About the Authors
Shannon Sofield is the personification of a hack: he
takes anything that is supposed to do one thing and manipulates it to
serve his own purposes, in both his life as a developer and his life
in general. If it was originally supposed to do one thing, he
probably has it doing something entirely different. Shannon began
creating PayPal solutions more than three years ago using his
original database-driven PayPal purchase system that integrated with
Macromedia Dreamweaver UltraDev. Since then, he has gone on to
implement unique fixes for common eCommerce problems using PayPal. He
has written several tutorials and articles and has spoken on the
topic of using PayPal in new ways. One of the first members of the
PayPal Developer Network, he was added to the PayPal Developer
Network Advisory Boards on its inception. He also served several
terms as a member of Team Macromedia for their web development
program Dreamweaver, which he uses in his daily PayPal development.
His technical background extends back to the initial Internet boom,
when he began picking up simple web design that evolved into web
planning and programming using a variety of technologies, languages,
and databases. Currently, he manages the PayLoadz Digital Goods
eCommerce system that allows merchants to sell digital goods securely
with PayPal. One of the first and most successful third-party
solutions for PayPal, this system made headlines when it launched
Madonna's "American
Life" single higher on the Billboard music charts
than any previous digital single (and he did it before selling
digital music was cool). In addition, he continually contributes to
the PayPal Developer Network Message Boards (http://www.paypaldev.org), which his company,
Superfreaker Studios, hosts and maintains. When he's
not slogging through code at his computer in a caffeinated,
sleep-deprived state, Shannon enjoys outdoor activities that fit the
time of year. In the summer, he surfs and volunteers for the
surfboard manufacturer Wave Riding Vehicles; in the winter, he can be
found on the slopes, working on his kicker spins. Year-round, he can
be found reliving his BMX days on his 24" GT
cruiser. In his undergraduate studies, Shannon majored in Finance and
Accounting, while his Masters in Business Administration includes a
concentration in Finance. Ctrl-C is his best friend.
Dave Nielsen is a Technical Evangelist within the PayPal
Developer Network, a member of SDForum's Executive
Council, and the founder of the Web Services SIG of Silicon Valley.
Dave has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Cal Poly, San
Luis Obispo and is armed with an education in engineering and
marketing, as well as many technical certifications. As a technical
trainer in the early '90s, Dave taught classes in
languages such as Visual Basic, SQL and ASP. Dave was an early
Internet programming enthusiast and found himself hounding Microsoft
for data-driven web developer tools. After taking a chance on early
beta versions of IIS and Active Server Pages, Dave became one of the
first technical trainers certified to teach the now popular ASP
technology. At PayPal, Dave focuses his efforts on creating tools
that help developers create great eCommerce web sites. These projects
include the Payment Request Wizard, the JavaScript Button Factory,
the PayPal SDK for ASP.NET and the PayPal Commerce Starter Kit. Dave
can be found online at http://www.paypalhacks.com, at conferences,
and "competing" in an occasional triathlon. At home,his girlfriend
tries to stop him from selling everything he owns on eBay.
Dave Burchell got his start with computers by programming
the Radio Shack TRS-80 in BASIC and the Commodore 64 in 6510
assembly. Currently, Dave's favorite programming
languages are Perl and XSLT. A fervent proponent of XML, Dave enjoys
solving content management problems with markup and open source
software. His other interests include American history and
Hellenistic philosophy. Dave lives with his wife, Renee, and
children, Max, Gus, and Samantha Grace, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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