Mark Watson: Ruby and Java Consultant and Author

I am the author of 14 published books on Artificial Intelligence, Java, Common LISP, C++, Linux, Scheme, and Windows.

I enjoy contributing my free web books and open source projects to the community. I also offer a 25% discount on my consulting rate when working on open source projects using the GPL and a 10% discount when using other open source licenses.

In addition to artificial intelligence (AI) consulting work, I also specialize in building custom Knowledge Management systems and large scale Java server side architecture and development and Ruby and Ruby on Rails development.

I have broad knowledge gained from the development of successful projects involving artificial intelligence, natural language processing, text and data mining, web services, very large scale network applications, and entertainment systems.

New! Ruby on Rails Fixed Price Quick Start Service

I specialize in the following technologies:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI):machine learning, natural language processing, text mining
• Ruby:Ruby on Rails, text manipulation, web searching and information retrieval, deployment (nginx, mongrels, clustering), AI programming, JRuby
• Java:server side Java, J2EE, JSP, GWT, JBoss, Glassfish, JRuby
• Common Lisp:AI programming, text manipulation, web searching and information retrieval, server side (Portable AllegroServe and WebActions)

I am a limited liability consultant specializing in artificial intelligence and server side development using Java and Ruby. I am a "hands-on architect" who help customers decrease their time to market for new web based systems. I am a problem solver and I have a great track record for delivering on time.

I am happy to work under either fixed price contracts or work hourly.

I work from my home office in the mountains of Northern Arizona. If you hire me, it is under the terms of my standard limited liability consulting agreement that must be signed before commencement of any work. I am also usually happy to sign additional NDAs and contracts as provided by my customers.

I have been involved in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) for over 20 years developing both commercial tool products and end user AI driven applications. I prefer applying AI technologies in the development of web services and dynamic web applications rather than traditional applications.

Take advantage of paradigm shifts in software development: Open Source Software, Web Applications, and Web Services. I specialize in building large systems using Open Source Software (J2EE Tomcat and JBoss, Ruby on Rails, and Common Lisp Aserve/WebActions web development toolkits). Some advantages of web portals and web services over traditional client application programs are: eliminate deployment costs - users only need a web browser, easier management of corporate Knowledge Management information sources, and users see new system enhancements and bug fixes instantly. Other open source technologies that I frequently use are: Lucene, Nutch, Weka, NLTK_lite, Wordnet, PostgreSQL, Plone, PowerLoom, Squeak, Seaside, Sesame, and Protege. As a consultant, I will work with you to save you both money on development costs and time to market using open source software.

Take advantage of new data standards. I encourage and support the use of open data standards. I am a member of the ODF Alliance and have experience using the Semantic Web RDF and OWL standards. Using using data standards is vital for avoiding lock-in with specific vendors. I believe that one of the most important parts of consulting with customers is helping with the selection of appropriate technologies.

Demo Java web applications: While I can not show you any proprietary web applications that I have developed for customers please check out a few demos of very small Java web applications:

• CJsKitchen.com - a healthy recipes web portal that my wife and I did together.
• KBdocs.com - an online word processing system and document repository that I wrote for my own use, but it is also available to the public.
• KnowledgeBooks Consortium - web site for sharing technologies for AI technologies for Knowledge Management and the Semantic Web for the Java Platform.
• RubyPlanet.NET - a Ruby programming blog site aggregator. Also contains news and useful links.

Demo Ruby on Rails applications: While I can not show you any proprietary Ruby on Rails web applications that I have developed for customers please check out a few demos that I have created:

• CookingSpace.com - something new in recipe and healthy eating web sites: approximate nutritional information is provided for individule rcipes, complete meals, and complete daily plans
• Spanish4.us - a study page for learning Spanish phrases.
• KBSportal.com - coming soon! The 3rd version of my knowledge management web application. (The first two versions were written in Common Lisp and Java).

Enjoy my Open Content Free Web Books and Open Source Software

In addition to my published books, I put real effort in writing my Free Web Books. I also hope that you find my Open Source software projects useful.

This "free stuff" is my way to give something back to the world, in appreciation for the blessings in my life.

Recent News

March 29, 2008: Revised my Knowledgebooks Consortium web site for sharing technologies for AI technologies for Knowledge Management and the Semantic Web for the Java Platform.

November 12, 2007: Beta version of my cooking/recipes site that shows nutrients per seving for recipes. Implemented with Ruby on Rails.

October 10, 2007: Added to my open source page: my JRuby bindings for the PowerLoom AI reasoning and knowledge representation system

October 8, 2007: Check out my Open Content Incubator Projects. There is a new version of my "Artificial Intelligence Programming in Ruby" writing project.

June 29, 2007: My open source projects are now released under either the LGPL version 3, or the GPL version 3 licenses. Now available.

April 2, 2007: Java NLP utility to identify proper nouns (human names and places) in text is now licensed under the LGPL. Now available.

March 13, 2007: Java, C++ and C# NLP code (tagger, simple categorization) are now licensed under the LGPL. Now available.

August 17, 2006: I started a new blog Artificial Intelligence Theory.

December 19, 2005: I created RubyPlanet.NET - a Ruby programming blog site aggregator. Also contains news and useful links.

November 18, 2005: There is an updated version of my "Practical AI Programming in Java" free web book on my Open Content web page.

October 30, 2005: Added spell checking and correction hints to KBdocs.com - a free web application for online word processing. KBdocs.com now also supports exporting all of your documents as a ZIP file.

August 29, 2005: Public beta for Carol Jean's Kitchen - a free knowledge based cooking and healthy lifestyle web portal. My wife and I enjoy cooking and this web portal is both a hobby and a testbed for technology (AI expert system and case based reasoning).

April 4, 2005: I released version 0.1 of my Ruby libraries for part of speech tagging and text categorization. Please see my Open Source page.