The creators of the tools we use every day
Know the creators of the tools and languages we use to develop software.
The tools and languages we use to develop software, build applications and generate incomes are built by amazing individuals, teams of developers, and Tech companies/corporations.
Many a time, users and developers, enjoy using these tools almost every day, but usually forget to appreciate the creators of these awesome tools, languages, and software.
And as such, this article is meant as a kind reminder (and a thank you to all creators) to all users, of the appreciation developers and creators deserve, for the tools and languages they create that are used in solving our real-life, day-to-day problems.
Let’s look take a short journey into the lives of these creators and how they came about to create the tools and languages we use every day.
Let's dive in.
Brendan Eich - JavaScript
First and foremost, let’s take a short look at the language. JavaScript (JS) is a dynamic, high-level programming language mainly for client-side or frontend technologies which confirms the ECMAScript specification.
JavaScript is in most cases facilitated by CSS and HTML for the presentation and structure of the frontend systems respectively. All major web browsers have JavaScript engines that execute code on users’ devices.
JavaScript was designed and created by Brendan Eich, an American computer programmer and CEO of Brave Software in the year 1995 at Netscape, completing the first version in only ten days. He is also the co-founder of the Mozilla Foundation, the Mozilla project, and the Mozilla Corporation.
He grew up in Pittsburg and Palo Alto. He has a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Santa Clara. He got his master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Eich started working at Netscape in April of 1995, where his superiors requested he devise a language to be put into the browser with a syntax resembling that of Java, which was the most popular programming language at the time.
As a result, he devised a language that had in similarity, the functionality of Scheme, the syntax of Java, and object-orientation of Self. This was the birth of JavaScript, or as it was known at that time, Mocha, later renamed LiveScript.The name was changed in the December of that same year.
Brendan Eich is currently working as the CEO of Brave Software, an Internet browser software platform company.
Matt Wullenweg and Mike Little - WordPress
Everyone has heard of the word WordPress in some way or the other. Be it website designers/developers or bloggers. WordPress is currently the most popular Content Management System (CMS) in use.
It was originally made as a blog-publishing system but has developed to support other web content types like media galleries and mailing lists. WordPress is the official successor to a blogging tool, b2/cafelog developed by French programmer Michel Valdrighi.
WordPress was developed by Matt Wullenweg and Mike Little on 27 May 2003. Matt Wullenweg, an American entrepreneur and web developer was born on January 11, 1984, in Houston, Texas. He studied at the University of Houston, majoring in Political Science but dropped out in 2004 to pursue a job.
Mike Little, an English web developer was born on 12 May 1962. The two developers were both users of the blogging tool b2/cafelog which its creator, Michel stopped developing in 2002. As a result, the two soon got into contact after Wullenweg left a comment on his blog that he would be willing to create a fork of the project, to which Mike replied "If you’re about forking b2, I would be interested in contributing."
Currently, Matt Wullenweg is the Founder and CEO of Automattic, an internet company whose brands include WordPress. com, Akismet, and VaultPress. Matt and Mike are much renowned for co-founding WordPress.
Guido Van Rossum - Python
Python is a dynamic, high-level, general-purpose programming language with much emphasis on code readability. As a result, this helps developers write clear, logical code for all projects.
It was created by Guido Van Rossum, a Dutch programmer in the 1980s. Guido Van Rossum was born on 31 January 1956. He was born and raised in the Netherlands where he attained a Master’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Amsterdam. Guido also has a brother, Just Van Rossum, a type designer, who designed the typeface used in the "Python Powered" logo.
In December 1989, Guido had been looking for a hobby programming project that would keep him occupied during the week around Christmas when he decided to write an interpreter for a new scripting language he had been thinking of lately. This would later turn out to be the successor to the ABC programming language which would appeal to Unix hackers.
He attributes choosing the name Python to "being in a slightly irreverent mood and also being a fan of the (Monty Python’s Flying Circus)." which is a British surreal sketch comedy series.
Guido currently lives in Belmont, California with his wife Kim Knapp, and their son.
Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky - Stack Overflow
Yes! We have finally arrived at the website which almost every developer has visited at least once in his or her programming journey. Am talking about Stack Overflow, the question and answer website for enthusiasts and professional programmers.
Stack Overflow was created by Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky in 2008. It was created to be a more open alternative to the earlier question and answer websites such as Experts-Exchange. As of March 2021, Stack Overflow has over 14 million registered users, has received over 21 million questions and 31 million answers.
Stack Overflow was sold to Pross, a Netherlands-based consumer internet conglomerate, on 2 June 2021 for $1.8 billion.
Jeff Atwood, is an American software developer, author, blogger, and entrepreneur. He is also known for his programming blog, Coding Horror, and for co-founding Stack Exchange, a Q&A website that extends Stack Overflow’s model to subjects other than programming.
Joel Spolsky is just as amazing as his fellow co-founder, Jeff. Joel is a software engineer and writer, with American, New Zealand, and Israeli citizenship. He has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Yale University and also worked for Microsoft on the Microsoft Excel team.
Conclusion
The above four examples have been chosen, not because they stand above the rest, but only as representatives of their fellow creators and developers.
Let’s give them some appreciation, shall we?
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