Hi! My name is Ivan. I build software, and I feel lucky to do it. I’m retired now, but always looking for some fun projects.

In 1994, I named this site voidstar.org because the name represents the concept of “a pointer to anything” in C/C++. Funnily enough, I rarely used void* in my code. I was heavily invested in the OOP concepts that C++ offered and only used void* as a last resort.

Also, this is a “.org” domain because—back in the ’90s—my registrar wouldn’t allow individuals to register a “.com” domain. Not long after, the rules were relaxed, and anyone could register a “.com”.

Here’s a little more about me:

  • I recently retired after 30 years writing software and managing teams ➡️[Resume]
  • I was named after prominent computer scientist Ivan Sutherland. He’s an accomplished and interesting guy!
  • Worked at Apple, Google, Meta, various startups and medium-size companies
  • Located in Mountain View, CA
  • Apple fan. Current fixation: living on iPad only ➡️[Now Page]
  • Married to my wonderful wife. We have two kids, one in college one nearly there
  • I’m a fan of hard sci-fi and generally sci-fi that leans toward optimistic futures

Where to find me

Here! I post a tiny bit – See [Posts], but I’m solidly a lurker/consumer of content. See also:

Where you won’t find me

  • ❌ I’m not on X
  • ❌ I’m not on Facebook or Instagram
  • ❌ I’m not on Threads
  • ❌ I’m not on Bluesky
  • …and many more

If you see an account that looks like me on those site, it’s not me!