Stephen Prata teaches astronomy, physics, and computer science at the College of Marin in Kentfield, California. He received his B.S. from the California Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Stephen has authored or coauthored over a dozen books for The Waite Group. He wrote The Waite Group's New C Primer Plus, which received the Computer Press Association's 1990 Best How-to Computer Book Award and The Waite Group's C++ Primer Plus, nominated for the Computer Press Association's Best How-to Computer Book Award in 1991.