Ronald Hale-Evans

857 NE 151st Street, Shoreline, Washington 98155-7023
(206) 201-1768                       rwhe@ludism.org

Skill Highlights

Programming

C, C++, Perl, Java, Eclipse, JUnit testing, XML, SGML, AppleScript, Visual Basic, HTML, SQL, GNU/Linux (including Debian, Ubuntu, Knoppix, Red Hat, Fedora), Cygwin, Unix, Mac OS, GCC, X windowing system, Metaphase, Informix 4GL, literate programming methods (Doxygen, Javadocs), agile programming.

Applications

TEX, AE, FrameMaker, DxStudio, DocBook, XMetaL, CVS, Bazaar, MS SharePoint, Subversion, AccuRev, Visual SourceSafe, MS Office, MS FrontPage, RoboHelp, Apache, GNU Emacs, Acrobat.

Content Management Systems

SharePoint, Drupal, MediaWiki, MoinMoin, OddMuse, Blosxom.

Experience

Programmer Writer

Prowess Consulting, under contract to Microsoft Corporation (December 2010—present)

·         As part of the Microsoft Openness and Interoperability Principles Initiative, document compliance of Microsoft SQL Server's Transact-SQL language with ISO SQL:2008, and with various W3C XML standards.

·         Responsible for writing documentation for every SQL:2008 feature as implemented in Transact-SQL.

·         Generated metrics for XQuery documentation effort.

Volt Technical, under contract to Microsoft Corporation (April 2009—April 2010)

·         As member of Microsoft Protocol Content Team, wrote and edited communications protocol specifications in compliance with U.S. Department of Justice and European Union antitrust rulings.

·         Communicated frequently with architects and engineers on the product teams, to ensure documentation accuracy and adherence to the standards of both Microsoft and external government entities.

·         Provided expertise on both open standards and proprietary protocols, such as FTP and DRM licensing.

 

Senior Specification Writer

The Linux Foundation (May 2008—February 2009)

·         As part of the Linux Standard Base effort, extensively specified new calls for the Linux ABI (application binary interface), including kernel calls.

·         Co-authored widely-cited Linux Foundation study of monetary value of Linux operating system, (http://www.linuxfoundation.org/publications/estimatinglinux.php), calculating most of the metrics.

·         Wrote new tools in Perl for generating documentation automatically.

·         Wrote documentation for other users about how to use the Linux Standard Base toolchain.

·         Debugged existing documentation toolchain.

·         Edited errata for previous versions of the Linux Standard Base.

 

Programmer Writer

SchemaLogic (September 2007—April 2008)

·         Documented 3 separate APIs as sole SDK writer in the company, including writing completely new SDK.

·         Wrote programming primer for company products.

·         Coordinated efforts from offshore team creating hundreds of programming samples for multiple APIs.

·         Maintained large base of legacy SDKs.

Star Technical, under contract to Insightful Corporation (July 2007—August 2007)

·         Created SDK for new statistical analysis software.

Volt Technical, under contract to Microsoft Corporation (May 2006—April 2007)

·         Worked on AppleScript reference documentation (Macintosh Business Unit) and compiled SDK for database synchronization (SQL Server Group).

·         Researched and documented migration methods from Visual Basic to AppleScript. 

·         Wrote software in Perl that converted over 1,000 SDK reference topics from HTML to XML.

·         Established new standards for front matter in reference manuals.

SchemaLogic (January 2006—May 2006)

·         Documented existing APIs with Javadocs.

·         Wrote sample code in Java for metadata integration system, including JUnit tests.

·         Expanded SDK developer guide for new version of software.

 


Author

March 2009—August 2011

·         Co-authored 400-page sequel to Mind Performance Hacks, entitled Mindhacker (published September 2011). Wrote large percentage of content; contracted and managed team of contributors and reviewers.

April 2005—January 2006

·         Wrote 300-page book entitled Mind Performance Hacks: Tips & Tools for Overclocking Your Brain (published March 2006). As of Oct. 2011, has sold more than 75,000 copies worldwide, in five languages. Wrote and researched approximately 80% of content; contracted and managed a team of contributors and reviewers.

 

Technical Writer

Open Interface North America (May 2003—April 2005)

·         Documented Bluetooth embedded protocol stack API using Doxygen literate programming application.

·         Redesigned existing SDK and source code documentation structure; wrote numerous postprocessor scripts in Perl to customize documentation architecture.

·         Acted as sole documentation professional for the second half of my time at OINA, performing essentially all documentation tasks, including non-technical material such as brochures and press releases.

 

Programmer Writer

GNU Project/Free Software Foundation (January 2001—April 2003)

·         Wrote commissioned book-length manuscript of The GNU C Programming Tutorial for commercial publication, based on older textbook donated to the Foundation. Manuscript was largely finished, but project was cancelled before publication.

·         Wrote The GNU Style Guide to provide a solid basis for contributors to GNU Project documentation.

LithTech, Inc. (July 2000—October 2000)

·         Built a literate programming engine in Red Hat to extract comments from C++ headers and produce an API reference manual. This entailed locating and learning a core application (Doxygen), then developing custom pre- and post-processing Perl scripts to reformat LATEX documents produced by Doxygen.

·         Documented the above engine, simplified it to the ''push-button'' stage, trained developers to use it.  

·         Edited code comments to create a style more appropriate for publication.

Volt Technical, under contract to Microsoft Corporation (January 1998—June 2000)

·         Wrote and tracked all AppleScript documentation for all Microsoft Office for Macintosh products, as well as large technical documentation set for complex virtual reality product (including SDK, Programmer's Guide, UI Reference, User's Guide, and contextual help). Developed code examples for documentation.

·         Programmed several Perl scripts on own initiative to parse AppleScript APIs and create HTML templates for each AppleScript object, saving team approximately three months of work.

·         Tested products and examined their APIs; found and reported code defects. Provided ideas and feedback to developers to help improve products.

 

Programmer Analyst

The Boeing Company, PDM.c project (November 1996—September 1997)

·         Designed and programmed C++ code for enormous Product Data Management system in Metaphase, in response to system requirements and user needs.  Wrote/edited documentation for other developers.

 

Programmer and Technical Support

(May 1995—March 1996)

·         Initiated, designed, and wrote costing analysis program for MS-DOS.

·         Designed and developed several SQL/4GL applications.

 

User Consultant and Documentation Supervisor

Brandeis University (December 1989—September 1994)

·                     Composed and edited system documentation and department newsletter.

 

Independent Writing, Development, and Web Design/Administration

(1988—present)

·         Won board game design awards in 2002, 2006, and 2010.

·         Wrote series of articles for The Games Journal. Articles were taught in a course at Ball State University.

·         Released multiple open source applications for Macintosh and Palm platforms.

Education

Yale University

·         B.A. in Psychology, Philosophy minor, emphasis on Computer Science, 1988. Coursework in systems programming, data structures, and writing (including interactive fiction), as well as LISP and APL.