Allison Randal
American computer scientist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Allison Randal is a software developer and author. She was the chief architect of the Parrot virtual machine, a member of the board of directors for The Perl Foundation,[1] a director of the Python Software Foundation from 2010 to 2012,[2] and the chairman of the Parrot Foundation.[3] She is also the lead developer of Punie, the port of Perl 1 to Parrot. She is co-author of Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials and the Synopses of Perl 6. She was employed by O'Reilly Media. From August 2010 till February 2012, Randal was the Technical Architect of Ubuntu at Canonical.[4][5][6]
Allison Randal | |
|---|---|
| |
| Occupations | Programmer, Author |
| Employer | SUSE |
| Known for | Perl, Parrot |
In Eastern Africa, Allison started her career as a research linguist, analyzing natural languages. She eventually shifted to studying artificial languages. Her working life includes educational games, linguistic analysis tools, e-commerce infrastructure, compilers, hypervisors, database replication systems, deployment automation, mobile applications, and voice-integrated smart-home technologies. During her career, she has specialized in unique integration of systems, technology, and language.[6]
In 2009, Randal was chair of O'Reilly's Open Source Convention (OSCON).[7] She was elected a fellow of the Python Software Foundation in 2010.[8]
She was a director of the Open Source Initiative[9] and was its president between 2015 and 2017, taking over from and handing back to Simon Phipps.[10][11] She also serves on the OpenStack Foundation board of directors.[12] She became the chair of board from 2021 to 2022.[13]
Additionally, as of 2019, Randal joined the member of the board at Software Freedom Conservatory, and as of 2022, she became the chair of board.[14]
