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News from the Keweenaw Peninsula Posted August 15, 2002 Photos and Press release © 2002 SoftMedia Artisans, Inc.

Local Family Writes Book on Web Programming

Apress LP of Berkeley, California published the 936-page book, Programming the Web with Visual Basic .NET. The book, which explains how to use the newest version of Visual Basic to program high-quality Web sites, addresses a target audience of 3 million experienced Visual Basic programmers.

Zac, who started programming as a hobby at the age of 10, created and tested sample computer programs used in the book. Zac also conducted code experiments to answer technical questions posed by his father, Lynn Torkelson, who wrote most of the book. Constance Petersen, Zac's mother, researched and wrote code for some of the book's topics, wrote two of the book's appendices, and designed the case study presented in the last chapter. She also worked directly with the editors on chapter drafts while Lynn and Zac pushed ahead on new chapters.

Zac Torkelson, left, poses with his mother, Constance Petersen, center, and father, Lynn Torkelson, at their home near Dollar Bay.

Constance and Lynn, partners in both marriage and business, founded SoftMedia Artisans, Inc.  in 1997 while living in Atlanta, Georgia. They're both Wisconsin natives, and Lynn grew up in Washburn, Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Superior. By January of 1999 they had returned to the area they love, bringing their Web design company with them. They now live and work in the Keweenaw Peninsula, while using the Internet to collaborate on projects across the country.

Getting in on the Ground Floor

The writing project started when the Coriolis Group asked SoftMedia Artisans to develop a book on the new Microsoft .NET (pronounced "dot-net") technology for their Black Book series. In late November of 2000, Microsoft Corporation invited the Torkelson-Petersen family and other book authors to its campus in Redmond, Washington for discussions with the developers of the new technology.

As the youngest attendee, Zac, then just 13, attracted considerable attention. On August 24, 2001, MicroNews (Microsoft's employee newsletter) devoted a full page to Zac and his interest in programming.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Writing a book about a brand-new technology raises some unique problems. In discussing the challenges facing the family on this project, Lynn cited particularly "the frequent changes made to early test versions of the new technology."

SoftMedia Artisans worked with each new test version of .NET, reporting problems and suggesting improvements to the developers at Microsoft. Each set of changes meant that the family had to make corresponding changes to portions of the book already written.

Changing Publishers

In the wake of the September 11 attack, the Coriolis Group lost much of its financial backing and subsequently went out of business. The family then chose Apress LP, a highly regarded publisher of technical books, to produce the book--containing much of the original material--that was finally published in July.

What Now?

SoftMedia Artisans has converted its operations to use the state-of-the-art Web development technologies that they've described in their new book. In the meantime, Zac has developed computer programs to be used as examples for the first three chapters of a new book that they have in the works.

According to Constance, CEO for SoftMedia Artisans, their company plans to use the new technologies "to provide high-quality, low-cost Web sites for smaller companies and organizations, particularly those in this area." She explained that her definition of high quality includes "professional Web design, fast loading graphics and making it possible for a completely non-technical person to update the Web site immediately."

Editor's Note: Learn more about Constance Petersen, who designed the KeweenawNow Web site, and Lynn Torkelson, who moderates the KeweenawNow discussion forums.

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