Articles

These articles are just my opinion; please do not feel any obligation to agree. If they do nothing more than challenge your existing ideas, I will consider that they have done their job.

All articles contain the date published and the date last updated. This latter date refers only to significant alterations or additions to the content of the article, not to spelling or typographical corrections.

Articles follow in the order published; the right side-bar index lists the articles in alphabetical order by category.

Computers & Technology

Coding Standards (2006-01-01)

This article details my personal coding standards for C-like syntax languages. Strict application of these standards is expected of a junior level programmer. It is expected that more senior team members can exercise judgement in applying the details to specific situations.

Code Layout & Formatting (2008-11-30)

This article focuses primarily on examining issues of indentation style, but touches on other broad aspects of formatting and alignment of code. Let me caveat up front that the coder who uses variable pitch fonts will likely need to ignore those parts of this article which relate to alignment, but the primary focus of indent style applies to all coders and all program and markup languages.

Code Bloat - On Size and & Efficiency (2008-12-23)

Is it just me, or has the whole software industry by and large bought into the lie that size and performance doesn’t matter anymore? Are we programmers so incredibly full of hubris that we really believe that our time as a programmer is so much more valuable than our user’s time - even though that time is multiplied by many hundred, thousand, or in some cases million individuals? It all kind of reminds me of a visit to the dentist or the doctor - you know the one where you have an appointment at 10:00 am, and if the doctor see’s you before 11:30 you consider yourself fortunate.

Exceptions in Programming (2011-02-26)

On the use and value of exceptions in programming - a discussion of how and when to use exceptions and whether or not the exceptions thrown by a method should be declared and their handling enforced by the compiler.

How To Build A Computer (2011-03-02)

The purpose of this article is to outline the basic process of building a Personal Computer (PC) for general home use and to highlight some of the pitfalls in a way that should remain relevant for some years. I discuss in detail the major components of a computer and outline the considerations in choosing each one. Note that If you are looking for highly technical information on the various components, further research will be required at other web sites, like Tom’s Hardware and Wikipedia. A good place to start for more detailed background is Wikipedia’s article on custom built PCs. What I am specifically not trying to do is explain how to build a state-of-the-art high-end gaming rig.

JSON Vs. XML for Data Interchange (2011-03-05)

Religion & Philosophy

Since the rise of the Internet as a business network, one of the primary focuses of my work has been messaging infrastructure. As a consequence, I know a good messaging data format when I see it.

About Ideologies of Origins (2011-10-31)

This article seeks to define the primary frameworks for cosmological origins in order to provide a basis for other articles to be published. It does not seek to perform critical analysis on any of these constructs.

Old-Earth Creation (2011-11-06)

This article examines how an old-earth creation view can be reconciled with the Christian scripture and doctrines. Of necessity and when appropriate, scripture interpretations are contrasted against those of a young-earth creation view. Old-earth creationism is one of five primary ideologies of origins; for a detailed explanation of these ideologies, please refer to About Ideologies of Origins.

Old-Earth Creation - Objections (2011-11-12)

I came across an article raising doctrinal objections to an old-earth creation model. Although the article in question particularly addressed theistic evolution it is also subtitled to include progressive creationist and is therefore directed at any old-earth model.

Religious Spin Merchants (2011-11-13)

This is a response to the article Religious Spin Merchants written by Adrian Bates and published on creation.com. Most of the major points are already adequately covered in other articles on this web site.

The Word Made Flesh - Musings on the Incarnation of Christ (2012-01-02)

Over the last few years, the doctrine of the incarnation has had a particularly powerful impact on my life and through a greater understanding of the doctrine I have experienced perhaps the single most significant transformation of my entire Christian journey.

Journey of Biblical Creation - How I Came to Believe in an Old Creation (2012-01-18)

Some 26 years ago I was convinced that God created all of this universe in 144 contiguous hours. Now, today, I am equally convinced that it is most likely that he took about 14 billion years to create this universe. This is the story of how (and some of the why) my thinking has changed over the intervening time.