My various employers, over the years, have made use of – and given me
opportunities to extend – my talents in the following areas:
Computing Languages.
In each context, several:
For products:
C (whose nuances I know in
detail), C++. ForTran and Lisp have had their
turns.
For tools:
Bourne and bash shell
scripts, make (particularly the GNU version,
with sed, grep and others in supporting
rôles), python, perl, ruby and
splashes of java
and pike. Previously csh, [gn]?awk and
DCL have all served. I take pride in having written perl which
others found easy to maintain and particular joy
in the toolspython has enabled
me to write.
For document preparation:
(X)HTML and its family, styled with CSS;
made dynamic by ECMAScript or generated dynamically using CGI; and illustrated
using SVG. I haven't yet entirely forgotten how to use TeX and its
family.
Operating Systems:
Linux at home since 1995 and at work since 2000;
previously, at work, most flavours of Unix, at one stage or another since
1991. Before even that, various DEC (VAX) workstations and mainframes running
DCL/VMS, with digressions for Cambridge's Phoenix in the 1980s and a pre-history
involving paper tape in the 1970s.
Communication:
I Listen. This has been a great asset in
learning my way round the various fields into which work has taken me. It
regularly helps in finding the best way to put an idea across to an
audience. This enables me to Explain even quite complex things to
those who wish to understand them.
Flexibility:
I adapt rapidly to new situations and areas of
work. Although I originally trained as a mathematician pursuing my interest in
theoretical physics, I have made my way in the world as a software
engineer. Along the way, as the need has arisen, I have developed extensive
skills ranging from teaching and document preparation to tool and interface
design.
In the mean time, I've written many tools for my colleagues to use and
learned how to make effective use of (and re-program) others they were using,
including RCS and CVS – which I aim to replace
with git as soon as I've learned
how to use it. My first language is English; I can also get by in Norwegian
– if those talking to me are gentle – and have been known to speak
fluent French, 'though I am severely out of practice. I also touch-type and
control emacs via spinal reflexes.
Written by Eddy.