David A. Wheeler
Encyclopedia
David A. Wheeler is a computer scientist
. He is best known for his work on Open source software/Free-libre software
(FLOSS or OSS/FS) and Computer security
.
"Why Open Source Software / Free Software? Look at the Numbers!", a text where he argued that considering FLOSS is justified. This article has been cited in over 80 scholarly works and in the 2004 report of the California Performance Review. Wheeler was interview
ed about his webpage by Linux.com
.
In 2001, Wheeler published a webpage where he measured the source lines of code
of the Red Hat
Linux distribution
version 7.1. By applying conventional cost-estimating techniques, he concluded that it would cost more than a billion US Dollars to develop this distribution by conventional proprietary means. This work has inspired one person to measure other FLOSS systems, the Debian
distribution.
In 2006, Wheeler posted "Nearly all FLOSS is Commercial" on his webpage. This is a critical issue in U.S. federal government acquisitions, because the U.S. government has laws and policies that prefer the acquisition of commercial items. He argues that FLOSS is defined as commercial software by the government's own rules, and believes that no one else had clearly articulated that before him.
s (instead of security experts) and talked about the specifics of how to develop secure programs, including how to avoid buffer overflow
s and cross-site scripting
(XSS) in widely used programming languages.
Wheeler has also developed a webpage that identifies what he believes to be the most important software innovations. He said that "humankind has been impacted by major new innovations in software technology... but the number of major new innovations is smaller than you might expect". At the end, he was amused that his own criteria for "the most important software innovations" listed only things first implemented as open source software, and nothing that have been created by Microsoft
(as he singled out).
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
. He is best known for his work on Open source software/Free-libre software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
(FLOSS or OSS/FS) and Computer security
Computer security
Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
.
Open Source Software
In 2000, Wheeler self-publishedSelf-publishing
Self-publishing is the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher. The author is responsible and in control of entire process including design , formats, price, distribution, marketing & PR...
"Why Open Source Software / Free Software? Look at the Numbers!", a text where he argued that considering FLOSS is justified. This article has been cited in over 80 scholarly works and in the 2004 report of the California Performance Review. Wheeler was interview
Interview
An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
ed about his webpage by Linux.com
Linux.com
Linux.com is the name of a website owned by the Linux Foundation. The site is currently a central source for Linux information, software, documentation and answers across the server, desktop/netbook, mobile, and embedded areas. Linux.com offers free Linux tutorials, news and blogs, discussion...
.
In 2001, Wheeler published a webpage where he measured the source lines of code
Source lines of code
Source lines of code is a software metric used to measure the size of a software program by counting the number of lines in the text of the program's source code...
of the Red Hat
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....
Linux distribution
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications...
version 7.1. By applying conventional cost-estimating techniques, he concluded that it would cost more than a billion US Dollars to develop this distribution by conventional proprietary means. This work has inspired one person to measure other FLOSS systems, the Debian
Debian
Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
distribution.
In 2006, Wheeler posted "Nearly all FLOSS is Commercial" on his webpage. This is a critical issue in U.S. federal government acquisitions, because the U.S. government has laws and policies that prefer the acquisition of commercial items. He argues that FLOSS is defined as commercial software by the government's own rules, and believes that no one else had clearly articulated that before him.
Other works
In 1999 Wheeler released the book-formatted webpage "Secure Programming for Linux and Unix HOWTO". It targeted software developerSoftware developer
A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...
s (instead of security experts) and talked about the specifics of how to develop secure programs, including how to avoid buffer overflow
Buffer overflow
In computer security and programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an anomaly where a program, while writing data to a buffer, overruns the buffer's boundary and overwrites adjacent memory. This is a special case of violation of memory safety....
s and cross-site scripting
Cross-site scripting
Cross-site scripting is a type of computer security vulnerability typically found in Web applications that enables attackers to inject client-side script into Web pages viewed by other users. A cross-site scripting vulnerability may be used by attackers to bypass access controls such as the same...
(XSS) in widely used programming languages.
Wheeler has also developed a webpage that identifies what he believes to be the most important software innovations. He said that "humankind has been impacted by major new innovations in software technology... but the number of major new innovations is smaller than you might expect". At the end, he was amused that his own criteria for "the most important software innovations" listed only things first implemented as open source software, and nothing that have been created by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
(as he singled out).