As my very first blog entry, I thought it would be appropriate to introduce myself. My name is Qusay H. Mahmoud. My first name is pronounced "Kosai", but everyone calls me "Q". Yes, there is a Q in Star Trek, and another Q in James Bond, but this Q is from Palestine. :-)

I have been working with Java ever since it was first released to the public. My first tutorial on "Sockets Programming with Java" was published on JavaWorld in 1996: http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-1996/jw-12-sockets.html.
A year later, my master's thesis system implementation "A Web-based Distributed Computing System" won the third place (Bomber Jacket) in the ACM/IBM Quest for Java 1997.

My first real-world Java application was a client-server system I developed in 1997 for the School of Computer Science at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. The system, which I believe is still in use today, automates the process of creating students accounts on a WindowsNT platform.

I started teaching Java in the classroom in 1998 at Etisalat College of Engineering in United Arab Emirates, and a year later I trained hundreds of Java developers at Nortel Networks in Ottawa. Along the way, I have published two Java books (Distributed Programming with Java and Learning Wireless Java), and many articles published on Sun Developer Network. I am interested in all Java technologies, but especially Java ME.

For more information about me and my work, please visit my homepage: http://www.cis.uoguelph.ca/~qmahmoud.

I enjoy going to JavaOne, and I look forward to meeting as many Java developers as possible this year. Q.