Craig Larman, Valtech

Craig Larman is the author of Applying UML and Patterns. An Introduction to OOA/D and the Unified Process, the world's best-selling text on OOA/D, iterative development, and the UML, translated to many languages and used worldwide in industry and colleges. He also co-authored the Java 2 Performance and Idiom Guide. He is known throughout the international software community as an expert and coach in object technologies, OOA/D, patterns, the UML, modeling, the Unified Process (UP), combining the UP with XP and Scrum practices, and iterative agile development methods. Craig is a popular speaker at public and private industry conferences worldwide, and presents both keynotes and tutorials . Please see www.craiglarman.com for an updated description of current activities. He travels worldwide to fulfill his passion to serve people through coaching, speaking, and education, helping software organizations succeed with high-impact best practices such as iterative and agile methods, design patterns, automated continuous integration, and test-first design and programming. In addition to writing the best-selling Applying UML and Patterns, Craig has served as Director of Process at Valtech, an international consulting group with offices in eight countries. Prior to joining Valtech, Craig served as a Technical Director at ObjectSpace, a leading-edge group that created products such as Voyager, the agent-based distributed computing platform. Since the mid-80s, Craig has assisted thousands in Canada, the USA, India, and Europe in adopting skillful development processes, developing object systems, or in learning to apply OOA/D, architectural analysis, requirements analysis, analysis and design patterns, the UML, C++, Java technologies, and Smalltalk. He started developing software in 1977, working in high-power languages such as APL. In the early 1980s, he started to focus on artificial intelligence and knowledge systems , and worked as a Lisp, Prolog, Smalltalk, and 4GL developer and consultant, while also coaching people in object technologies. He?s helped build applications ranging from a knowledge system for the interpretation of cytogenetic defects, to investment management from payments for future funeral services (you should see the domain model), to high-performance simulation systems. Craig holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in computer science from beautiful SFU in Vancouver, BC, with research emphasis in artificial intelligence, OO knowledge representations, and case-based reasoning. Craig plays rather bad lead guitar in his part-time blues-oriented band, The Changing Requirements. http://www.craiglarman.com