James Wightman

James Wightman is an average guy. A programmer, problem solver, artist, and artisan, he loves his work and his family, and he's looking for that one chance to change the world. Born in 1975, James spent his formative years reading Marvel comics and books by Tolkien before discovering computers in 1980. Teaching himself to program computers at the age of 6, he wrote himself a teaching aid to learn pure mathematics and then translated the program into Z80 machine language. From there, he learned...See more

James Wightman is an average guy. A programmer, problem solver, artist, and artisan, he loves his work and his family, and he's looking for that one chance to change the world. Born in 1975, James spent his formative years reading Marvel comics and books by Tolkien before discovering computers in 1980. Teaching himself to program computers at the age of 6, he wrote himself a teaching aid to learn pure mathematics and then translated the program into Z80 machine language. From there, he learned C and then became adept with 68000 assembly language and eventually C++, writing two games one released commercially for the Commodore Amiga. James is an innovator in many ways and in many areas. At age 11, he invented a way for aircraft to land with increased safety, and at age 12, he invented a VCR that could record four simultaneous broadcast streams onto a standard VHS tape. That you don't own a VCR that records four channels at once and that aircraft still make a squealing sound when their wheels touch tarmac indicate how well the designs of a preteen are received by companies such as Sony and Boeing. His next invention will rock the world to its very foundations. Or at least cause a ripple. Maybe. So he hopes. Having worked on the largest of Microsoft technology led projects for some of the biggest companies worldwide for the past 15 years, James is honored to have worked on his second book, Pro SQL Server 2005 Integration Services, and hopes that writing will remain a part of his ongoing commitment to programming and the programming community. Currently, his time is taken up learning the Mandarin, Japanese, and Russian languages as well as spending time on the MSDN forums trying to help his peers. In his spare time, he works on his next books for Apress. He was also recently voted in as a school governor. In his work life, James is technical lead on a project in cooperation with Microsoft which could, quite literally, save the planet. See less