Brian Fox (programmer) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Brian Jhan Fox
|
|
|---|---|
Fox in 2008
|
|
| Born | December 11, 1959 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
|
| Occupation |
|
| Employer | Opus Logica, Inc. |
| Known for | GNU Bash |
| Relatives | Donal Fox (brother) |
Brian Jhan Fox was born in 1959. He is an American computer programmer and a supporter of free software. A computer programmer writes instructions for computers to follow. Free software means that people can use, study, change, and share the software freely.
Brian Fox is famous for creating the original GNU Bash computer program. Bash is a special program called a "shell" that helps people talk to their computers using text commands. He first shared Bash in June 1989. He continued to be the main person in charge of Bash until at least early 1993. Brian Fox also built the very first online banking system in the U.S. for Wells Fargo in 1995. This system allowed people to do their banking over the internet. In 2008, he also created an open source election system. Open source means its code is available for anyone to see and improve.
Contents
Working with Free Software
In 1985, Brian Fox started working with Richard Stallman. Stallman had just created the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The FSF is an organization that supports and promotes free software.
At the FSF, Brian Fox wrote several important computer programs. These included GNU Bash, which is a command-line shell. He also wrote GNU Makeinfo, which helps create manuals, and GNU Info, a system for reading those manuals. Other programs he created were GNU Finger, which gives information about users, and GNU Echo, a simple command. He also developed the readline and history libraries, which help users type commands more easily.
For a while, Brian Fox was also in charge of maintaining GNU Emacs. Emacs is a very powerful text editor used by many programmers. He made many important contributions to the software that was part of the GNU Project between 1986 and 1994.
Creating Open Source Election Systems
In 2008, Brian Fox worked with Alan Dechert and Brent Turner. Their goal was to create an election system that was completely open source. This means that all the computer code for the system could be seen and checked by anyone. They believed this would make elections more secure and trustworthy.
Brian Fox and Parker Abercrombie wrote the code for this system together. They showed it off at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco in August 2008.
Brian Fox also helped start two important groups: the California Association of Voting Officials (CAVO) and the National Association of Voting Officials (NAVO). These groups are non-profit, meaning they don't aim to make money. They work to encourage the use of open source voting systems in public elections. In 2015, Brian Fox co-wrote an article for The New York Times. He wrote it with R. James Woolsey Jr., who used to lead the CIA. Their article explained why open source election systems are important for keeping U.S. elections safe from outside interference.
Other Software Projects
Brian Fox also created a smaller version of Emacs called AMACS. This program was made for the Apple II computer.
Images for kids
-
Fox in 2008
See also
In Spanish: Brian Fox (programador) para niños
