James W. Hunt
American computer scientist and inventor (1952–2021) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Wayne Hunt (August 5, 1952 – March 21, 2021) was an African-American computer scientist and inventor. He invented the Hunt–Szymanski algorithm[1][2] and Hunt–McIlroy algorithm[3] algorithms. It was one of the first non-heuristic algorithms used in diff. To this day, variations of this algorithm are found in incremental version control systems, wiki engines, and molecular phylogenetics research software. The research accompanying the final version of Unix diff, written by Douglas McIlroy, was published in the 1976 paper "An Algorithm for Differential File Comparison", co-written with James W. Hunt, who developed an initial prototype of diff.[4]
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Quick Facts Computer Scientist and Inventor, Born ...
James W. Hunt Computer Scientist and Inventor | |
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Born | (1952-08-05)August 5, 1952 Trenton, NJ |
Died | March 21, 2021(2021-03-21) (aged 68) |
Resting place | Ewing Cemetery, Ewing, NJ |
Education |
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Alma mater | |
Employer | Bell Labs |
Notable work | Hunt–Szymanski algorithm |
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