User:Pat Palmer

I have masters degrees in computer science (Univ. of Tenn., 1983) and public sector management (Univ. of Penn., 1992) and many years work experience in the software industry. My academic background includes public sector management, computer science, and the liberal arts, especially linguistics and literature.

As of 2007, I work as a free-lance trainer. From 2002-2006, I taught computer architecture, software engineering and programming in the MCIT program at the University of Pennsylvania in a non-tenure position. Before that, I consulted on software systems within pharmaceutical and insurance companies. My early computer career included several years’ experience developing telecommunications software at Bell Laboratories.

My first academic effort was in linguistics. I spent three years doing graduate study in Germanic linguistics (specialization: semantic change in Middle High German) at the Univ. of Tenn but switched over to computer science without quite completing a linguistics degree (I was working on a Ph. D.). During that time, I read Old High German, Old Norse, Icelandic, Middle High German, Afrikaans, Pennsylvania Dutch, Yiddish, various regional German dialects, and also studied Spanish, Latin, and Russian. My undergraduate degree was liberal arts with a concentration in English literature and German (which I speak fluently). I also took a lot of physics, math and science, and that enabled me to move into computer science afterwards.

One odd bit in my past is that I spent a couple of years as a telephone switching technician, working for GTE in Virginia in the late 1970's. During that time, I worked on some of the last Strowger switching offices remaining in the United States. I also worked on some electromechanical switches, made by Leich, that had so-called common control units for call routing--in effect, a fully electromechanical, special-purpose computer. I could see numbers being stored in registers as people dialed. This is where my interest in computing really grew strong, and I moved into the field on computer science afterwards.

I've had quite a bit of musical training and play piano and mandolin. I also like to garden, watch birds, and read. More on that is [here].

As part of getting to know Citizendium, I've been working on CZ:The_Big_Cleanup, and that has led me all over the place.

Since arriving here, I helped revise German language. I attempted to contribute to Linux (but there were a few too many cooks in the kitchen, so I've moved on from there), and I am now trying to do basic cleanup and reformulation of the Language page. Here is what else I've been working on in Citizendium.

Reminder: Java needs more work.

I am bringing over a portion of Design Patterns from Wikipedia because I wrote the bulk of it.

Shortcut to CZ:Article_Mechanics | image licences

Another guildeline

CZ:Article_Deletion_Policy

When there are too few sections, the TOC doesn't show up. You can force it on, at a specific place in the article, with __TOC__. Conversely, you can force the TOC off with __NOTOC__. (tip from Eric Gearhart--thanks, Eric!)

These are articles I don't want to watch but do want to be able to find:

User:Pat_Palmer/big_O_notation

CZ:Personnel

CZ:Unchecklisted_Articles

CZ:Fair_Use_Policy,_Media

CZ:Feedback_Requests

subpages

User:Pat_Palmer/My_Sandbox