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{{Short description|Swiss computer scientist (1934–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Niklaus Wirth
| image             = Niklaus Wirth, UrGU.jpg
| image_size        = 220px
| caption           = Wirth in 2005
| birth_name        = Niklaus Emil Wirth
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1934|2|15|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Winterthur]], Switzerland
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2024|1|1|1934|2|15|df=y}}
| death_place       = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
| children          = 3<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Gosch |first=John |date=25 October 1979 |title=Wirth works to better Pascal |magazine=[[Electronics (magazine)|Electronics]] |publisher=Paul W. Reiss |editor1-first=Samuel |editor1-last=Weber |department=Profile |issn=0013-5070 |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Electronics/70s/79/Electronics-1979-10-25.pdf |access-date=14 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240520044217/https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Electronics/70s/79/Electronics-1979-10-25.pdf |archive-date=20 May 2024 |url-status=live |page=157 |quote="[his family] includes two girls and a boy"}}</ref>
| resting_place     = 
| field             = [[Computer science]]
| workplaces        = {{plainlist|
* [[ETH Zurich]]
* [[Stanford University]]
* [[University of Zurich]]
* [[Xerox PARC]]
}}
| education         = {{ubl |[[ETH Zurich]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]]) |[[Université Laval|Laval University]] ([[Master of Science|MS]]) |[[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])}}
| thesis_title      = A Generalization of Algol
| thesis_url        = https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/367593.367619
| thesis_year       = 1963
| doctoral_advisor  = {{ubl|[[Harry Huskey]]|[[Edward Feigenbaum]]}}
| doctoral_students = {{ubl|[[Martin Odersky]]|[[Michael Franz]]}}
| known_for         = {{hlist|[[Oberon (programming language)|Oberon]]|[[Oberon-2]]|[[Oberon (programming language)#Oberon-07|Oberon-07]]|[[Oberon (operating system)|Oberon System]]|[[Euler (programming language)|Euler]]|[[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]]|[[ALGOL W]]|[[Modula]]|[[Modula-2]]|}}
| awards             = {{indented plainlist|
* [[IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award]] (1983)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ieee.org/documents/piore_rl.pdf |title=IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award Recipients |publisher=[[IEEE]] |accessdate=20 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124232834/http://ieee.org/documents/piore_rl.pdf |archive-date=24 November 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Turing Award]] (1984)
* {{nobr|[[SIGPLAN]] Programming Languages}} Achievement Award
* Fellow of the [[Computer History Museum]] (2004)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/niklaus-wirth/ |title=Niklaus Wirth 2004 Fellow |website=Computer History Museum |access-date=1 December 2017 |archive-date=3 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703183226/https://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/niklaus-wirth/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Marcel Benoist Prize]] (1989)
}}
| signature         = Signature of Niklaus Wirth.svg
| signature_alt     = Signature of Niklaus Wirth
| footnotes         =
}}

'''Niklaus Emil Wirth''' ([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]: {{IPAc-en|v|ɛr|t}}) (15 February 1934 – 1 January 2024) was a Swiss [[computer scientist]]. He designed several [[programming language]]s, including [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]], and pioneered several classic topics in software engineering. In 1984, he won the [[Turing Award]], generally recognized as the highest distinction in [[computer science]], "for developing a sequence of innovative computer languages".<ref name="ACM Turing Award">{{cite web | title=Niklaus E. Wirth - A.M. Turing Award Laureate | url=https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/wirth_1025774.cfm | publisher=Association for Computing Machinery | date=2019 | access-date=8 January 2024 | archive-date=29 June 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629084838/http://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/wirth_1025774.cfm | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Niklaus Emil Wirth was born in [[Winterthur]], Switzerland, on 15 February 1934.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Henderson |first1=Harry |title=Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology |date=2009 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-1003-5 |page=514 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Tla6d153uwC&dq=%22Niklaus%20Wirth%22%2015%20february%201934&pg=PA514 |language=en |chapter=Wirth, Niklaus}}</ref> He was the son of Hedwig (née Keller) and Walter Wirth, a high school teacher.<ref name=HDS>{{HDS|31725|Wirth, Niklaus|author=Zehnder, Carl August|date=13 February 2024}}</ref> Wirth studied [[electronic engineering]] at the [[Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich|Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich]] (ETH Zürich) from 1954 to 1958, graduating with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree.<ref name=HDS/> In 1960, he earned a Master of Science (M.Sc.) from [[Université Laval]] in [[Quebec]].<ref name=HDS/> Then in 1963, he was awarded a PhD in [[electrical engineering and computer science]] (EECS) from the [[University of California, Berkeley]], supervised by computer design pioneer [[Harry Huskey]].<ref name="Pioneer"/>

==Career==
From 1963 to 1967, Wirth served as assistant professor of [[computer science]] at [[Stanford University]] and again at the [[University of Zurich|University of Zürich]].<ref name=HDS/> In 1968, he became a professor of [[informatics]] at ETH Zürich, taking two one-year sabbaticals at [[Xerox PARC]] in California (1976–1977 and 1984–1985). He retired in 1999.<ref name="Pioneer">{{cite book |last1=Pomberger |first1=Gustav |last2=Mössenböck |first2=Hanspeter |last3=Rechenberg |first3=Peter |title=The School of Niklaus Wirth: The Art of Simplicity |date=2000 |publisher=Gulf Professional Publishing |isbn=978-3-932588-85-3 |page=6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6kHs4s-79bkC&dq=Niklaus%20Wirth%20retired%201999&pg=PA6 |language=en |chapter=Niklaus Wirth - a Pioneer of Computer Science}}</ref>

Although Wirth was involved with developing [[international standard]]s in programming and informatics, as a member of the [[International Federation for Information Processing]] (IFIP) [[IFIP Working Group 2.1|Working Group 2.1]] on Algorithmic Languages and Calculi,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ifipwg21wiki.cs.kuleuven.be/IFIP21/Profile |title=Profile of IFIP Working Group 2.1 |last1=Jeuring |first1=Johan |last2=Meertens |first2=Lambert |author2-link=Lambert Meertens |last3=Guttmann |first3=Walter |date=17 August 2016 |website=Foswiki |access-date=4 October 2020 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308150549/https://ifipwg21wiki.cs.kuleuven.be/IFIP21/Profile |url-status=live }}</ref> which [[Specification (technical standard)|specified]], maintains, and supports the [[programming language]]s [[ALGOL 60]] and [[ALGOL 68]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ifipwg21wiki.cs.kuleuven.be/IFIP21/ScopeEtc |title=ScopeEtc: IFIP21: Foswiki |last1=Swierstra |first1=Doaitse |last2=Gibbons |first2=Jeremy |author2-link=Jeremy Gibbons |last3=Meertens |first3=Lambert |author3-link=Lambert Meertens |date=2 March 2011 |website=Foswiki |access-date=4 October 2020 |archive-date=2 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902232853/https://ifipwg21wiki.cs.kuleuven.be/IFIP21/ScopeEtc |url-status=live }}</ref> he got frustrated by the discussions in the standards groups and published his languages later on as personal work, mainly [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]], [[Modula-2]] and [[Oberon (programming language)|Oberon]].

In 2004, he was made a Fellow of the [[Computer History Museum]] "for seminal work in programming languages and algorithms, including Euler, Algol-W, Pascal, Modula, and Oberon."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/niklaus-wirth/ |title=Niklaus Wirth: 2004 Fellow |author=<!-- Unstated --> |website=Computer History Museum (CHM) |access-date=15 October 2019 |archive-date=3 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703183226/https://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/niklaus-wirth/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Programming languages==
[[File:Niklaus Wirth large.jpg|thumb|Wirth in 1969]]

Wirth was the chief designer of the programming languages [[Euler (programming language)|Euler]] (1965), [[PL360]] (1966), [[ALGOL W]] (1966), Pascal (1970),<ref>{{Cite news |last=Petzold |first=Charles |date=9 September 1996 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/09/business/programming-languages-survivors-and-wannabes.html |title=Programming Languages: Survivors and Wannabes |work=The New York Times |access-date=8 March 2018 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=9 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309120313/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/09/business/programming-languages-survivors-and-wannabes.html |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Modula]] (1975), Modula-2 (1978),<ref name="Pioneer"/> Oberon (1987), [[Oberon-2]] (1991), and [[Oberon (programming language)#Oberon-07|Oberon-07]] (2007).<ref>{{Cite report |last=Wirth |first=Niklaus |date=3 May 2016 |url=https://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/Oberon/Oberon07.Report.pdf |title=The Programming Language Oberon-07 |website=ETH Zurich, Department of Computer Science |access-date=17 January 2021 |archive-date=21 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121212848/http://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/Oberon/Oberon07.Report.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> He was also a major part of the design and implementation team for the operating systems Medos-2 (1983, for the [[Lilith (computer)|Lilith]] [[workstation]]),<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Knudsen |first1=Svend Erik |title=Medos-2: a Modula-2 oriented operating system for the personal computer Lilith |date=1983 |publisher=ETH Zurich |doi=10.3929/ethz-a-000300091 |hdl=20.500.11850/137906 |url=https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/handle/20.500.11850/137906 |type=Doctoral Thesis |language=en |quote=I am indebted to Prof. N. Wirth for conceiving and coordinating the Lilith project, for giving me the opportunity to design and implement the operating system Medos-2, and for supervising this thesis. |access-date=4 January 2024 |archive-date=4 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104010513/https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/handle/20.500.11850/137906 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Oberon (operating system)|Oberon]] (1987, for the [[Ceres (workstation)|Ceres]] workstation),<ref>{{cite book |last=Franz |first=Michael |editor-last=Böszörményi |editor-first=László |date=2000 |chapter=Oberon: The Overlooked Jewel |title=The School of Niklaus Wirth: The Art of Simplicity |publisher=Gulf Professional Publishing |isbn=978-3-932588-85-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6kHs4s-79bkC&q=oberon |pages=42, 45}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Proven |first=Liam |date=29 March 2022 |url=https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/29/non_c_operating_systems/ |title=The wild world of non-C operating systems |work=[[The Register]] |access-date=4 April 2024}}</ref> and for the [[Lola (computing)|Lola]] (1995) [[digital hardware]] design and simulation system.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wirth |first=Niklaus |date=1995 |title=Digital Circuit Design |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9773540585771/ |publisher=Springer |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Eberle |first=Hans |editor-last=Böszörményi |editor-first=László |date=2000 |title=The School of Niklaus Wirth: The Art of Simplicity |publisher=Gulf Professional Publishing |isbn=978-3-932588-85-3 |page=154 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6kHs4s-79bkC&q=lola |language=en |chapter=Designing a Cluster Network |quote=This class also inspired Niklaus to develop a simple yet powerful hardware description language called Lola. Niklaus has always built the systems he is either researching or teaching himself since he knows that this is the only way to keep an engineer honest and credible.}}</ref>

In 1984, Wirth received the [[Association for Computing Machinery]] (ACM) [[Turing Award]] for the development of these languages.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/wirth_1025774.cfm |title=Niklaus E. Wirth |last=Haigh |first=Thomas |year=1984 |website=A. M. Turing Award |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |access-date=15 October 2019 |archive-date=19 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919130323/http://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/wirth_1025774.cfm |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1994, he was inducted as a Fellow of the ACM.<ref>{{cite web |title=ACM Fellows by year |url=https://awards.acm.org/fellows/award-recipients?year=1994&award=158&region=&submit=Submit&isSpecialCategory= |website=acm.org |access-date=3 January 2024 |archive-date=3 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103222946/https://awards.acm.org/fellows/award-recipients?year=1994&award=158&region=&submit=Submit&isSpecialCategory= |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1999, he received the [[ACM SIGSOFT]] Outstanding Research Award<ref>{{cite web |title=Outstanding Research Award |website=[[SIGSOFT]] |url=https://www2.sigsoft.org/awards/outstandingresearch |access-date=1 April 2024}}</ref>

==Wirth's law==
{{Main|Wirth's law}}

In 1995, he popularized the adage now named [[Wirth's law]]. In his 1995 paper "A Plea for Lean Software" he attributed the following to Martin Reiser phrasing it as, "Software is getting slower more rapidly than hardware becomes faster."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wirth |first=Niklaus |date=February 1995 |title=A Plea for Lean Software |journal=[[Computer (magazine)|Computer]] |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=64–68 |doi=10.1109/2.348001|bibcode=1995Compr..28b..64W |s2cid=44803077 }}</ref>

==Publications==
The April 1971 [[Communications of the ACM]] article "Program Development by Stepwise Refinement",<ref>Wirth, Program development by stepwise refinement, Communications of the ACM,. 14:221–227, ACM Press, 1971
</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wirth |first=Niklaus |date=2001 |chapter=Program Development by Stepwise Refinement |editor1-last=Broy |editor1-first=Manfred |editor2-last=Denert |editor2-first=Ernst |title=Pioneers and Their Contributions to Software Engineering |location=Berlin, Heidelberg |publisher=Springer |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-48354-7 |isbn=978-3-642-48355-4|s2cid=11348419 }}</ref> concerning the teaching of programming, is considered to be a classic text in software engineering.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gehani |first1=Narain |title=Ada: Concurrent Programming |date=1991 |publisher=Silicon Press |isbn=978-0-929306-08-7 |page=209 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E6wOK8OYBG4C&dq=%22Program+Development+by+Stepwise+Refinement%22+classic&pg=PA209 |language=en}}</ref> The paper is considered to be the earliest work to formally outline the [[top-down design|top-down method]] for designing programs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gill |first1=Nasib Singh |title=Software Engineering |publisher=Khanna Publishing House |isbn=978-81-906116-3-3 |page=192 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mFoJEAAAQBAJ&dq=top-down+method+wirth+stepwise+1971&pg=PA192 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dooley |first1=John F. |title=Software Development, Design and Coding: With Patterns, Debugging, Unit Testing, and Refactoring |date=25 November 2017 |publisher=Apress |isbn=978-1-4842-3153-1 |page=54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LGRADwAAQBAJ&dq=top-down+method+wirth+stepwise&pg=PA54 |language=en}}</ref> The article was discussed by [[Fred Brooks]] in his influential book ''[[The Mythical Man-Month]]'' and was described as "seminal" in the ACM's brief biography of Wirth published in connection to his Turing Award.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Frederick P. (Frederick Phillips) |title=The Mythical Man-Month |date=1975 |publisher=Reading, Mass. : Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. |isbn=978-0-201-00650-6 |page=143 |url=https://archive.org/details/mythicalmanmonth00broo/page/142/mode/2up?q=wirth}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Niklaus Wirth: 1984 ACM A. M. Turing Award Recipient |journal=Communications of the ACM |date=February 1985 |volume=28 |issue=2 |doi=10.1145/1283920.1283941}}</ref>

{{anchor|Systematic Programming}}The 1973 textbook, ''Systematic Programming: An Introduction'',<ref>{{cite book | isbn=0-13-880369-2 | title=Systematic Programming: An Introduction | last1=Wirth | first1=Niklaus | date=8 January 1973 | publisher=Prentice-Hall }}</ref> was described as a quality source for mathematicians desiring to understand the nature of programming in a 1974 review.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Abrahams |first1=Paul |last2=Wirth |first2=Niklaus |title=Systematic Programming: An Introduction |journal=Mathematics of Computation |date=July 1974 |volume=28 |issue=127 |pages=881 |doi=10.2307/2005728|jstor=2005728 }}</ref> The cover flap, of the 1973 edition, stated the book "... is tailored to the needs of people who view a course on systematic construction of algorithms as part of their basic mathematical training, rather than to the immediate needs of those who wish to be able to occasionally encode a problem and hand it over to their computer for instant solution."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wirth |first=Niklaus |year=1973 |chapter=Cover flap |title=Systematic Programming: An Introduction |publisher=Prentice-Hall |isbn=0-13-880369-2}}</ref> Described in the review as a challenging text to work through, it was nevertheless recommended as useful reading for those interested in numerical mathematics.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=2005728 |title=Systematic Programming: An Introduction by Niklaus Wirth |last=Abrahams |first=Paul |date=July 1974 |journal=Mathematics of Computation |publisher=[[American Mathematical Society]] |volume=28 |issue=127 |pages=881–883 |doi=10.2307/2005728}}</ref>

In 1974, ''The Pascal User Manual and Report'',<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/h42_Pascal_User_Manual_and_Report_Second_Edition |title=Pascal User Manual and Report Second Edition}}</ref> jointly written{{efn|First chapter (Documentation) is a joint work, which according to Jensen has been edited by Wirth.<ref name="jensenTalk">{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj3DMUn6cck | title=Kathleen Jensen's Speech at the Wirth Symposium (20.02.2014) | website=[[YouTube]] | date=25 February 2014 | access-date=6 January 2024 | archive-date=6 January 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106193549/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj3DMUn6cck | url-status=live }}</ref> Second chapter is by Wirth (also published separately<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/68910 |title=The programming language Pascal (Revised Report) |last=Wirth |first=Niklaus |date=1973 |publisher=ETH Zurich |doi=10.3929/ethz-a-000814158 |pages=49 p |hdl=20.500.11850/68910 |language=en}}</ref>).|group=lower-roman}} with [[Kathleen Jensen]],<ref>* https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Kathleen-Jensen-2058521472 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106193548/https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Kathleen-Jensen-2058521472 |date=6 January 2024 }}
* https://dl.acm.org/profile/81334487416 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106193548/https://dl.acm.org/profile/81334487416 |date=6 January 2024 }}
* https://dblp.org/pid/06/5848.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106230548/https://dblp.org/pid/06/5848.html |date=6 January 2024 }}</ref> served as the basis of many language implementation efforts in the 1970s ([[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]] Pascal<ref name="Joy 1979">{{cite book | last1=Joy | first1=William N. | last2=Graham | first2=Susan L. | last3=Haley | first3=Charles B. | title=Berkeley Pascal User's Manual, Version 1.1, April, 1979 | publisher=University of California, Berkeley. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences | year=1979 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1rc7GwAACAAJ | access-date=8 January 2024 | archive-date=8 January 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240108053736/https://books.google.com/books?id=1rc7GwAACAAJ | url-status=live }}</ref>), and 1980s in the United States and across Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Blotnick |first1=Srully |title=Don't Fail Me Now |journal=Pascal News |date=July 1983 |issue=26 |page=26 |url=http://bitsavers.org/magazines/Pascal_News/26_Pascal_News_Jul83.pdf |access-date=3 January 2024 |archive-date=5 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105132645/http://bitsavers.org/magazines/Pascal_News/26_Pascal_News_Jul83.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Hartel |first1=Pieter H. |title=Pascal for systems programmers |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/137861/files/cer-000048872.pdf |publisher=ECODU-32 |date=May 1982 |access-date=3 January 2024 |archive-date=22 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322235044/https://cds.cern.ch/record/137861/files/cer-000048872.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1975, he wrote the book ''[[Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs]]'', which gained wide recognition.<ref>[http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=540029 Citations collected] by the [[Association for Computing Machinery]] (ACM)</ref> Major revisions of this book with the new title ''Algorithms & Data Structures'' were published in 1986 and 2004.<ref name="ads1986">{{cite book |last1=Wirth |first1=Niklaus |title=Algorithms & Data Structures |date=1986 |publisher=Prentice-Hall |isbn=978-0-13-022005-9 |chapter=Preface to the 1986 edition |page=9 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/algorithmsdatast0000wirt_u9b4/page/12/mode/2up?q=modula |quote=The major change which pervades the entire text concerns the programming language used to express the algorithms. Pascal has been replaced by ''Modula-2''.}}</ref><ref name="ads2004">{{cite web |last1=Wirth |first1=Niklaus |title=Algorithms and Data Structures |url=https://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/AD.pdf |publisher=ETH Zürich |access-date=4 January 2024 |quote=© N. Wirth 1985 (Oberon version: August 2004). |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417040502/https://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/AD.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The examples in the first edition were written in Pascal. These were replaced in the later editions with examples written in Modula-2 and Oberon, respectively.<ref name="ads1986" /><ref name="ads2004" />

In 1992, Wirth and [[Jürg Gutknecht]] published the full documentation of the Oberon operating system.<ref name="PO">{{Cite book |last1=Wirth |first1=Niklaus |last2=Gutknecht |first2=Jürg |author-link=Jürg Gutknecht |year=1992 |title=Project Oberon: The Design of an Operating System and Compiler |url=http://www.ethoberon.ethz.ch/WirthPubl/ProjectOberon.pdf |publisher=Addison-Wesley, ACM Press |isbn=978-0-201-54428-2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412053624/http://www.ethoberon.ethz.ch/WirthPubl/ProjectOberon.pdf |archive-date=12 April 2013 }} Out of print. [http://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/ProjectOberon/ Online version of a 2nd edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140405095625/http://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/ProjectOberon/ |date=5 April 2014 }}. [http://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/ProjectOberon1992.pdf 2005 edition, PDF.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210708170913/http://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/ProjectOberon1992.pdf |date=8 July 2021 }}</ref> A second book, with Martin Reiser, was intended as a programming guide.<ref name="PIO">{{Cite book |last1=Reiser |first1=Martin |last2=Wirth |first2=Niklaus |year=1992 |title=Programming in Oberon: Steps Beyond Pascal and Modula |url=http://www.ethoberon.ethz.ch/WirthPubl/ProgInOberonWR.pdf |publisher=Addison-Wesley, ACM Press |isbn=978-0-201-56543-0 |access-date=1 June 2017 |archive-date=16 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416210901/http://www.ethoberon.ethz.ch/WirthPubl/ProgInOberonWR.pdf |url-status=dead }}. Out of print.</ref>

==Death==
Wirth died in Zürich on New Year's Day 2024, at age 89.<ref name=HDS/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Proven |first=Liam |title=RIP: Software design pioneer and Pascal creator Niklaus Wirth |date=4 January 2024 |url=https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/04/niklaus_wirth_obituary/ |work=[[The Register]] |access-date=6 January 2024 |archive-date=7 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107104921/https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/04/niklaus_wirth_obituary/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[21655 Niklauswirth]] asteroid
* [[Extended Backus–Naur form]]
* [[Wirth syntax notation]]
* [[Bucky bit]]
* [[Wirth–Weber precedence relationship]]
* [[List of pioneers in computer science]]

==Notes==
{{notelist-lr}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last=Wirth |first=Niklaus |date=April 1971 |title=Program Development by Stepwise Refinement |journal=[[Communications of the ACM]] |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=221–227 |url=http://sunnyday.mit.edu/16.355/wirth-refinement.html |doi=10.1145/362575.362577|hdl=20.500.11850/80846 |s2cid=13214445 |hdl-access=free}}
* {{cite journal |url=http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~necula/Papers/PLHistoryGoodDesign.PDF |title=On the Design of Programming Languages |year=1974 |last=Wirth |first=N. |journal=Proc. IFIP Congress 74 |pages=386–393}}

==External links==
{{external links |February 2024|date=February 2024}}
{{Sister project links |auto=yes}} 
* {{Official website|people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth}}, ETH Zürich
* [https://www.inf.ethz.ch/people/person-detail.html?persid=78144 Biography] at [[ETH Zürich]]
* {{DBLP |name=Niklaus Wirth}}
* [http://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/wirth_1025774.cfm Niklaus E. Wirth] at ACM
* [https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2786.2789 Turing Award Lecture, 1984]
* [https://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/en/niklauswirth.php Pascal and its Successors] paper by Niklaus Wirth – also includes short biography.
* [http://www.eptacom.net/pubblicazioni/pub_eng/wirth.html A Few Words with Niklaus Wirth]
* ''[https://dblp.org/db/conf/birthday/wirth2000 The School of Niklaus Wirth: The Art of Simplicity]'', by László Böszörményi, [[Jürg Gutknecht]], Gustav Pomberger (editors). [[dpunkt.verlag]]; [[Morgan Kaufmann Publishers]], 2000. {{ISBN|3-932588-85-1}}, {{ISBN|1-55860-723-4}}.
* The book [https://web.archive.org/web/20170217071020/http://www.ethoberon.ethz.ch/WirthPubl/CBEAll.pdf Compiler Construction]
* The book [https://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/AD.pdf Algorithms and Data Structures]
* The book [https://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/ProjectOberon1992.pdf Project Oberon – The Design of an Operating System and Compiler]. The book about the Oberon language and Operating System is now available as a PDF file. The PDF file has an additional appendix ''Ten Years After: From Objects to Components''.
* [https://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/ProjectOberon/index.html Project Oberon 2013] Online 2nd Edition of the preceding book adapted for the reimplementation on FPGA hardware.
{{Wirth}}
{{Timelines of computing}}
{{ALGOL programming}}
{{Pascal programming language family}}
{{Modula, Oberon}}
{{Turing award}}
{{Software engineering}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wirth, Niklaus E.}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:2024 deaths]]
[[Category:ETH Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of ETH Zurich]]
[[Category:Swiss electronics engineers]]
[[Category:1994 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery]]
[[Category:Formal methods people]]
[[Category:Pascal (programming language)]]
[[Category:Programming language designers]]
[[Category:Programming language researchers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]]
[[Category:Swiss computer scientists]]
[[Category:Turing Award laureates]]
[[Category:Université Laval alumni]]
[[Category:People from Winterthur]]
[[Category:Computer science educators]]
[[Category:Scientists at PARC (company)]]
[[Category:UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:Members of Academia Europaea]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]