Randy Wigginton
Encyclopedia
Randy Wigginton was one of Apple Computer
's first employees (#6), creator of MacWrite
, Full Impact
, and numerous other Mac applications. He used to work in development at eBay
, Quigo, Inc
and Move.com
http://www.socaltech.com/move.com_expands_team,_hires_macwrite_creator/s-0012100.htm. In Nov 2010 he left his position as a "Site Reliability Engineer" at Google Inc.
, purportedly after leaking news of a $1,000 holiday cash bonus to employees. He has a daughter named Andrea and a son named Ken.
Wigginton was a student at Bellarmine College Preparatory
in San Jose, California
, interested in computers just as the earliest microprocessor
-based computers were being assembled by hobbyists. He had heard about the Homebrew Computer Club
but had no way to get there until he started getting rides with another club member, Steve Wozniak
. The two hit it off, and Wigginton became one of Apple's earliest employees in 1976, and was present with Woz when the Apple I
was first presented to the world at a Club meeting.
Wigginton collaborated with Wozniak on the circuit design and ROM
software for the Apple II
in 1977. As Woz wired up color graphics circuitry, Wigginton wrote machine language graphics subroutines, and Chris Espinosa
, another high school student, wrote demo programs in BASIC
. Wigginton wrote several early programs for the Apple II, including a checkbook-balancing program co-authored with Apple's vice-president of Marketing Mike Markkula
. Wigginton was one of the Apple employees who adapted Microsoft's 6502 BASIC for the Apple II; it was dubbed Applesoft BASIC
. He was responsible for the floating-point math routines. The Applesoft BASIC Reference Manual includes a section entitled "Rounding can be Curious", in which it is documented that the ROUND function, which rounds a number to a prescribed accuracy, is not monotonic: in other words, for some x and y, such that x<y, ROUND(x)> ROUND(y). (The problematic ROUND function does not appear in Applesoft II, the version that most Apple II users are familiar with.)
Perhaps his most critical early contribution was the RWTS (read/write track-sector) routines for the Disk II, the 5" floppy disk controller introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show
(CES) show in early 1978. Wigginton and Wozniak wrote the final version of the software in Wozniak's hotel room on the eve of the show.
In 1979 Apple's President Mike Scott
enlisted Wigginton to write a secret competitor to VisiCalc
, to use as leverage against VisiCorp
(then Software Arts
). To keep the project under wraps, it was given the code name Mystery House
.
Wigginton left Apple in September 1981 and formed Encore to work on his own. However he was quickly contracted by Apple to help work on MacWrite on a semi-formal basis. When the Apple Macintosh shipped in 1984 he again turned to his own projects, starting a new spreadsheet program that would eventually be released, after four tortuous years, as a product named Full Impact.
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
's first employees (#6), creator of MacWrite
MacWrite
MacWrite was a word processor application released along with the first Apple Macintosh systems in 1984. It was the first such program that was widely available to the public to offer WYSIWYG operation, with multiple fonts and styles...
, Full Impact
Full Impact
Full Impact was a spreadsheet program for the Apple Macintosh computer released by Ashton-Tate in the late 1980s. Full Impact was known for excellent graphing and visual display, far better than contemporary versions of Microsoft Excel...
, and numerous other Mac applications. He used to work in development at eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
, Quigo, Inc
Quigo
Quigo Technologies, Inc. was a privately owned search engine marketing company headquartered in New York City. Founded in Israel in 2000 by Yaron Galai and Oded Itzhak, it developed proprietary search solutions for the online contextual advertising it offered through its two products: AdSonar and...
and Move.com
Move.com
Move, Inc. is a real estate web site, which operates the Move Network of real estate web site for consumers and real estate professionals. The Move Network of websites captures more than 15 million monthly visitors and includes: REALTOR.com, Move.com, MortgageMatch.com, Moving.com, TOP PRODUCER...
http://www.socaltech.com/move.com_expands_team,_hires_macwrite_creator/s-0012100.htm. In Nov 2010 he left his position as a "Site Reliability Engineer" at Google Inc.
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, purportedly after leaking news of a $1,000 holiday cash bonus to employees. He has a daughter named Andrea and a son named Ken.
Wigginton was a student at Bellarmine College Preparatory
Bellarmine College Preparatory
Bellarmine College Preparatory is an all-male, private secondary school located in San Jose, California, USA. Founded in 1851, it is the oldest secondary school in California....
in San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, interested in computers just as the earliest microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
-based computers were being assembled by hobbyists. He had heard about the Homebrew Computer Club
Homebrew Computer Club
The Homebrew Computer Club was an early computer hobbyist users' group in Silicon Valley, which met from March 5, 1975 to December 1986...
but had no way to get there until he started getting rides with another club member, Steve Wozniak
Steve Wozniak
Stephen Gary "Woz" Wozniak is an American computer engineer and programmer who founded Apple Computer, Co. with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne...
. The two hit it off, and Wigginton became one of Apple's earliest employees in 1976, and was present with Woz when the Apple I
Apple I
The original Apple Computer, also known retroactively as the Apple I, or Apple-1, is a personal computer released by the Apple Computer Company in 1976. They were designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak. Wozniak's friend Steve Jobs had the idea of selling the computer...
was first presented to the world at a Club meeting.
Wigginton collaborated with Wozniak on the circuit design and ROM
Read-only memory
Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
software for the Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
in 1977. As Woz wired up color graphics circuitry, Wigginton wrote machine language graphics subroutines, and Chris Espinosa
Chris Espinosa
Chris Espinosa is a senior employee of Apple, officially employee number 8. He joined the company at the age of fourteen in 1976 when it was still housed in Steve Jobs' parents' garage, writing software manuals and coding after school...
, another high school student, wrote demo programs in BASIC
BASIC
BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....
. Wigginton wrote several early programs for the Apple II, including a checkbook-balancing program co-authored with Apple's vice-president of Marketing Mike Markkula
Mike Markkula
Armas Clifford "Mike" Markkula, Jr. is an American entrepreneur who was an angel investor and second CEO of Apple Computer, Inc., providing early critical funding and managerial support...
. Wigginton was one of the Apple employees who adapted Microsoft's 6502 BASIC for the Apple II; it was dubbed Applesoft BASIC
Applesoft BASIC
Applesoft BASIC was a dialect of Microsoft BASIC supplied with the Apple II series of computers. It superseded Integer BASIC and was the BASIC in ROM in all Apple II series computers after the original Apple II model. It was also referred to as FP because of the command used to invoke it instead...
. He was responsible for the floating-point math routines. The Applesoft BASIC Reference Manual includes a section entitled "Rounding can be Curious", in which it is documented that the ROUND function, which rounds a number to a prescribed accuracy, is not monotonic: in other words, for some x and y, such that x<y, ROUND(x)> ROUND(y). (The problematic ROUND function does not appear in Applesoft II, the version that most Apple II users are familiar with.)
Perhaps his most critical early contribution was the RWTS (read/write track-sector) routines for the Disk II, the 5" floppy disk controller introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show
Consumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
(CES) show in early 1978. Wigginton and Wozniak wrote the final version of the software in Wozniak's hotel room on the eve of the show.
In 1979 Apple's President Mike Scott
Michael Scott (Apple Computer)
Michael "Scotty" Scott is an American entrepreneur, who was the first CEO of Apple from February 1977 to March 1981. Formerly director of manufacturing at National Semiconductor, Scott was persuaded by Mike Markkula to take the CEO position at Apple, as the co-founders — Steve Jobs and Steve...
enlisted Wigginton to write a secret competitor to VisiCalc
VisiCalc
VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet program available for personal computers. It is often considered the application that turned the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool...
, to use as leverage against VisiCorp
VisiCorp
VisiCorp was an early personal computer software publisher. Its most famous products are VisiOn and VisiCalc.It was founded in 1976 by Dan Fylstra and Peter R. Jennings as Personal Software, and first published Jennings' Microchess program for the MOS Technology KIM-1 computer, and later Commodore...
(then Software Arts
Software Arts
Software Arts was a software company founded by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston in 1979 to develop VisiCalc, which was published by a separate company, Personal Software Inc...
). To keep the project under wraps, it was given the code name Mystery House
Mystery House
Mystery House is an adventure computer game released in 1980 by Roberta and Ken Williams for the Apple II. The game is remembered as one of the first adventure games to feature computer graphics and the first game produced by On-Line Systems, the company which would evolve into Sierra On-Line...
.
Wigginton left Apple in September 1981 and formed Encore to work on his own. However he was quickly contracted by Apple to help work on MacWrite on a semi-formal basis. When the Apple Macintosh shipped in 1984 he again turned to his own projects, starting a new spreadsheet program that would eventually be released, after four tortuous years, as a product named Full Impact.