion TEDActive is held in Whistler, British Columbia. Prior to 2014, the two conferences were held in Long Beach and Palm Springs, California, respectively. TED events are also held throughout North America and in Europe and Asia, offering live streaming of the talks. They address a wide range of topics within the research and practice of science and culture, often through storytelling. The speakers are given a maximum of 18 minutes to present their ideas in the most innovative and engaging ways they can. Past speakers include Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Al Gore, Gordon Brown, Billy Graham, Richard Dawkins, Richard Stallman, Bill Gates, Bono, Mike Rowe, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and many Nobel Prize winners. TED's current curator is the British former computer journalist and magazine publisher Chris Anderson.

Simon Peyton Jones

Simon Peyton Jones (born 18 January 1958) is a British computer scientist who researches the implementation and applications of functional programming languages, particularly lazy functional programming. He is an honorary Professor of Computer Science at the University of Glasgow and supervises PhD Students at the University of Cambridge.

Education

Peyton Jones graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1980 and went on to complete the Cambridge Diploma in Computer Science.

Career and Research

Peyton Jones worked in industry for two years before serving as a lecturer at University College London and, from 1990 to 1998, as a professor at the University of Glasgow. Since 1998 he has worked as a researcher at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, England.

He is a major contributor to the design of the Haskell programming language, and a lead developer of the Glasgow Haskell Compiler (GHC). He is also co-creator of the C-- programming language, designed for intermediate program representation between the language-specific front-end of a compiler and a general-purpose back-end code generator and optimiser. C-- is used in GHC.

Wayne Cotter

Wayne Cotter is an American stand-up comedian.

Cotter attended the University of Pennsylvania where he studied computer engineering. After college, he became a comedian and made appearances on The Tonight Show, Late Show with David Letterman, and Politically Incorrect. From 1991 to 1994, he hosted Comic Strip Live, a stand-up comedy series on the Fox television network.

Cotter was one of the comedians featured in The Aristocrats. He also had a small part in the film Spy Hard. He now performs at corporate events and has appeared at hundreds of events for companies like Intel, IBM, BMW and Deloitte.

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