Hello World!

Hello World!

This is my first blog post ever, so being a programmer at heart I thought of naming it the "Hello World" post :-) Could also be "Hello Blog", but I prefer sticking to the original.

My name is Dimitris Staikos and online I go by the nickname BruteForce. This name has its origins in the so called "Brute Force" algorithms. An algorithm, for those who don't know what this Greek-sounding word means, is a method for solving a problem. Any problem. Not only computer-related problems. Whatever you do that consists of a series of repeatable steps that hopefully yield a useful outcome could be characterized as an algorithm.

Computer algorithms are usually complex and/or elegant. However there is a particular class of algorithms that are really brain dead. We call these "Brute Force" algorithms. Most high profile software engineers would rather stay without email for a month than submit to the charms of a brute force algorithm. Brute force algorithms are conceived to be almost as evil as using the goto statement :-)

To make a hopefully decent, real-world example, imagine that you want to pick a lock with a 4 digit combination. The obvious approach is to try all combinations. On average you will find the correct one when you have tried 50% of the combinations. This is a "Brute Force" algorithm. Any burglar who respects his reputation would rather leave the 4 digit lock alone than try all combinations. If this was a 10-digit lock, then obviously trying all combinations is not an option. "Brute Force" algorithms are guaranteed to work but you must have some time on your hands.

So that's the meaning of "Brute" in my nickname. I am not brutal, and I don't like it at all when companies or countries use their immense force in brutal ways. I am a "Brute Force" thinker. I always try the simplest solutions first. Someone once said "When all else fails try common sense". I prefer trying common sense first :-)

This approach is similar but not identical to the KISS philosophy. KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid.

The name "Brute Force" was used back in 1995 for the programming team that the National Technical University of Athens sent to the regional ACM programming contest. I was the coach of the team and a member too. Since I gave the name to the team I took the liberty of adopting it for personal use. I have a photo of that original "Brute Force" team and I will post it some day soon.

In a famous TV series called Allo Allo there was a lady who would repeat again and again in a hilarious French accent "Lissen carefully, I will say zis only once". So now I will say that too. Lissen carefully 'cause I'll say zis only once: The "Brute" in BruteForce means "stupid", "simple" (but not simplistic) or "plain". I hope that not too many people will misunderstand that part.

From now on whenever I say something that I think is worth extra attention, I'll prefix it with the ZOO (zis only once) acronym. And I will add a ZOO index, so I can refer to those in future posts.

Anyway, I am interested in way too many things, much more than what I could do in 4 lifetimes. Moreover I never do things without a reason, even if the reason is "the fun of it". So here I am, amidst the blog-craze, and I have never blogged up to this day. And my "personal" site could definitely compete in the "Most Heavily Unmaintained Personal Sites" contest. I just find blogging a waste of time if you have nothing really new or interesting to say. I'd rather spend time with my kids or my wife or my friends, rather than letting the "world" know about all the misfortunes my computers get me into, or anything else that has been said in countless other blogs.
Feature Alert: What about an "originality" index for blogs? An intelligent engine could scan and analyze blogs for originality of content, so I can go to "origit" and easily find truly original blogs. Not popular; original. There is a difference there. If you are original you will probably get popular as well, but it doesn't work the other way round.

So you guessed it. Now I finally have something to say. It's not exactly "something" but rather "some things". I have some things to say and I think they might be pretty interesting. And I have some things to do that are related to what I will say, and these might be even more interesting. I have a master plan. Watch as it gets executed and unfolds itself into the blogsphere and then leaks into the real world. Maybe you can figure the plan out.

The goal of this plan is to build an operating system to end all operating systems (I am a programmer remember?). This is going to be a deterministically self-testing operating system that runs on a kernel that is architecturally interactive. That may not make much sense to you now, but trust me at some point you will understand. If you understand too soon, please don't be a wise guy and spoil the fun. Send me an email and I will say something like "John Doe figured it out. He's really cool!". Try to hold your breath and keep your lips tight.

The first step of this plan is to attract attention to this blog. Real attention. The rest of the steps you will see as they take place. I'll start by reposting my "infamous" article on Interviews for hiring developers. Take your time to read it at my heavily unmaintained site. Then take your time to read the comments it got on Joel's Business of Software forum. Then decide what you think about it.

Or may be you might wanna do it the other way round. Read it and decide what you think first, then see the other comments and compare your thought process to that of other common people.

ZOO(0): The "Brute" in BruteForce means simple, plain, straight forward, not brutal. The "Force" in BruteForce initially meant "Team". A team of programmers that like Brute Force algorithms. I don't like the use of force, be it brute or intelligent. I am a "Brute Force" thinker.

ZOO(1): Never forget that I am human, and this means that I too am imperfect. The opinions I state in my blog or personal site are definitely subjective, affected by personal bias and/or prejudice, and on the bottom line arbitrary. I am trying really hard to recognize my own biases and prejudice, and be as objective as possible, but there's so much a man can do on his own.

ZOO(2): It is impossible for me to know everything that is going on in the blogsphere and the web, so if I say something inaccurate or outright mistaken or ignorant please show some compassion. I am only human. I will make the best effort possible to write the posts in a way that they are accurate and don't provoke or offend anyone but once again I am only human; thus imperfect.

ZOO(3): Also keep in mind that people of different cultures might find different things to be offensive. I am from Greece so something that might seem funny to me might be offensive to you or vice versa. Please correct me when I'm wrong and I will do my best not to repeat the same mistake twice.

ZOO(4): You might have noticed that I have enabled TypePad's tip jar. If you enjoy what you read in this blog a small tip is always welcome. I don't like big tips for the same reason I don't like big donations. I will explain the reasons in another post.
However I hereby promise that 50% of the money I make out of this blog (or any other related blog that I start) will be spent on donations (open source projects initially, other things later). This will be done on a monthly basis. I can only give you a promise; an oath is too much and a contract is for business deals.
If things go well and I have more than 500$ to donate each month then I will setup a separate web page listing all my donations.
If ever the tips explode and say exceed 10.000$ a month, then I will make a public listing of the donations I receive. Of course for privacy reasons you might not want your name to appear. However the tip amount will be listed.

Thank you for your time!

Comments

[Sogoku]

1rst...

Hello Mr. Dimitris Staikos
& Hello World!

[N/A]

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/get+off+high+horse