John Gruber (born 1973) is a writer, blog publisher, UI designer, and the inventor of the Markdown publishing format. Gruber is from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area. He received his Bachelor of Science in computer science from Drexel University, then worked for Bare Bones Software (2000–02) and Joyent (2005–06). Since 2002, he has written and produced Daring Fireball, a technology-focused blog. He hosts a related podcast called The Talk Show. In early 2013, Gruber, Brent Simmons, and Dave Wiskus founded software development firm Q Branch to develop the Vesper notes app for iOS. The venture was not successful, and Q Branch has since shut down.
