Randal L. Schwartz

Randal L. Schwartz
Born (1961-11-22) November 22, 1961
NationalityAmerican
Other namesmerlyn (internet handle)
Occupation(s)Programmer, Author, Instructor
Employer(s)Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc.
Known forSchwartzian transform
Websitewww.stonehenge.com/merlyn/

Randal L. Schwartz (born November 22, 1961), also known as merlyn, is an American author, system administrator and programming consultant. He has written several books on the Perl programming language, and plays a promotional role within the Perl community. He was a co-host of FLOSS Weekly.

In 1995, while working as a consultant for Intel, he cracked a number of passwords on the company's systems. He was convicted of hacking, sentenced to five years probation, and fined. The conviction was expunged in 2007.