About Joe Armstrong
Lived 1950 – 2019 (aged 68). Joe Armstrong was a British computer scientist, known for Erlang (programming language).
Joseph Leslie Armstrong (27 December 1950 – 20 April 2019) was a computer scientist working in the area of fault-tolerant distributed systems. He is one of the co-designers of the Erlang programming language.
Early life and education Armstrong was born in Bournemouth, England in 1950.
At 17, Armstrong began programming in Fortran on his local council's mainframe. His dissertation was titled Making reliable distributed systems in the presence of software errors. He was a professor at KTH from 2014 until his death.
It was at Ericsson in 1986, that he worked with Robert Virding and Mike Williams, to invent the Erlang programming language,
Personal life
Armstrong married Helen Taylor in 1977. They had two children, Thomas and Claire.
Publications 2007. Programming Erlang: Software for a Concurrent World. Pragmatic Bookshelf . 2013. Programming Erlang: Software for a Concurrent World. Second edition. Pragmatic Bookshelf .
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Important facts
People in Joe Armstrong's life
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Related people
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Contemporaries
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Frequently asked questions
Who was Joe Armstrong?
British computer scientist (1950-2019)
When was Joe Armstrong born?
Joe Armstrong was born on 27 December 1950 in London.
When did Joe Armstrong die?
Joe Armstrong died on 20 April 2019 in Stockholm.
What was Joe Armstrong's occupation?
Joe Armstrong was a computer scientist.
What was Joe Armstrong known for?
Joe Armstrong was known for Erlang (programming language).
What nationality was Joe Armstrong?
Joe Armstrong was British.
Sources & further reading
· DBpedia: Joe Armstrong (programmer)
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Joe Armstrong. https://biography.guide/joe-armstrong-computer-scientist/
MLA: "Joe Armstrong." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/joe-armstrong-computer-scientist/.
Chicago: "Joe Armstrong." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/joe-armstrong-computer-scientist/.
Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.
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