About Me
Who am I? I’m Dave, and by day, I’m a programmer, or a software engineer for those times when I feel like sounding more important than I really am. I enjoy working on computers and feel fortunate that I’ve been able to do it for most of my adult life. For a real glimpse into the life of a programmer, check out this link
When I’m not sitting at a computer earning a living, I’m usually sitting at a computer either writing or blogging (both reading/writing). What do I write? Mostly horror/dark fiction with a couple of forays into, of all things, small pieces of fiction centering around romance/love. Seems odd considering my usual subject matter, but to be honest, those pieces have been some of the most satisfying to write. I’m not sure what that means. Perhaps I need to venture into horror/romance novels. Is that a genre already?
I dedicate this blog to my dad, who passed away recently.
Me and my dad.
I’d always hoped to be published while he was still around so we could share in the accomplishment. I know he would’ve been proud of his youngest son’s achievement. Unfortunately, that dream of mine did not come true, so now my dream is to simply be published someday. It will have to be enough just to know how happy it would have made him. You see, he fancied himself something of a writer, and he wrote many wonderful short stories and began several wonderful books. He was a natural talent and a gifted storyteller; he just ran out of time.
I doubt that anything I write will ever match his storytelling ability, but knowing that every word I write is, in a sense, inspired by him, is something very special to me.
Love you, dad. Hope you enjoy the stories.
–dp
Leave a comment
According to Dave 
Hi Dave! I nominated your blog for The Liebster Award, and I wish you the best!
You can learn about it here: http://queenofquery.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/the-liebster-award/
Dave, I’m new to your blog so perhaps you’ve already done or considered this: can you or have you posted any of your dad’s writing? It could be a nice way to remember him and introduce him to the blogosphere.
You know what? Until you mentioned it right here I had not thought about doing that. What a wonderful idea. I’ll definitely plan on it. Thanks for the great suggestion!
You’re welcome. Hope you are well 🙂
Hi, Dave! I’ve nominated you for both the 5 in 1 Award and the WordPress Family Award. If you want to participate, you can see how I mangled, I mean, managed the rules here: http://1writeway.com/2013/08/17/its-awards-time-again/. Participation is not required. I’m just sharing the love 🙂 Hope you are doing well 😉
Thank you, Marie. That was really nice. Of course I want to participate. Had a wonderful weekend, so let’s just hope it spills out into this week 🙂
So far, so good for me 🙂
I understand. Measuring up to a dad is tough. It is good to see a good relationship for a change. I salute you.
Hi Barry – thanks for reading that part of my blog. You’re right, it is hard. And I’m still working on it. Miss him a lot.
Because I read your story I was reminded of death of a young man I taught many years ago. Perhaps you are up to reading it as I am posting it now. If not I understand.
I’d love to read it … I’ll check out your blog later today.
What kind of software do you develop? I’m a CS major who thought he would get into either computer graphics or digital design, but somehow got into backend web stuff instead 😛
Hi Jeff – feels like I was in your position so many years ago 🙂 Generally, I think people end up doing things quite a bit different from what they initially envisioned for their career. You’re a good example 🙂 As for me, I started out in systems software development many years ago, then gravitated to compilers. Been working on various languages ever since. Go figure.
That’s awesome. I found compilers fascinating. I had to put together a (very crude and simple) compiler for a very watered down grammar for a project course before I graduated and it was a lot of fun. Once you get to more complex grammars and optimizations though, I get lost very quickly!
One cool thing is that the knowledge I learned in compilers I’ve found applicable to other things. I’ve been building an open source interactive fiction engine (just for fun, I know there are tons of options out there already), and I wrote a simple recursive decent parser to break simple commands down into subject, verb and optional direct object and indirect object components.
Are you doing work in compilers now? What languages do you work with now?
Funny how some of the technology in compilers can be used for other things. Your example is a great one.
Yeah, I’m doing the compiler thing right now. Currently I’m working on a C compiler written in C. It keeps me busy, and it’s fun 🙂
Nice. Are you generating a parser or writing your own?
I’ve been involved with both using parser generators (like yacc) and writing one specifically for an implementation of a language. Generally speaking, in my experience, the yacc based implementations are easier and faster.
That’s interesting. I used to hear in school that generated parsers were generally slower than those that were crafted by hand.
Hey Dave! You won a giveaway on my blog. Shoot me an email to get your loot, friend. K Cross Writing at gmail dot com
I’ve nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award! Check out the rules here: https://hannahfergesen.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/inspiring-blogger-award-for-the-quill-the-key-and-the-compass/
Thanks for being awesome 🙂
Thanks for stopping by my blog Dave! Looking forward to reading more from you.
Just wanted to pop by and say hello. Haven’t seen you in a while, and hoping all is well.
Hi Kevin – Thanks for stopping by! Life has had its ups and downs since I stepped away from my blog, and pretty much from writing altogether. I’m not entirely sure why it happened, but somewhere along the way I just became a bit disillusioned, I suppose. Not happy with my writing and feeling like I was isolating myself in my office and banging on the keys for no real good reason. Nothing to do with getting published or not, just feeling that what I was producing wasn’t what I really wanted. Anyway, I hope someday to get back to it, because I usually enjoy it, even when it’s for my own sake 🙂
Hope all is well in your part of the world as well. And thanks again … nice to have someone stop by and say hello.