Walter Bright

Bright is the son of the United States Air Force pilot Charles D. Bright.{{cite web |url = https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26526644 |title = on: The Complexity of a WW II P-47 Thunderbolt's Powerplant |first = Walter|last = Bright|year = 2021}}{{cite web |url = http://generalatomic.com/jetmakers/introduction.html |title = The Jetmakers}} He taught himself computer programming from the type-in programs in BASIC Computer Games.{{Cite web |last=Bright |first=Walter |date=2021-09-18 |title=Basic Computer Games (1978) |url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28572761 |access-date=2021-09-27 |website=Hacker News}}

Bright graduated from Caltech in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Aeronautical Engineering.{{cite journal |last1=Bright |first1=Walter |last2=Alexandrescu |first2=Andrei |last3=Parker |first3=Michael |title=Origins of the D Programming Language |journal= Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages|date=June 2020 |volume=4 |issue=HOPL |page=1 |doi=10.1145/3386323 |doi-access=free }} {{cite web |url = https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23815636 |title = on: An aerospace engineer explains fireworks |first = Walter|last = Bright|year = 2020}} While at university he wrote the Empire wargame for the PDP-10 mainframe.{{cite web |url = http://www.classicempire.com/history.html |title = A Brief History of Empire |first = Walter|last = Bright|year = 2000 |work = Walter Bright's Empire website}}

Bright wrote Mattel Intellivision games while at Caltech, then worked as a mechanical engineer after graduation. After learning C in the early 1980s he ported Empire to the IBM PC, stating that C "might as well have been called EIL, for 'Empire Implementation Language.'"{{r|bright2000}} Bright developed the Datalight C compiler, also sold as Zorland C and later Zortech C.{{Cite magazine |last= Johnston |first= Stuart |title= Zortech Simplifies 32-Bit DOS with C++ Compilers |magazine= InfoWorld | volume = 13 | issue = 23 | page =22 | publisher = InfoWorld Publishing | location = Menlo Park, CA | date = Jun 10, 1991 | issn = 0199-6649 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RlAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22}} "said Walter Bright, Zortech's directory of technology

Bright was the main developer of the Zortech C++ compiler (later Symantec C++, now Digital Mars C++), which was the first C++ compiler to translate source code directly to object code without using C as an intermediate.{{cite book|page=xvii|last=Loder|first=Wolfgang|isbn=9781484223949|publisher=Apress|title=Erlang and Elixir for Imperative Programmers|chapter=Introduction|date=26 November 2016}}

{{main|D (programming language)}}

Bright is the creator of the D programming language. He has implemented compilers for several other languages, and is considered an expert in many areas related to compiler technology.[http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Lang-NEXT/Lang-NEXT-2012/Panel-Native-Languages "Lang.NEXT 2012 Expert Panel: Native Languages"] Lang.Next Walter regularly writes scientific and magazine articles about compilers and programming{{cite web|url=https://dconf.org/2017/speakers/|title=The D Programming Language Conference 2017|publisher=D Language Foundation|access-date=2021-09-26|date=2017|url-status=live|archive-date=2020-08-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815021925/https://dconf.org/2017/speakers/}} and was a blogger for Dr. Dobb's Journal.{{cite web|work=Dr. Dobb's Journal|last=Binstock|first=Andrew|date=2014-12-16|title=Farewell, Dr. Dobb's|url=https://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/farewell-dr-dobbs/240169421|access-date=2021-09-26|archive-date=2021-09-26|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210926121354/https://www.callapple.org/dr-dobbs-journal/}}

Around 2014, Bright wrote Warp, a fast C/C++ preprocessor written in D, for Facebook.{{cite web|url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTY0ODg|last=Larabel|first=Michael|date=2014-03-31|work=Phoronix|access-date=2021-09-26|url-status=live|archive-date=2020-11-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124211652/https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTY0ODg|title=Warp: Facebook Open-Sources A Super Fast C/C++ Pre-Processor}}{{cite web|last=Alexandrescu|first=Andrei|date=2014-03-28|publisher=Facebook|title=Under the Hood: warp, a fast C and C++ preprocessor|url=https://engineering.fb.com/2014/03/28/open-source/under-the-hood-warp-a-fast-c-and-c-preprocessor/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-26|archive-date=2021-03-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305000817/https://engineering.fb.com/2014/03/28/open-source/under-the-hood-warp-a-fast-c-and-c-preprocessor/}}{{cite magazine |title=The Next Big Programming Language You've Never Heard Of |url=https://www.wired.com/2014/07/d-programming-language/|magazine=Wired |date=7 July 2014 |author=Cade Metz}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.walterbright.com/ Walter Bright home page]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081222013441/http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1744247671;fp;4194304;fpid;1 Computerworld Interview with Walter Bright on D Programming Language]
• {{cite magazine | url=http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/how-i-came-to-write-d/240165322?elq=ec1276a03f5a494d9198908d67c3b086&elqCampaignId=1886

| magazine=Dr. Dobb's Journal | author=Walter Bright | title=How I Came to Write D | date=8 April 2014 |ref=none}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bright, Walter}}

Category:American computer programmers

Category:Living people

Category:Programming language designers

Category:1959 births

Category:California Institute of Technology alumni