30 Days of Geek #2: Preferred programming language?

I’ve decided to partake in Jethro Carr’s 30 Days of Geek challenge, so I’ll be writing a post a day on my geekiness for an entire month! You can find all the posts in one spot here.

First off, I don’t really consider myself a programmer any more. I do code occasionally, but only when my degree requires it, or I have a pressing need for a tool that Google just won’t divulge.

My favourite programming language is C. It’s got so much power, and yet it’s such a clean language, unlike C++ or other similar languages. I used it a lot in the past for writing operating system kernels, which is what it’s really designed for. It makes me happy when I see some well-formatted, well-commented C code (hint: you won’t find any in the Linux kernel, Linus Torvalds is a Git).

The language I code the most in these days though is the bash shell scripting language. It’s not technically a formal programming language perhaps, but it’s certainly very useful. I’m a system administrator for a number of servers in my spare time, and automating tasks is the best way to stay sane (that’s why we have computers, isn’t it?). I’m not brilliant at bash scripting, and I’m sure if the UNIX wizards of old saw my scripts they’d turn over in their graves, but I can get the job done.

There are a number of other programming languages I like the look of, or the concept of, but I just don’t use them as much. Java is one. I know most geeks reserve a special hatred for Java, but I honestly don’t know why. It’s a nice clean language, and the number of included libraries makes it really easy to knock together applications. Another language I think is pretty neat is Lisp. I almost never use it, and can only do the basics, but it’s just so wonderful and different. And that variety in programming languages is what makes every single one of them so special.

30 Days of Geek #1: Why do you consider yourself a geek?

I’ve decided to partake in Jethro Carr’s 30 Days of Geek challenge, so I’ll be writing a post a day on my geekiness for an entire month! You can find all the posts in one spot here.

I consider myself a geek for a few reasons. Firstly, being a geek is how I spend almost all my time. My day job is as a computer technician (more on this later in the month), and most of my spare time is spent staring into a computer screen of some kind. I am trying to decrease the amount of time spent in front of a computer, because it’s starting to become quite detrimental to my health, but at the moment it’s still quite significant.

Secondly is the fact that I adore gadgets. In the past I’ve been doing the tourist thing around a foreign city, only to interrupt it to go into a department store and check for new geek gadgets. Trawling eBay for old computer junk I find fun. I upgrade my computer in some way every 2 or 3 weeks (even when I’m otherwise broke). It’s a horrible addiction, and I love it.

Thirdly, and most importantly, I consider myself a geek because it allows me to be friends with a set of wonderful people, some of whom I only know through being a geek. I’ve met several people at a computer camp who are just pure awesome, and I consider it a privilege to know them. The people you meet are always the best part of life, and being a geek is no exception.

How to Study

In theory:

  1. Start up laptop.
  2. Make a cup of tea.
  3. Open a textbook.
  4. Read the textbook. Write notes.
  5. Google the **** out of anything that doesn’t make sense.
  6. After an hour or so, go to step 2. After 2 or 3 repetitions, go do something fun for a while.

Note how simple this seems.

In practise:

  1. Start up laptop.
  2. Make a cup of tea.
  3. Open a few textbooks and arrange them neatly on desk.
  4. Check email.
  5. Check Facebook.
  6. Check blog statistics.
  7. Go get another cup of tea, because the last one has gone cold.
  8. Go and sit on the deck for a bit.
  9. Water the garden.
  10. Unload the dishwasher.
  11. Take out the garbage.
  12. Check Facebook again.
  13. Clean bedroom floor.
  14. Go grocery shopping.
  15. Read Hack-a-Day.
  16. Read Wikipedia articles on things like DIN41612 connectors and VMEbus.
  17. Read the VMEbus specification. In full. Get bored.
  18. Go outside and sit in the sun again.
  19. Parents are home, go inside and look busy at your desk for a while.
  20. Write a blog post.
  21. Polish the dress shoes you haven’t worn in years.
  22. Make a catalogue of every single computer part you own.
  23. Consider building a new alarm clock for a while, then decide not to.
  24. Watch a season or two of Daria and/or Coupling.
  25. Watch every Star Wars movie in order to decide which is best.
  26. Purchase and install a new ADSL modem.
  27. Plant some chilli plants.
  28. Plan a holiday. Spend an annoyingly large sum of money on airfares.
  29. Realise the first exam is only a day away now.
  30. Study.

Ten Reasons I Like Writing With A Fountain Pen

  1. It’s shiny. Very shiny.
  2. The pen flows much more easily across the page. It just glides.
  3. You learn quickly not to chew on the end of it. Metal things are hard on the teeth.
  4. If you suck on the end, ink doesn’t go everywhere (though this is countered somewhat by the refilling process, which can cause ink to go all over your clothes if you do it wrong).
  5. There’s less waste. When the ink runs out, I can just refill it. All I have to buy is the ink, which comes in a glass bottle, which is recyclable. Beat that, ballpoint!
  6. It’ll last forever. It’s made of stainless steel and chrome. Unless I care for it very badly, it’ll outlast any other pen money can buy.
  7. It’s manly.
  8. It’s simple. I can understand all the parts. While I also understand all the parts in a computer and can tell you exactly what happens every time you hit a key on the keyboard, most people don’t. They could however have a good guess at how a fountain pen works (or a pencil, but hey, I don’t care about those).
  9. It impresses other people who like shiny things. I’m an egotistic bastard, and I like it when people are jealous of the things I have. A character flaw, but I don’t care.
  10. It just feels good.

My RSS Feeds

I thought it would be interesting to share some of the blogs and other websites that I’m a regular reader of. It’s quite surprising really that despite how much time I spend on the Internet, I follow very few blogs (I think) especially in comparison to other people I know.

Web Comics:

I only read two web comics, xkcd and Ctrl+Alt+Del. I’m fairly sure everybody on the Internet reads xkcd (and if you don’t, shame on you), so I won’t talk much about that. Ctrl+Alt+Del is a web comic I started reading back in 2007. I remember being in fits of laughter for about 3 days as I read the backlog. It follows the lives of three gaming-obsessed flatmates, Ethan, Lilah and Lucas. I feel quite a lot of empathy for the half-mad protagonist Ethan, so that may be why I read it. 😀

Personal Development:

There are two main blogs I follow in this area: Zen Habits and The Art of Manliness. Zen Habits is a simplicity-focused blog written by Leo Babauta. It focuses on topics mainly revolving around de-cluttering life, both physically and mentally (or spiritually). Seeing as I get stressed quite easily and have a huge desire for simplicity, this is one of my favourite blogs. My other favourite blog, the Art of Manliness (AoM) is centred around reviving ‘the lost art of manliness’. I’ve started doing all sorts of weird and wonderful things since I started reading this blog, such as shaving with a proper double-edged safety razor, write with a fountain pen, learn to tie some knots, get fitter, and so on. I’ve even started dressing better. The resident style guru is very helpful in balancing my innate laziness with style.

I used to read a lot more blogs in this area, such as Steve Pavlina’s blog and Puredoxyk’s blog, but I found the signal/noise ratio to be too high. I still check in with them every so often, just to see how they’re doing.

Personal Blogs:

The blog roll to the left contains a list of the personal blogs I follow, all of which (currently) are my personal friends. I won’t say much more, except that they’re all absolutely awesome, and much smarter and wittier than I.

And Just One More:

I wasn’t quite sure where to put it, but it just has to be included. PostSecret is a community-driven art blog where people write their deepest darkest secrets on a postcard and send it in to be published anonymously on the website. It’s thrilling stuff, and it serves as a wonderful reminder that absolutely everybody is simply human. Here’s one of my favourite secrets of all time. I can’t work out if it simply means what it says, or whether there is some hidden meaning… but it’s just beautiful.