Who is Scott Stanchfield?

One part architect; Two parts developer; One part trainer. These were the ingredients chosen to create the ultimate ego. But when the professor accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction - Chemical X - a Java Guru was born!

From his beginnings as a developer at IBM slinging air-traffic control system configuration management software, Scott has always loved software development. His twisted love of LL(1) parsing led him to working with Tom McCabe on parsers for reverse-engineering tools and with Frank DeRemer and Tom Penello on C++ compiler development (as well as a brief stint on the ANSI C++ committee – don’t blame him… he voted “no, with comments”!). While working toward his Master’s Degree at The Johns Hopkins University, Scott realized that something was missing: teaching.

Along came MageLang Institute (now jGuru.com). Scott was dubbed “Software Guru” (ok, so he picked his own title), teaching Java around the world, including Sydney, London, Stuttgart, and Peoria. Excitement abounds at home and abroad!

Soon, Scott became known as a VisualAge for Java guru. (IBM’s VP of marketing for VisualAge often joked that Scott was their best marketing weapon…) From teaching VisualAge and maintaining a tips and tricks web site, to writing Effective VisualAge for Java, Scott helped everyone understand the power of a great IDE. He even converted some who thought IDE meant “I Don’t have Emacs”. Little did he know that six months after his book was published, IBM would abandon VisualAge for Java in favor of Eclipse. Excellent move by IBM, but book sales flatlined. Game over, dude.

After nearly five years of Java training, Scott soon knew every question that anyone could possibly ask related to Java, and had seen students make every possible mistake that could be made while working a lab exercise. Weary of the travel required for training, Scott rejoined the development workforce.

Forgetting his vow to never again work on a government contract, Scott joined FGM, Incorporated, a government contractor in Virginia. He worked with an elite architecture team, working out new ways to install light bulbs without making the entire chain of lights black out. As time permits, the team works on discovery and mediation mechanisms for the new Department of Defense Network-Centric architecture, and export/import controls for the State Department.

But all long commutes must come to an end. After a cryptic courtship and interview process, Scott joined Hillcrest Communications and finally learned what their product is. “I’d buy that”, he was heard exclaiming.

Four years later, Scott joined the wacky researchers at the Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory. Very cool place, and he’s applying research to make our government a more secure and fun place.

In the evenings, Scott joins forces with his superfriends at The Johns Hopkins University to help students learn Android Mobile Development and Domain-Specific Languages.