Heroes……..

I was chatting with a mate of mine the other night, and we got around to discussing our technical heroes. And it threw up some interesting results. He had a couple I didn’t know about, and I had a couple that really surprised him. So here are my top heroes in the Technical world.

#1 – Steve Wozniak.

Steve Wozniak is the guy that helped found Apple. He designed the circuit board for the Apple 1, and designed the Lisa, as well as the Apple 2. He started off as an engineer for HP. Met some kid called Steve Jobs, and the rest as they say is history. Why is he my hero? Well, while many will, and plenty have, said all manner of things about Steve Jobs, mainly about his temper etc, I can’t think of anybody who has a bad word to say about Wozniak. He’s one of the true geniuses of his generation, yet he’s still a humble guy. After he scaled down his involvement with Apple (He didn’t leave despite what people think…), he designed the first ever universal remote control! He also gave away computers and laptops to students in his local area, he taught computer science at high school, bascially, he gave back to the community. Always a hacker at heart, and still now encourages people to choose the path less trodden in technical terms, and to follow their dreams. I hope I get the chance to meet him, as he’s one of the truly genuine guys in the tech world.

#2 – Donald Knuth

Donald Knuth is the God Father of computer algorithms. His books are well known. On the back cover of Volume 1 of The Art of Computer Programming, even Bill Gates found his stuff tricky to understand and commented “If anyone has read this cover to cover, and understood it, send me a resume…” Also he’s man enough to encourage readers to hunt errors down in his books, and get the chance to win a cheque for a hexidecimal dollar! But more than that, this is a chap who could have made millions, (probably did with his books), but chose to remain as a lecturer. He is incredibly well respected, and he makes my brain bend when I try to read his books.

#3 – Graham Worely.

I can guarantee you won’t have heard of this guy. He was a sixth former at the secondary school I started attended in North Wales, and he is the chap who encouraged me to get in to computer programming. Until then, I’d messed and pootled with computers, but then I met Graham, who actually gave me a copy of Quick Basic 4.5 for my 286, to get in to programming. He also allowed me access to the school’s computer lab to program in BASIC on the school’s BBC computers. (Until my maths teacher didn’t think I was doing well enough in Maths, and she stopped it…my marks dropped below 70%….) Not long after that, he gave me a copy of Borland’s Turbo C++ 4.5 to play with that as well. I didn’t have Windows on my 286, so it was all command line driven. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I’d be a programmer now. If you have heard of him, then you’ll know he’s quite a cool guy. Last I heard, he teaches up in North Wales somewhere. So if you do read this buddy, thank you.

#4 – Steve.

Many of you won’t know this guy either I’m afraid. But he’s someone I worked with until very recently. A very clever chap (but he supports Leeds United the silly boy…), and always had the time for a newbie developer. You could go and ask him pretty much anything, and rather than give you a short shrift or use super technical language to try and prove how clever he was, he’d put things in plain and simple english. Never once did he treat me like an idiot, even though more often than not I felt like an idiot for not knowing stuff. Sure there’d be banter, but it would never be on someone’s ability or lack thereof in my case. He’d do code reviews of stuff I’d done, and not once did he do a Steve Jobs (This is a pile of shit!!). If it was bad, he’d explain WHY it was bad, and WHY my using a certain type of cast in C++ was a really bad idea. There was one incident I’ll never forget, I think I’d done something stupid like broken encapsulation, and he did a Terry Jones from Monty Python voice, you know when he says the immortal line, “He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!”. He basically told me off in that voice, which had me laughing, but I remembered not to do it again. So Steve, if you’re reading this, thanks for the support, the endless talks on various little bits and bobs, and so many other things I won’t go in to here. If I make my first million, I’ll get you a Leeds season ticket, about five quid right?

There’s a few there you’ll know, there’s a lot you won’t know. But these people have directly or indirectly shaped me in to the coder I am today. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not there yet, I’ve only been a professional coder for two years. I know some will ask, “But what about Bill Gates? What about Steve Jobs?” I do admire Gates and Jobs, however they’ve both done stuff I didn’t agree with. For example, Steve Jobs was renowned for losing his temper with people, and being incredibly rude to people too. (Currently reading the biography…) And in regards to Gates, there was the whole monopoly hearings and so on. Neither seemed to be willing to have some healthy competition. Which is sad really, because competition breeds better products in almost all cases.

How about you? Who are your techincal heroes?