[[Image:DavidMertz1.jpg|right|thumb|150px|David Mertz]]
'''David Mertz''' (born 1964) is an author and columnist for [[IBM]]'s [[developerWorks]], [[Intel]] Developer Services, [[O'Reilly Media|O'Reilly's ONLamp]], and other online publications.  Formerly an academic [[Philosophy|philosopher]] who specialized in [[postmodernism]], he is currently vice-president and chief technology officer of the Open Voting Consortium{{ref_harv|cto|OVC|OVC}} and serves on the [[IEEE]] ''Voting Systems Electronic Data Interchange'' project.{{ref_harv|1622|IEEE|IEEE}}  He maintains Gnosis Utilities, a widely used [[public domain]] [[Python programming language|Python]] package.

Mertz graduated in 1987 from the [[University of Colorado at Boulder|University of Colorado]] with a B.A. (Hons) in philosophy and [[mathematics]].  He completed his M.A. in philosophy in 1991 at the [[University of Massachusetts]], and received his Ph.D. from the same university in 1999 for a philosophy thesis.{{ref_harv|thesis|Mertz8|Mertz8}}  He has held teaching posts in philosophy at the [[Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts]], the [[University of Massachusetts]], and the [[University of Hartford]].

Philosophical journals that Mertz has written for include ''[[Social Epistemology]]'',{{ref_harv|se1|Mertz2|Mertz2}}{{ref_harv|se2|Mertz3|Mertz3}} ''[[Bioethics]]'',{{ref_harv|bio|Mertz, Sushinsky & Schueklenk|Mertz, Sushinsky & Schueklenk}} ''Rethinking [[Marxism]]'',{{ref_harv|rm1|Mertz4|Mertz4}}{{ref_harv|rm2|Mertz5|Mertz5}}, and ''Radical Philosophy Review''.{{ref_harv|rp1|Mertz6|Mertz6}}{{ref_harv|rp2|Mertz7|Mertz7}} 

Mertz is the author of the book ''Text Processing in Python'',{{ref_harv|tpp|Mertz|Mertz}} a [[Haskell programming language]] tutorial, and papers on computer programming topics such as [[metaclass]] programming in Python, [[multiple dispatch]], and [[cryptology]]. He writes the programming columns ''Charming Python'' and ''XML Matters''.

== Published works ==

* {{note_label|tpp|Mertz|Mertz}}{{cite book
  |first=David|last=Mertz
  |year=2003
  |title=Text Processing in Python
  |publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional
  |id=ISBN 0321112547
  |url=http://gnosis.cx/TPiP/|format=HTML}}
* {{note_label|se1|Mertz2|Mertz2}}{{cite journal
  |first=David|last=Mertz
  |year=1989|month=Winter|volume=3|issue=1
  |title=Hattiangadi's Langue-ing and Ours
  |journal=Social Epistemology}}
* {{note_label|se2|Mertz3|Mertz3}}{{cite journal
  |first=David|last=Mertz
  |year=1990|month=Fall|volume=4|issue=3
  |title=Peer Commentary on Eric Dietrich's "Computationalism"
  |journal=Social Epistemology}}
* {{note_label|rm1|Mertz4|Mertz4}}{{cite journal
  |first=David|last=Mertz
  |year=1995|month=Summer|volume=8|issue=2
  |title=The Racial Other in Nationalist Subjectivations: A Lacanian Analysis
  |journal=Rethinking Marxism}}
* {{note_label|rm2|Mertz5|Mertz5}}{{cite journal
  |first=David|last=Mertz
  |year=1996|month=Spring|volume=9|issue=1
  |title=Sex Wars: The New Left's AIDS-related Scientism
  |journal=Rethinking Marxism}}
* {{note_label|rp1|Mertz6|Mertz6}}{{cite journal
  |first=David|last=Mertz
  |year=2000|month=February|volume=3|issue=1
  |title=The Net's New Enclosures: Review of Lawrence Lessig's Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace
  |journal=Radical Philosophy Review}}
* {{note_label|rp2|Mertz7|Mertz7}}{{cite journal
  |first=David|last=Mertz
  |year=2004|month=November|volume=7|issue=2
  |title=Review of Steve Martinot's "The Rule of Racialization"
  |journal=Radical Philosophy Review}}
* {{note_label|thesis|Mertz8|Mertz8}}{{cite web
  |url=http://gnosis.cx/publish/mertz/Dissertation_PageFormat.pdf
  |first=David|last=Mertz
  |year=1999
  |title=The Speculum and The Scalpel: The Politics of Impotent Representation and Nonrepresentational Terrorism
  |format=PDF
  |publisher=Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherest
  |accessdate=2006-03-09}}
* {{note_label|bio|Mertz, Sushinsky & Schueklenk|Mertz, Sushinsky & Schueklenk}}{{cite journal
  |first=David|last=Mertz
  |coauthors=Mary Ann Sushinsky, Udo Schueklenk
  |year=1996|month=April|volume=10|issue=2
  |title=Women and AIDS: The Ethics of Exaggerated Harm
  |journal=Bioethics}}

== References ==

* {{note_label|cto|OVC|OVC}}{{cite web
  |url=http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/about_ovc
  |work=Open Voting Consortium website|title=About OVC
  |accessdate=2006-03-09}}<br>Mertz is listed under "Current Board Members" and further details appear lower on the page.
* {{note_label|1622|IEEE|IEEE}}{{cite web
  |url=http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/scc38/1622/
  |work=IEEE website|title=IEEE P1622 - Voting Systems Electronic Data Interchange
  |accessdate=2006-03-09}}<br>Mertz is listed as Technical Editor.

== External links ==

* [http://gnosis.cx/publish/ Gnosis Software], David Mertz's website
* ''[http://gnosis.cx/publish/tech_index_cp.html Charming Python]''
* ''[http://gnosis.cx/publish/tech_index_xm.html XML Matters]''

[[Category:1964 births|Mertz, David]]
[[Category:Living people|Mertz, David]]
[[Category:American writers|Mertz, David]]
[[Category:Marxists|Mertz, David]]
[[Category:Technology writers|Mertz, David]]