杰夫·拉斯金1943—2005

生平

1943年出生于犹太人家庭。在纽约州立大学石溪分校取得数学与物理双学士，副修哲学与音乐，之后在宾州州立大学取得计算机科学硕士，有完成博士班课程但未取得博士学位。然后他转往加州大学圣地亚哥分校念音乐研究所，但没多久改为研究视觉艺术，并取得美国国家科学基金会提供的奖金研究人机图像界面。

1977年，在第一届West Coast Computer Faire中，遇到去展示Apple II的史蒂夫·乔布斯与斯蒂夫·沃兹尼亚克，在攀谈后，史蒂夫·乔布斯决定雇用他创办的公司，Bannister and Crun，为Apple II撰写BASIC程式使用手册。1978年1月，杰夫·拉斯金加入苹果电脑公司，成为公司第31位员工。

1979年，杰夫·拉斯金开始麦金塔研发计划。

曾发言指称OS X为一种退步。

2004年12月，拉斯金被诊断罹患胰腺癌，2005年2月26日于加州帕西菲卡病逝，享年61岁。

Jef Raskin (born Jeff Raskin; March 9, 1943 – February 26, 2005) was an American human–computer interface expert who conceived and began leading the Macintosh project at Apple in the late 1970s.

Early life and education

Jef Raskin was born in New York City to a secular Jewish family, whose surname is a matronymic from "Raske", Yiddish nickname for Rachel. He received a BA in mathematics and a BS in physics with minors in philosophy and music from Stony Brook University. In 1967, he received a master's degree in computer science from Pennsylvania State University, after having switched from mathematical logic due to differences of opinion with his advisor. Even though he had completed work typical for a PhD, the university was not accredited for a PhD in computer science. The first original computer application he wrote was a music application as part of his master's thesis.

Raskin later enrolled in a graduate music program at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), but quit to teach art, photography, and computer science there. He worked as an assistant professor in the Visual Arts department from 1968 until 1974. There, he presented shows about toys as works of art. Raskin announced his resignation from the assistant professorship by flying over the Chancellor's house in a hot air balloon.

Career history

Apple

Contractor writer

Raskin first met Apple Computer co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in their garage workshop following the debut of their Apple II personal computer at the first West Coast Computer Faire. Jobs hired Raskin's company Bannister and Crun to write the Apple II BASIC Programming Manual. Raskin said "I was talking fifty dollars a page. They talked fifty dollars for the whole manual." Writing on an Apple II unit with the serial number of "2", he created "a literate manual that became a standard for the young industry".

Management

In January 1978, Raskin joined Apple as Manager of Publications, the company's 31st employee. For some time he continued as Director of Publications and New Product Review, and also worked on packaging and other issues. He had concealed his degree in computer science, out of concern for cultural bias against academia among the hobby-driven personal computer industry. He explained, "If they had known... they might not have let me in the company, because there was such an antiacademic bias in the early Apple days."

From his responsibility for documentation and testing, Raskin had great influence on early engineering projects.

Outside interests

Raskin had interests other than computers. He conducted the San Francisco Chamber Opera Society and played various instruments, including the organ and the recorder. His artwork was displayed at New York's Museum of Modern Art as part of its permanent collection, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the University of California, San Diego. He received a patent for airplane wing construction, and designed and marketed radio controlled model gliders.

He was an accomplished archer, target shooter, bicycle racer and an occasional model race car driver. He was a musician and composer, publishing a series of collected recorder studies using the pseudonym of Aabel Aabius. In his later years he also wrote freelance articles for Macintosh magazines, such as Mac Home Journal, and many modeling magazines, Forbes, Wired, and computing journals. One of his favorite pastimes was to play music with his children. He accompanied them on the piano while they played or sang while going through old fake-books passed down from his father. They routinely improvised together.

Raskin owned Jef's Friends, a small company which made model airplane kits.

Personal life

Jef Raskin married Linda S. Blum in 1982. They had three children together—Aza, Aviva, and Aenea, with honorary surrogate siblings R. Fureigh and Jenna Mandis. In 1985, Raskin described his house as "practically one large playground", with secret doors and passageways, an auditorium that seats 185, and a model airplane room. He said, "I decided when I grew up I was not going to give up the things I liked doing, and I've not."

He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2004 and died in Pacifica, California, on February 26, 2005, at age 61.