I've long wanted to start a thread like this. Or even more, I've long wanted somebody to start a thread like this - because I'm more of a lurker than a poster (child). Well nobody ever did. So here it is:

The IT People Corner Club

I've noticed quite a while ago that there's quite some population of developers, administrators, hobbyists and whatever people connected with computer jobs around here. Some even have made awesome contributions to the community, like MRKGNAO with the priceless MaGog, and ADALIABOOKS and BAREFOOT_MONKEY with their invaluable "Essentials".
Some people like JEFEQUESO even develop their own games and have them distributed, if not here, then through Steam and other services.

The first and foremost purpose is to... chat. Over a beverage of your choice, because we are from different countries and different cultures. The second purpose is - to connect! I mean, we all try to bend these machines to or will, right? Let's share or experiences and problems!
And finally - you're looking for help with some particularly nasty problem? Don't be afraid to ask! You're probably not the first to encounter it!

So, that said, here some rules:
- You're encouraged, but not required, to reveal some background:

I've done mostly web development and can help you with:
ASP.NET MVC, Entinity Framework, MS-SQL Sever, PHP, MySQL Zend Framework, HTML, JavaScript, Node.js, MongoDB, Knockout.js, jQuery, MongoDB, CSS (within limits), Web application architecture, database design, (big) data analysis, and probably a lot of other stuff (punching code since 1988...).
Not that hard, right?

- You're free to ask:
Why the hell can't I connect to my (running SQL Server) remotely after I installed windows updates. (that's what kept me up this late, and yes, I solved it..., barely. SSH Daemon connection is still refusing to work.).
Or you can ask anything else.

- No code dropping. If you want to show gratitude, do it personally - chat/pm.

- Monty Python jokes are encouraged. As all all other "nerd" jokes

- Please no battles about "better" languages, OSses, whatever. No nHibernate vs EF, Java vs .NET, CouchDB vs MongoDB. We're professionals (or interested amateurs). The choice of tools is often enough limited by our client's need. No need to argue about it.

- Venting is okay. Indeed encouraged. Mind your NDAs though...

And finally:

I've mainly worked with C# and vba, and am currently making games using Gamemaker (did in XNA before). Use to do a lot of game jams, but since I started woking in it full time, they've become less fun. I dabbled in this and that. Worked in data analysis and database administration before.

But my hobby at the moment is esoteric programming. Brainfuck and befunge are two of my favourites. I've also started looking at obfuscated code contests (never participated in any yet though).

And a joke:

A programmer's wife tells him:
_ Go to the grocery store and buy 5 apples. And if he has eggs, then buy 10.
The programmer goes and asks the shopkeeper:
_ Do you have eggs?
_ Yes.
_ Then give me 10 apples. ... you've reached where you are because of lots of hot air,...

That's pretty awesome! Erm... what's the joke?

Great initiative.

I've been working as a firmware engineer in the flash memory storage industry in the past ~10 years.
Before that worked as a VLSI engineer in the telecom/networking industry for ~5 years.
Before that did some generic programming, mostly in C, for ~2 years.
I have no formal education in any of these disciplines (I studied medicine but dropped out after ~5 years, then worked for ~9 years in medical research before stealing my way into hi-tech).

The languages I am fluent in are C and perl.
I can also manage quite well in python, awk, tcsh scripting, and several dialects of assembly.
As a side-effect of MaGog and similar projects, I also know a bit of javascript, PHP and HTML.

Have grand plans for designing my own video game when I retire. We'll see about that.

***********************************************************

I've heard Tom's joke before, often like this:
A man flying in a hot air balloon suddenly realizes he’s lost. He reduces height and spots a tall building. He lowers the balloon further and shouts to a man standing near one of the windows, "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"

The man says: "Yes. You're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above the ground."

"I'm glad to hear that I'm near Seattle," says the balloonist.

"How did you know that?", asks the man in the window.

"Because you obviously work for Microsoft" is the answer, etc.

***********************************************************

ZFR's joke was new to me and I laughed heartily at the end of the first line, for the punch line was obvious by that point. I guess I am a programmer, after all.

Nice thread :-)

I've always been on the technical (hardware) side of computers and mainly work as a PC technician, most of it has been self taught and from lots of hands on experience with different systems but I've also done a few courses to sharpen up and have some certificates. I'm also quite experienced and resourceful with software issues.

2 years ago I've dipped my feet in html and I was able to build a few websites from scratch using only a text editor, liked where I was going and took a basic html/css course but ultimately lost interest. I still use html here and other but nothing too fancy or complicated.

When it comes to software I believe in portability, installing software is well and good but If I could just copy a program on a usb and run it on another pc straight out of the box that would be better. This fixation with portability has led me to create a few Linux patches for some GOG games.

Nice thread idea!

Despite having a strong desire to create programs since early childhood, I always doubted my ability to be a programmer as I never had a lot of confidence in my skills in mathematics. I think I also had a very "fixed" mindset as opposed to a "growth" mindset due to my educational surroundings and upbringing, so any failed attempts at mathematics and programming further cemented my thinking that there was no way I would ever be able to be a "real" programmer. Thus, I gave up on my dream and pursued education and work in other fields which came more easily to me, always wishing I had the magic power of programming ability but feeling like it was something I could never achieve.

A lot of that changed when I decided that being skilled at something wasn't necessarily a good reason to pursue it as a profession if it brought no sense of joy or fulfillment, and that conversely having no skill in something shouldn't stop you from pursuing something that brings you happiness and satisfaction. So I decided to sit down, be patient with myself, and try my best to program something using my "mathematically-challenged" brain and with a baby-steps approach was able to actually create something in PHP that worked and had practical usage in my everyday life!

Now after many more failures and a few small programming successes, I consider myself a novice/hobbyist programmer interested in quickly building and prototyping ideas to see how they would function in a real, practical sense on a small scale. Being highly entrepreneurial, I find it so useful to be able to get working versions of things up and coded on my own, which also helps me think through critical design and usability choices that can affect the direction of bigger business decisions. While I don't plan to pursue programming as my main field of expertise, I find having a basic level of ability and understanding to be incredibly empowering, and love to discuss, read, and be around those with more experience that can offer guidance and expertise.

I have enjoyed programming computers since I was young. My first (computer) language was BASIC on a TI-99 4/A. and then I later moved to AppleSoft Basic and later QBASIC, followed by C.

These days, my preferred language is Python (for high level stuff) and C (for low level stuff), though I sometimes like to experiment with newer languages like C++14 (the auto keyword is my favorite new feature of the language) and Rust.

I have a Master's degree in mathematics, and am planning to get another in Computer Science.

By the way, here's a question (I already know the answer; this is just a test for anyone reading this thread). Suppose I have code like the following (in a language that supports IEEE floating point):

float x = some_calculation();
assert(x == x);

What could cause this assertion to fail?

The assertion will not fail because X is equal to X.

The assertion will only fail if the assertion is not correct.

Try using

private: System::Void button1_Click(System::Object^ sender, System::EventArgs^ e) {
float x = 10;
assert(x == x && "Fail X!");
}

private: System::Void button2_Click(System::Object^ sender, System::EventArgs^ e) {
float X = 10;
assert(X != X && "Fail X!");
}

You will see when the assertion declare X != X, but actually X is equal to X, only it will fail.

I can think of three answers:
1) The one you're probably thinking of (given your reference to IEEE floats) is if x is NaN (Not a Number), since, IIRC, NaN by definition always fails any comparison including to itself
2) Another possible one is that given that a float comparison in not an atomic operation, an interrupt may occur in the middle of the comparison (e.g. after the left side has been loaded but before the right side) and if that interrupt changes the value of x, then the comparison could fail.
3) Same as (2) but instead of an interrupt, the value is changed by a bug in a different thread/process/hardware component causing a memory corruption

I have seen the equivalent of (2) and (3) in real life, but not with floats (because frankly I may have used floats once in the last 15 years).

I've worked as a developer since 2002. I've worked in various industries in that time, using a variety of technologies, mostly Microsoft based. I currently work as an integration consultant.

I have experience with C++, Java, C#, VBScript, .NET, MS SQL, ASPX, XML, XSD, XSLT, BizTalk, WCF services, and probably a lot of other stuff I can't recall right now.

Some of the more interesting things I've done have been my own private projects in my spare time. I'm currently working on a framework for evolving AIs using neural networks.

Have worked at IBM RMA division repairing computers.
Then at helldesk
Then as junior sysadmin
Then got my networking certs
Now work as a sysadmin/network admin/universal guy who helps with other stuff aswell when there are more hands needed somewhere.
Also do haltura repairing peoples computers and doing electricity work

Juniper/Cisco/MicroTik/IBM
Windows server/Suse/RedHat
Some C/Java and PL/SQL and if i read about it maybe i can remember asp.net aswell
Scripting in BASH and somewhat in powershell

List is not final, cba to list absolutely everything i have used

Well... I kind of did, but it was a long time ago, so it's been archived.

I used to write middleware for set top boxes, mainly in C and C++. In theory i do the same nowadays too but in practice i do mainly integration work (writing build scripts, implementing interfaces, fix bugs) so i wanted to do something completely different. Because of this i ported Birth of the Empires, a 4X TBS from C++ using GDI+ to Java and released it on Android.

I use to work in C++ back in 2006. and later in 2009. in Visual Basic but now i'm into graphics design mostly (less coding - less headache, hehe). :P

I'm not -and have never been- a professional, just a hobbyist headache collector. And I'm still very much a novice in that regard - my languages of choice are Javascript/Ecmascript, Autohotkey, Python, PHP, CMD and/or BASH depending on the task at hand. Also fairly proficient in HTML and CSS, but those don't amount to very much without scripting.