Happy Atheist Forum

Hey all i'm bad at introductions.  So um heres a little about myself.  I've been an atheist since I was umm... 14 or 15.  I really didn't get into reading and discussions about my atheism and of theism until about a year or so ago (22 now).  Like it says in my title I live in the bible belt specifically Pensacola Florida ^_^ about 10 minutes from Alabama.  Were full of good ole Southern Baptists and, no lie, there IS a church on almost every street corner.  On Sundays you have people preaching salvation on the corners of some major roads except during the summer because its in the upper 90's almost every day ^_^.   I guess god can be silenced by the heat w00t!

I wasn't brought up in a very religious family.  My father is Presbyterian in the loosest sense and my step mom is Catholic in the loosest sense.   Neither have been to church in years. They are both from another state which is good for me since I don't have a southern accent despite living here my whole life.  My few experiences to church were when my fundamentalist friends brought me when I was real young.  Seeing people talk in tongues and convulsing on the floor was enough to keep me out of church.  

P'cola isn't a hotspot of free thinkers at least not to my knowledge.  This is that conservative republican area that adores ex-president Bush and wanted McCain.  The folks in this area would trade a lot of our freedoms for security.  This is the area where you see people actively picketing health centers that offer abortions.  And these people are just trying to use tactics to appeal to emotion like standing up 8 foot signs , in color, of an aborted fetus to cars passing by.  We got some nut jobs .

  Um... i'm currently unemployed but before that I worked for Albertsons Grocery for 5 years, Publix bought us out and fired 99% of our employees especially those of us who made it to management.  I just finished getting a 2 year degree in Computer Programming and i'm debating about going to UWF (2 miles away from me) and getting my 4 year.  But i'm looking for a job in the state with the 2nd highest unemployment rate in the country ... go us.  So there are slim pickings and the occasional job that springs up requires a 4 year degree and 4 years experience.  When I started college the average person wanted generally a 2 year degree and 2 years experience (which can be fudged or waved)  then the economy crashed my last semester.    

I've been looking for an active atheist forum for a while.  I'm part of the Iron Chariots forum but its not very active.  A google search gave me this forum which has a format I like so i'm gonna give HAF a shot ^_^.  I hope to learn and add to the discussions here as well as grow personally as an atheist / freethinker.

Hey LoneMateria, thanks for the intro. I have a Computer Science degree too. Mine is a 4 year bachelors. It's probably worth getting that or even a masters to get the better jobs, especially if they're in short supply. Welcome to the forum!

Thanx Alp i've been thinking it over, I don't think i'd be able to start until the spring semester.  Any suggestions on what to do in the mean time?  I can write code in C# real easy any suggestions on what type of programs to write to put into a portfolio?

What I did before going to university and while studying at university was to take on contract programming jobs. Without a qualification, I bet you'll get next to no money for it but the experience is very valuable both in terms of what you learn programming in the real world and in terms of the stuff you can put on your resume when you graduate.

C# is best for Windows desktop applications in my opinion. There are probably more contract jobs in web application programming though. How about Java? It's practically the same as C# minus a few (very useful) features and it's a lot more widely used. Eclipse is my preferred development environment for Java. Visual Studio for C++ and C#.

Welcome!

(Psst... Bachelor's... do it. Then go for a Master's.   )

you know funny thing about java.  Its technically the first language I tried to learn.  When I took a semester of C# I took at the same time Java ... and I really like C# but I hate java.  I think I just like the whole C language cause i'm ok with C++ especially when I use it with visual studios.  Lol I knew C++ using command line but I was never taught GUI programming with it.  I have a book to learn GUI in C++ through game programming (which I can make some rudimentary games just not in C++).  With all the HWND and those type of variables / properties I just got real confused and the sites I used on the internet never seemed to help.  So I got Visual Studios 2008 Express edition for C++ which was the compiler I used for C# and basically treated it like C# ... and I ran into quite a few problems but it was a fun way of trying to teach myself GUI programming with it.   Tell you what I had a hell of a time converting data types.  I had to get some information in the String format, convert it to a string format, convert it to a data format (double), do the math calculations then reconvert it to a String format.  That was frustrating wtf was it?  It was the programming language they use to make Xbox 360 Games and PC games.... XNA.  There we go.  That sucked the books we had didn't teach anything it basically said copy and paste see the code works don't pay any attention that you typed in 20 lines of code ... the cube rotates.  >.<

My team and I got a basic 3D Asteroids game made.  3D ship and 3D rocks.  Hard to control since we didnt have a 360 to test it on.  Had to use arrow keys to move, w s a d to pitch and ascend and descend and space bar to fire missile.  But in the end we got it all working with picture perfect collision detection and so on.  Major pain .  I'll stick with C# :-p

The 2 year degree I got I dont think I can get masters.  It wasn't an A.A. it was an A.A.S.  I'm pretty sure they said I couldnt get masters but I could get bachelors on it.  But I personally dont see how I couldn't get masters.

I was a video games programmer for 9 years. I honestly can't recommend it. The hours were horrible.

C++ is hard. After using it for 5 years you'll think you're 90% of the way to mastering it. After a decade you'll realize you're actually only 50% of the way. After 15 years you'll realize it's an absurd language and mastery is an illusion. And if you're like me you'll persist anyway =).

lol J/K its more like 2% ^_^.  I've done some crazy stuff in that language.  One time I was trying to throw an error message ... but I forgot about the throw command.  So I thought ... I need my program to break in this Try/Catch statement what can I do to break my program .... then it dawned on me.  Else int i = 1/0; I dont remember what I was doing anymore but I still remember that and no body could believe I turned that into a benefit for my program.  I like programming because there is no "right" way to do anything.  

My buddy got me into game programming.  He dropped out of some college in Ohio where the instructor taught game programming via Python and Pygame.  He showed me some of it and it looked like a lot of fun.  Just the concept of creating something that makes people have a lot of fun was appealing.  I'd like to do it but I know there is a ton to learn and be able to do to make a game.  Including learning DirectX >.< My buddy does some music production and wants me to make a video game so he can make all the music.  He knows i'm a perfectionist when it comes to programming and games so he knows my game wont suck.  He wants to put his music on it for bragging rights (even if its a free game).  Honestly I'd like to get good enough to make an MMO since that seems to be where the money is.  I like some of the concepts of the free MMO MapleStory where you can play for free but you can get special items or abilities by buying NXCash with real money.  But thats way in the future for me >.<  hell it'll probably be ready about the time they phase out Operating Systems.

Welcome to the forum! Nice to have another programmer on board. I've done my share of Windows programming, but never got involved in C#. In general I like the idea that my programs are able to run on other computer platforms. For that reason I'm mainly programming in Java nowadays.

Quote from: "Tom62"Welcome to the forum! Nice to have another programmer on board. I've done my share of Windows programming, but never got involved in C#. In general I like the idea that my programs are able to run on other computer platforms. For that reason I'm mainly programming in Java nowadays.

Thanks Tom.  My buddy that does Music Production uses a MAC.  He gives me so much crap since the stuff I make is only for windows.  I really need to sit down and reread my java book >.<  maybe try to get motivated and actually learn it.

I've been meaning to ask, is your username a Final Fantasy reference?  

Sorta Materia is from FF7.  I've just used this name forever.  I dont remember what I was signing up for but I just finished whipping Sephiroth (without cheating using Knights of the Round ... for those of you who played FF7 I screwed up and left Cloud with the cover materia ... apparently when he uses omni slash it messes up the end boss regardless of buffs)  Anyway thing I was signing up for all the names I could think of were taken.  So I made this one up out of frustration and its stuck with me over the years.