Lucian Jules Wischik

Work

Microsoft Corp, 2004-now: Spec Lead for Visual Basic. I am in charge of the specification and architecture of the VB programming language. I also am a developer on the compiler team. Previously I wored on behavioural types and contract conformance checking for concurrent programs, in the Robotics SDK.

University of Bologna, 2002-2004: Research Assistant. Continuing the work of my PhD, we formed a group to develop a distributed programming language. I researched, coded, and managed students who worked on the project for their theses.

Self-employed, 1996-2002: Developer. Reverse-engineered the (undocumented) Windows screen savers. Produced and sold the popular Scrplus library for rapid visual development of screen savers. Also, contract work to reverse-engineer the file format for 'PinPoint' database. Also, developed a PocketPC tool used by psychatric nurses for clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease.

Short-term positions and work experience.

Summer 1999: Compaq Systems Research Center, Palo Alto. Designed and implemented the verification of arbitrary temporal formulas in the TLC model-checker.

Summer 1995, 1996: Physiology Department, Cambridge. Designed and implemented Walk - a high-performance simulation of chemical reactions in the human eye, with Windows graphical rendering. Also, unix system administration.

Summer 1994: Genetics Laboratory, Cambridge. For the Human Genome Project, developed a relational database, integrating Macintosh data-logging with Fortran analysis under unix.

1992-1993: Woodstock School, India. Worked as a volunteer in Woodstock International School in the Himalayas. Taught Mathematics and Computer Science, and created new courses for DOS and Basic.

Education

Computer Laboratory, Cambridge: 1997-2002.
Ph.D. in theoretical computer science. Thesis Explicit Fusions: Theory and Implementation, about a new implementation for a distributed programming language (the pi calculus). Supervised undergraduate students.

Queens' College, Cambridge: 1993-1997.
M.Phil. in History and Philosophy of Science.
B.A. Hons, M.A. in Computer Science, with 1st Class Honours.
Awarded College Foundation Scholarship.

Leys School, Cambridge: 1993-1997.
A-level: Maths (A), Further Maths (A), STEP Maths (1), Physics (A), Chemistry (A)
A/O: French (A), Maths (A)
GCSE: Nine passes at A-grade including Physics, English, French and German.

Products and Publications

How to write a 32bit screen saver and Holistic Screensavers: Beginning to End, widely-cited technical articles.

Zip Utils, Using MSXML, A prototypical PocketPC app, Manual uninstaller for PocketPC, Customizing the DocList - peer-reviewed technical articles at codeproject.com.

Scrplus, a commercial product for rapid visual development of screen savers for C++Builder. Also a version for Visual C++.

Dancing Stick Figures, a (free) plugin/editor for Windows Media Player, with over 2 million downloads to date.

Tau Assess, a CE-based questionnaire used by psychiatric nurses to assess cognitive decline, for use in clinical drials of Alzheimer disease.

Walk, a graphical simulation of chemical reactions in the human eye.

Inspecting COM Objects With Reflection, in MSDN magazine January 2009.

Resource Usage Analysis for Concurrent Programs, in VMCAI 2006. With N. Kobayashi and K. Suenaga.

A Reliable Protocol for Synchronous Rendezvous, Bologna TR-2004-1. With D. Wischik.

A Process Calculus of Atomic Commit, in WS-FM 2004. With L. Bocchi.

Strong Bisimulation for the Explicit Fusion Calculus, in FOSSACS 2004. With P. Gardner.

Linear Forwarders, in CONCUR'03. With P. Gardner, C. Laneve.

New directions in implementing the pi calculus, in Cabernet Radicals '02.

Fusion Machine, in CONCUR'02. With P. Gardner, C. Laneve.

Explicit Fusions, in MFCS'01 LNCS 1893. To appear in TCS. With P. Gardner.

Skills and interests

Programming · Pi calculus, C#, C++ and C, Java, PHP, Python, Modula-3, Pascal, F#, OCaml, OpenGL, Emacs-lisp, Assembly (Z80, 6800, 6502, ARM), Unix and X, Win32 (also with Borland OWL, VCL, DirectX, COM) · Web design · XML, XSD, HTML, CSS, Javascript · General use · Excel, Word, Coreldraw, Latex, Emacs

Hobbies · Sailing (skippered 35' yacht to Canada). Massage (studied for ITEC professional qualification, was instructor for university massage society). Duke of Edinburgh award, to Gold level. Ballroom dancing. Travel (fluent Italian, passable French; travels in India, Eastern Europe, Australia, China). Philosophy. Vice president of university literary society. 'Art-house' computer games. Cooking. Celtic knot design and mythology. Long-distance cycling and swimming. Working towards Private Pilot's License.

References

Allen Brown, Microsoft Corp, Redmond.
Prof. C. Laneve, Computing Department, Bologna.
Dr R. Walker, Queens' College, Cambridge.