Terrence Andrew Davis (December 15, 1969 – August 11, 2018) was an American electrical engineer and computer programmer best known for creating and designing TempleOS, an operating system in the public domain, by himself.

[4] On the subject of his certifications, he wrote in 2011: "Everybody knows electrical is higher in the engineering pecking order than CS because it requires real math ;-) I'm a rocket scientist, though not a very good one".

[3] In March, he had begun experiencing regular manic episodes, and developed delusions centering around space aliens and government agents.

[3][6] According to Davis, he attributed a profound quality to the Rage Against the Machine lyric "some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses" and recalled "I started seeing people following me around in suits and stuff.

After becoming convinced that his car radio was communicating with him, he dismantled his vehicle, apparently in a search for tracking devices he believed were hidden in it, and threw his keys into the desert.

In jail, he stripped himself, broke his glasses and jammed the frames into a nearby electrical outlet, trying to open his cell door by switching the breaker.

"[3] Davis acknowledged that the sequence of events leading to his spiritual awakening might give the impression of mental illness, as opposed to "some glorious revelation from God.

Afterward, he felt "guilty for being such a technology-advocate atheist" and tried to follow Jesus by giving away all of his possessions and living a nomadic lifestyle.

[3] Davis later wrote that he found work at a company named "Xytec Corp" between 1997 and 1999, making FPGA-based image processing equipment.

[2] Vice noted that, in 2012, he had a productive conversation with the contributors at MetaFilter, where his work was introduced as "an operating system written by a schizophrenic programmer".

Known as J Operating System from 2004 to 2005, LoseThos from 2006 to 2012, and SparrowOS in late 2012, TempleOS is similar to the Commodore 64, DESQview and other early DOS-based interfaces.

[2] In 2005, Davis stated that his ambition for the J Operating System was to recapture the rapidly changing environment of the Commodore 64 era, as well as encouraging the creation of "odd-ball software.

[5] In 2008, he wrote that LoseThos was primarily intended to create video games, and that it has no Internet functionality, claiming that doing so would be the same as reinventing the wheel.

The stopwatch is meant to act as an oracle that generates pseudo-random text, something Davis believed to be coded messages from God.

[4] As an example: among consigned penally result perverseness checked stated held sensation reasonings skies adversity Dakota lip Suffer approached enact displacing feast Canst pearl doing alms comprehendeth noughtAccording to Davis, many of the system's features, such as its 640×480 resolution and 16-color display, were also explicit instructions from God.

[3] Davis would frequently communicate in randomly generated blocks of text and off-topic declarations about God, which led to bans from websites including Something Awful, Reddit, and Hacker News.

[3] However, the critical reception to TempleOS was mostly favorable, as tech journalist David Cassel wrote, "programming websites tried to find the necessary patience and understanding to accommodate Davis".

[2] In September 2018, OSNews editor Thom Holwerda wrote: "Davis was clearly a gifted programmer – writing an entire operating system is no small feat – and it was sad to see him affected by his mental illness".

[2] He added that it "actually boggles my mind that one man wrote all that" and surmised that it may be difficult for a layperson to understand how extraordinary it was to write an entire operating system alone.

[13] He was controversial for his regular use of offensive slurs,[2] including racist and homophobic epithets, and sometimes rebuked his critics as "CIA niggers".

Davis would also coin the term "glowie", which is based on the aforementioned phrase, and would later be used by far-right online groups to denote an undercover federal agent or informant.

[1] Davis explained that his use of the word "nigger" was a reaction to being subject to psychological warfare tactics from media agencies such as the BBC.

[20] He addressed concerns about his language on his website: Jesus used a racist slur, calling Canaanites "dogs" in Matthew 15:21–28 [...] I asked God about racism?

In June, Portland police informed officials in the city of The Dalles, approximately 80 miles (130 km) away, that they had received word that Davis might be headed there.

Whatever, you know, but..."[2] On the evening of August 11, 2018, while walking alongside railroad tracks in The Dalles, Davis was struck and killed by a Union Pacific train.

[17] When The Dalles Chronicle ran a story about an unnamed homeless man who was struck by a train, the newspaper was inundated with phone calls inquiring whether it was Davis, which the paper later confirmed in a follow-up piece.

[2] Through the TempleOS website, his family asked people to donate to "organizations working to ease the pain and suffering caused by mental illness".