Robert Love
Encyclopedia
Robert M. Love is an American author, speaker, Google
engineer, and open source
software developer
.
Love is best known for his contributions to the Linux kernel
, with notable work including the preemptive kernel, process scheduler
, kernel event layer, virtual memory
subsystem, and inotify
. At Google, he was a member of the Android team and helped launch the first version of the platform. Love is also active in the GNOME
community, working on NetworkManager
, GNOME Volume Manager, Project Utopia and Beagle
.
. He attended and graduated from Charles W. Flanagan High School
. For his undergraduate studies, he attended the University of Florida
, where he graduated with both a Bachelor of Arts
in Mathematics
and a Bachelor of Science
in Computer Science
.
While still in college, Love was employed as a kernel hacker at MontaVista Software. At MontaVista, he worked on procps
and several kernel-related projects, including one of his most notable, the preemptive kernel.
Love began work at Ximian
on December 15, 2003, where he first served as Senior Engineer in the Linux Desktop Group. At Ximian, he spearheaded an effort, named Project Utopia, to better integrate hardware management into the Linux desktop. After Ximian's acquisition by Novell
, Love rose to the position of Chief Architect of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop
. At Novell, he worked on various kernel and GNOME projects, including inotify and Beagle.
Love resigned from Novell on May 4, 2007 to work at Google
on their mobile device platform, Android. Joining the project before it was announced, he engineered several kernel and system-level solutions for Android, including its novel shared memory subsystem, ashmem. , Love continues to work as Senior Software Engineer on the Android team.
Love lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
. The book is widely regarded as approachable and well written and has been translated into several languages. All three editions are published by imprint
s of Pearson Education
.
He also wrote Linux System Programming, subtitled Talking Directly to the Kernel and C Library and published by O'Reilly Media
. This work documents Linux's system call
and C library
API
.
Love is also a coauthor of Linux in a Nutshell, a comprehensive Linux command reference. The book is also published by O'Reilly Media.
Love is Contributing Editor
for Linux Journal
and a frequent author of articles for the magazine.
He runs a weblog which postings mix technology discussion, photography, and economics. Separately, he maintains a food blog.
Love has been invited to speak around the world, including linux.conf.au
in Australia, FOSDEM
in Belgium, and GUADEC
in England, where he was a keynote
speaker.
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...
engineer, and open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
software developer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...
.
Love is best known for his contributions to the Linux kernel
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....
, with notable work including the preemptive kernel, process scheduler
Scheduling (computing)
In computer science, a scheduling is the method by which threads, processes or data flows are given access to system resources . This is usually done to load balance a system effectively or achieve a target quality of service...
, kernel event layer, virtual memory
Virtual memory
In computing, virtual memory is a memory management technique developed for multitasking kernels. This technique virtualizes a computer architecture's various forms of computer data storage , allowing a program to be designed as though there is only one kind of memory, "virtual" memory, which...
subsystem, and inotify
Inotify
inotify is a Linux kernel subsystem that acts to extend filesystems to notice changes to the filesystem, and report those changes to applications. It replaces an earlier facility, dnotify, which had similar goals....
. At Google, he was a member of the Android team and helped launch the first version of the platform. Love is also active in the GNOME
GNOME
GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
community, working on NetworkManager
NetworkManager
Network Manager is a software utility aimed at simplifying the use of computer networks on Linux-based and other Unix-like operating systems.- Overview :...
, GNOME Volume Manager, Project Utopia and Beagle
Beagle (software)
Beagle is a search system for Linux and other such modern Unix-like systems, enabling the user to search documents, chat logs, email and contact lists in a similar way to Spotlight in Mac OS X, and Windows Search or Google Desktop under Linux or Microsoft Windows...
.
Biography
Love was born in 1981 in south FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. He attended and graduated from Charles W. Flanagan High School
Charles W. Flanagan High School
Named after former mayor Charles W. Flanagan, Charles W. Flanagan High School opened its doors in 1996 as the first public high school in Pembroke Pines, Florida. Flanagan High School is located near Broward County's C.B. Smith Park and the Walter C. Young Middle School and Resource...
. For his undergraduate studies, he attended the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
, where he graduated with both a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
in Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
.
While still in college, Love was employed as a kernel hacker at MontaVista Software. At MontaVista, he worked on procps
Ps (Unix)
In most Unix-like operating systems, the ps program displays the currently-running processes. A related Unix utility named top provides a real-time view of the running processes....
and several kernel-related projects, including one of his most notable, the preemptive kernel.
Love began work at Ximian
Ximian
Ximian was a company that provided free software desktop applications for Linux and Unix based on the GNOME platform. Ximian was founded by Miguel de Icaza and Nat Friedman in October, 1999, and was bought by Novell on August 4, 2003...
on December 15, 2003, where he first served as Senior Engineer in the Linux Desktop Group. At Ximian, he spearheaded an effort, named Project Utopia, to better integrate hardware management into the Linux desktop. After Ximian's acquisition by Novell
Novell
Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
, Love rose to the position of Chief Architect of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop , formerly introduced as Novell Linux Desktop, is a Linux distribution supplied by Novell and targeted at the business market. It is targeted for desktops. New major versions are released at an interval of 24–36 months, while minor versions are released every 9–12...
. At Novell, he worked on various kernel and GNOME projects, including inotify and Beagle.
Love resigned from Novell on May 4, 2007 to work at Google
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...
on their mobile device platform, Android. Joining the project before it was announced, he engineered several kernel and system-level solutions for Android, including its novel shared memory subsystem, ashmem. , Love continues to work as Senior Software Engineer on the Android team.
Love lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
Writing and speaking
Love is the author of Linux Kernel Development, now in its third edition, a book on understanding and developing code for the Linux kernelLinux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....
. The book is widely regarded as approachable and well written and has been translated into several languages. All three editions are published by imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
s of Pearson Education
Pearson Education
Pearson Education is an international educational publishing and technology company providing textbooks and other educational material, such as multimedia learning tools...
.
He also wrote Linux System Programming, subtitled Talking Directly to the Kernel and C Library and published by O'Reilly Media
O'Reilly Media
O'Reilly Media is an American media company established by Tim O'Reilly that publishes books and Web sites and produces conferences on computer technology topics...
. This work documents Linux's system call
System call
In computing, a system call is how a program requests a service from an operating system's kernel. This may include hardware related services , creating and executing new processes, and communicating with integral kernel services...
and C library
C standard library
The C Standard Library is the standard library for the programming language C, as specified in the ANSI C standard.. It was developed at the same time as the C POSIX library, which is basically a superset of it...
API
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
.
Love is also a coauthor of Linux in a Nutshell, a comprehensive Linux command reference. The book is also published by O'Reilly Media.
Love is Contributing Editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
for Linux Journal
Linux Journal
Linux Journal is a monthly technology magazine published by Belltown Media, Inc. of Houston, Texas. The magazine focuses specifically on Linux, allowing the content to be a highly specialized source of information for open source enthusiasts.-History:...
and a frequent author of articles for the magazine.
He runs a weblog which postings mix technology discussion, photography, and economics. Separately, he maintains a food blog.
Love has been invited to speak around the world, including linux.conf.au
Linux.conf.au
linux.conf.au is Australasia's regional Linux and Open Source conference. It is a roaming conference, held in a different city every year, coordinated by Linux Australia and organised by local volunteers....
in Australia, FOSDEM
FOSDEM
FOSDEM is a non-commercial volunteer organized European event centered around free and open source software development. It is aimed at developers and anyone interested in the free and open source software movement...
in Belgium, and GUADEC
GUADEC
The GNOME Users And Developers European Conference, is an annual conference taking place in Europe, whose topic is the development of the GNOME desktop environment....
in England, where he was a keynote
Keynote
A keynote in literature, music, or public speaking establishes the principal underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address...
speaker.