About Me

I’m an independent programmer, typographer, and system administrator. I write software for the Java platform, design books with the LaTeX typesetting system, and manage systems running the Ubuntu operating system.

The path I took in learning programming languages was: BASIC → Fortran → Pascal → COBOL → Series/1 EDL → Series/1 Assembler → Rexx → C → System/370 Assembler → C++ → Java. The path I took in learning human languages was: English → French → Italian → French, although I still could use a few more lessons in French.

I have worked as a software developer in 🇹🇷 Türkiye, 🇺🇸 the United States, 🇮🇹 Italy, and 🇨🇦 Canada:

Bowling Green, Ohio

My first experience writing software was during a summer session for high-school students at Bowling Green State University, where I learned how to program in BASIC.

Evanston, Illinois

I studied general programming concepts in Fortran and computer science concepts in Pascal at Northwestern University, where I majored in mathematics.

Bursa, Türkiye

My first paid job as a programmer was a summer internship at Bursa Uludağ University, where I wrote accounting software in COBOL on a Burroughs mainframe.

Palo Alto, California

I joined IBM as a systems programmer implementing communication protocols for the Series/1 minicomputer. I contributed to the IBM Series/1 EDX Communications Facility, written in Series/1 EDL and Assembler, and the IBM OSI/Communications Subsystem, written in Pascal. I completed courses at Stanford University in numerical analysis and in UNIX and C programming.

Rome, Italy

On assignment in Rome, I developed the host side of a high-speed data pipe between an IBM mainframe and a UNIX workstation in C and System/370 Assembler for IBM OSI Connect.

Cupertino, California

Back in California, I worked for IBM at Taligent on the Taligent CommonPoint Application System, an application framework written in C++ for personal computers and UNIX workstations.

San Francisco, California

After leaving IBM, I started my own business as a managing member of Volano LLC in the states of California and Washington. I learned Java by writing the VOLANO chat server, a proprietary software package licensed to customers in 50 countries around the world.

Vancouver, British Columbia

I now work full time on open-source software and contribute to the JDK, OpenJFX, Apache NetBeans, and Reproducible Builds projects. I am a member of the OpenJDK Organization and an OpenJFX Committer.