Gordon Edwin Eubanks, Jr. (born November 7, 1946) is an American

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (PC ...

industry pioneer who worked with

Gary Kildall Gary Arlen Kildall (; May 19, 1942 – July 11, 1994) was an American computer scientist and microcomputer entrepreneur. During the 1970s, Kildall created the CP/M operating system among other operating systems and programming tools, a ...

in the early days of

Digital Research Digital Research, Inc. (DR or DRI) was a company created by Gary Kildall to market and develop his CP/M operating system and related 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit systems like MP/M, Concurrent DOS, FlexOS, Multiuser DOS, DOS Plus, DR DOS and ...

(DRI). Eubanks attended

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

, where he was involved as a member of

Pi Kappa Alpha Pi Kappa Alpha (), commonly known as PIKE, is a college fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1868. The fraternity has over 225 chapters and colonies across the United States and abroad with over 15,500 undergraduate members over 30 ...

fraternity. Scott Kildall was his graduate thesis advisor at the

Naval Postgraduate School The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a public graduate school operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. It offers master’s and doctoral degrees in more than 70 fields of study to the U.S. Armed Forces, DOD ci ...

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

. Eubank's 1976 master's thesis was a

BASIC BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...

language

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...

called BASIC-E designed for Kildall's new

CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

. Over the next year and a half, Eubanks wrote the popular

CBASIC CBASIC is a compiled version of the BASIC programming language written for the CP/M operating system by Gordon Eubanks in 1976–1977. It is an enhanced version of BASIC-E. History BASIC-E was Eubank's master's thesis project. It was developed ...

compiler for

IMSAI IMS Associates, Inc., or IMSAI, was a microcomputer company, responsible for one of the earliest successes in personal computer, personal computing, the IMSAI 8080. The company was founded in 1973 by William Millard (businessman), William Millard ...

while he was still a naval officer. Friends of Eubanks say he called it "CBASIC" because he wrote it while serving on a submarine (at ''sea''). Other people say the name CBASIC referred to "commercial" basic, because it incorporated BCD mathematics which eliminated

MBASIC MBASIC is the Microsoft BASIC implementation of BASIC for the CP/M operating system. MBASIC is a descendant of the original Altair BASIC interpreters that were among Microsoft's first products. MBASIC was one of the two versions of BASIC bundled w ...

's rounding errors that were sometimes troublesome for

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

. In 1981, after

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

moved from programming languages into operating systems, Digital Research improved its position in programming languages by acquiring Eubanks's company, ''Compiler Systems''. Eubanks went to work at DRI, but he soon came to doubt the company's long-term prospects. In 1984, Eubanks joined Symantec and from 1984 to 1986 he helped develop Q & A, an integrated database and wordprocessor with natural language query. He went on to become president and CEO of Symantec, guiding it into the

software utility Utility software is software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize or maintain a computer. It is used to support the computer infrastructure - in contrast to application software, which is aimed at directly performing tasks that benefit ord ...

and

anti-virus Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the name. ...

business. He left in 1999 to become president and CEO of Oblix, a Silicon Valley company producing software for web security. Oblix was acquired by

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

in March 2005. Eubanks is a director of

Concur In Western jurisprudence, concurrence (also contemporaneity or simultaneity) is the apparent need to prove the simultaneous occurrence of both ("guilty action") and ("guilty mind"), to constitute a crime; except in crimes of strict liability ...

and joined the board of directors of Oakley Networks in February 2006. Eubanks is a stamp collector. A specialist of the first stamps issued nationally in the United States between 1847 and 1861. For two collections he exhibited, he won the

American Philatelic Society The American Philatelic Society (APS) is the largest nonprofit stamp collecting foundation of philately in the world. Both the membership and interests of the society are worldwide. History The organization, originally named the ''American Phil ...

's title of "champion of champions" in 2012 and 2014. Eubanks is married to Ronda Eubanks, and has a son, Keith, as of January 1995.

References

External links

Transcript
of Gordon Eubanks oral history.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eubanks, Gordon 1946 births American computer programmers Living people Oklahoma State University alumni Naval Postgraduate School alumni Digital Research employees Oracle employees Gen Digital people American philatelists

References

Further reading

External links