About the Author

My name is Dave Batton. I’ve been a Macintosh software developer since 1986: back when the double-sided 800 KB floppy drive in the new Mac Plus was all the rage. In 1991 I left my day job at Quark, Inc. (I worked in the IT department, not as one of the glamorous QuarkXPress developers) and ventured off on my own as an independent software developer. Although I’ve used many different languages and IDEs, I’ve made most of my income working with a relational database/RAD environment called 4D.

Using 4D (and some C), I’ve created the Foundation Shell and Safe Place. These provide about half of my income. Alright, so actually Foundation provides half of my income, and Safe Place pays for the beer. The rest of my income comes from custom database development for clients.

I’ve been very successful with 4D. I’m a regular speaker at the 4D developer conference in the U.S., and have even been asked to speak at conferences in France, Italy, and Germany. I’ve also co-created 4DToday.com, a directory/news portal for 4D developers.

Although I still love 4D, it’s time for me to move on to something new. I’ve decided I want to be a Macintosh Cocoa developer. I’m using this blog to document my transition, as well as share my opinions about what’s happening in the Macintosh software world.

I was raised in Colorado, then moved out to the Silicon Valley area for a few years before living in Italy for two-and-a-half years. Now I'm back in Colorado again, living right in the heart of downtown Denver. The ability to live anywhere is just one of the many advantages to being your own boss.