Bruce Eckel is the author of Thinking in C++, which won the Software Development Jolt Award for best book on 1995. He's been professionally programming for 20 years and has been teaching people throughout the world how to program with objects since 1986, first as a reknowned speaker and consultant on C++ and now in Java. He was a voting member of the C++ Standards Committee, has written 5 other books on object-oriented programming, published over 150 articles, and has been a columnist for various computer magazines, including the Java columnist for Web Techniques. He chairs the C++ and Java tracks for the Software Development Conference and holds a BS in Applied Physics and an MS in Computer Engineering.