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 AT&T and Lucent.
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.
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.
User:Pat_Palmer/Computer draft for new version of article
Shortcut to CZ:Article_Mechanics
Another guildeline
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!)