Rod Johnson, creator of the Spring Framework and founder of SpringSource, has left VMware and has also indelibly left his mark on Java.
Rod Johnson has left the building,
but he left a sign on the wall for the Java elite: Rod was here.
Johnson, the founder and CEO of
SpringSource and the creator of the Spring Framework, announced that he has
left his position as senior vice president of application platform strategy and
general manager of the SpringSource division of VMware.
And Rod did it Sinatra stylehis way.
He made his mark. Not necessarily in Sinatras New York, but in the New York
City of the software world nowadays: the open-source business. If you can make
it big in the open-source biz, you can make it anywhere in software. It takes a
tough and scrappy exterior to make your way to the top of an open-source pile.
And topping out in open source in the enterprise software world means youve
done something real. Rods contribution to the world was the Spring Framework,
which has helped a whole generation of enterprise Java developers by
alleviating the pain of dealing with Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs) and other Java
2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) complexity.
The best tools are typically those
that come out of need. Rod needed to make enterprise Java development easier
for his own sake. He was working as a software consultant in London and decided
to do something about the complexity he had to deal with in building enterprise
Java apps. So he created Spring in his free time. Above the many qualities
that set Johnson up to succeed in the software business, perhaps his greatest
is his ability to connect with developersto feel their pain.
I love to code, Johnson once told
me. Coding has a profound effect on me. Its like playing the piano in that
respect, he added. Johnson holds a Ph.D. in music history, as well as a B.A.
in math, computer science and musicology. He even spent time as an instructor
at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music while writing software on the side in his
homeland of Australia.
Spring emerged from code Johnson
wrote and published in his 2002 book, Expert One-on-One J2EE Design and Development. The Spring
Framework open-source project began in February 2003 and Interface21which was
later renamed SpringSourcewas launched in 2004. That year, Johnson also
published the sequel to his book, J2EE without EJB with Juergen
Hoeller, co-founder of the Spring Framework project.
Darryl K. Taft covers the development tools and developer-related issues beat from his office in Baltimore. He has more than 10 years of experience in the business and is always looking for the next scoop. Taft is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was named 'one of the most active middleware reporters in the world' by The Middleware Co. He also has his own card in the 'Who's Who in Enterprise Java' deck.
Email
Print
