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Brian Fox (programmer)

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Brian Fox
Brian J. Fox, Santa Barbara, CA 2008
Born (1959-12-11) December 11, 1959 (age 64)
Boston, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
Other namesbfox
Occupation(s)Computer programmer, Technologist, author
Employer(s)Opus Logica, Inc.
Websitehttp://opuslogica.com/

Brian J. Fox (born 1959) is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur,[1] consultant, author, and free software advocate. He was the original author of the GNU Bash shell, which he announced as a beta in June 1989.[2] He continued as the primary maintainer of bash until at least early 1993.[3][4] Mr. Fox also built the first interactive online banking software in the U.S. for Wells Fargo in 1995,[5] and he created an open source election system in 2008.

Free Software Foundation

In 1985 Fox worked with Richard Stallman at Stallman's newly created Free Software Foundation.[6] At the FSF, Fox authored GNU Bash,[7] GNU Makeinfo, GNU Info, GNU Finger, GNU Echo[8] and the readline[9] and history libraries.

He was also the maintainer of GNU Emacs for a time, and made many contributions to the software that was created for the GNU Project between 1986 and 1994.[citation needed][10]

Open source election systems

In 2008, Fox collaborated with Alan Dechert and Brent Turner to create the first known instantiation of a completely open source election system. The system was coded together with Parker Abercrombie, and demonstrated at the LinuxWorld conference in Moscone Center in San Francisco, August 5–7, 2008.[11]

Fox also is a founding member of both the California Association of Voting Officials (CAVO)[12] and the National Association of Voting Officials (NAVO).[13] These not-for-profit organizations develop and make available open source voting systems for use in public elections.

Other software

Fox also wrote AMACS, a cut-down implementation of Emacs for the Apple II series.[14]

Relatives

He is the fourth born in a family of 6 siblings, composer and musician Donal Fox, Thaddeus Fox, sister Ena Fox, Daniel Fox and sister Sara Fox-Ray. He lives in Santa Barbara with longtime partner Lissa Liggett and their three children.

He is the son of physicist and educator Herbert Fox[15] and grandson of artist Daniel Fox, creator of the Monopoly Man.[16]

References

  1. ^ "Virtual World Computing". Virtual World Computing (VWC). Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  2. ^ Brian Fox (forwarded by Leonard H. Tower Jr.) (June 7, 1989). "Bash is in beta release!". Newsgroup: gnu.announce. Usenet: 8906080235.AA01983@wheat-chex.ai.mit.edu. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
  3. ^ "January 1993 GNU's Bulletin". Newsgroup: gnu.announce. April 20, 1993. Usenet: gnusenet930421bulletin@prep.ai.mit.edu. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
  4. ^ Chet Ramey (October 31, 2010), Dates in your Computerworld interview, retrieved October 31, 2010
  5. ^ "A Bash with Brian Fox: GNU Software and Entrepreneurship". webcache.googleusercontent.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2013. Retrieved 2016-09-16. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "Brian Fox". Archived from the original on July 24, 2011.
  7. ^ The GNU Bash Reference Manual, (HTML version) by Chet Ramey and Brian Fox, ISBN 0-9541617-7-7
  8. ^ "echo.c".
  9. ^ Chet Ramey and Brian Fox. "The GNU Readline Page" (PDF). Docs.freebsd.org. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  10. ^ webmaster@engineering.ucsb.edu, College of Engineering,. "UCSB College of Engineering". www.engr.ucsb.edu. Retrieved September 16, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "OVC at LinuxWorld 2008". YouTube. Alan Dechert. August 23, 2008. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
  12. ^ "Board Members". California Association of Voting Officials. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
  13. ^ "Board Members". National Association of Voting Officials. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
  14. ^ "AppleIIc emacs".
  15. ^ "Herbert Fox". Uml.edu. November 25, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  16. ^ Assoc. of Game and Puzzle Collectors Quarterly www.AGPC.ORG summer 2013 Vol.15 No. 2. Page 18. Meet Dan Fox-- The Artist Who Created "Mr. Monopoly" by Philip E.Orbanes
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