My Self

I Program

“I code, therefore, I am.”

Writing software is another way I create.

I Program in Several Languages

Over my professional programming career, and even before it, I programmed software in a wide variety of languages, applications and environments, over a very long span of time. Punch cards? I still have a box of them in storage.

Languages

The programming languages I particularly remember were (or still use) are:

• BASIC — In which I translated a IBM 1620 FORTRAN program to play 3D Tic-Tac-Toe while still in college.
• C — The original low-level C programming language before Bjarne Stroustrup shoe-horned high-level object oriented structure into it (and insisted the resulting C++ language and the original C be as compatible as possible.)
• FORTRAN — The workhorse of scientific computing when I first learned programming.
• Java — I worked with it in the past and I’m investigating Android programming for the future.
• Pascal — The alternative to FORTRAN back in the day.
• PHP / JavaScript / jQuery / JSON / Ajax — What I’m working with right now in developing WordPress plugins and templates.
• SQL — Yes, SQL is a database specification but it is still a language in its own right with procedures and functions and can benefit from the application of proper programming principles.

Applications

These are just some of the applications I wrote in my professional and personal programming career:

• MediaWiki modules and WordPress plugins and templates. In between jobs, I work to expand my knowledge of software and programming, now concentrating on web-based platforms. In this instance, I wanted to include certain applications and capacities in a number of websites I was creating at the time, and since I could not find the modules or plugins to provide the functionality I wanted, I decided to write them. These included supervisor modules in MediaWiki to aid in securing the Wiki website and WordPress plugins and themes to expand functionality in more than one website I was developing at the time.
• Data transport software. I wrote the software to query the engineering database for all release orders regarding new, modified or deleted parts and translate and transfer the information to update the ordering databases at the various productions plants across the world when I was in a contact position at Navistar / International. This suite of software, including the primary software and an additional validation program, was written entirely in C and SQL.
• Paper roll production control software. I worked on a contact job for Appleton Paper in Appleton, Wisconsin. Source paper rolls were cut down into smaller and narrower rolls according to orders which were noted on a display screen for the production operator. This software was crucial because it instructed the operator how to set up the cutting machine according to how another program arranged the cuts to maximize efficiency. This software written in DEC C and SQL and used a number of DEC software packages.
• Test software. I wrote the overall test suite for the GOES (Geostationary Orbiting Earth Satellite) optics system for system testing after every hardware change, and the visible and IR sensor calibration test suite when I was working at ITT Aerospace / Optical. They had the sub-contract to develop the optics for the next generation of weather satellite for the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration. Furthermore, when it was discovered that certain parts did not operate to advertised specifications, the whole overall test suite had to be completely revised to account for changes in the operational timing, and since the engineer who wrote the test specifications retired, I rewrote the specifications myself. Both of these suites were developed in Pascal for the DEC VAX 780. (Data crunching, a lot of it, a lot of data and a lot of crunching.)
• Real-time system operation software. I wrote the program documentation and most of the actual software for a project involving monitoring radio channels, involving controlling the master radio scanning the environment and programming the hand-off receivers to monitor the radio intercepts. This was a real-time, interrupt-driven system with a very heavy emphasis on speed and timing. The software was written for a DEC RSX-11/M+ minicomputer.