Robert W. Lafore (born March 11, 1938) is a

computer 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 ...

systems analyst A systems analyst, also known as business technology analyst, is an information technology (IT) professional who specializes in analyzing, designing and implementing information systems. Systems analysts assess the suitability of information syst ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

. He coined the term "

interactive fiction '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

", and was an early software developer in this field.

Career

Lafore worked as a systems analyst for the

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), commonly referred to as the Berkeley Lab, is a United States Department of Energy National Labs, United States national laboratory that is owned by, and conducts scientific research on behalf of, t ...

. In the early days of microcomputing, he wrote programs in

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 ...

for the

TRS-80 The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of '' ...

and founded his own

software company A software company is a company whose primary products are various forms of software, software technology, distribution, and software product development. They make up the software industry. Types There are a number of different types of softw ...

. Lafore has written a number of text

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...

s, for which he coined the term "interactive fiction", for the company

Adventure International Adventure International was an American video game publishing company that existed from 1979 until 1986. It was started by Scott and Alexis Adams. Their games were notable for being the first implementation of the adventure genre to run on a ...

. Lafore has authored a number of books on the subject of computer programming, including ''Soul of CP/M.'',Book review of ''Soul of CP/M'' by David Carroll. in and ''Assembly Language Primer for the IBM PC and XT''. Later books included ''

C++ C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...

Interactive Course'', ''Object-Oriented Programming in C++'', ''Turbo C Programming for the IBM'', and ''C Programming Using Turbo C++''.WorldCat report for Robert Lafore
/ref> At one time he was an editor for the Waite Group publishers.

References

External links

*http://www.informit.com/authors/bio.aspx?a=E8178A8C-D171-4B68-A507-127DE6FF7B9C *http://www.pearsoned.co.in/web/authors/3304/Robert_Lafore.aspx {{DEFAULTSORT:Lafore, Robert 1938 births Living people American computer programmers Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory people