William Atkinson
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Bill Atkinson is one of the pioneers of the field of computers in education. As a software developer, he built tools that have substantially changed how computers are used by students and others.
Quoting from http://w2.eff.org/awards/pioneer/1994.php:
- Bill Atkinson is one of the premier developers of the technology of the Macintosh personal computer. He was the graphics-toolbox developer for Apple's Lisa computers, for which he wrote the basic Quickdraw graphics routines at the heart of the Macintosh. Through his program MacPaint, Atkinson almost singlehandedly fulfilled Ivan Sutherland's vision of the computer as a creative tool, and his application HyperCard, the first truly mass-market hypertext product, put the power of Macintosh application and database design into the hands of nonprogrammers. Even in the small group of highly creative people who developed the Macintosh, a machine that continues to be a primary influence on nearly every new computer sold today, Atkinson, now of General Magic, stands out for both the breadth and the brilliance of his contribution.
Quoting from the Wikipedia:
- Bill Atkinson (born 1951) is an American computer engineer and photographer. Atkinson worked at Apple Computer from 1978 to 1990. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego, where Apple Macintosh developer Jef Raskin was one of his professors. Atkinson continued his studies as a graduate student at the University of Washington.
- Atkinson was part of the Apple Macintosh development team and was the creator of the ground-breaking MacPaint application, among others. He also designed and implemented QuickDraw, the fundamental toolbox that the Macintosh used for graphics. QuickDraw's performance was essential for the success of the Macintosh's graphical user interface. Atkinson also designed and implemented HyperCard, the first popular hypermedia system.
Photography
Quoting from the November / December 1998 Issue of PCPhoto— http://www.billatkinson.com/PCPhotoArticle.html:
- Bill Atkinson has been around computers for a long time-he was one of the first 30 employees at Apple Computer. In fact, Atkinson was part of the core team that developed the Macintosh personal computer. He likes to refer to that time as his past life. In his present one, Atkinson is a master of color nature photography.
- Atkinson has always been a photographer. When he was a Ph.D candidate working in neuroscience, he'd relax in the darkroom, printing in black-and-white. Later, as a key Apple engineer, photography was still a means for Atkinson to unwind and flex his right brain. While he still has a black-and-white darkroom in his house, it isn't used anymore.
References
ATKINSOPHT. (n.d.). An engineering consultant and software developer. Retrieved 3/31/09: http://www.atkinsopht.com/.
Booch, Grady (6/8/2004). Oral History of Bill Atkinson and Andy Hertzfeld. Retrieved 3/31/09: http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102658007.
Computer Chronicles video from 1987. Hypercard. Retrieved 3/3109: http://www.archive.org/details/CC501_hypercard.
