My Top 10 Influential Developers …

Languages, frameworks and applications definitely influence how we produce software. That being said, I find that I like looking into the people behind the tools I’m using. I find that understanding the creators really helps me grasp the concepts of the tools I’m using, and helps me understand/predict their future. One great side effect of looking into these people is that I’ve come across developers who now greatly influence the way I design and cut code. Here is my short list of developers that I’ve found to greatly influence the way I work over the past year, either through drive, ambition, technological prowess, or just plain fun.

• Miguel de Icaza of gnome and mono fame – this guy is a coding genius!
• David Heinemeier Hansson of Ruby on Rails fame – has good things to say when it comes to application development.
• Jonathan Locke, creator of Wicket – I’ve been really impressed with the design of this component based web framework, most of which comes from Jon’s head.
• Rod Johnson, Spring creator – brought IOC (and much more) to the mainstream. Spring kicks ass, and I really love the fact there is both a Java EE and .NET version.
• Steve Yegge, one smart mofo, who knows how to be pleasantly provocative. I love checking out this guys blog.
• Zed Shaw, known for Mongrel among many other things, but I just all round like his flippin’ attitude. This guy really is a breath of fresh air.
• Charles Oliver Nutter has done some freakin’ amazing things with JRuby. I can’t believe how far this guy has gotten in such a short amount of time!
• Richard Hipp, the father of sqlite – probably the most humble smart bastard I’ve learned from, and sqlite is just freakin’ amazing!
• Avi Bryant, Seaside creator – I have a soft spot for Smalltalk, and his framework kicks ass.
• And last but not least, actually quite the opposite – Why the Lucky Stiff is the shiznit! This guys work is incredible – check out why’s poignant guide to ruby to see what I mean. Pure brilliance!