Bruce F. Webster is an American academic and software engineer. He is currently a principal at Bruce F. Webster & Associates and an adjunct professor in computer science at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

Early life and education

Webster studied computer science at

, graduating in 1978 with a bachelor's degree. He had received a full

National Merit Scholarship The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organizati ...

for his studies. He went on to do graduate work in computer science at the

University of Houston-Clear Lake A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which rou ...

in Houston, Texas.

Career

Webster, since 1980, has written over 150 articles on the

computer industry A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These progra ...

and

software development Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development invol ...

. He has also written four books on

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

(IT) issues, including ''The NeXT book'', ''Pitfalls of Object-Oriented Development'', ''The Art of ‘Ware'', and ''The Y2K Survival Guide'', and contributed to two others. He authored

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

' 2000

white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...

, ''Patterns in IT Litigation: System Failure''. He also wrote for two years as an IT management columnist for '' Baseline''. In the 1980s, Webster wrote articles and columns for ''

BYTE The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...

'' and ''

Macworld ''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macint ...

'', and taught computer science at his ''alma mater'',

. In the 1990s, he went on to help found another software startup, Pages Software Inc., where he served as Chief Technical Officer and chief software architect for five years. He then served as Chief Technical Officer at Object Systems Group (now OSG), reviewing troubled corporate IT projects, and subsequently worked as a Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers (ibid). He has run his own consulting firm since 2001. Since 2017 has also served as an adjunct professor for the BYU Computer Science Department, teaching a senior-level class on real-world software engineering. Webster has appeared on TV news broadcasts and has been cited in publications including ''Newsweek'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', and ''Barron's''. He has testified before Congress on three occasions, and has been consulted in several legal cases in the United States and abroad. He has been an arbitrator and a neutral expert in litigation relating to IT and has testified as an IT expert in federal and state court. As an expert on information technology, he has been an invited speaker at conferences in the US, Japan, Russia, Central America, and the Middle East. Webster was co-designer and principal

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

of the original

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

version of '' SunDog: Frozen Legacy'', a real-time space trading and combat game released in 1984. SunDog was cited in late 2022 by

Todd Howard Todd Andrew Howard (born 1970) is an American video game designer, director, and producer. He serves as director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, where he has led the development of the ''Fallout'' and ''The Elder Scrolls'' s ...

Bethesda Game Studios Bethesda Game Studios is an American video game developer and a studio of ZeniMax Media based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was established in 2001 as the spin-off of Bethesda Softworks' development unit, with Bethesda Softworks itself ...

as one of his inspirations for their forthcoming

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...

open world game ''Starfield''.

Personal life

Webster currently resides in

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU). Provo lies between the ...

, with his wife Sandra. He has been a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

since 1967 and has played an active role in the church.

References

External links

Bruce Webster's web site

Bruce Webster's "And Still I Persist" blog

Bruce Webster's "Adventures in Mormonism" blog

Webster & Associates web site

The SunDog Resurrection project
at

SourceForge SourceForge is a web service that offers software consumers a centralized online location to control and manage open-source software projects and research business software. It provides source code repository hosting, bug tracking, mirrorin ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Bruce Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American computer scientists American Latter Day Saints Brigham Young University alumni Brigham Young University faculty University of Houston–Clear Lake alumni People from Parker, Colorado Engineers from Colorado