Brendan Eich
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Brendan Eich (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; born July 4, 1961)<ref name="MW" /> is an American computer programmer and technology executive. He created the JavaScript programming language and co-founded the Mozilla project, the Mozilla Foundation, and the Mozilla Corporation. He served as the Mozilla Corporation's chief technical officer before he was appointed chief executive officer, but resigned shortly after his appointment due to pressure over his opposition to same-sex marriage.<ref name="slate">Template:Cite news</ref> He subsequently became the cofounder and CEO of Brave Software.
Early lifeEdit
Eich grew up in Pittsburgh; Gaithersburg, Maryland; and Palo Alto,<ref name="Lohr-1996">Template:Cite news</ref> where he attended Ellwood P. Cubberley High School, graduating in the class of 1979. He received his bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science at Santa Clara University,<ref name="Lohr-1996" /> and he received his master's degree in 1985 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.<ref name="Lohr-1996" /> Eich is Roman Catholic.<ref name="MW">Template:Citation</ref>
He began his career at Silicon Graphics, working for seven years on operating system and network code.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}.</ref> He then worked for three years at MicroUnity Systems Engineering, writing microkernel and DSP code.Template:Citation needed
CareerEdit
NetscapeEdit
Eich started work at Netscape Communications Corporation in April 1995. He originally joined intending to put Scheme "in the browser",<ref name="Saternos-2014">Template:Cite book</ref> but his Netscape managers insisted that the language's syntax resemble that of Java. As a result, Eich devised a language that had much of the functionality of Scheme, the object-orientation of Self, and the syntax of Java. He completed the first version in ten days in order to accommodate the Navigator 2.0 Beta release schedule.<ref name="Saternos-2014" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> At first the language was called Mocha, but it was renamed LiveScript in September 1995 and finally – in a joint announcement with Sun Microsystems – it was named JavaScript in December.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="wired2024">JavaScript Runs the World—Maybe Even Literally, by Sheon Han, March 4, 2024, Wired.com website.</ref> Simultaneously, he designed the first SpiderMonkey engine, to execute the new language in the Navigator browser.
When Mozilla inherited the Netscape base code in 1998, it included this engine, which was written in the C language.<ref name="Eich-2011">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was then changed in JavaScript 1.5 to comply with the ECMA-262 standard.Template:Citation needed Eich continued to oversee the development of SpiderMonkey, the specific implementation of JavaScript in Navigator.<ref name="Eich-2011" />
MozillaEdit
In early 1998, Eich co-founded the free and open-source software project Mozilla with Jamie Zawinski and others, creating the mozilla.org website, which was meant to manage open-source contributions to the Netscape source code. He served as Mozilla's chief architect.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> AOL bought Netscape in 1999. After AOL shut down the Netscape browser unit in July 2003, Eich helped spin out the Mozilla Foundation.<ref name="Mozilla Foundation-2005" />
In August 2005, after serving as a lead technologist and as a member of the board of directors of the Mozilla Foundation, Eich became chief technical officer (CTO) of the newly founded Mozilla Corporation, meant to be the Mozilla Foundation's for-profit arm.<ref name="Mozilla Foundation-2005">Template:Cite press release</ref> Eich continued to "own" the Mozilla SpiderMonkey module, its JavaScript engine, until he passed the ownership of it to Dave Mandelin in 2011.<ref name="Eich-2011" />
Appointment to CEO and resignationEdit
On March 24, 2014, Mozilla made the decision to appoint Eich as CEO of Mozilla Corporation.<ref name="Machkovech-2014a">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Barr-2014b">Template:Cite news</ref> The appointment triggered widespread criticism due to Eich's past political donations<ref name="Machkovech-2014a" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> – specifically, a 2008 donation of $1,000 to California Proposition 8, which called for the banning of same-sex marriage in California,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and donations in the amount of $2,100 to Proposition 8 supporter Tom McClintock between 2008 and 2010.<ref name="Machkovech-2014" /> The Wall Street Journal initially reported that, in protest against his coming appointment, half of Mozilla's board (Gary Kovacs, John Lilly, and Ellen Siminoff) stepped down,Template:Refn leaving Mitchell Baker, Reid Hoffman, and Katharina Borchert.<ref name="Shankland-2014">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> CNET later reported that of the three board members who had gone, only Lilly left due to Eich's appointment.<ref name="Shankland-2014" /> Lilly told The New York Times, "I left rather than appoint him", and declined to elaborate further.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On March 26, 2014, Eich expressed "sorrow for causing pain" and pledged to "work with LGBT communities and allies" at Mozilla.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Machkovech-2014">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Barr-2014a" /> Some of the activists created an online campaign against Eich, with online dating site OkCupid automatically displaying a message to Firefox users with information about Eich's donation, and suggesting that users switch to a different browser (although giving them a link to continue with Firefox).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> CREDO Mobile collected more than 50,000 signatures demanding that Eich resign.<ref name="Barr-2014b" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
After 11 days as CEO, Eich resigned on April 3, 2014, and left Mozilla after public outrage.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In his personal blog, he posted, "under the present circumstances, I cannot be an effective leader".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Mozilla made a press release saying that board members tried to get Eich to stay in the company in a different role, but that he had chosen to sever ties for the time being.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Brave SoftwareEdit
Eich is the co-founder and CEO of Brave Software, a Web browser platform company that raised $2.5 million in early funding from angel investors like Founders Fund, Foundation Capital, and Digital Currency Group.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In January 2016, the company released developer versions of its open-source, Chromium-based Brave Web Browser,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which blocks advertisements and trackers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
At Brave Software, Eich co-created the Basic Attention Token (BAT), a cryptocurrency designed for use in the Brave browser. BAT launched its ICO on May 31, 2017, and raised $35 million.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2020, The New York Times reported that Eich's comments<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref><ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> about "the policy and science related to the coronavirus" on Twitter caused a backlash within the browser's user base, commenting that this echoed the criticism that led to his resignation from Mozilla.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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