In my experience, different programming lanugages have different ways of dealing with programmer errors. The following list, while not exhaustive, should highlight the tactics of some of the most popular languages (both past and present):

• QBasic – In keeping with the simplicity of its design, QBasic informs you of errors in nothing more than baby talk. For example, you may encounter “Out of Range!” or “Var not set!”
• C++ – A true bureaucrat, C++ gives you a ton of information which means nothing, making you feel very stupid in the process. After a few years, you think you’ve got a handle on it, then it throws out some new jargon you’ve never seen. For example:
  “c:\documents and settings\new user\somefile.cpp(3) : error C2065: ‘cout’ : undeclared identifier
  
  c:\documents and settings\new user\somefile.cpp(3) : error C2297: ‘<<' : illegal, right operand has type 'char [13]"
• Java – Much like its C++ cousin, Java burdens you down with tons of details about what you’ve done wrong. It is supposedly smarter than C++ and tries to prove this with its gargantuan error messages. It even tries to offer remedies for your unholy instruction.
• PHP – The passive-aggressive language, PHP says almost nothing when you’ve done something wrong. It just presents you with blank screen whose source code contains nothing but a generic header. After a lot of massaging and appologizing, you can generally get it cranking the way it’s supposed to.
• Perl – Despite its name, Perl is not smooth at all when dealing with errors. It routinely screams the word “Die!” complete with the exclamation point. After panicking for a few seconds, you decide to dig into the code and see what exactly has died, only to find that you simply forgot a semi-colon. Talk about a manic, overly-dramatic performance.
• Python – Python is a bit dyslexic. It points to errors in the wrong place, swearing up and down you’ve messed up in a particular location, when if fact you actually messed up somewhere several lines above. Being called a liar by a programming language is probably the most insulting thing possible.

I have nearly finished my Mozilla Composer Tutorial. It is the result of about three days worth of work. As you’ll notice, there’s a pretty lame Flash animation at the top. Believe me,I wouldn’t have included it if it wasn’t part of the requirements of the project. I’m sure it needs some revisions and I need to add some navigation elements at the bottom of the page, but as it is right now, it’s not a bad piece of tech writing, even if I do say so myself.

I did the whole thing using Macromedia products. It must be said that Macromedia’s FireWorks can really spank Adobe’s Photoshop in some areas. Fireworks’ native file format is readable to any modern browser, thanks to its use of the PNG file format. And, even better, the web graphics produced by Fireworks are smaller with better color saturation. I thought pigs would fly before I would denounce Photoshop, but I think that day has come. Fireworks is king!

Joss Wheadon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel can make me feel very sad faster than about anyone. Me and my roomate have been watching the 4^th season of Angel, and the first 3 episodes weren’t sad at all. This fact is very much unlike Joss, who normally bums us out in the first episode. (This trend is more consistent in Angel than in Buffy.) Starting with the fourth episode in the season, though, all that changed. I was wrenched when it was over. And me, being the one who likes to know what happens next, loaded up the subsequent episode. Same thing. I went to sleep last night an unhappy little boy. Joss never lets any of his characters be happy for too long. It wouldn’t be so bad if I weren’t so emotionally invested in the characters. I think they are all well written, as none of them fit into a neat little catagory. Almost every character he has created is neither all good nor all bad. Even the worst of his villians can garner pitty, since they are almost never evil for evil’s sake. Anyway, I’ll dive into some more of season 4 tonight and end up a wrenched-out ball of emotions again…It’s oh so fun!

[Note: When I say a wrenched out ball of emotions, I don’t mean that I break down and cry or anything like that. I don’t get that invested in my shows. What I mean is that I’m either sitting there at the end of an episode saying, “Oh my God! That didn’t just happen!” or “Why didn’t you let them be happy for just a second!!!” And I don’t lose sleep over my shows either, just in case anyone may wonder.]

It dawned on me the other day that the Mad Max movies make no economic sense. Sure, there was plenty of scarcity, and scarcity is the thing that economics focuses on. However, in studying econ, you learn that people substitute more costly things for those that are less costly when things get the most scarce. The biggest, most illogical economic feature of the entire movie is the use of huge, gas-guzzling muscle cars. Fuel is the currency of their world, as it is the most precious thing available, yet the inhabitants of this post-appocolyptic universe give power to those individuals with the most wasteful equipment. In the real world, the muscle-bound head hauncho would be riding on a mo-ped. You know, the kind that gets 30 miles to the gallon. His people would marvel at his ability to travel 60 miles on a gallon of gas! Efficiency is his source of power. [Geez, this post makes me realize why I’ve always been considered a geek!]

I found out yesterday that I was voted Outstanding Student in the Department of Information Systems by my professors. I don’t work hard because I seek accolades like this, but it does make all the hard work and extra hours of gleening my assignments for errors somewhat more tolerable. This is an acknowledgment that what I’ve done up to this point is what I should have been doing. The one thing I hope that comes out of this is that it’s important not to underestimate someone just because he comes from one of the most backwards places on Earth. We all are neither ignorant nor dumb, and we have as much potential as anyone else. Representing my area in a positive light is important to me becase we all do not fit the stereotype.

I will not let this go to my head. I don’t know anymore about computers now than I did yesterday before I found out. Nor is this a reason to let my guard down, as I have “many miles before I sleep*.” Hopefully it can never be said that the effort I put in is proportional to the amount of praise I get for it. That’s not how I operate.

*Walking by a Woods on a Snowing Evening, Robert Frost