The story of my life
The short version goes like this:
I grew up in a sleepy, small town called Kulmbach in Bavaria, Germany, where my
parents had a nice restaurant in the castle overlooking the town.
I have two younger sisters, one a medical doctor, the other one studying Chemistry
and being one of the best Karateka in the world. I received my degree in Computer Science
from Technische Universität Munich, where I also did my PhD. My wife
and I now live in Sydney and I work for NICTA to generate national
wealth for Australia and to better the world through use-inspired research. (Yes, that
is our mission).
For the long version or a proper CV, contact me personally.
What I find interesting
My professional interest is in what people call Formal Methods, more specifically in
interactive theorem proving, software verification, and semantics of programming languages.
Generally, I want software systems to be dependable, and I think that formal
specification and proof can make a very significant contribution towards that goal.
My background is in compiler construction (which inspired me to write JFlex),
user interfaces (on which I did my degree), software engineering (on which I spent many of my undergrad years),
and, of course, logic, theorem-proving and semantics (on which I did my PhD).
See my projects and publications
for a sample of what I have worked on.
When I am not proving theorems, teaching students, or writing open source software, I
might be spotted reading books (ranging from SF to linguistics and history), going to
the cinema or enjoying Sydney's beautiful beaches. I have long been fascinated by martial arts,
having done Judo as a kid, later Karate, and now Taiji Quan and Russian Systema.
