Apple’s Core Animation creator joining Facebook [Updated]

John Harper, the engineer who created Apple’s Core Animation tool for developers and other graphical elements of iOS and OS X, has left Apple to join Facebook, reports AppleInsider.

As noted by John Gruber of Daring Fireball, Harper has updated his Twitter profile to indicate he “was” Apple’s Core Animation hacker. Harper spent 12 years at Apple, working on various aspects of iOS and OS X graphics and image processing, including the Mac X11 port and the OS X windowing system.
His new position at Facebook has him working alongside former Apple engineer Kimon Tsinteris, who reportedly is delighted to have Harper joining him as Facebook. According to a series of tweets, Harper will start at Facebook sometime next week. His name is included on several key Apple patents covering graphics and animation technology.
Harper is best known for his work on core animation, a data visualization API available for both iOS and OS X. It provides a framework for developers to easily add animation and other visual elements to the user interface of their apps. It’s an integral part of iOS and was introduced to OS X in version 10.5 Leopard.

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