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(Redirected from Atwood's law) American software developer (born 1970)

Jeff Atwood
Jeff Atwood in 2008
Born1970 (age 54–55)
Occupation(s)Software developer, writer
Known forCoding Horror (blog), Stack Overflow, Stack Exchange

Jeff Atwood (born 1970) is an American software developer, author, blogger, and entrepreneur. He co-founded the question-and-answer network Stack Exchange, which contains the Stack Overflow website for computer programming questions. He is the owner and writer of the computer programming blog Coding Horror, focused on programming and human factors. As of 2012, his most recent project was Discourse, an open source Internet discussion platform.

In a 2007 blog post, Atwood proposed the following rule related to the rule of least power, calling it Atwood's law: "Any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript".

Career

Joel Spolsky and Jeff Atwood at MIX 2009

Atwood started a programming blog, Coding Horror, in 2004. As a result, he met Joel Spolsky. In 2008, together with Spolsky, Atwood founded Stack Overflow, a programming question-and-answer website. The site was followed by Server Fault for system administrators and Super User for general computer-related questions, eventually becoming the Stack Exchange network which includes many Q&A websites about topics decided on by the community.

From 2008 to 2014, Atwood and Spolsky published a weekly podcast covering the progress on Stack Exchange and a wide range of software development issues. Jeff Atwood was also a keynote presenter at the 2008 Canadian University Software Engineering Conference.

In February 2012, Atwood left Stack Exchange so he could spend more time with his family.

On February 5, 2013, Atwood announced his new company, Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc. Its flagship product is an open source next-generation discussion platform called Discourse. Atwood and others developed it out of their frustration with current bulletin board software that hadn't seemed to evolve since 1990. On February 1, 2023, he stepped down as CEO and assumed the role of Executive Chairman.

He also launched a mechanical keyboard called CODE in 2013.

In 2021, Stack Overflow was sold to Prosus for $1.8 billion.

Philanthropy

In January 2025, Atwood announced one million dollar gifts to eight non-profit organizations, including The Trevor Project, an organization dedicated to suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBTQ+ youth. In addition, Children’s Hunger Fund, First Generation Investors, Global Refuge, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, PEN America, Planned Parenthood, and Team Rubicon received donations from Atwood and his family.

Atwood and his family have contributed to Alameda Post and the Alameda Food Bank.

Atwood donated $1.5 million to 404 Media, a nonprofit news site.

Personal

Atwood is a resident of Alameda, California. He and his partner, Betsy Burton, have three kids.

Books

  • The ASP.NET 2.0 Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks, by Scott Allen, Jeff Atwood, Wyatt Barnett, Jon Galloway and Phil Haack. ISBN 978-0980285819
  • Effective Programming: More Than Writing Code. ISBN 9781478300540

References

  1. Atwood, Jeff (August 8, 2012). "I Was a Teenage Hacker". Coding Horror. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  2. Atwood, Jeff (May 9, 2006). "The Ten Commandments of Egoless Programming". Coding Horror. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  3. ^ Finley, Klint (July 5, 2012). "Stack Overflow Man Remakes Net One Answer at a Time". Wired. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  4. Finley, Klint. "Stack Overflow Man Remakes Net One Answer at a Time". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  5. Kumparak, Greg (August 28, 2013). "StackOverflow Co-Founder Jeff Atwood Builds A $150 Mechanical Keyboard". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  6. "Jeff Atwood on Empowering Programmers and Digital Communities". Semaphore. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  7. Atwood, Jeff (July 17, 2007). "The Principle of Least Power". Coding Horror. Archived from the original on March 5, 2014. Retrieved October 1, 2024. I propose a corollary to this rule , which ... I'll call Atwood's Law: any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript.
  8. Rosoff, Matt. "Online communities don't have to be hate-filled cesspools — and this guy proved it". Business Insider. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  9. Somers, James (October 5, 2023). "How Will A.I. Learn Next?". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  10. "State of Programming with Jeff Atwood". Sotware Engineering Daily.
  11. "Is Writing More Important Than Programming?". Archive of Previous Presentations. CUSEC. 2008. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
  12. "Jeff Atwood bids adieu to Stack Exchange for the best reason ever". techcrunch.com. AOL. February 7, 2012.
  13. Ha, Anthony (February 5, 2013). "Stack Exchange Co-Founder Jeff Atwood Launches Forums Startup Discourse, With Funding From First Round, Greylock, And SV Angel". TechCrunch. AOL. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
  14. Atwood, Jeff (February 5, 2013). "Civilized Discourse Construction Kit". Coding Horror. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
  15. "Sam Saffron and Sarah Hawk named Discourse Co-CEOs". Discourse. January 31, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  16. Atwood, Jeff (August 27, 2013). "The CODE Keyboard". Coding Horror. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  17. Dummett, Ben (June 2, 2021).Stack Overflow Sold to Tech Giant Prosus for $1.8 Billion. Deal is Prosus’ biggest investment in online learning and comes weeks after it sold a chunk from its massive Tencent holding. Wall Street Journal.
  18. ^ Stiffman, Eden (January 16, 2025). A New Giving Pledge? Tech Mogul Promises Accelerated Donations. Inspired by MacKenzie Scott and critical of the Buffett-Gates pact, the co-founder of Stack Overflow and Discourse is giving away half his wealth in five years. The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
  19. ^ Atwood, Jeff (January 7 2025). Stay Gold, America.
  20. ^ "Stack Overflow Co-Founder Jeff Atwood Donates $1 Million to The Trevor Project". The Trevor Project. January 7, 2025. Retrieved January 14, 2025.

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