Brendan Patrick Kehoe (3 December 1970 – 19 July 2011) was an Irish
software developer
Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, Computer programming, programming, software documentation, documenting, software testing, testing, and Software bugs, bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applic ...
and author. Born in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Kehoe was raised in
China, Maine
China is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,408 at the 2020 census. China is included in the Augusta, Maine micropolitan New England City and Town Area.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, ...
, in the United States. In his early teens, he was first exposed to computing when he was given a
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
computer, which he used to teach himself about computing and computer networks. On leaving high-school, he moved to
Widener University
Widener University is a private university in Chester, Pennsylvania. The university has three other campuses: two in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg and Exton) and one in Wilmington, Delaware.
Founded as The Bullock School for Boys in 1821, the school ...
where he continued his computer studies,
leaving in 1992.
Career
Kehoe wrote two books and a number of technology articles in the specialist press (e.g., ''
Boardwatch Magazine'') on the topic of the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
. His first book, ''Zen and the Art of the Internet: A Beginner's Guide'', first published by
Prentice Hall
Prentice Hall was an American major educational publisher owned by Savvas Learning Company. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market, and distributes its technical titles through the Safari B ...
in July 1992,
was the first mass-published user's guide to the Internet. ''Zen'' was written while Kehoe was still at Widener; he struck a bargain with the publishers to ensure that the original edition of the book would remain free-of-charge in the internet for everyone to access.
In a survey taken by
PC Magazine
''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...
for the twentieth anniversary of the PC, ''Zen and the Art of the Internet'' was listed as one of the "top sci-fi/tech non-fiction books of the past twenty years" (1981–2001). It also appeared on
Sergey Brin's "Favorite Booklist". As one of the first substantial books freely available for reuse on the Internet, ''Zen'' predated and helped to inspire the
free culture movement
The free-culture movement is a social movement that promotes the freedom to distribute and modify the creative works of others in the form of free content or open content without compensation to, or the consent of, the work's original creators, ...
. Parts of it were reworked into other works including the
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...
's Guide to the Internet.
Kehoe was a dedicated and detailed programmer, who, as a student, volunteered changes to one of the most complex pieces of free software in the world at the time, the
GNU C++ Compiler and
Library
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
. His unusual skill at wrangling this code led to a full-time job as a key employee of
Cygnus Support in
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...
in 1992, improving, supporting and documenting this code base. By 1995 he was managing the entire GNU C++ group at Cygnus.
Later in life, Kehoe volunteered doing IT support for his local school, the
Dalkey School Project
The Dalkey School Project is a school in Glenageary, County Dublin in Ireland. It was set up on September 18, 1978The Dalkey School Project, Articles of Association, Certificate of Incorporation No. 67032 by parents in Dublin who wanted their chil ...
. This led to positions as a member of its Board of Management, and from there to being Chairperson of the school. In 2010, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of
Educate Together.
[Educate Together: Contact list, including list of directors](_blank)
Kehoe was described by
Eric S. Raymond
Eric Steven Raymond (born December 4, 1957), often referred to as ESR, is an American software developer, open-source software advocate, and author of the 1997 essay and 1999 book ''The Cathedral and the Bazaar''. He wrote a guidebook for the ...
after his death as "a true
hacker and a gentleman". He is attributed as having coined the term "net-surfing" in a 1991 USENET post.
Personal life
On 31 December 1993, Kehoe and a friend, Sven Heinicke, were involved in a serious car accident that left Kehoe with
brain injuries
Neurotrauma, brain damage or brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating t ...
including
aphasia
Aphasia is an inability to comprehend or formulate language because of damage to specific brain regions. The major causes are stroke and head trauma; prevalence is hard to determine but aphasia due to stroke is estimated to be 0.1–0.4% in th ...
. He subsequently made an almost-full recovery, as there were still some brain issues lingering. He married on 5 October 1996 and lived in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
with his wife and two children.
At the beginning of March 2011, Kehoe was diagnosed with
acute myeloid leukaemia
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal cells that build up in the bone marrow and blood and interfere with normal blood cell production. Symptoms may include ...
. He underwent
chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...
to fight the disease but succumbed to it on 19 July 2011.
References
Bibliography
*''Zen and the Art of the Internet: A Beginner's Guide'', Brendan Kehoe, 1992, .
*''Children and the Internet: A Zen Guide for Parents and Educators'', Brendan Kehoe and Victoria Mixon, 1996, .
External links
Brendan Kehoe's domain*
*
Computer Underground Digest article about Brendan's accidentInterview, 8 March 2011, with Brendan about his accidenton
American Public Media's "
The Story"
Brendan Kehoe: an appreciationby Diarmaid Mac Aonghusa in the
Sunday Business Post
The ''Business Post'' (formerly ''The Sunday Business Post'') is a Sunday newspaper distributed nationally in Ireland and an online publication. It is focused mainly on business and financial issues in Ireland.
Founding to Irish financial crisi ...
, 24 July 2011
Interview with Brendan including a demo of browsing the Interneton The Computer Chronicles, 1993.
Also, archived version
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kehoe, Brendan
1970 births
2011 deaths
Deaths from leukemia
Irish technology writers
People from China, Maine
Irish computer programmers
Irish computer scientists