Since I'm fairly new to this list and I've already posted a couple of items, I figured it would be it might be couteous to introduce myself a little. I'm hoping this might encourage others to do the same.  It might give readers an idea of the people involved in this list, their backgrounds, and the influence their ideas may have on the D language.  I know who Walter is, of course :-).

From what I can see, there are  people from both academica and industry involved here.  Perhaps quite a few novices to programming/computer science also exist.  Historically, I believe, academia and industry have been somewhat at odds as to what programming methods/languages are used for best practice in various situations.  An example perhaps would be academia's strong support for functional languages, and industry programmer's general repugnance of those languages types.  It would be useful therefore to see the backgrounds of people on this list, not to start a war, but to see the influences and interest.  My involvement is quite benign as I don't classify as either of these groups.  Walter, it seems, would classify as an industry level language designer, who seems to implement language features that are from the a very practical experience point of view.  Naturally, a lot of ideas are shared by both groups.

My introduciton:

Age:      27

Occupation:
    Paramedic (believe it or not; and don't really know how it happened :-)

Country:
    Canada

Studies:
    Part time student in Electronics Engineering degree program
    1 year of computer science (which amounts to not much I'm afraid)

Background:

I've been interested in computers and languages probably for 12 years, programming off and on during that time. Initially learning BASIC and 6502 assembler on the C64 at 15,  I went on to study and use C at the age of 17 and programmed several "small" projects and libraries.  I'm certainly far from obtaining any "expert" level of knowledge or experience despite that amount of time (since it has never been a profession for me).  Nonetheless I've studied independently several languages, including several in the imperative, functional, and OO language paradigms.  I'm currently enjoying applying programming ideas to electronics circuit design and analysis, albeit at a fairly trivial level.  I also enjoy math and its application in computer languages.  Add to that a dream to learn compiler and OS design techniques, with a touch of 3D graphics :-) (dream on).

If anyone is brave enough as I am to offer some sort of introductory piece, I think many would appreciate it and find it interesting.  There appears to be a lot of bright minds on here with experience enough to easily render mine embarassing :-).

Thanks,

John

John Reimer wrote:
> Since I'm fairly new to this list and I've already posted a couple of items,
> I figured it would be it might be couteous to introduce myself a little.
> I'm hoping this might encourage others to do the same.  It might give
> readers an idea of the people involved in this list, their backgrounds, and
> the influence their ideas may have on the D language.  I know who Walter is,
> of course :-).
> 
> From what I can see, there are  people from both academica and industry
> involved here.  Perhaps quite a few novices to programming/computer science
> also exist.  Historically, I believe, academia and industry have been
> somewhat at odds as to what programming methods/languages are used for best
> practice in various situations.  An example perhaps would be academia's
> strong support for functional languages, and industry programmer's general
> repugnance of those languages types.  It would be useful therefore to see
> the backgrounds of people on this list, not to start a war, but to see the
> influences and interest.  My involvement is quite benign as I don't classify
> as either of these groups.  Walter, it seems, would classify as an industry
> level language designer, who seems to implement language features that are
> from the a very practical experience point of view.  Naturally, a lot of
> ideas are shared by both groups.
> 
> My introduciton:
> 
> Age:      27
> 
> Occupation:
>     Paramedic (believe it or not; and don't really know how it happened :-)
> 
> Country:
>     Canada
> 
> Studies:
>     Part time student in Electronics Engineering degree program
>     1 year of computer science (which amounts to not much I'm afraid)
> 
> Background:
> 
> I've been interested in computers and languages probably for 12 years,
> programming off and on during that time. Initially learning BASIC and 6502
> assembler on the C64 at 15,  I went on to study and use C at the age of 17
> and programmed several "small" projects and libraries.  I'm certainly far
> from obtaining any "expert" level of knowledge or experience despite that
> amount of time (since it has never been a profession for me).  Nonetheless
> I've studied independently several languages, including several in the
> imperative, functional, and OO language paradigms.  I'm currently enjoying
> applying programming ideas to electronics circuit design and analysis,
> albeit at a fairly trivial level.  I also enjoy math and its application in
> computer languages.  Add to that a dream to learn compiler and OS design
> techniques, with a touch of 3D graphics :-) (dream on).
> 
> If anyone is brave enough as I am to offer some sort of introductory piece,
> I think many would appreciate it and find it interesting.  There appears to
> be a lot of bright minds on here with experience enough to easily render
> mine embarassing :-).
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> John
> 
> 

Sure.

Age: 39

Current residence: Chapel Hill, NC

Studies: B.S. EECS UC Berkeley, 1986

Job history:

Lockheed Martin, Fortran programmer 1981-1982 (I don't normally list it, but I mentioned it earlier)

National Semiconductor analog group 1986-1988, motion controller work

HP cpu design group (PN-10, Spectrum processor) 1988-1989, mostly verification

QuickLogic 1990-1996.  Place and route algorithms, etc.

Synplicity 1996-1999.  Synthesis algorithms, specifically tech-mapping and schematic generation

1999-present.  CTO and founder of a small struggling company, ViASIC. We're still here after 2002, so we must be doing something right. Focused on high-end ASIC router and one-mask gate arrays and tools.

Languages have been a hobby of mine since high school.  Wrote a Forth interpeter in 1983.  A Prolog interprete in 1985 (in Lisp, like all the rest of us).  A Scheme interpreter in 1986.  Another Scheme interpreter for QuickLogic in 1992.  A Basic interpreter for QuickLogic in 1993 (to replace Scheme... FPGA designers hated it).  A custom language compiler (translator to C) so the TymeNet guys at MCI could use it to verify a new implementation of their server software.  Most receintly, a nice little compiler for a simple language to test out combinations of things I've wanted for a while.  Also wrote first version of DataDraw, a code generator mostly used for adding OO programming to C in a manner more consistent with design needs in EDA.

Bill

Thanks Bill,

Great writeup.  As far as language interpreters go, the most I ever did was a 6510 simulator/emulator in C++ for windows (a fairly simple endeavor compared to real languages).  It was to be part of a OOP designed computer emulator that never came into fruition due to my getting overwelmed with some complicated C++ semantics (ie, I couldn't figure out how to implement certain features in OOP). I think it was too big of a project for me as a C++ novice.  Part of my problem was the design, which goes to show how important that step is.  I was still happy about the partial success and the fact that it actually worked :-).

Thanks for the intro,

John

Hello John..

Thanks for the introduction. I usually like to do this type of thing but I am also quite new to the list and I hadn't got to it.. Anyway.

My name is Ben Woodhead.
Age 26
Location: Ontario, Canada (resently moved from PEI).

Started programming at age 13 when I wrote a BBS game called Vampire for my BBS. The programming language i used was pascal, I stopped that after about 2 or 3 years, mostly when the internet became a big thing.

I went to Holland College in PEI to study Business Application Programming, there I spent time learning Power Builder and Higher languages like that. I ended up spending a lot of time working on a vax and later became an System Adminstrator for various machines such as Linux, Vax, Sun or HP unix, VOS, PDP11 and what ever else you can think of.

After that I spent some time adminining Linux servers and developing web apps for goverment projects. I am still developing web apps to keep some money coming in while I devote time to my real goal. The one thing that has been on my mind since I started in computer and the reason I moved half way accross canada. To become a game developer.

So I am taking courses from the game institute and evaluating D for game engine development. There are a lot of advantages to using D, but early adopting usually means pain, and I am already getting some of that converting gluts header files to do some testing..

Thats it, thats all.
Later, Ben

ps. Karate is the other big think.

Hey everybody,

Nice to meet you!

I'm Jon Andrew (pretty obvious!)
Age: 20
Location: Tucson AZ

Started programming when I took a high school class in QBASIC, mostly fun graphics programs and using "BEEP", "SOUND", and "PLAY" to annoy the teacher. =)

Went on to learn Visual Basic, C, and microcontroller assembly on things
like PICs, currently trying to wrap up my degree in computer engineering at
UofA, and avoid being brainwashed by the OOP-nazis in the CS department!
I'm a student admin on some solaris and windows machines in the lab, mostly
solaris though, which sadly cuts down on a lot of time I have to play with D at
work, so I spend a lot of time lurking around here, trying not to embarass
myself too badly.

I was helping out with the GCC front-end project for a while, but unfortunately the other guys working on the project got really busy, and my knowledge about compilers is too limited to really get much done by myself. I think its a great goal though, and I look forward to helping out again when things pick up again.

Nice to meet you guys!
-Jon

I'm Sean Palmer, I'm 33 years old, and I'm a Lead Technical Programmer here in L.A. at Treyarch, a subdivision of Activision.  I make video games for home consoles.  Been in the games industry for about 6 years now.  Mostly self-taught.

I've been programming since I was 13, BASIC/6502 stuff for a few years, then Pascal, 80x86,  then C, C++.  Tinkered with many other languages.

The extent of my language design experience has been writing a C-like script language in Pascal for a Win16 terminal emulator software called Telix.  I made a enhanced version of it for the Win32 version in C++ that never shipped (M$ started giving away Internet Explorer for free and the bottom fell out of the market).  I've done a lot of partial designs though. Bringing them full-term is painful in a non-GC strongly typed language with weak runtime libraries like C++.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!  ;)

Sean

Jonathan Andrew wrote:

> I'm Jon Andrew (pretty obvious!)
> Age: 20
> Location: Tucson AZ

Cool!  I'm Russ Lewis.
Age: 25
Location: Tucson, AZ

BS, Computer Engineering, U of Arizona
Currently: Computer Programmer for IBM

I'm interested in almost all things to do with computers.  My work is currently on what we call "MidRange Storage," which means both file and block storage (i.e. both NAS and SAN) in the midmarket (just below enterprise).

However, personally, I love to work on far more than that and hope, someday, to be working for IBM Research.

> Went on to learn Visual Basic, C, and microcontroller assembly on things
> like PICs, currently trying to wrap up my degree in computer engineering at
> UofA, and avoid being brainwashed by the OOP-nazis in the CS department!
> I'm a student admin on some solaris and windows machines in the lab, mostly
> solaris though, which sadly cuts down on a lot of time I have to play with D at
> work, so I spend a lot of time lurking around here, trying not to embarass
> myself too badly.

The lab in Gould-Simpson, then?  Or a different one?

> I was helping out with the GCC front-end project for a while, but unfortunately the other guys working on the project got really busy, and my knowledge about compilers is too limited to really get much done by myself. I think its a great goal though, and I look forward to helping out again when things pick up again.

I wonder how hard it would be to port DLI to Solaris.  I haven't tried, but it would be interesting...

--
The Villagers are Online! http://villagersonline.com

.[ (the fox.(quick,brown)) jumped.over(the dog.lazy) ]
.[ (a version.of(English).(precise.more)) is(possible) ]
?[ you want.to(help(develop(it))) ]

In article <3E709CF9.5D3082FF@deming-os.org>, Russ Lewis says...
>
>Jonathan Andrew wrote:
>
>> I'm Jon Andrew (pretty obvious!)
>> Age: 20
>> Location: Tucson AZ
>
>Cool!  I'm Russ Lewis.
>Age: 25
>Location: Tucson, AZ
>
>BS, Computer Engineering, U of Arizona
>Currently: Computer Programmer for IBM
>
>I'm interested in almost all things to do with computers.  My work is currently on what we call "MidRange Storage," which means both file and block storage (i.e. both NAS and SAN) in the midmarket (just below enterprise).
>
>However, personally, I love to work on far more than that and hope, someday, to be working for IBM Research.
>
>> Went on to learn Visual Basic, C, and microcontroller assembly on things
>> like PICs, currently trying to wrap up my degree in computer engineering at
>> UofA, and avoid being brainwashed by the OOP-nazis in the CS department!
>> I'm a student admin on some solaris and windows machines in the lab, mostly
>> solaris though, which sadly cuts down on a lot of time I have to play with D at
>> work, so I spend a lot of time lurking around here, trying not to embarass
>> myself too badly.
>
>The lab in Gould-Simpson, then?  Or a different one?
>

No actually I'm the guy in room 206C at ECE, I've probably changed out paper for you once or twice, depending on when you graduated. Stop by sometime and we can chat! Nice to know there are some fellow UofA'ers in here!

>> I was helping out with the GCC front-end project for a while, but unfortunately the other guys working on the project got really busy, and my knowledge about compilers is too limited to really get much done by myself. I think its a great goal though, and I look forward to helping out again when things pick up again.
>
>I wonder how hard it would be to port DLI to Solaris.  I haven't tried, but it would be interesting...
>
>--
>The Villagers are Online! http://villagersonline.com
>
>.[ (the fox.(quick,brown)) jumped.over(the dog.lazy) ]
>.[ (a version.of(English).(precise.more)) is(possible) ]
>?[ you want.to(help(develop(it))) ]
>
>

> My name is Ben Woodhead.
> Age 26
> Location: Ontario, Canada (resently moved from PEI).
>

Ah ha, another Canadian.  I knew they'd be around here somewhere.  Nice to know :-).

> I went to Holland College in PEI to study Business Application
Programming,
> there I spent time learning Power Builder and Higher languages like that.
I
> ended up spending a lot of time working on a vax and later became an
System
> Adminstrator for various machines such as Linux, Vax, Sun or HP unix, VOS, PDP11 and what ever else you can think of.

Wow! They even had the old PDP11 there? As for the Vax system, I've played with it during my college days too.  I didn't like it at all :-P.  Not from the user point of view anyway.

> After that I spent some time adminining Linux servers and developing web apps for goverment projects. I am still developing web apps to keep some money coming in while I devote time to my real goal. The one thing that
has
> been on my mind since I started in computer and the reason I moved half
way
> accross canada. To become a game developer.

Yeah, there is something alluring about game development; don't know what it is ;-).  I wish you the best in that endeavor.

> So I am taking courses from the game institute and evaluating D for game engine development. There are a lot of advantages to using D, but early adopting usually means pain, and I am already getting some of that converting gluts header files to do some testing..

Well, D really appears to have plenty of potential in those areas too.  But as you say, there are still the growing pains due to the newness of the language.

Thanks for responding,

John

> Started programming when I took a high school class in QBASIC, mostly fun graphics programs and using "BEEP", "SOUND", and "PLAY" to annoy the teacher. =)
>

Heh, heh. That's one way to do it :-)

> I'm a student admin on some solaris and windows machines in the lab,
mostly
> solaris though, which sadly cuts down on a lot of time I have to play with
D at
> work, so I spend a lot of time lurking around here, trying not to embarass myself too badly.

Now I can identify with that statement, except I haven't figured how not to embarass myself without blocking all outgoing emails ;-).  I figure as long as I have genuine questions, stupid or not, they're worth asking (well, as long as I've tried doing my share of the research first, of course).

>
> I was helping out with the GCC front-end project for a while, but
unfortunately
> the other guys working on the project got really busy, and my knowledge
about
> compilers is too limited to really get much done by myself. I think its a
great
> goal though, and I look forward to helping out again when things pick up
again.
>

Wow that's a noble attempt, nonetheless.

Compiler/Interpreter/VM design and implementation have always fascinated me...but they certainly are complicated beasts and require a fairly intense and careful study.  I have a couple quality books on the subject, and I will likely take the advice of a knowledgable reader on this list and right a good, simple interpreter sometime for an educational experience.

Thanks for the intro.

John