Kathy Sierra
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Kathy Sierra (nee Dorris) (b. June 19, 1957, Fresno, Calif.), is a programming instructor and game developer who created the Head First series of books on computer programming with her partner Bert Bates.
The series, which began with Head First Java in 2003, takes an unorthodox, visually intensive approach to the process of teaching programming. Sierra's books in the series have received three nominations for Product Excellence Jolt Awards, winning in 2005 for Head First Design Patterns, and were recognized on Amazon.com's yearly top 10 list for computer books from 2003 to 2005.
Sierra says that her interest in cognitive science was motivated by her epilepsy, a condition for which she takes anti-seizure medication. "My interest in the brain began when I had my first grand mal seizure at the age of four," she wrote on her personal weblog.
Before writing her first book, Sierra was the lead programmer on the computer games Terratopia, a 1996 children's adventure game released by Virgin Sound & Vision, and All Dogs Go to Heaven, a film-based game released as a free cereal premium by MGM.
Sierra was a master trainer for Sun Microsystems, teaching Java instructors how to introduce new Java technologies and developing certification exams. In 1998, she founded the Java programmer's online community JavaRanch.
Per her weblog, Sierra attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a major in exercise physiology and spent 10 years working in the fitness industry. She changed careers after attending programming classes at UCLA, later returning to teach a course on "new media interactivity" for UCLA Extension.
She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her Icelandic horses.
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[edit] Harassment
In March 2007, Kathy Sierra abruptly cancelled her appearance at the O'Reilly ETech conference in San Diego, after receiving threatening and sexually graphic messages that made her afraid to leave her house.[1] In a blog post at Creating Passionate Users, she stated that the harassment started with some blog comments posted four weeks earlier. Then she came across some other comments and photographs which indicated to her a pattern of intimidation.[2] The issue triggered a discussion on the need for a bloggers' code of conduct and some bloggers, including Robert Scoble, temporarily suspended their blogs in a show of support to Kathy Sierra.[3] After a couple of days it seems that comments and pictures on other blogs were merely done by internet trolls and not related to death threats. Blograge is still going on against those who made them, but bloggers are starting to check facts about what happened. [4]
[edit] Bibliography
- Head First Java (O'Reilly Publishing, 2005) ISBN 0-596-00920-8
- SCJP Sun Certified Programmer for Java 5 Study Guide (McGraw-Hill Osborne, 2005) ISBN 0-07-225360-6
- Head First Design Patterns (O'Reilly Publishing, 2004) ISBN 0-596-00712-4
- Head First Servlets and JSP (O'Reilly Publishing, 2004) ISBN 0-596-00540-7
- Head First EJB (O'Reilly Publishing, 2003) ISBN 0-596-00571-7
- Sun Certified Programmer & Developer for Java 2 Study Guide (McGraw-Hill Osborne, 2002) ISBN 0-07-222684-6
- Mike Meyers' Java 2 Certification Passport (McGraw-Hill Osborne, 2001) ISBN 0-07-219366-2
[edit] References
- ^ Mitch Wagner (2007-03-26). Death Threats Force Designer To Cancel ETech Conference Appearance. Information Week. Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
- ^ Kathy Sierra (2007-03-26). Death threats against bloggers are NOT "protected speech" (why I cancelled my ETech presentations). Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
- ^ Blog death threats spark debate. BBC (2007-03-27). Retrieved on 2007-03-28.
- ^ Not looking for sympathy or anything. Dave Winer (2007-03-29). Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
