Dan Kent

Dan Kent has been interested in online communities since he first discovered the wealth of information and arguments to be found on Usenet in the mid-1990s. After studying artificial intelligence, he went on to become part of the "dotcom bubble," building online community sites that empowered newcomers to the Web to create a Web presence.

Like many programmers involved in the Web at that time, Dan became another victim of big plans that didn't quite work out. He decided to leave frontline programming and concentrate on passing on some of his know-how. His desire to be involved with books was kindled by some work as a technical reviewer for Wrox, and he went on to join them as a technical editor. While at Wrox, Dan developed the Problem-Design-Solution concept, which pioneered the approach of presenting readers with real-world solutions in the context of a real application. He also worked with the Microsoft ASP.NET team to help programmers learn more about the fantastic technology they created and contributed as an author to the highly respected Professional ASP.NET Security, which is now sadly out of print. Two years, four job titles, and far too many books later, Dan decided to leave Wrox. He accidentally timed his exit to perfection — Wrox finally succumbed to the pressures of the post-dotcom market and went out of business on the day that Dan was due to finish work.

Dan was keen to continue to develop the ideas that he worked on while at Wrox and, fortunately, Sams was looking for a new series. Thus, the Evolution series was born. Dan now edits the Evolution series for Sams, builds sites that support community regeneration and performs cutting-edge video shows as half of the VJ duo Syzygy.