Fix image URLs to relative paths, add code block fencing

2026-05-10 02:57:23 +00:00
parent 71da91c571
commit d42561616f
16 changed files with 547 additions and 187 deletions
@@ -6,16 +6,19 @@ published: true
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 Hi, I’m James Kolpack, and I’m a code-aholic. 
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 #### Where I’m from
 

-Ever since I was a kid I’ve been programming at various degrees of sophistication.  Being a child of the 80’s, I started with Basic (of the [GW variety](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GW-BASIC) on a [8086 based IBM](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_System/2)) with a dash of [Logo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_%28programming_language%29) and [batch scripting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batch_file).  Later in college I became learned in [Pascal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal) and then [C](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_%28programming_language%29) and the trials and tribulations of [memory management](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malloc) and [complex data structures](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_%28data_structure%29).  I loved the ability to solve interesting problems by the clever assembly of instructions to be executed on a computer.  It was a bit of a power trip, really - “Pow, I just made a program that can find the optimal combination of items to fill a [knapsack in psuedo-polynomial time](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapsack_problem#Dynamic_programming_solution).”  This capability does not, I discovered, transcend one-to-one to “real-world” power – but you’ve got to [![LegoMan_bigger](http://popcyclical.com/content/binary/WindowsLiveWriter/Introducing_90B9/LegoMan_bigger_thumb.png)](http://popcyclical.com/content/binary/WindowsLiveWriter/Introducing_90B9/LegoMan_bigger_2.png)do what you can with what you’ve got.  
+Ever since I was a kid I’ve been programming at various degrees of sophistication.  Being a child of the 80’s, I started with Basic (of the [GW variety](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GW-BASIC) on a [8086 based IBM](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_System/2)) with a dash of [Logo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_%28programming_language%29) and [batch scripting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batch_file).  Later in college I became learned in [Pascal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal) and then [C](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_%28programming_language%29) and the trials and tribulations of [memory management](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malloc) and [complex data structures](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_%28data_structure%29).  I loved the ability to solve interesting problems by the clever assembly of instructions to be executed on a computer.  It was a bit of a power trip, really - “Pow, I just made a program that can find the optimal combination of items to fill a [knapsack in psuedo-polynomial time](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapsack_problem#Dynamic_programming_solution).”  This capability does not, I discovered, transcend one-to-one to “real-world” power – but you’ve got to [![LegoMan_bigger](../media/WindowsLiveWriter/Introducing_90B9/LegoMan_bigger_thumb.png)](../media/WindowsLiveWriter/Introducing_90B9/LegoMan_bigger_2.png)do what you can with what you’ve got.  

 As for the name of the blog, “popcyclical”, it’s a dual homage to my interest in cyclical relationships and, of course, popsicles.  It also references my moniker “poprhythm” which I was given many years ago for my ever-loving devotion to excellent music. 
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 #### Where I’m going
 

-On this blog I will be exploring ideas and issues that are relevant to me at the given time.  As a developer employed at a small shop, [![100px-Directed_graph_with_back_edge.svg](http://popcyclical.com/content/binary/WindowsLiveWriter/Introducing_90B9/100px-Directed_graph_with_back_edge.svg_thumb_1.png)](http://popcyclical.com/content/binary/WindowsLiveWriter/Introducing_90B9/100px-Directed_graph_with_back_edge.svg_4.png)the focus is guaranteed to wander over time.  For any given week, I may be highly invested in any number of   topics.  This may include : [upcoming features](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd264736%28VS.100%29.aspx) of programming languages, [graph algorithm design and application](http://www.codeplex.com/quickgraph/), [development tooling](http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/), [data mining](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_mining), [system architecture](http://martinfowler.com/books.html), [user experience](http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?tid=5393&ttype=2), [natural language processing](http://opennlp.sourceforge.net/), [semantic web](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web), [test driven development](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development), [statistics](http://www.r-project.org/), [data management](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database), … these and many others are all fair game.  As of today, the technologies I’m working in from day to day are [C#](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcsharp/aa336809.aspx) on the [.NET](http://www.microsoft.com/NET/) framework, [ASP.NET MVC](http://www.asp.net/%28S%28d35rmemuuono1wvm1gsp2n45%29%29/mvc/) and [jQuery](http://jquery.com/), [WCF](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa663324.aspx), and a [variety](http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/default.aspx) of [database](http://www.oracle.com/database/berkeley-db/xml/index.html) [engines](http://www.mysql.com/). 
+On this blog I will be exploring ideas and issues that are relevant to me at the given time.  As a developer employed at a small shop, [![100px-Directed_graph_with_back_edge.svg](../media/WindowsLiveWriter/Introducing_90B9/100px-Directed_graph_with_back_edge.svg_thumb_1.png)](../media/WindowsLiveWriter/Introducing_90B9/100px-Directed_graph_with_back_edge.svg_4.png)the focus is guaranteed to wander over time.  For any given week, I may be highly invested in any number of   topics.  This may include : [upcoming features](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd264736%28VS.100%29.aspx) of programming languages, [graph algorithm design and application](http://www.codeplex.com/quickgraph/), [development tooling](http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/), [data mining](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_mining), [system architecture](http://martinfowler.com/books.html), [user experience](http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?tid=5393&ttype=2), [natural language processing](http://opennlp.sourceforge.net/), [semantic web](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web), [test driven development](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development), [statistics](http://www.r-project.org/), [data management](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database), … these and many others are all fair game.  As of today, the technologies I’m working in from day to day are [C#](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcsharp/aa336809.aspx) on the [.NET](http://www.microsoft.com/NET/) framework, [ASP.NET MVC](http://www.asp.net/%28S%28d35rmemuuono1wvm1gsp2n45%29%29/mvc/) and [jQuery](http://jquery.com/), [WCF](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa663324.aspx), and a [variety](http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/default.aspx) of [database](http://www.oracle.com/database/berkeley-db/xml/index.html) [engines](http://www.mysql.com/). 
+
 #### I can use your help