I have been working professionally with Open Source software and Free Software since 2000. I have gotten to know a great many excellent developers, many work in my own company, FreeCode. But today I would like to acknowledge a person who inspires a passion I have, a hobby a cherish.

As Open Source (or even Free Software) has gone mainstream, there are Open Source developers seemingly everywhere. From the large communities like Linux (kernel, core programs, utilities, applications and various distributions), portal software (Drupal, Mediawiki, etc.) and games (Battle for Wesnoth being my favorite) to more esoteric projects.

As a reader of my blog, you may have picked up my fascination with old HP calculators and the programming of the HP-41. Especially the really low level programming in assembler, called MCODE (Machine CODE) for the HP-41. It is in this arena that I would like to acknowledge my Open Source hero.

Ángel Martin excels at MCODE. He excels at documenting MCODE. He is a learning machine and a teaching machine. He’s got more contributions to the HP-41 MCODE than you could shake a stick at and he shares his contributions freely. And he’s a social and very likable guy – not like the many Gollums who succeeds before a machine but not amongst people.

Yes, Ángel Martin is my Open Source hero.