Naba Barkakati

I'm an electrical engineer and a computer-book author with experience in a wide variety of systems, ranging from MS-DOS and Windows to UNIX and Linux. I bought my first personal computer—an IBM PC-AT—in 1984 after graduating with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park. I wanted to write software for the emerging PC software market. As luck would have it, instead of building a software empire like Microsoft, I ended up writing computer books and working at a government lab. Currently, I am a Senior Level Technologist at the Center for Technology and Engineering in the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Over the past 16 years, I have written over 25 computer books on a number of topics, ranging from object-oriented programming in C++ to Linux. I authored several popular titles, such as The Waite Group’s Turbo C++ Bible, Object-Oriented Programming in C++, X Window System Programming, Visual C++ Developer’s Guide, Borland C++ 4 Developer’s Guide, and Linux Secrets. My books have been translated into many languages, including Spanish, French, Polish, Greek, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. My most recent books are SUSE Linux 9.3 For Dummies and Linux All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies, both published by Wiley Publishing, Inc.

My wonderful wife Leha and I have 3 great daughters: Ivy, Emily, and Ashley.