(new!)

Soon-to-be Classic Quotes

• adrianh's clever remarks about the condition of some poor saps without a "...tight grip on the clue stick..."

Perl-ish insights I've had

• This reply on the topic of Prgramming(!) vs. Coding.
  I would still be interested to see how music has affected other people's programming. After all, I was a musician* before I was a programmer...
• A reply I made to the "remedial map" thread.
  My insight into map, shallow as it is, became obvious to me as I pondered the following bit of Smalltalk code:

  | aCollection aNumber |
  aNumber := 0.
  aCollection := #('one' 'two' 'three').
  aCollection do: [ :element |
      aNumber := aNumber + 1.
  ]
  Transcript cr;
      show: 'There are ', aNumber asInteger, ' of strings in your collection of strings.'.
  

  It got even better when I equated map with this:

  | aCollection anotherCollection |
  aCollection := #('one' 'two' 'three').
  anotherCollection := aCollection collect: [ :element |
      element
  ].
  

  Smalltalk is still a neat, powerful language (as is Perl).
• [id://34223|This is my favorite]. It was about the time that I was able to formulate a question like this that I began to grok Perl. Well, began to begin to grok Perl. References were the first big leap for me...

Music is great

What else can I say about this? Only that performing is more enjoyable that listening. Here are the instruments I play, in decreasing order of skill:

1. string bass
2. piano
3. guitar

This summer I'll be busy with gigs (I've already done more musicals and shows in the past month and a half than in the past eight years!). At work, one of the survey questions (How well do you like working at this place? Are you satisfied with working conditions? management? coworkers? etc.) was whether or not I felt all my "career goals" could be met working with this company. No way! (unless they're going to start a house orchestra or band sometime soon...)

Programming languages I know something about

...but not necessarily a lot about; I'm still learning.

1. Applesoft basic -- my first and only!
2. Logo -- well, maybe the turtle was the first...
3. Fortran-- of which I forgot everything I ever learned.
4. Forth -- I bet you haven't heard of it; too bad for you.
5. C++ -- college days.
6. Java -- more college days.
7. VB -- (h)ack!
8. C -- at the end of the college days; kind of backwards, don't you think? (the order I learned them, that is)
9. Perl -- picked up a little in college; now I know a bit more...
10. Smalltalk -- one of the things I get paid to do (but see below).
11. JavaScript -- this is the most recent addition to my collection; I'm amazed at how Perlish it can be at times (but if I read the docs right, that's what the creators of the language intented), which lets me get some things done when I'm stuck at work without Perl
12. ASP/VBScript/more VB -- I know, but I gotta' pay the rent mortgage.
13. Lotus Notes programming/design ("design" is in there because most of what you do in Notes is not coding)
14. C#

Of course, I should also throw in a bit of shell programming as well...how could you use Linux without it?

Still important enough to leave in here

Learn to spell!

(Which came first: parentheses or parenthetical remarks?)

Well, as of today (10/14/2003) I have assumed new powers. (I'm only recording that fact so I can find the node describing those powers again after I've forgotten what they are.)