BIOGRAPHY - John Henry Thompson
My most significant contribution to the computer industry to date is the invention of the Macromedia Director Lingo scripting language
I've also helped nurture a generation of multimedia professionals as a graduate level college professor at New York University, and author of the "Macromedia Director Lingo Workshop" book. 
Early on my desire was to combine art and technology 
I studied studio art at the New York Student Art League and the Boston Museum School. I earned my degree in Computer Science and Visual Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1983. After graduating, I continued at MIT as a technical instructor and developed an early color pre-press design system for the Visible Language Workshop, now part of the MIT Media Lab. Following this I was a project lead at Lucas Films on the EditDriod project, an early nonlinear editing system. 
I have created art using 3D graphics, video disc, and real-time video processing. Some of my interactive art installations have been exhibited internationally. 
My interest in both art and technology lead me to Macromedia (formerly MacroMind). From 1987, at Macromedia I developed a number of products, including: The VideoWorks Accelerator, VideoWorks II, MediaMaker, Action, and Macromedia Director. I created for a number of core technologies including the Lingo Scripting engine. Until I left the company in 2001, I held the position of Chief Scientist, the highest engineering position at Macromedia. 
While creating multimedia tools, I was also a professor at New York University's graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). From 1988 to 1997 at ITP I developed and taught five different courses at ITP covering various aspects of interactive design and programming. Drawing upon experience teaching my Lingo scripting language, I wrote and published the book "Macromedia Director Lingo Workshop." The book is a popular guide to the Lingo programing language and was published in two editions and translated to Japanese, German, and Italian. 
I now live in the San Francisco Bay Area with my wife and four children.