Code

The Art of Coding

I would define programming as the art of coding.  And I enjoy coding and hacking in general, regardless of platform or application or language.  In fact I would myself language-agnostic for the most part.  Some languages, platforms and applications are more enjoyable to work on than others.  Some tasks take more time and effort to achieve depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the language and platform.  Still I do have some favourites in terms of programming:

Favourite Languages

  • Java: This is the language where I do most of my programming.
  • C: Nothing feels cleaner than a nice, elegant small application written in C, in my opinion.
  • Python: Probably the best scripting language invented by man.  Get past the white spaces and other oddities, and Python scripting is beautiful tool for anything from small system administration scripts to full fledged applications.
  • PHP: Not the most elegant of languages, but if you need a small to medium sized web application you can’t go wrong with PHP.

Favourite Platforms

  • Linux: This is my operating system of choice.  Contrary to popular believe, Linux is both a great OS for developers, and users.  High-end media artists might miss some professional tools, but most such prefer Mac OSX for a multitude of reasons.  As for specific distributions, I’ve gone from Mandrake (now Mandriva) to Red Hat to SuSE (pre-Novell) to Gentoo.  After the joys of Gentoo, I settled on Kubuntu since it seems the nicest and easiest distros with the largest selection of packages.
  • KDE 4: Ever since I started using KDE, I’ve enjoyed using this great desktop environment.  With the recent release of KDE 4, it has become one of the most usable and comfortable desktop environments to use.
  • Firefox: As a web application developer, the best tool for the job remains Firefox.  While I’m cheering on the WebKit crowd, I still find myself coming back to Firefox.  The extensions, the speed and the ubiquity of Firefox really makes it THE choice of web browsers.
  • Qt: Java is cool, no doubt.  But Qt looks like an awesome library, and it is on my high priorities of things to learn and master.

Favourite Tools

  • Eclipse: This is my IDE (integrated development environment) of choice, it is the sword that I use to conquerer my problems in Java.  And in my day-to-day job at least from a coding aspect.  As with any fully featured IDE, it can take some time to master.  But it is a great tool for a developer.
  • Qt Creator: This is the IDE for Qt programming, simple but powerful.
  • Vim: Ever developer who has embraced the one true operating system design of UNIX, has a favourite text editor.  Mine is Vim.  I use a text editor that only edits text, not one that also can do psychoanalysis, send e-mail, solve the Towers of Hanoi problem and potentially be scripted to control the world’s entire nuclear weapons arsenal.  Nope.  Mine can do text and only text.
  • Subversion: Subversion is not the most elegant revision control system invented by man.  But its the one I use, cause my brain hasn’t assimilated the notions of how to run bazaar, GIT or mercurial.  And CVS is a nasty tool.

Coding Projects

As an geek/computer enthusiast, I will on occasion code on the side.  Below are the projects I’m involved with or plan on being involved with in the near future.

In Progress:

  • justCheckers – An advanced checkers game written in Java.

Planned:

  • TaskNomad – A GTD (Getting-Thing-Done) for Symbian smartphones and Maemo Internet Tablets.  Syncs with TaskFreak! instances and programmed in Qt.
  • KDE 4 – Planning on hacking on my favourite applications and possibly helping out with the KDE Games team.

Portfolio & Snippets

[TODO: Build this out.]

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