James R. Payne was introduced to programming when he was just 10 years old. He started off hacking text-based games like Lemonade Stand to gain an advantage while playing and soon started creating his own text-based role-playing games in the style of Dungeons and Dragons and inspired by his favorite comic books. The enjoyment of those early days stuck with him, and he continues to be drawn back into the programming world throughout his career.

Payne is the former Editor-in-Chief/Community Manager of Developer Shed, an online publication and community consisting of 14 websites and forums dedicated to programming, web development, and internet marketing. Presently, he is the Editor of Developer at TechnologyAdvice. He's written over a thousand articles on coding and marketing, covering virtually every language and platform available. His first book, Beginning Python (Wrox Press) was published in 2010. In addition, he has published over 3,000 articles covering topics ranging from gaming to aerospace/aeronautics, and also writes adult horror and young adult fantasy books.