W. Richard Stevens

W. Richard Stevens
Born
William Richard Stevens

(1951-02-05)February 5, 1951
Luanshya, Northern Rhodesia
DiedSeptember 1, 1999(1999-09-01) (aged 48)
Tucson, Arizona, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
Known forAdvanced Programming in the UNIX Environment, TCP/IP Illustrated, UNIX Network Programming
Scientific career
FieldsSystems engineering

William Richard (Rich) Stevens (February 5, 1951 – September 1, 1999) was a Northern Rhodesia–born American author of computer science books, in particular books on Unix and TCP/IP.[1]

Biography

Richard Stevens was born in 1951 in Luanshya, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), where his father worked for the copper industry. The family later moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, Hurley, New Mexico, Washington, D.C., and Phalaborwa, South Africa. Stevens attended Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia. He received a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan in 1973 and both a master's degree (in 1978) and PhD (in 1982) in systems engineering from the University of Arizona. He moved to Tucson in 1975 where he was employed at Kitt Peak National Observatory as a computer programmer until 1982. From 1982 until 1990 he was Vice President of Computing Services at Health Systems International in New Haven, Connecticut. Stevens moved back to Tucson in 1990 where he pursued his career as an author and consultant. He was also an avid pilot and a part-time flight instructor during the 1970s.[2]

Stevens died in 1999, at the age of 48. In 2000, he was posthumously awarded the USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award.[3]

Books

  • 1979 – A Forth Primer – Computer History Museum Catalog Number 102803504[4]
  • 1990 – UNIX Network Programming – ISBN 0-13-949876-1
  • 1992 – Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment – ISBN 0-201-56317-7
  • 1994 – TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols – ISBN 0-201-63346-9
  • 1995 – TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 2: The Implementation (with Gary R. Wright) – ISBN 0-201-63354-X
  • 1996 – TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 3: TCP for Transactions, HTTP, NNTP, and the UNIX Domain Protocols – ISBN 0-201-63495-3
  • 1998 – UNIX Network Programming, Volume 1, Second Edition: Networking APIs: Sockets and XTI – ISBN 0-13-490012-X
  • 1999 – UNIX Network Programming, Volume 2, Second Edition: Interprocess Communications – ISBN 0-13-081081-9
  • 2003 – UNIX Network Programming Volume 1, Third Edition: The Sockets Networking API – ISBN 0-13-141155-1 (with Bill Fenner, and Andrew M. Rudoff)
  • 2005 – Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment, Second Edition – ISBN 0-321-52594-9 (with Stephen A. Rago)
  • 2011 – TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols (2nd Edition) – ISBN 0-321-33631-3 (with Kevin R. Fall)
  • 2013 – Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment, Third Edition – ISBN 0-321-63773-9 (with Stephen A. Rago)

RFCs

Stevens also co-authored several Request for Comments (RFC) documents for the Internet Engineering Task Force, the process by which the Internet's "technical and organizational notes" are disseminated. Stevens' RFCs covered updates to the Berkeley sockets API for IPv6, as well as a standard method of congestion control for TCP sessions.

  • RFC 2133 – Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6,[5] Obsolete.
  • RFC 2553 – Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6,[6] Obsolete.
  • RFC 3493 – Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6,[7] Informational.
  • RFC 2292 – Advanced Sockets API for IPv6,[8] Obsolete.
  • RFC 3542 – Advanced Sockets Application Program Interface (API) for IPv6,[9] Informational.
  • RFC 2001 – TCP Slow Start, Congestion Avoidance, Fast Retransmit, and Fast Recovery Algorithms,[10] Obsolete.
  • RFC 2581 – TCP Congestion Control,[11] Obsolete.

References

  1. ^ "Pearson Technology Group – Advanced Programming in the UNIX® Environment 1/e". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  2. ^ "Usenet post of obituary". Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  3. ^ "Winners of the USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award". 6 December 2011. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  4. ^ "Kitts Peak Observatory - A Forth Primer". October 1979. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
  5. ^ R. Gilligan; S. Thomson; J. Boun; W. Stevens (April 1997). Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6. Network Working Group. doi:10.17487/RFC2133. RFC 2133. Obsolete. Obsoleted by RFC 2553.
  6. ^ R. Gilligan; S. Thomson; J. Boun; W. Stevens (March 1999). Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6. Network Working Group. doi:10.17487/RFC2553. RFC 2553. Obsolete. Obsoleted by RFC 3493. Updated by RFC 3152. Obsoletes RFC 2133.
  7. ^ R. Gilligan; S. Thomson; J. Bound; J. McCann; W. Stevens (February 2003). Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6. Network Working Group. doi:10.17487/RFC3493. RFC 3493. Informational. Obsoletes RFC 2553.
  8. ^ W. Stevens; M. Thomas (February 1998). Advanced Sockets API for IPv6. Network Working Group. doi:10.17487/RFC2292. RFC 2292. Obsolete. Obsoleted by RFC 3542.
  9. ^ W. Stevens; M. Thomas; E. Nordmark; T. Jinmei (May 2003). Advanced Sockets Application Program Interface (API) for IPv6. Network Working Group. doi:10.17487/RFC3542. RFC 3542. Informational. Obsoletes RFC 2292.
  10. ^ W. Stevens (January 1997). TCP Slow Start, Congestion Avoidance, Fast Retransmit, and Fast Recovery Algorithms. Network Working Group. doi:10.17487/RFC2001. RFC 2001. Obsolete. Obsoleted by RFC 2581.
  11. ^ M. Allman; V. Paxson; W. Stevens (April 1999). TCP Congestion Control. Network Working Group. doi:10.17487/RFC2581. RFC 2581. Obsolete. Obsoleted by RFC 5681. Updated by RFC 3390. Obsoletes RFC 2001.