In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
Carl Sagan 1987 CSICOP keynote address
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I've been programming computers since I was a kid, although I wouldn't call myself an expert yet, by any means. There is just too much to learn. The material on these pages usually reflects efforts that I have been through to understand something. Stuff I would have liked to read about somewhere like this, rather than learn the hard way. I have used a lot of languages over the years, starting with CPM BASIC on the VIC-20. Each has it's advantages for a particular domain, although I mostly find myself writing code in either Shell Script, PHP, or C++ these days. Shell Scripting for systems admin on the Linux systems I manage, PHP for the web applications that my company develops, and C++ for 'real' programming. If I had more time I think I'd use more Python. I really enjoy the object orientated features of C++ and PHP 5, and am a strong advocate of cross-platform programming. |
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