Ask me anything: the answers

[pne]

I had an "ask me anything" poll a while back. Here are my answers.

If you haven't "voted" yet and want to ask me something (either anonymously or with name given), then feel free to comment on this post, that one, or fill out the poll.

Since all those who filled out the poll said I could use their name in a public entry, I'll say who asked what.

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timwi asks, "What is (to you) the most interesting thing you have ever programmed?"

I'm not sure. Maybe it was my RFC1086 simulator which I wrote for work so that I could test something that was supposed to run on hardware we didn't have yet. It was my first encounter with threaded programming.

I gave a talk about it at YAPC::Europe last year; my slides are available online.

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bride asks, "How did you meet Stella? How did you propse? Tell us about your wedding. =)"

That's a fairly long story and I think it'll have to wait until I write an entire entry about it. Poke me if I haven't done so in a reasonable timeframe.

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karen2205 writes, "Religion - from reading your entries I sometimes get the impression that you might be very devout, but other things make me think that that can't be right."

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (official Internet site, official information page for those wanting to read about it); many people call us "Mormons".

I was born into this church and it's fair to say it has a big influence in my life. I also served as a missionary for two years, telling people about the Church and the gospel in Greece and Cyprus for two years when I was 20. I have two callings in my local unit (ward): I teach the priesthood class once a month and I'm in the Elders Quorum presidency (so I'm partly responsible for most men over the age of 18).

Despite that, I'm not completely convinced that the church is true (in church terms, I "don't have a firm testimony" of all things), though I would like to know for sure one way or another. (But not enough, so far, to actually do what is required.) But I think that it makes sense, for the most part, which is comforting.

I do tend to try to live by its precepts, on the whole. I'm a bit curious what sort of things make you think that "that can't be right"?

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nik_w asks, "If you could only speak one language for the rest of your life, what would it be (irrespective of convenience - i.e. I'd speak this because X only speaks this)?"

That was an interesting question, and one that puzzled me a bit.

I've read that all languages are equally expressive, in the sense that what you can express in one language, you can express in other languages, too (though you may need more words for it), so I'm not sure whether any language inherently has an advantage over another one.

The most obvious "advantages" to me are utility and aesthetics/interest; from the point of view of utility, I think that English provides the most benefit in the current world. As for aesthetics (the language feels "elegant" for some reason) or interest (it has features that not many others have and that I think are nifty), I'm not sure which I'd choose. I don't think I've come across any feature so far in a language that made me want to speak that language in order to have access to that feature.

Comments

[timwi.livejournal.com]

I found your slides entertaining. :) Even though I don't really like programming threads.

My RFC1086 talk slides

[pne.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

It was an interesting time making them; it's the first time I've given such a presentation before. And also the first time I made slides, for that matter.

(I chose HTML since I didn't have a laptop of my own and figured that would be a good lowest common denominator that should run on pretty much anything I would borrow. Also because I have no practice with any presentation software.

I've also seen people use Adobe Acrobat for presentations, though, which is probably also a cross-platform way to do it.)

[bride.livejournal.com]

That's a fairly long story and I think it'll have to wait until I write an entire entry about it. Poke me if I haven't done so in a reasonable timeframe.

*cough*COP*cough*OUT* =D =D =D kidding. Yes, I'll poke you about it =)

[karen2205]

Just some assumptions I'd made - you once said you knew nou and uon through London.pm, and I get the impression (and I might be very wrong here) that their moral values would be very different from those of the church.

I'd also never really thought of geekery as compatible with Christianity, but I'm not sure why I thought that; perhaps it's something I'd just never really considered before, or perhaps secularism is the 'norm' for the geeks I know.....

Recently I've heard rather a lot of negative things about people calling themselves 'Mormons' in America eg. 'marriages' of kids aged twelve, poor treatment of women, people being prevented from leaving the community etc, but I'm guessing groups like that are very much on the fringes, giving the rest of you a bad name....?

I've been a highly confused Christian for a number of years - I've never been able to reconcile 'turn the other cheek' with 'fighting just wars' or to accept the creation story as fact. Not to mention the usual 'why do people die early?' with 'God loves us all'.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Just some assumptions I'd made - you once said you knew nou and uon through London.pm, and I get the impression (and I might be very wrong here) that their moral values would be very different from those of the church.

I don't know them well enough to be able to comment, but I gather that at least uon is polyamorous, which I would not expect from a member of the church, true.

However, the church doesn't tell us not to associate with people who don't hold the same moral standards as we (otherwise we might not be able to talk to very many people... probably not even ourselves unless we're perfect), so I didn't see this as a problem.

(We are counselled to be wise in selecting those whom we associate with, true, since this can affect how we act ourselves and how we are influenced.)

I'd also never really thought of geekery as compatible with Christianity, but I'm not sure why I thought that; perhaps it's something I'd just never really considered before, or perhaps secularism is the 'norm' for the geeks I know.....

I think you're probably right; I'm also under the impression that geeks as a whole tend to be atheists, agnostic, or (if religious) pagan/Wiccan/something along those lines. (Apologies if I've put things together that are very different.)

Hence it surprised me a little to learn, for example, that Simon Cozens is a devout Christian who is planning on serving a mission.

Recently I've heard rather a lot of negative things about people calling themselves 'Mormons' in America eg. 'marriages' of kids aged twelve, poor treatment of women, people being prevented from leaving the community etc, but I'm guessing groups like that are very much on the fringes, giving the rest of you a bad name....?

Yes. (And also plural marriages, which used to be practised in the church but have not been allowed for over 100 years now; there are still groups that practise this, however, but they are not part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)

[karen2205]

However, the church doesn't tell us not to associate with people who don't hold the same moral standards as we (otherwise we might not be able to talk to very many people... probably not even ourselves unless we're perfect), so I didn't see this as a problem.

Ah OK - I guess I'm just used to conservative Christians (ie the people I know through Guiding) who wouldn't countenance friendship with those who have 'alternative' lifestyles - and that's not through a teaching of the church (C of E), but though their own moral beliefs/blinkeredness about what's right and what's not.

I think you're probably right; I'm also under the impression that geeks as a whole tend to be atheists, agnostic, or (if religious) pagan/Wiccan/something along those lines. (Apologies if I've put things together that are very different.)

And very sure in their views cf. hsenag.

Hence it surprised me a little to learn, for example, that Simon Cozens is a devout Christian who is planning on serving a mission.

This had me questioning #keble (one of the OxIRC channels) last night. I'm sure I've heard of Simon, but I can't recall which context - it may have been that someone pointed me to something he'd written about perl (which I've not yet had a chance to read - I'm at the stage of 'what's a literal?')

Simon Cozens, aka lathos

[pne.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I've heard of Simon, but I can't recall which context - it may have been that someone pointed me to something he'd written about perl

Quite possibly; I think he's written at least one book about Perl and co-authored another (and also worked on bits and pieces of the core Perl code and, later, parrot for a while).

OTOH, he went (goes?) to Oxford, so you may have heard of him in a non-Perl context as well.

[bride.livejournal.com]

Heya! =)

How did you meet Stella? How did you propse? Tell us about your wedding.

=D

How did you meet Stella?

[pne.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/pne/169081.html

Re: How did you meet Stella?

[pne.livejournal.com]

I just realised that the bit on our reception is missing.

I'll leave that for another day.