An analyst programmer working in Civil Engineering, Carl spends a lot of time wondering how he ended up in the claustrophobic niche of VB6 programmer. He has programmed since a tender age but became a professional at a more mature age than is usual. He can code up a storm in VB but prefers C++ and really likes OpenGL and the whole open source thing. (He also knows Pascal, SQL, HTML and PHP but who’s counting.)

A fervent believer that software should be usable, useful and helpful he frequently breaks down and cries at what his fellow "programmers" produce (usually any time he uses MS Word). Carl has written all sorts of stuff besides computer programs, working as a technical writer and writing as a hobby. He had work published in "Electron User" and "Acorn User" back when mammoths roamed the Earth and computer were steam powered.

Carl’s wife won’t let him watch "Grumpy Old <insert gender here>" as his screams of "Too bloody right!" disturb the neighbours. His comments are in no way meant to criticise Microsoft or its products, no matter how bad they may be.