You're a native Wisconsonite who lived in California for a period of time. What, if anything, surprised you about California? What do you miss about California?

I lived in San Diego for quite a while. The biggest shock to me was the number of people. I grew up in Wisconsin in a medium-sized city, and lived in the country. It was quite a bit different in California. Without a doubt, I miss the weather and the number of recreational things you can do in San Diego. Of course, I miss the very good friends I made out there, too.

What did you miss about Wisconsin when you were in California?

Mainly, I missed my family and friends, bratwurst, small-town festivals and the Packers - but not necessarily in that order :-). There was a rather large contigent of transplanted Wisconinites in the area, so we could still get together for Packer games. But it's not the same as watching a December game in Lambeau.

How did you get started in programming (How were you introduced to it, when did you realize you wanted to pursue it as a profession)?

I was taking a math class in 8th grade, and the teacher let me out to go work on the new TRS-80 computers they had just purchased. After a short time, I got access to all of the computers in the school, including an Apple ][. I immediately knew that computers would be a big part of my life. I just didn't realize how that would play out.

How many years experience do you have as a programmer?

I've been programming professionally for 12 years now.

What tool did you use prior to Delphi?

My first professional job was in San Diego, and we were using Turbo Pascal 5.5. That was actually my first real exposure to Intel-based systems, too. During college, I worked for the computer department and had considerable exposure to the VAX system there, and I was the resident Macintosh expert. So I also had experience with many different tools for the Macintosh, including MPW and LightSpeed Pascal.

When the company wanted to shift from DOS to Windows, the obvious choice for us was to go to Turbo Pascal for Windows. We looked at Visual Basic, and just weren't satisfied that it could do what we wanted. The migration from TPW to Delphi was the easiest (and best) decision we could have made.

What languages do you know besides Delphi? Which ones do you currently utilize?

The primary languages that I currently use today are Java and C#. I've used a lot of languages over the years, both in college and dabbling with languages professionally.

Would you recommend a career in programming to young people today?

Without a doubt, I would recommend programming as a career choice. It's a great field to be in. If someone is wired to love analytical thinking, problem solving, detail-oriented solutions, and being methodical, I can think of no better area to be in.

What courses would you recommend a programmer wannabe should take? What languages/technologies should they key on?

Math, logic, and computer science classes are all extremely helpful. The language you learn really isn't as important as the way a person thinks. My experience has been that when you're proficient in the basics and know one language, you can get up to speed in other languages rather quickly.

What is the name of your businss and/or employer?

I'm working for TIP Technologies http://www.tiptech.com in Brookfield, WI.

What project[s] are you currently working on?

With TIP, I'm writing Quality Assurance software that is used by some of the biggest companies out there. It's challenging work, but it's very gratifying to know that you had some small part in making sure your customers are putting out products that are of a higher quality due to their use of our software.

I'm also doing some consulting work that I can't really talk about.

With this we can let our imaginations run wild. OK, enough of that. What is your web site URL?

http://www.distribucon.com. I put a lot of information up there on the technologies that I've used - mainly MIDAS/DataSnap. Basically, when I see something asked time and again, I try to put it up there so others can come to the web site to get a good overview in one place.

What was the funniest experience you've ever had related to programming?

When I was out in San Diego, I was working with a guy who became a real good friend of mine. He was prone to making wild claims about programming once in a while, and I'd have to challenge those claims. At first, we would debate the issue and I'd end up researching it. Later on, we started betting Whoppers on who was right. Towards the end, when a situation would arise where a wager was coming, all we had to say is "Whopper?". I never kept hard stats on this, but I'm very comfortable saying that my record would be better than Muhammad Ali's. ;-)

If you ever get sick, you can blame it on all those Whoppers and sue that guy! Hey, what are friends for, anyway? No? OK, then, onward: What 3rd party tools do you find essential?

As an independent consultant, I used to shy away from third party tools. I wanted to remain neutral, and I didn't want to go into a client's site to start recommending that they totally rewrite what they've done, or recommend competing third-party products. However, being back in corporate America again, I've really come to learn and love: QuantumGrids by Developer Express, madExcept, and FinalBuilder by AtoZed Software.


What do you hope to see from Borland, especially as regards Delphi, in the future?

I hope that Borland evolves Delphi to continue their tradition of providing superior integration to Microsoft technologies. Borland has matched and surpassed Microsoft in this area on countless occasions. For example, the support in Delphi for COM and MTS has even been coveted by Microsoft.

Where would you be without Delphi?

I'd probably be a lot more stressed out trying to meet deadlines with inferior tools! :-)

Where would Delphi be without you?

Boy, I think Delphi would be just fine without me. One of the biggest hallmarks of Delphi is the community. I stepped into a specific role because I saw a need and wanted to share the things that I learned with others. I really believe that if I had not done it, someone else would have filled the void.

How many hours per day do you spend programming/at the computer?

You don't want to know - better to ask, how many hours a day aren't I?

How much time do you spend on the newsgroups/surfing the web each day?

Not nearly as much time as I used to! Right now, I probably devote about an hour a day to keep up on any new developments in Delphi and .NET, and hit a couple of newsgroups.

How do you keep current with your programming skills?

I read everything I can get my hands on. I firmly believe that any knowledge you can pick up, regardless of the language, OS, or platform helps you expand your abilities in your primary language(s).

Which Borland Conferences have you attended?

My first BorCon was the second one, in Monterrey. Since then, I've missed 2: one in Anaheim and one in Orlando.

Who do you consider to be the best programmer you know personally, or know of?

That's a tough one. I don't see how you can leave out some of the trailblazers of our industry: Wirth, Dijkstra, Codd, Knuth, and about 20 others. They are the ones that really set the stage for current programmers to do what they do today. Besides them, you have a whole list of people who contributed to getting computers going throughout history. I read a very interesting book on this, called "Engines of Logic", by Martin Davis.

As for contemporaries, it's hard to pick out just one person. Most of the people in the Borland R&D groups are just incredible, and with the release of .NET it's hard to argue that Anders Hejlsberg hasn't created a special place for himself among the programming elite.

What is your "claim to fame" outside the realm of programming?

I've done a lot of things, from sports to music, but nothing that anyone would really recognize. I also like to play a little GoldenTee. Wait a minute, that might stop me from getting some side action going at BorCon. Just disregard that. Plus I'm world renowned for getting drink tickets at BorCon.

That prompts two more questions: What is GoldenTee, and what is the secret to your procurement of drink tickets?

GoldenTee is a video golf game that's rather popular. www.itsgames.com

Clay Shannon is a Borland and PDA-certified Delphi 5 developer and the author of "Tomes of Delphi: Developer's Guide to Troubleshooting" (Wordware, 2001) as well as the novel he claims is the strangest one ever written, "the Wacky Misadventures of Warble McGorkle" (see Wacky Warble, etc. for more information on the 4 Novels application, which contains this and three other novels he has penned).

You can find out more about Clay at: http://hometown.aol.com/bclayshannon/myhomepage/index.html
You can look into Clay's shareware and determine his current availability at: http://hometown.aol.com/bclayshannon/myhomepage/business.html
You can contact him at: BClayShannon@aol.com