From: Chad Perrin <perrin@...>
Date: 2007-07-18T18:54:14+09:00
Subject: Re: Taking the bull by its horns [was background]

On Tue, Jul 17, 2007 at 10:26:45PM +0900, Robert Dober wrote:
> Ok I'll put my cards on the table

Okay, here goes . . .

32yo Male, Colorado

Counting only languages in which I could ever do more than "Hello World",
this is my programming linguistic background (in chronological order):
  Atari BASIC
  QBASIC
  C/C++
  Logo
  DOS batch files (shouldn't really count, but what the heck)
  JavaScript
  Visual C++ (distinct from C/C++, really) and Visual Basic (ditto for
BASIC)
  Perl
  PHP
  Java, Object Pascal (Delphi), and Objective C, in no particular order
  Python and bash, roughly simultaneously
  Ruby
  Logo again -- UCBLogo to be specific
  OCaml
  tcsh
  C again

Some of those I couldn't do *much* more than "Hello World".  In no
particular order, these are languages in which I could and/or can "get
by" if I had/have to:
  C
  UCBLogo
  DOS batch files
  Object Pascal (Delphi)
  bash
  Ruby
  tcsh

These are the languages in which I could/can actually claim some real
competence:
  JavaScript
  Perl
  PHP
. . . though I'm getting awfully close with Ruby.  Looking at that
(somewhat sad) list of three languages, these are all languages for which
I get paid currently, and have for a while.  Of them, Perl is the only
one I really like.

In no particular order, languages I really like from the first list:
  UCBLogo
  Perl
  Objective C
  Ruby
  OCaml

Those languages that are like a poker in the eye for me:
  any BASIC
  C++
  DOS batch files
  Visual $foo
  PHP
  Java
  Python (yes, really)

My work, at present, consists mostly of industry and technology analysis
and consulting, web development, small business disaster recovery, and
writing.  I guess things are at this point leaning toward increasing the
writing slice of the pie at the expense of the rest of it, and coding
more and more often on projects I like rather than those that I "need" to
pay the bills (since writing takes up the slack).

The professional writing I do is, of course, technology related -- at the
moment, increasingly oriented toward security-related topics.  I wouldn't
be surprised if I ended up finding vulnerabilities for a living, at the
rate I'm going.  Ruby strikes me as an excellent tool toward that end.
It's also heaps of fun to use.

Did I cover everything?  I might have forgotten a language or two along
the way.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
John Kenneth Galbraith: "If all else fails, immortality can always be
assured through spectacular error."