Jim Brown (computer scientist)

James A. Brown
Occupation(s)	Computer scientist, entrepreneur
Years active	Until 1996 (IBM), 1999–2019 (SmartArrays, Inc.)
Known for	Leading development of APL2 programming language at IBM

James A. Brown led the IBM team responsible for developing the APL2 programming language product. Initially introduced on IBM mainframe systems in 1980, APL2 was subsequently adapted for Linux, Unix, and Windows environments. In recognition of his significant impact on APL, Brown was honored with the Kenneth E. Iverson Award for Outstanding Contribution to APL by the Association for Computing Machinery in 1993.

Brown departed from IBM in 1996 to focus on consulting and entrepreneurial ventures. In 1999, he co-established SmartArrays, Inc., where he held a senior executive role. The firm concentrated on analytic software solutions leveraging columnar databases and in-memory vector processing, catering to clients seeking alternatives to expensive or inefficient commercial off-the-shelf products. SmartArrays was ultimately dissolved in February 2019.