Who am I?
Hi, my name is Christian van Langendonck, a lawyer moving to a new career in computer programming. There's a nice article about my decision to change careers at the Algonquin College Co-op Blog.
What do I like in computers?
Freedom!
I have always been fascinated about creating software. I'm a Linux user since the good old days of Conectiva Linux (later Mandriva and Mageia). Distro-hopper like any other good GNU/Linux user - (*)Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSuse, Arch, Debian, Solus, Calculate, and NixOS.
I wanted to be in control. I should be the one to tell the computer to do things for me the way I want it, and I have to know what the computer is doing.
With my background in Law, I have also taken a particular interest in software licenses and documentation.
What do I know about programming?
I'm in the Computer Programmer program at Algonquin College, Ottawa, ON, Canada. Currently at level 4, the last one.
I also take online courses and do a lot of research on my own.
Here is some of the things that I know:
Coding
Java, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, SQL, BASH, C, VBA, Org, Latex.
Looking forward to learn: Dart and Flutter, Go, Rust, Python, Lisp, Qt (and more!).
IDE and Editors
I am not married to my software. I believe in using the best tool for the job. That being said, I do have a personal preference for Emacs. This are some of the software that I like to use or that I know my way around:
Emacs, VIM, Micro, Kate, Visual Studio Code, Atom.
IntelliJ, Eclipse, Netbeans, Android Studio
Database
Postgres (PgAdmin, PgModeler), MySql/MariaDb (Workbench, DBeaver, PHPMyAdmin), Microsoft Server (SQL Server Management Studio, Azure Studio), Oracle, SQLite.
Operating Systems
GNU/Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS, Red Hat, OpenSuse, Mageia, Debian, Arch, Solus, Calculate, PCLinuxOS, NixOS), FreeBSD, Windows, Android, UBPorts, DOS, Solaris.
Projects
I have projects using Java, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Bash, Visual Basic, Latex, and C. Not all are public because they were or are being develop as College projects, and I haven't graduated yet.