Jonathan E. Sisk Biography and Bibliography

 

Jonathan Sisk started as a Technical Support Specialist with Microdata Corporation in Irvine, California.

After leaving Microdata he formed JES & Associates, Inc. whose initial product was the first independent Pick book entitled " The Reality Pocket Guide".

He spotted the need for independent training for the rapidly expanding Pick Community and created the first independent training organization.

This attracted the attention of Dick Pick - the iconoclastic inventor and namesake of the Pick Operating System - who solicited Jon to write what would become his most famous book, "The Pick Pocket Guide".

Using material from his training courses, Jon and co-author Steve VanArsdale produced the first commercial Pick textbook to appear on retail shelves: "Exploring the Pick Operating System"..

He followed that up in a solo effort with the first textbook on the Pick/BASIC programming language, "Pick/BASIC: A Programmer's Guide". This book remains today as a free download and even now is still downloaded hundreds of times per month.

Jon served for over ten years as Series Editor of "The Pick Library" for Tab Books, a division of McGraw-Hill.

His articles and columns have appeared in Byte Magazine, PickWorld, International Spectrum, Spectrum Tech Digest, RDBM Computing, IPUA Journal, Computing News & Review and Engineering Enterprise.

Jon's epic work, "Encyclopedia Pick (EPick)" was an all-encompassing document that covered every single unique subject in the Pick database. He wrote and produced the towering, 1500 page document and as a by-product released it as an on-line Help system. Like an early Wiki, it provided hyperlinks to related topics, contained many now-removed examples, allowed collabarative contributions, all of this years before the Web was invented by Al Gore. "EPick" was renamed "REF" following the death of Dick Pick in 1994 while the company was vigorously trying to distance itself from its history.

In March of 2000, Jon was part of the team that raised $20 million to buy Pick Systems (the company) out of Orange County, California Probate Court. He joined the company as vice-president of Training & Education. Shortly after the acquisition, at the behest of those who loaned the acquisiton funds, Pick Systems merged with Omnis Software and became Raining Data Corporation (NASD: RDTA), a name chosen largely on the merit of the domain being avaliable. This completed the task of removing the Pick name from all products and letterhead. In 2008, Raining Data inexplicably changed its name to Tiger Logic Corp., presumably for the same reason that the domain was avalable.

In recent years, Jon has consulted with a number startup ventures in the Information Security, RAD Tools and Database sectors, and serves as chief editor and co-developer of the Pick-based NuWiki.

Jon now offers One on One Training and consulting services on a wide array of topics.

For more information, visit Jon's personal site, jonsisk.com.

To contact Jon, please use our handy Secure Contact Form.

 

Bibliography

• The REALITY Pocket Guide, First, Second, Third and Fourth Editions (JES Publishing)
• The Pick Pocket Guide, First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Editions (JES Publishing.)
• Exploring the Pick Operating System, First and Second Editions (Hayden Books)
• PICK/BASIC: A Programmer's Guide, First and Second Editions (TAB/McGraw-Hill)
• The Pick Pocket Guide "Desk Reference" Edition, First and Second Editions (TAB/McGraw-Hill)
• The Ultimate Pocket Guide, First and Second Editions (JES Publishing)
• The CIES/Pick Pocket Guide (JES Publishing)
• Secrets of Peak Performers ( Howland Publishing)
• Microprocessor Operating Systems: Volume III (Microcomputer Applications Publishing)
• The Pertec Pick Pocket Guide (JES Publishing Co)
• Encyclopedia Pick (Advanced Pick Technical Manual) (Pick Systems)
• EPick, AP/D3 On-Line Help (Pick Systems)

 

The Pick Library

• Pick for the IBM PC and Compatibles, John & Dale Winters
• Pick For Professionals, Advanced Methods & Techniques, Harvey Rodstein
• The Pick Perspective, Ian J. Sandler
• Programming With IBM PC BASIC & The Pick Database System, David Clark

 

Other titles edited

• Desktop Video Production Using The Commodore Amiga (Tab/McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.) (Produced but unpublished.)
• Using Prime Information, by William Winter (Produced but unpublished.)
• Everquest Companion: The Inside Lore of a Gameworld (McGraw-Hill/Osborne) 2003