The Sleator and Tarjan paper on the move-to-front heuristic[3] first suggested the idea of comparing an online algorithm to an optimal offline algorithm, for which the term competitive analysis was later coined in a paper of Karlin, Manasse, Rudolph, and Sleator.[5] Sleator also developed the theory of link grammars, and the Serioso music analyzer for analyzing meter and harmony in written music.
Personal life
Sleator was born to William Warner Sleator, Jr., a professor of physiology and biophysics, and Esther Kaplan Sleator, a pediatrician who did pioneering research on attention deficit disorder (ADD).[6] He is the younger brother of William Sleator, who wrote science fiction for young adults.
Sleator commercialized the volunteer-based Internet Chess Server into the Internet Chess Club despite outcry from fellow volunteers. The ICS has since become one of the most successful internet-based commercial chess servers.