About the Author

Ray Rischpater is an engineer and author, with over 20 years of experience in writing about mobile computing platforms and developing for them.

During this time, he has participated in the development of Internet technologies and custom applications for Java ME, Qualcomm Brew™, Apple iPhone, Google Android, Palm OS, Newton, and Magic Cap, as well as several proprietary platforms. Presently, he's employed as a Senior Engineer at Microsoft in Mountain View, and he works on mapping and data visualization.

When he is not writing for software development or about it, he enjoys hiking and photography with his family and friends in and around the San Lorenzo Valley in Central California. Whenever he's able to, he provides a public service through amateur radio as the licensed Amateur Extra station KF6GPE.

Among the books that he has written are Microsoft Mapping, with Carmen Au, Apress, 2013 and Beginning Java ME Platform, Apress, 2008. Ray also irregularly blogs at http://www.lothlorien.com/kf6gpe.

He holds a Bachelor's degree in Pure Mathematics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and is a member of the IEEE, ACM, and ARRL.

I'd like to thank Ritika Singh for shepherding this book through the publishing process at Packt Publishing as well as for her suggestions throughout the process. I'd also like to thank the technical reviewers who provided their time to give suggestions and clarifications for each draft of the book. Of course, in the end, I'm responsible for any errors that might remain!