Peter Wayner

Peter Wayner is a contributing writer to InfoWorld. He has written extensively about programming languages (including Java, JavaScript, SQL, WebAssembly, and experimental languages), databases (SQL and NoSQL), cloud computing, cloud-native computing, artificial intelligence, open-source software, prompt engineering, programming habits (both good and bad), and countless other topics of keen interest to software developers. Peter also has written for mainstream publications including The New York Times and Wired, and he is the author of more than 20 books, mainly on technology. His work on mimic functions, a camouflaging technique for encoding data so that it takes on the statistical characteristics of other information (an example of steganography), was the basis of his book, Disappearing Cryptography. Peter’s book Free for All covered the cultural, legal, political, and technical roots of the open-source movement. His book Translucent Databases offered practical techniques for scrambling data so that it is inscrutable but still available to make important decisions. This included some of the first homomorphic encryption. In his book Digital Cash, Peter illustrates how techniques like a blockchain can be used establish an efficient digital economy. And in Policing Online Games, Peter lays out the philosophical and mathematical foundations for building a strong, safe, and cheater-free virtual world.