Earle.

Aaron would think things through before he wrote a line of code. I remember him thinking and jotting notes for the fault simulator for about 2 months. Then one day he decided he was ready and wrote the whole shebang in a week. His code was impeccable and bugs were scarce.

I remember an incident when a MIMIC user ran the fault simulation for two days on a VAX 780 when it crashed. Since we didn’t have security clearance, Aaron started asking questions about the design so the answers wouldn’t contain any secrets. After about 12 questions Aaron had identified the problem and fixed it. He also had them change the simulation parameters so the simulation would finish in 8 hours rather than the 10 days it would have with their settings.

He was well read and versed in many areas and was a member of the Columbia University Philosophy Club. Often I would be amazed at how insightful his understanding of a topic was. He loved to argue, but never lost his temper, no matter how hard he was pushed.

He was also good at bringing out the best in anyone. He taught me that there is nothing bad about failure as long as you learned from the experience.

I think the closest equivalent to the working environment we had at RCA would be today’s “skunk works”.