Makoto Kato is an information retrieval researcher and seasoned software engineer with 25 years' experience bridging academic research and production systems. Currently a准教授 at the National Institute of Informatics and an associate professor at University of Tsukuba, he specializes in retrieval algorithms, domain adaptation for IR, web mining, NLP and machine learning while routinely shipping web systems using Ruby on Rails, Python (Flask/FastAPI) and Vue.js. His engineering work spans search platforms like Solr and Elasticsearch, deep learning with PyTorch, and low-level systems contributions in high-profile open-source projects such as ICU4X, Gecko/Firefox, and Rust's stdarch. Notably, he has advanced internationalization (Burmese word segmentation) and cross-platform compatibility (ARM feature detection, Android input) in major repos, reflecting a rare combination of IR theory, full-stack implementation, and systems-level coding. Based in Kyoto with a PhD from Kyoto University, he blends rigorous academic publications and practical open-source impact to solve real-world search and text problems.
25 years of coding experience
5 years of employment as a software developer
BS, MS, PhD, Informatics, BS, MS, PhD, Informatics at Kyoto University
Read-only Git mirror of the Mercurial gecko repositories at https://hg.mozilla.org. How to contribute: https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/contributing/contribution_quickref.html
Role in this project:
Full-stack Developer
Contributions:1227 commits in 11 years 11 months
Contributions summary:Makoto contributed to the Mozilla GeckoView project by implementing features and fixing bugs related to user interface components, text input, and Android-specific functionalities. They made improvements to the file picker API, specifically concerning webkitdirectory functionality and content URI handling on Android. The user addressed issues with key repeat on Wayland, and further enhanced the codebase by including the support of autocorrect attribute. They also improved the system by adjusting the double-click detection and adding support for stylus tilt events.
Rust's standard library vendor-specific APIs and run-time feature detection
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer / Systems Programmer
Contributions:4 reviews, 14 commits, 19 PRs in 1 year 2 months
Contributions summary:Makoto primarily contributed to the `stdarch` repository, which focuses on vendor-specific APIs and feature detection for the Rust standard library. Their work involved implementing and refining CPU feature detection for ARM architectures, including the addition of CRC32 and crypto capabilities. The user also addressed build issues and added functionality for Windows Aarch64, demonstrating a focus on cross-platform compatibility and low-level system programming. Furthermore, the user integrated new SIMD instructions (vrev*) and added tests.
simdvendorfeature-detectionruststandard-library
Find and Hire Top DevelopersWe’ve analyzed the programming source code of over 60 million software developers on GitHub and scored them by 50,000 skills. Sign-up on Prog,AI to search for software developers.