Joe Ganley [http://ganley.org/]

Writing code since 1979

I have been a professional software engineer for over 10 years. I have written many kinds of software, but my particular strengths are interactive graphics applications, compilers and interpreters, and algorithms.

I also enjoy writing, woodworking, and home improvement. Also this.

Resumé

Email Me

Tuesday, April 23, 2002

That site in my last post was, surprisingly, missing a list of those words that were once trademarks, but have now fallen into such common usage that their trademark no longer holds (which means, among other things, that you don't capitalize them when writing). Long ago I had compiled a long list of such words, but can no longer find it; however, this one looks pretty comprehensive.

comments (0) | permalink

Idle geekiness du jour: The other day I wondered what is the longest word whose letters alternate hands on the standard QWERTY keyboard. A quick search through this large list of English words turns up lots of these words; the longest, at 13 letters each, are dismantlement and neurotoxicity. Update: Here I was thinking I was the one with too much time on my hands, when my wife points me to this. Not only do they have these alternating-hand words (and a bunch more, but none longer than 13 letters), but scads of other word oddities.

comments (0) | permalink

Wednesday, April 17, 2002

The other day my neighbor mowed his lawn for the first time this year, in criss-cross fashion like the professionals do. It reminded me of this essay that I wrote a few years ago, when I lived in a different house. Later my current neighbor told me he did that just to rattle my cage; he doesn't plan to make a habit of it.

comments (0) | permalink

Wednesday, April 10, 2002

Gratuitous linkage to a few sites who deserve it: Joel on Software is one of my favorite weblogs; the subject is (duh) software development. TechInterview is a site devoted to puzzles, of the sort that are famously given in Microsoft interviews. And finally, Fog Creek Software is the company to which both of these weblogs' authors belong. They make a bug tracking package, which is pretty good, and a web-site content management application, which I haven't yet tried (Real Soon Now), but on the surface also looks really good.

comments (0) | permalink

Features

TRS-80 BASIC interpreter
Lisp interpreter in JavaScript
Analysis of The Game of Chips
Man-Bag Buying Guide

Writing

Inseparable Weblog
Turf War
Memorial Day
Weblog Archives
(more...)

Home Improvement

Custom Home Ideas
Woodworking
Installing Wainscoting

Miscellany

Amazon.com Wish List
B&B Reviews

Old Stuff

Steiner Trees
D.C.-area Software Companies

The Long Now Foundation

Man-Bag Buying Guide