Jeff Atwood (born 1970) is an American

software developer Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

, author, blogger, and entrepreneur. He co-founded the question-and-answer network

Stack Exchange Stack Exchange is a network of question-and-answer (Q&A) websites on topics in diverse fields, each site covering a specific topic, where questions, answers, and users are subject to a reputation award process. The reputation system allows t ...

, which contains the

Stack Overflow In software, a stack overflow occurs if the call stack pointer exceeds the stack bound. The call stack may consist of a limited amount of address space, often determined at the start of the program. The size of the call stack depends on many fa ...

website for computer programming questions. He is the owner and writer of the

computer programming Computer programming or coding is the composition of sequences of instructions, called computer program, programs, that computers can follow to perform tasks. It involves designing and implementing algorithms, step-by-step specifications of proc ...

blog ''Coding Horror'', focused on programming and

human factors Ergonomics, also known as human factors or human factors engineering (HFE), is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Primary goals of human factors eng ...

. As of 2012, his most recent project was

Discourse Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. F ...

, an

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

Internet discussion platform. In a 2007 blog post, Atwood proposed the following rule related to the

rule of least power In programming, the rule of least power is a design principle that "suggests choosing the least powerful omputerlanguage suitable for a given purpose". Stated alternatively, given a choice among computer languages, classes of which range from ...

, calling it Atwood's law: "Any application that can be written in

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...

, will eventually be written in JavaScript".

Career

Atwood started a programming

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

, ''Coding Horror'', in 2004. As a result, he met Joel Spolsky. In 2008, together with Spolsky, Atwood founded

, a programming question-and-answer website. The site was followed by Server Fault for

system administrator An IT administrator, system administrator, sysadmin, or admin is a person who is responsible for the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems, especially multi-user computers, such as Server (computing), servers. The ...

s and Super User for general computer-related questions, eventually becoming the

network which includes many Q&A websites about topics decided on by the community. From 2008 to 2014, Atwood and Spolsky published a weekly

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

covering the progress on Stack Exchange and a wide range of

software development Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

issues. Jeff Atwood was also a keynote presenter at the 2008 Canadian University Software Engineering Conference. In February 2012, Atwood left Stack Exchange so he could spend more time with his family. On February 5, 2013, Atwood announced his new company, Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc. Its flagship product is an

next-generation discussion platform called

. Atwood and others developed it out of their frustration with current

bulletin board A bulletin board (pinboard, pin board, noticeboard, or notice board in British English) is a surface intended for the posting of public messages, for example, to advertise items wanted or for sale, announce events, or provide information. ...

software that hadn't seemed to evolve since 1990. On February 1, 2023, he stepped down as CEO and assumed the role of Executive Chairman. He also launched a mechanical keyboard called ''CODE'' in 2013. In 2021,

was sold to Prosus for $1.8 billion.Dummett, Ben (June 2, 2021
Stack Overflow Sold to Tech Giant Prosus for $1.8 Billion. Deal is Prosus’ biggest investment in online learning and comes weeks after it sold a chunk from its massive Tencent holding
''Wall Street Journal''.

Philanthropy

In January 2025, Atwood announced one million dollar gifts to eight non-profit organizations,Stiffman, Eden (January 16, 2025)
A New Giving Pledge? Tech Mogul Promises Accelerated Donations. Inspired by MacKenzie Scott and critical of the Buffett-Gates pact, the co-founder of Stack Overflow and Discourse is giving away half his wealth in five years.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy.Atwood, Jeff (January 7 2025)
Stay Gold, America
including The Trevor Project, an organization dedicated to suicide prevention and crisis intervention for

LGBTQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

youth. In addition, Children’s Hunger Fund, First Generation Investors, Global Refuge,

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF, the Legal Defense Fund, or LDF) is an American civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City. LDF is wholly independent and separate from the NAACP. Although LDF ca ...

PEN America PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922, and headquartered in New York City, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise awareness for the protection of free expression in the United States and worldwide th ...

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization

, and Team Rubicon received donations from Atwood and his family. Atwood and his family have contributed to Alameda Post and the Alameda Food Bank. Atwood donated $1.5 million to

404 Media ''404 Media'' is an online publication that focuses on technology and internet reporting. It covers topics such as hacking, sex work, niche online communities, and the right-to-repair movement. It is worker-owned by its reporters. History ' ...

, a nonprofit news site.

Personal

Atwood is a resident of

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is built on an informal archipe ...

. He and his partner, Betsy Burton, have three kids.

Books

* ''The ASP.NET 2.0 Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks'', by Scott Allen, Jeff Atwood, Wyatt Barnett, Jon Galloway and Phil Haack. * ''Effective Programming: More Than Writing Code''.

References

External links

Profile on ''Coding Horror''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atwood, Jeff 1970 births Living people Web developers American male bloggers American bloggers American computer programmers