New User Introduction for ElCodeMonkey

[ElCodeMonkey]

Hey everyone. I'm obviously new to this forum and there's a LOT of stuff here. I couldn't begin to know where to start or to even contribute. I plan to raise a TON of things that could be discussed in just this little introduction.

A little about me... I used to be a completely obsessed-with-God Jesus Freak. I took the term "Jesus Freak" quite dearly and embraced it. I was leader of a praise band in Campus Crusade for Christ, leader of many different Bible Studies, and truly believed everything without the shadow of a doubt. There's obviously no way to "convince" anyone that I was "truly" Christian, but for arguments sake, let's just assume I was . I actually quit college in my Junior year to be a missionary. Things didn't work out and I went back to school a year and a half later and finished my degree in Computer Science.

I don't believe in God for many different reasons though I would absolutely love to believe in Him again. I remember the times being quite filled with joy, purpose, belonging, etc. The only problem now, is I'm far too convinced that everything you "feel" is not enough reason to believe. That was always the problem I had with other denominations (such as Mormonism). I would point out a glaring contradiction in the book of Mormon and their response was always, "Huh... I don't know... But I FEEL......" I'm not interested in feelings, I'm interested in facts. Feelings can be faked and you can even be fooled by yourself and your own feelings.

The logic of an all-loving God and an all-powerful God doesn't work in my mind. This is just one issue of many. I have a son. I love him. I would prevent a bully from poking his eyes out because I love him. If he had to say, "Daddy's a phony" to get out of it 'cause I wasn't there or something, I wouldn't hold it against him. But certainly if I'm all-knowing and all-powerful, I would prevent it from happening and I would feel no joy at all from him "sticking to his guns" and not denouncing me if it meant poking his eyes out.

I don't want to bore people so I'll stop there and anyone can comment on anything. Keep in mind that I am insanely open to anything so long as logical facts can make me believe. I am very learned in this area as I used to be huge into apologetics. So don't think for a second that it might be easy . I hope to have a good time discussing stuff without having a zealot know-it-all telling me that I'm an idiot, etc. Don't tell me how I think and feel. Only I know that. Thanks!

[otseng]

Welcome to the forum ElCodeMonkey and thanks for sharing a little bit about yourself. What kind of code monkey are you?

[ElCodeMonkey]

Mostly Python and C/C++. I do enjoy most any language though. My only problem is I can never really find anything worthwhile to program :-p. Are you a Code Monkey as well then?

[Fallibleone]

Hi, ElCodeMonkey. Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your introduction - I enjoyed reading it. I'm looking forward to reading some more of your posts.

[McCulloch]

Mostly Python and C/C++. I do enjoy most any language though. My only problem is I can never really find anything worthwhile to program :-p. Are you a Code Monkey as well then?

Welcome ElCodeMonkey

I do SQL and C# mainly. C# is not my choice, but my employer's.

[ElCodeMonkey]

I've never touched C#. Is it similar to C/C++? Is your job any more fun than mine? . Pay well? I could use something that actually UTILIZES my programming abilities

[McCulloch]

I've never touched C#. Is it similar to C/C++? Is your job any more fun than mine? . Pay well? I could use something that actually UTILIZES my programming abilities

C# is very close to C++. It's syntax is almost the same, it has a procedural, object-oriented syntax based on C++. The main difference, as I see it, is that it was built to use the CLR (common language runtime) from Microsoft at its core.

C# differs from C and C++ in a few ways, including:

• There are no global variables or functions. All methods and members must be declared within classes.
• There is no variable shadowing
• C# supports a strict boolean type, bool. Statements that take conditions, such as while and if, require an expression of a boolean type. While C++ also has a boolean type, it can be freely converted to and from integers, and expressions such as if(a) require only that a is convertible to bool, allowing a to be an int, or a pointer. C# disallows this 'integer meaning true or false' approach on the grounds that forcing programmers to use expressions that return exactly bool prevents certain types of programming mistakes.
• In C#, memory address pointers is strongly discouraged.
• Managed memory cannot be explicitly freed, but is automatically garbage collected. Garbage collection addresses memory leaks.
• C# is more typesafe than C++. The only implicit conversions by default are safe conversions, such as widening of integers and conversion from a derived type to a base type. There are no implicit conversions between booleans and integers and between enumeration members and integers, and any user-defined conversion must be explicitly marked as explicit or implicit, unlike C++ copy constructors (which are implicit by default) and conversion operators (which are always implicit).
• Enumeration members are placed in their own namespace.
• Accessors called properties can be used to modify an object with syntax that resembles C++ member field access. In C++, declaring a member public enables both reading and writing to that member, and accessor methods must be used if more fine-grained control is needed. In C#, properties allow control over member access and data validation.

[ElCodeMonkey]

Wow. I totally don't like C# then :-p. I can see it being useful for preventing mistakes and stuff but I see it making things far more complex than necessary. That's what I like about python. If you're a good troubleshooter, who needs rules? . Ever use python before? I absolutely love that I can have lists with different types in them. [1, 2, "item 3", {4 : "this is item 4}, [5, 5, 5], 6]. And the loops! Love the loops. For (item1, item2) in pairedItemList:. Great stuff . Is your job just as entertaining as mine in that you're in the forums right now, or are you actually not working?

[McCulloch]

You might appreciate it more if you were working in a team where you might have to update and modify someone else's code from a few year's back. Fun is not fixing someone else's undocumented spaghetti code. It really does not prevent you from doing anything except what you probably should not be doing in the first place. Besides, don't you just hate trying to find the memory leak in a large app?

If you're a good troubleshooter, who needs rules?

You need rules. If your compiler does not make them, then your team will (or should). Either that, or everything you do is once only throw away code.

Ever use python before?

No.

I absolutely love that I can have lists with different types in them. [1, 2, "item 3", {4 : "this is item 4}, [5, 5, 5], 6].

Sounds a bit like Lotus Notes. Very unstructured.

I won't defend C# too much. It gets the job done.

And the loops! Love the loops.

for and foreach.

Is your job just as entertaining as mine in that you're in the forums right now, or are you actually not working?

I take little breaks. Waiting for French translation. Have you ever had to work on multilingual web applications?

[ElCodeMonkey]

Notably, I was joking about the rules thing . Kinda.... Heh heh

Have you ever had to work on multilingual web applications?

Nope. Never actually worked on any web applications other than my own personal webpage made soly of HTML and JavaScript . Yo hablo espanol. Mai Je ne'parle pas francais.