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| Name |
Aho, Alfred V. |
| Location
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Columbia University |
| Primary Field
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Computer and Information Sciences |
 Election Citation
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Aho’s research examines formal language theory, the design and analysis of computer algorithms, and the design and implementation of translators for programming languages and abstractions. |
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Research Interests
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Alfred Aho's research encompasses formal language theory, the design and analysis of computer algorithms, the design and implementation of translators for programming languages, abstractions that form the foundations for the field of computer science, and quantum computing. He devised indexed grammars, a class of grammars that extends the power of context-free grammars to specify constructs found in programming languages. His efficient algorithm for matching keywords in input strings ("the Aho-Corasick algorithm") is widely used in software tools for genomic analysis and in Internet routers for deep packet inspection. He is the "A" in AWK, an early popular text-processing language on Unix ("W" is Peter Weinberger and "K" is Brian Kernighan). His books on the design and analysis of computer algorithms with John Hopcroft and Jeff Ullman codified efficient algorithm design techniques and were instrumental in establishing algorithms and data structures as a key course in computer science programs as they were being developed in academia. His books on the principles of compiler design with Jeff Ullman transformed the task of designing programming language translators from an art to a science. These books have been used for decades to teach compiler design to thousands of students around the world. |
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