John Paul Morrison
John Paul Morrison (born John Paul Rodker in 1937) is a British-born Canadian computer programmer, and the inventor of flow-based programming (FBP). He is the author of the book Flow-Based Programming: A New Approach to Application Development, which Ed Yourdon has included in his list of "Cool Books".
Morrison is the son of the writer, translator and editor, John Rodker and Barbara McKenzie-Smith, an artist. Born John Paul Rodker, his name was changed by deed poll when his mother remarried. He was educated at The Dragon School, Eton College (he was a King's Scholar, specializing in Classics), and King's College, Cambridge - M.A. in Anthropology and Archaeology, specializing in social anthropology.
He joined IBM UK in January 1959, as an EDPM (Electronic Data Processing Machines Representative), and retired (from IBM Canada) in 1992. The first computer he programmed was the IBM 650. He also wired plug-boards. During his career with IBM, he worked on compilers, data bases, text processing, and applications in a number of different areas, especially in the field of banking.
In 1978, IBM published an article describing many of the concepts of what is now called flow-based programming, under the name Data Stream Linkage Mechanism A few years later, he started working with the distinguished IBM architect, Wayne Stevens, to refine and promote these concepts, up until Stevens' death in 1993. IBM Canada developed a related product, called Data Flow Development Manager, which Stevens described in his book Software Design - Concepts and Methods. DFDM was marketed in Japan under the name Data Flow Programming Manager.
Paul Morrison now works as a contractor and consultant, and currently lives in historic Unionville, Ontario.