Dave Stokes is a MySQL Community Manager for Oracle Corporation and travels extensively to promote MySQL, speaking over thirty times each year for the past several years. He is also the author of MySQL & JSON - A Practical Programming Guide which is a guide for those wishing to take advantage of the JSON data type and the MySQL Document Store. With degrees in computer science and business, you can find him on the road at shows like FOSDEM, SCaLE, Confoo, PHP UK, Scotland PHP, PyCaribbean, or maybe you local meetup (please let him know if you need a speaker!). Dave actually started programming in FORTRAN on punch cards on a Digital Equipment Corporation KL1091 36-bit computer. Dave resides in Texas with the mandatory hound dog and pickup truck.