July 2008 Archives

Well, I finally decided to start my own blog, where I will write on subjects mostly related to programming, focusing on its applications in the fields of technical translation and software localization. I was given my first computer -a Sinclair ZX Spectrum- a long time ago, and I’ve been having fun with computers ever since, specially since I discovered Perl and regular expressions at the beginning of the new century while reading Mastering Regular Expressions, by Jeffrey Friedl (needless to say, it’s one of my favorite books). Perl is a powerful and flexible language, and it's perfect for text processing. Curiously enough, it is still not widely used in the translation industry. Hopefully, this blog's posts will contribute to increase its popularity among translators and software localization engineers. Even though I use Perl for most of my programs, learning other languages is a healthy attitude, so I’m currently learning a couple of nice functional languages, F# and OCaml, which are giving me interesting perspectives on different ways of doing things. I also plan to learn PowerShell, a new dynamic language created by Microsoft, and compare it to Perl. I will keep you posted.

"Who can unravel such a twisted and tangled knottiness? It is unclean. I hate to reflect upon it. I hate to look on it. But I do long for thee, O Righteousness and Innocence, so beautiful and comely to all virtuous eyes -- I long for thee with an insatiable satiety. With thee is perfect rest, and life unchanging. He who enters into thee enters into the joy of his Lord, and shall have no fear and shall achieve excellence in the Excellent. I fell away from thee, O my God, and in my youth I wandered too far from thee, my true support. And I became to myself a wasteland."