Programmer/Analyst, Unix Administrator

[email protected]

STATUS: Not actively seeking new employment.

PROFILE

Rapidly learn and apply new skills and technologies. Understand needs of users. Communicate effectively with non-technical users. Reliable in implementing critical changes. Effective design principles, application and project management. Quality oriented. Versatile.

Objective: Apply computer technologies and design systems in order to increase productivity and capabilities at personal, team, system, and end-user levels.

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

Programming

  • Languages: C, C++/STL, Perl, Python, Common Lisp, ML (OCaML, SML), Prolog, Java.
  • Skills: Data structures, algorithms, object-orientation, distributed systems, user interfaces and documentation, verification and testing, module design and packaging, formalization and notation.
  • Technologies:UNIX and UNIX-like systems, SGML, XML, Grammars, CORBA, Extension APIs.

Administration

  • System: Unix (SunOS/Solaris, Linux), Windows 95/98/NT/2000, MacOS 7; backup and recovery, performance tuning, networking and interoperability, hardware configuration, script tools (Bash, Csh, Sh, Zsh, AWK, Sed), Usenet news, revision control systems (RCS, CVS, SCCS).
  • Database: Informix, PostgreSQL, MySQL; Relational database setup and design, backup and recovery, performance tuning, SQL.
  • Networking: Samba, DNS, Network File Systems (SMB, NFS, Coda, SFS), encryption, security.

Specialties

  • Document Technologies: SGML, XML, Unicode, DTD analysis and design, Style sheets and transformation, FOSI, DSSSL, OmniMark, Content extraction and generation, HyTime, XML-Schema, XSL, SP/Jade, AdeptEditor (and ACL).
  • Electronic Publishing: HTML, CSS, JavaScript/ECMAScript, CGI, Apache web server, Perl CGI, XML::* and Apache::* modules, mod_perl, PDF, TeX, XSL-FOP

EDUCATION

Cornell University, College of Arts and Sciences, Ithaca, NY. BA in Computer Science (May 1999, GPA: 3.5).

Course Work: Data Representation and Modeling, Distributed and Team Programming, Computer Architecture, Operating System Design, Algorithm Analysis, Compilers, Computation and Tractability, Programming Language Design/Implementation, Object Oriented Design, Computer Graphics, Formal Methods, Knowledge Representation, Advanced Distributed and Concurrent Systems, Linguistics

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Coordinator, Computer Applications: Florida State University School of Motion Picture, TV, and Recording Arts. 4/2004 to present

Design, implement, and manage all computer-based information systems within the FSU Film School.

Electronic Publishing Specialist, UNIX/RDBMS Administrator: ASM International, Materials Park, OH. 10/1997 to 9/1998 (standard employee), 9/1998 to 1/2002 (off-site)

Develop tools and procedures to support transformation of legacy data into SGML, checking and revision processes, and CD/Web publishing for the ASM Handbook Series (23 volumes, 2,000 articles, 22,000 pages, 37,000 images, 10,000 tables). Administer Solaris based UNIX system and Informix Dynamic Server relational database. Provide general consulting on technical issues and other technical work as needed.

Research Assistant/Programmer: Center for Research on Parallel Computation, Rice University, Houston TX. Summer 1996

Worked on designing single generalized interface to several existing symbolic set manipulation libraries for use in development of the D System parallelizing Fortran compiler/environment, included debugging and restructuring existing C++ code in the D System Development Environment

Teaching Assistant: Rice University, Houston, TX. Fall 1994

Grading and tutorials for Comp280: Discrete Mathematics (primarily covering formal reasoning and proof techniques).

CODE SAMPLES

These packages are available under the directory at the following URI: https://www.concordant-thought.com/personal/robert/relay/, although more recent versions may be provided (following a similar naming convention).

Perl SGML-ElementMap-0.5.tar.gz Module to assist processing/transforming SGML/XML documents.
Python aria-flux-0.3.tar.gz Generalized manager for selecting and processing groups of things, especially songs from a play list (early development).

Also available are some notes and referenced files from presenting (informally) the above SGML::ElementMap module for the DC Perl Mongers.

EXPERIENCE DETAIL

Electronic Publishing Specialist, UNIX/RDBMS Administrator: ASM International

  • Assumed administration of Solaris server, with Xyvision’s Parlance Document Manager running on Informix Dynamic Server. Installed a variety of freely available tools and libraries to improve the operating environment from the rather bare vendor-supplied setup.
  • Learned to use and apply OmniMark processor quickly and effectively, with no collateral damage to data. Integrated OmniMark processing model into Perl SGML scripts (see SGML::ElementMap).
  • Developed and implemented Perl and OmniMark transformation scripts to prepare Handbook articles for DynaText publishing by vendor.
  • Developed and implemented Perl and OmniMark transformation scripts for HTML publishing, including equations, figures, TOCs, tables, generated text and numbering, and external and internal cross linking. Reliably converts full Handbook set without intervention, and includes several formatting behavior choices as well as two separate output formats.
  • Prototyped sample Perl transformation procedure for TeX formatting SGML Handbook articles, including rendering complex halign constructed ruled tables and math.
  • Developed automated data extraction, indexing, and checking/correction utilities for the Handbook articles and for scanned graphics.
  • Documented, organized, and refactored software, keeping good full life-cycle support, including automatic packaging and testing procedures. Maintained additional project status and organizational documentation to ease the transition for my eventual replacement. This included automatic updating of formatted and cross-linked reference information, categorized progress tracking, version control and segregation of deployed and unstable environments.
  • Developed DTD documentation system combining structural doctype encoding with textual description, including transformation to cross-linked HTML reference views with a textual content model description and to standard SGML DTDs (documentation DTD was self-hosting). Developed procedures to import and join existing ASM Handbook Article DTD (approx. 120 elements) and documentation, and wrote documentation for the DTD documentation in itself. Wrote FOSI for formatted editing of documentation with AdeptEditor.
  • Implemented client/server tools using Python and the wxWindows GUI library, producing windows-native clients for UNIX based tools. Later (after installing Apache for HTML development), replaced several Python tools with CGI based web interfaces.
  • Made C++ source modifications to the SP (now OpenSP) SGML parsing library and corrected shared library build problems under the Solaris environment. Changes contributed back to the OpenSP project.
  • Worked extensively with non-technical people, providing explanations at each user’s desired detail level of topics ranging from the highly technical to general consulting. Kept users informed of system reliability, necessary workarounds, and problematic actions. Documented procedures for easier independent reference.
  • Prototyped conversions from MSWord manuscripts and Ventura Publisher coded MSWord documents to Handbook SGML article documents, extracting structural information as well as to-be-generated numbering and cross links, and picking up external graphics and support files needing system ID assignments and inclusion into general storage and other managing processes.
  • Performed software upgrades for Solaris and Informix Dynamic Server. Also performed hardware modifications and revitalized previously defunct Sun server and Sun Storage Array.
  • Designed and implemented backup procedures for database data and system files, including off-site rotations, automated backups, and much needed drive wear reductions.
  • Migrated UNIX server network file sharing from existing combined NFS and Netware setup to direct SMB sharing (Samba on Solaris), eliminating a significant source of department-wide down time.
  • Assumed responsibility for previous vendor supplied scripts in Perl 4 and AWK, including maintenance and new feature integration.
  • Assisted IT department with Windows 98 and NT use and configuration, including nearby user troubleshooting.
  • Participated in proofing process for Handbook article legacy conversions, using AdeptEditor and PDM system as end user.
  • Developed workarounds for limitations in user tools (primarily in AdeptEditor and Parlance Document Manager).
  • Learned and used AdeptEditor scripting language to provide in-editor support for remote (UNIX) data and tools.