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Alfred Aho

Canadian computer scientist, author of the “Dragon Book” and co-creator of AWK

9 August 1941 Canada Verified by our editors
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Age
85 yrs
Birthday in 276 days
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2
Programming language, Book
Honours
3
Most recent 2020
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Alfred Aho is a Canadian computer scientist known for foundational work on algorithms, programming-language theory and compilers. He co-wrote the classic compiler textbook known as the “Dragon Book” and co-created the AWK language. He shared the 2020 Turing Award with Jeffrey Ullman.

Biography

Education

Aho studied engineering physics at the University of Toronto and earned his PhD at Princeton in 1967.

Bell Labs

At Bell Labs he wrote the egrep and fgrep text-search tools, using the Aho–Corasick algorithm for finding many patterns at once. With Peter Weinberger and Brian Kernighan he created AWK in 1977, a language for processing text that remains part of every Unix system.

The Dragon Book

With Jeffrey Ullman he wrote Principles of Compiler Design (1977), whose cover showed a knight fighting a dragon. Its successor Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools taught compiler construction to generations of students.

Columbia

Aho became a professor at Columbia University in 1995, where he has been praised as an outstanding teacher. He and Ullman received the Turing Award in 2020.

Timeline

  1. 1941

    Born in Timmins, Ontario, Canada

  2. 1967

    PhD from Princeton; joins Bell Labs

  3. 1974

    The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms

  4. 1975

    Aho–Corasick algorithm

  5. 1977

    AWK; first Dragon Book

  6. 1995

    Joins Columbia University

  7. 2003

    IEEE John von Neumann Medal

  8. 2020

    Turing Award

Notable works

  • 1977

    AWK Programming language

    With Weinberger and Kernighan.

  • 1986

    Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools Book

    With Sethi and Ullman.

Awards and honours

  • IEEE John von Neumann Medal

    2003

  • C&C Prize

    2017

  • Turing Award

    2020

Did you know?

  1. 1

    The “A” in AWK stands for Aho.

  2. 2

    The Dragon Book’s cover dragon is labelled “complexity of compiler design”.

  3. 3

    He was born in a mining town in northern Ontario.

Connections

Related people

Also born on 9 August

Frequently asked

Who is Alfred Aho?

Alfred Aho is a Canadian computer scientist known for foundational work on algorithms, programming-language theory and compilers. He co-wrote the classic compiler textbook known as the “Dragon Book” and co-created the AWK language. He shared the 2020 Turing Award with Jeffrey Ullman.

How old is Alfred Aho?

Alfred Aho is 85 years old, born on 9 August 1941 in Timmins, Ontario, Canada.

Where is Alfred Aho from?

Alfred Aho was born in Timmins, Ontario, Canada.

What is Alfred Aho known for?

Alfred Aho is best known for Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools; AWK; egrep; Turing Award 2020.

What awards has Alfred Aho received?

Notable honours include IEEE John von Neumann Medal (2003), C&C Prize (2017), Turing Award (2020).

References

  1. Alfred Aho — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  2. Official website. www.cs.columbia.edu. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  3. Alfred Aho (Q62898) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.

Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Alfred Aho”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more

External links

Official website Website Wikipedia
Filed under Bell LabsColumbia UniversityCompilersTuring Award Computer ScientistProfessor

About this profile

Cite this page

“Alfred Aho.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/alfred-aho

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