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About the Author

Paul Conte is a senior technical editor for NEWS 3X/400 and pesident of Picante Software of Eugene, Oregon, which develops workstation-based applications development tools for S/36 and AS/400 programmers. Paul has published numerous articles on the AS/400, programming languages, software engineering, and database design. His interest in programming languages led to the development of RPG/free, the widely used free-format version of RPG. During his career, Paul has developed applications on a variety of platforms, including the S/38, AS/400, S/370, DEC, and PCs. His language expertise covers a wide range: C/C++, COBOL, RPG, Pascal, FORTRAN, Awk, and SNOBOL, to name a few.

Paul has a B.A. in psychology from Georgia State University and an M.S. in computer science from the University of Oregon. He served on the University of Oregon faculty for eight years and has run his own consulting firm, prior to starting Picante Software, Inc. Paul has received several awards for his writing, including a Society for Technical Communication's International Award of Excellence for an article about C pitfalls.

Acknowledgments

Several people played a key role in creating this book. Jennifer Hamilton pressed the case for C and C++ and stimulated my analysis of where C's problems lie. Arguing with her over C facilities and programming style helped me refine my own side of the debate. Mike Otey provided invaluable technical review. Trish Faubion helped turn the original rough style into one that retained its bite, but was much more polished. Katie McCormick Tipton, Barb Gibbens, and Kathy Blomstrom all helped refine my writing. And Dave Bernard and Sharon Hamm wielded just the right mix of encouragement and threat to make the book actually happen. My sincere thanks to all.

Dedication

To my parents, Theodore and Sybil Conte, who've always been my example of lives well-lived


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