DUNTEMANN, Jeff 1952-

PERSONAL:

Born June, 1952, in Chicago, IL; married; wife's name Carol.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Paraglyph Press, Inc., 1238 East Cambridge Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85006. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Programmer, writer, and editor. Xerox Corporation, programmer; PC Tech Journal, senior technical editor; Borland, creator of programming magazine Turbo Technix; Coriolis Group, Scottsdale, AZ, cofounder and editorial director of book publishing division, 1989-2002; Paraglyph Press, Scottsdale, cofounder, 2002—.

WRITINGS:

Complete Turbo Pascal, Scott, Foresman (Glenview, IL), 1986, revised and enlarged edition, 1989.

Turbo Pascal Solutions, Scott, Foresman (Glenview, IL), 1988.

Assembly Language from Square One: For the PC AT and Compatibles ("Assembly Language Programming" series), Scott, Foresman (Glenview, IL), 1990.

Assembly Language: Step-by-Step, John Wiley & Sons (New York, NY), 1992, revised and published as Assembly Language Step-by-Step: Programming with DOS and Linux, 2000.

(With Keith Weiskamp) PC Techniques C/C++ Power Tools: HAX, Techniques, and Hidden Knowledge (includes disk), Bantam Books (New York, NY), 1992.

(Editor) Paul S. Cilwa, Borland Pascal 7 Insider ("Wily Insider" series), John Wiley & Sons (New York, NY), 1993.

(Editor) Jim Mischel, Macro Magic with Turbo Assembler (includes disk), John Wiley & Sons (New York, NY), 1993.

(With Ron Pronk) Inside the PowerPC Revolution, Coriolis Group (Scottsdale, AZ), 1994.

(With Paul S. Cilway) Windows Programming Power with Custom Controls (includes disk), Coriolis Group (Scottsdale, AZ), 1994.

(Editor) Scott Jarol, Visual Basic Multimedia Adventure Set, Coriolis Group (Scottsdale, AZ), 1994.

(Editor) Jim Mischel, The Developer's Guide to WinHelp.Exe: Harnessing the Windows Help Engine (includes disk), John Wiley & Sons (New York, NY), 1994.

(With Urban A. LeJeune) Mosaic and Web Explorer (includes laser optical disk), Coriolis Group (Scottsdale, AZ), 1995.

(With Urban A. LeJeune) Netscape and HTML Explorer, Coriolis Group (Scottsdale, AZ), 1995, revised and published as The New Netscape and HTML Explorer (includes laser optical disk), Coriolis Group (Scottsdale, AZ), 1996.

(With Ron Pronk and Patrick Vincent) Web Explorer Pocket Companion, Coriolis Group (Scottsdale, AZ), 1995.

(With Ron Pronk and Patrick Vincent) Mosaic Explorer Pocket Companion, Coriolis Group (Scottsdale, AZ), 1995.

All-in-One Web Surfing and Publishing Kit (includes CD-ROM), Coriolis Group (Scottsdale, AZ), 1995.

(With Jim Mischel and Don Taylor) Delphi Programming Explorer (includes one disk), Coriolis Group (Scottsdale, AZ), 1995, published with CD-ROM as Delphi Starter Kit, 1995, revised and published as The New Delphi 2 Programming Explorer, 1996.

(With Jim Mischel) Borland C++Builder Programming Explorer (includes laser optical disk), Coriolis Group (Scottsdale, AZ), 1997.

Jeff Duntemann's Drive-by Wi-Fi Guide, Paraglyph Press (Scottsdale, AZ), 2003.

Columnist for Dr. Dobb's Journal, 1989-93. Contributor of articles to periodicals, including PC, BYTE, PC Tech Journal, Computer Graphic, Micro/Systems Journal, Kilobaud, Creative Computing, and 73. Contributor of short fiction to science-fiction anthologies and periodicals, including Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction and Omni.

SIDELIGHTS:

Jeff Duntemann is the author and/or editor of dozens of books and articles about software technologies. His works began appearing in the mid-1980s, making him one of the first to cover the ever-changing world of computers. Duntemann is also cofounder, with Keith Weiskamp, Steven Sayre, and Cynthia Caldwell, of Coriolis Group, a publisher of computer books and such magazines as PC Techniques and Visual Developer. The company was acquired by Haights Cross in 1999, following which the new owner sold off its assets and shut it down in 2002. The former owners, including Duntemann, acquired many of the Coriolis titles and began Paraglyph, a new publishing company.

Duntemann was explaining Microsoft Windows to readers of PC magazine back in 1986, the same year his first book, Complete Turbo Pascal, was published. Reviewer Charles Petzold wrote in PC that the volume "is obviously a labor of love by an author who combines his admiration for Pascal structure with extensive use of the Turbo Pascal language enhancements."

Inside the PowerPC Revolution, which Duntemann wrote with Ron Pronk, is an explanation of CPU design, an indictment of Intel's Pentium chip, a history of why IBM, Motorola, and Apple chose RISC over CISC, and a prediction of what clones might be developed by others, including AMD.

Duntemann wrote Delphi Programming Explorer in 1995 with Jim Mischel and Don Taylor, and it was updated the following year. Robert E. Swart, reviewed the first edition for Dr. Bob's Programming Clinic Web site, calling it "truly unique. It is written by three great authors in a way that is perfect for Delphi: first do it, and then find out why (or how) it works."

Swart also reviewed Borland C++Builder Programming Explorer, written by Duntemann and Mischel, finding it to be "a good book to learn how to work with C++Builder. It teaches C++ Builder the RAD way (first do something, ask questions later)." Swart noted that the first eighteen chapters are the same as those in the Delphi edition.

The revised edition of Duntemann's Assembly Language: Step-by-Step, which builds upon his earlier Assembly Language from Square One: For the PC AT and Compatibles, was published with the subtitle Programming with DOS and Linux. The CD included contains the free assembler NASM and a DOS text-mode development environment, including text editor, from which to work. NASM-IDE replaces the JED environment Duntemann describes in the first edition. Duntemann explains on his Web site that "for Linux work, you can use any of the many Linux console editors/environments like vi or EMACS. I describe EMACS, as it's my personal favorite, but it's your choice. Because DOS no longer comes with a linker, I also provide a free linker, ALINK." Duntemann also notes that this is freeware that can be downloaded from links accessed on his Web site.

Wi-Fi—short for wireless fidelity—is the popular term for a high-frequency wireless local area network or WLAN that connects computers, printers, video cameras, and game consoles into a fast Ethernet via microwaves. The Wi-Fi technology is rapidly gaining acceptance in many companies as an alternative to a wired LAN. It can also be installed for a home network. In Jeff Duntemann's Drive-by Wi-Fi Guide, he explains how to set up such a network for under $200, including how to test it, troubleshoot it, and protect it from would-be hackers.

Another of Duntemann's passions is writing science fiction. He sold his first story when he was twenty-one and completed two full-length novels before finishing high school. In 1973, he attended a writers' workshop at Michigan State University, and his work, now more polished, began appearing in magazines and anthologies of original work.

On his Web site, he talked about "Borovsky's Hollow Woman," a novelette he wrote with Nancy Kress, a Hugo-and Nebula-award winner. When it was sold to Omni in 1983, it became one of his last published science-fiction pieces. In the process of writing this novelette, he hit a roadblock. Kress helped out "with some vigorous coaching and some significant additional copy, and taught me a great deal about the writing process itself. In return, I demonstrated to her the power of writing directly to a word processor screen. (Remember, this was 1983.) We both came out of it changed writers."

"When I want to get down and make progress on a novel," said Duntemann, "I pull down a similar work from my shelf of favorites, sit down for an hour, and just wallow. Then when I move over to the keyboard, I'm thinking in all the right patterns, and the images and situations are emerging from my subconscious. It's like a spring: you push on it, and when you let go it pushes back. When I pour SF into my ears for a while and then stop, SF starts pouring out of my fingers." Duntemann was looking for a publisher for his completed novel The Cunning Blood, which he describes as being "hard SF in the grand tradition: starships, diabolical plots, nanomachines, zero-point energy, mastodons, and human society utterly unlike our own. It's not literature. But it's a lot of fun. After I get that one into print, well, I have a list of concepts as long as my arm.… If I can get The Cunning Blood into print, I'm back home forever."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

PC, January 14, 1986, Charles Petzold, review of Complete Turbo Pascal, p. 301; October 27, 1987, Catherine D. Miller, review of Turbo Pascal Solutions, p. 48; April 13, 1993, Rick Ayre, review of Assembly Language: Step-by-Step, p. 71; December 7, 1993, Richard Hale Shaw, review of PC Techniques C/C++ Power Tools: HAX, Techniques, and Hidden Knowledge, p. 71; December 20, 1994, Sally Wiener Grotta, review of Inside the PowerPC Revolution, p. 73.

PC Week, July 4, 1994, Sara Humphrey, review of Inside the PowerPC Revolution, p. N14.

ONLINE

Borland Developer Network Web site,http://community.borland.com/ (May, 2003), Clay Shannon, interview with Duntemann.

Dr. Bob's Programming Clinic Web site,http://www.drbob42.com/ (July 1, 2003), Robert E. Swart, reviews of Delphi Programming Explorer and Borland C++Builder Programming Explorer.

Jeff Duntemann Home Page,http://www.duntemann.com/ (July 1, 2003).

Paraglyph Press Web site,http://www.paraglyphpress.com/ (July 1, 2003).*