About
My name is Danny Thorpe. There are a few of us around the world; this particular instance is a husband, gentleman farmer, restaurateur, adventure traveler, photographer, ceramicist, garage alchemist, woodworker, author, cheesemaker, brewer, and builder of peculiar contraptions. I also build software for fun and profit.
As a junior engineer at Borland, I was witness to the creation of Delphi. Over the years I contributed to the development of Delphi’s runtime library, VCL component library, IDE, compiler and language on Windows, Linux and .NET platforms. I’ve had the enormous pleasure of working closely with Anders Hejlsberg, Chuck Jazdzewski, Eli Boling, and many other software wizards in Borland’s heyday.
At Google, I helped define and create the Google Gears API, enabling browser web apps to store structured data on the local client and even run while disconnected from the network (a neat trick for a web app).
At Microsoft, I built a series of client-side web controls to access Windows Live web services (Contacts and Photos) in web apps. As a by-product of those web controls, I also built a client-side browser cross-domain communication channel API for JavaScript web apps based on a technique originally conceived by Scott Isaacs, creator of DHTML and architect of Windows Live.
At Cooliris, I helped build the PicLens immersive 3D environment browser plugin. I implemented the text display system (using FreeType to load TrueType fonts), single and multiline text editor, text layout engine, and glyph substitution to support the display of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters in the PicLens graphics environment – all on multiple browsers, operating systems, and hardware platforms.
I did a second “tour of duty” at Microsoft in the Cloud Computing Tools incubation group of the Visual Studio developer tools division. I helped build Visual Studio tools for writing applications and gadgets for the Windows Live Mesh browser application platform, and then helped build Visual Studio tools for development applications for the Windows Azure cloud platform.
I’m now working on authorization component services and tools at Dell, a leader in the authorization and identity management space. (Dell acquired Quest Software 9/2012, Quest acquired BiTKOO 12/2011, BiTKOO acquired me 10/2010)
- LinkedIn profile
- Wikipedia profile
Past employment blogs (archived here):
- Delphi Compiler Core
- Windows Live Quantum Mechanics
- Armstrong Gallery
- Bonny Doon Studio Tour
- The Quail & Thistle Tea Room
- Monterey Bay Veterans
I am the author of Delphi Component Design
(Addison Wesley 1996), have published articles in several magazines including Dr Dobb’s Journal, PC Magazine, Delphi Journal, and The Architecture Journal, and have been the technical editor of more than 35 Delphi books. (I sort of lost count)
I live in the Santa Cruz mountains in California with my lovely wife Cindy and a motley crew of furred and feathered extended family.
My wife and I own and operate The Quail & Thistle Tea Room in Capitola, CA. If you find yourself in the San Francisco or Monterey bay area with a few hours to kill and a yen for a scenic drive, drop in for lunch at The Quail & Thistle!