Resurrection, and updates

I could tell from the sheer number of WordPress updates that awaited me that it’s certainly been a while since I wrote here on this blog. But part of my pre-New Year’s resolution is to start writing here more – hopefully I can develop some more interesting ideas and keep growing as a writer.

I’ve learned a ton from my first semester at Harvard – where I think I’ll study computer science, though I don’t declare a major till next year – and I’ve developed an interest in seeing how technology impacts other fields – politics, economics, education, sports, whatever – in addition to technology for its own sake. So with this reboot of the blog, so to speak, I’ll work to explore the intersection of technology and other fields.

Why it’s awesome being a developer

Studiofibonacci free icon set of ninjas with weapons
Apparently, these are a bunch of computer programmers.

Ninjas.

That’s what computer programmers are calling themselves nowadays. The profession (if you can even call it that) goes by a litany of none-too-glamorous names, such as developer, programmer, engineer, technician, and more stuff that doesn’t quite make you the most popular guy in the room. Hence, a lot of, er, programmers (for lack of a better word) go by ninja or such. Which I find slightly annoying – you’re writing code, not killing enemies of the emperor. But I digress.

Sorry for downtime – also, props to WebHostingHub

A closed box package cartoon clip art
Error 404, elephant not found

tl;dr – hathix.com had some downtime but my super-helpful host WebHostingHub cleared it up immediately. Also, I apologize for the fanboyishness – it’s just that WHH is that awesome.

I was recently working with some so-called cutting-edge web programming techniques (parsing JSON using PHP from client requests using JavaScript and jQuery… told you it was gory) and realized I needed a new version of some software on the server that hathix lives on.

How DO you pronounce “hathix”?

His name's hathix.
An elephant in a box.

You’d think I get that question a lot, but actually I don’t – most people pronounce it a certain way and are absolutely, positively, sure they’re right. There are so many pronunciations it’s incredible, so who am I to choose the “proper” one? Let ’em pronounce it however they like, I say.

That being said, the number of pronunciations I hear is borderline ridiculous. Here are the most common ones I’ve heard.