Misc Items


Dawson FAQ

Question: How come your web pages all sortof look the same?
Answer: I do most everything by hand. Because of that I do alot of cut and paste. Most of my stuff is mainly for informational uses anyway so I try to just make them easy to read instead of highly entertaining. I also don't really like alot of 'eye candy'.

Question: Why do you do your web pages by hand?
Answer: Call me a perfectionist, but I don't like my web pages to look like garbage when I look at the source.

Question: What is your favorite programming language?
Answer: Java. I have found that it fits my thoughts more than any other language. I also found that I can look at my code after not seeing it for a month, and I can figure out what is going on.

Question: What is your second favorite programming language?
Answer: Bash. I haven't had time lately to actually program in java. I find that the vast majority of programs I write are shell scripts, and my favorite is bash, though I try to make everything compatable with sh just incase I'm not on linux.

Question: Dare we ask what programming tool you use?
Answer: I program with the same thing that I often use to create web pages. I use Nedit. It's a nice little text editor. I've tried some of the java developement programs, but I find that when I get stuck in a bind, that it takes me more time to figure out what the developer program has done, than it would have taken to just write things by hand.

Question: Why don't you update these pages more?
Answer: I've gotten just a bit busy. I'd tell you what I'm busy doing but it tends to change all the time. Mostly building, maintaining Fermi Linux and Scientific Linux, and also mostly helping the users and admins for that.

Question: Why did you get rid of the dates on the front page?
Answer:When I was updating the various pages, I found that I was always forgetting to update the main index page to say when I last updated the pages below it. So it wasn't really serving it's purpose, and was just becomming another page I had to update.

Question: What happened to some of your links on the front page?
Answer: I've found that those links arn't things I'm working on anymore, or for some odd reason arn't pertinant to what I do, so I removed them. But you can still get to them from right here.
Tools I am writing
FNAL FARMS
KDE
OFFICE PROGRAMS

Question: You've stayed with Fermi for 10 years, how do you like it?
Answer: Fermilab is a great place to work. It has a relaxed atmosphere and if you get the right boss, can be a very nice place to work. It doesn't pay as much as elsewhere, but it does have job security.