Chris Laffra

My interests are in the design and implementation of programming languages, compilers, IDEs, toolkits, run-times, APIs, and life cycle development tools. Examples are tools to monitor and analyze performance, support agile development workflows, or to visualize internal execution. I have a PhD in the design of an object-oriented language that was one of the first languages to support a built-in graph database for persistence.

I have worked on various complex software projects, such as Eclipse, Google Video Conferencing, banking systems, and Uber's apps. I can understand these systems quickly, improve their performance and/or effectiveness, and make them more accessible to others by explaining how they work. I do that through visualizations, writing books, or producing training materials.

Companies I worked at are IBM, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Google, and Uber. I currently am developing online meeting environments as part of my startup called "Ahead In The Cloud Computing."

I was born in The Netherlands and currently live in Aalsmeer, near Amsterdam. I have lived in the US for half my life, where I biked to almost everything. I have also run the NY Marathon while living in New York. I am a proud dad of two children. My youngest got sick as a baby, lost his hearing as a result, and now lives at a great 24hr care home in Holland. My eldest child is trans, which has made me extra empathetic to the needs of people like her.

Check out chrislaffra.com for links to my work on algorithm visualization and www.slideshare.net/chrislaffra/presentations for some of my presentations.