Good question... I'm pretty steeped in the C/C++/C# style of coding, so I'm looking for something to broaden my horizons a little bit. Maybe something 'functional'. Although I think you can probably program in a functional style with pretty much any language... Probably Python. Cross platform... Can do just about anything... Any suggestions for other languages? Maybe something more purely functional?

I'm curious... What kinds of things do you use scripting languages for? Which language and which platform? I think that I am looking for small to medium utility projects, not large full scale apps. It may be that I am just trying to find reasons to pick up a scripting language other than just grins and giggles.

I think you need to cover your office floor, walls and ceiling with tin foil... You need to rule out the induced-electrical-flow-from-flowing-water syndrome possibility... To be on the safe side, you should wrap yourself with tin foil... This will rule out the jynx effect...

Sorry... There wasn't an 'or' in there... What I was asking is if there was more benefits to martial arts than just being stronger/faster/tougher as well as the confidence that you can hold your own if someone gets rough...

Do you think the martial arts improves life more than just being in better shape/stronger and being able to go Chuck Norris on someone if they try to jump you?

Ahh... The zen of fishing is that it isn't about catching fish...

I think I may have been an auto mechanic if I wasn't seduced by the family Apple 2e a hundred years ago... Similar satisfaction when something that didn't work before you started monkeying with it wheezes back to life...

I noticed in an earlier post that you said that you find it MUCH easier to pound out riff after riff now where you didn't when you were younger. Do you think that is because you focused to much on theory back then which impeded your progress or because or is it easier now because you have such a solid basis in theory?

I made a couple built in bookcases for our house... Need a couple nice standalone cases... I'll just add that to the end of the list of projects for after the house is completed... I may get to it before I die... (The list is very long...) Are you going to use a plan to build the cedar hope chest or 'wing it'?

I agree... Part of the reason I haven't been able to make anything in a couple of years was that we bought a fixer upper house and have been fixer-uppering it ever since... (Well over a year now...) Texture is hard to mess up... If you splatter a wall and you don't like it, scrape it off before it dries. And, as always, the right tool for the job makes it MUCH faster and consistent.

I've been thinking about taking up an instrument... No idea which. Piano or maybe guitar. I think guitar may be to easy though... I can play expert on Rock Band, afterall... *Rolling eyes* (Just ignore me!)

Me too. What do you like to make? I haven't been able to make much in the past couple of years, but I like making toys for kids.

I'm not trying to start a flamewar about whether coding is art, architecture or construction. I'm curious about your hobbies... How many of you coders have 'artistic' hobbies such as painting, drawing, carving, composing, writing etc... Do you think that the 'artistic' outlet helps you in your day job? If you don't mind sharing, what are your hobbies?

I looked at the linked site as well as the site that was linked from there, but it is unclear to me how 'underemployed' is defined. Can you help me out?

I really don't like answering my own questions... Apparently C#, unlike VB, automatically creates delegates for COM events. So instead of creating my own function I use theirs. Code then becomes,

myApi = new MyCOMInterfaceLib.MyCOMClassClass();
myApi.coordCallback += new _IMyCOMClassEvents_coordCallbackEventHandler(this.coordHandler);

If there is a better or easier way to do this, please let me know. Otherwise, thank you. - Matt

First, let me say that I am not a C# programmer. Complete newb here... Don't hate me because I'm beautiful... I am trying to create a drop-dead simple application that will set a function callback address in the C++ COM dll to point to a C# function in the demo application. (This is for a sample application to demonstrate our API to potential users.) I have it working for both C++ and Visual Basic, but thus far, C# success is eluding me. Here is what I have done... Created a simple form with three text boxes that will be filled with XYZ values when everything works. Within the namespace of my app (TestCSharpApp... so I lack imagination... sue me...) I have created a delegate function like this. public delegate void coordCallbackFunction(double x, double y, double z, int buttonNumber ); In my public partial class Form1 : Form class, I have the function I want to call.

public void coordHandler(double x, double y, double z, int buttonNumber)
{
xCoord.Text = x.ToString();
yCoord.Text = y.ToString();
zCoord.Text = z.ToString();
}

Finally, In the form load function I have this code.

MyCOMInterfaceLib.MyCOMClassClass myApi = new MyCOMInterfaceLib.MyCOMClassClass();
myApi.coordCallback += new coordCallbackFunction(this.coordHandler);

I realize that myApi will go away right after setting up the callback, but I am just trying to get it to compile. I'll worry about details later. When I compile the program I get this error... Error 1 Cannot implicitly convert type 'TestCSharpApp.coordCallbackFunction' to 'MyCOMInterfaceLib._IMyCOMClassEvents_coordCallbackEventHandler' C:\Temp\TestCSharpApp\Form1.cs 38 I have included the MyComInterfaceLib in my list of references. I can call functions from the COM dll and that works fine. The problem is setting the callback function using delegates. It may not mean much, but the callback functions work fine in VB.Net, so I don't think the problem is in the COM dll. Thank you for any help.

Wow! Thank you all for your suggestions! I have until Monday to formulate a gameplan for her son and a lot of ideas to suggest. As always, you all really came through for me. - Matt

I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!

I wonder if Google's webpage cache could help resurrect the website... It would probably be a nightmare... Might be better to start from scratch...

I'm sitting here at my desk getting ready to start coding. The thought crossed my mind, "I wonder what the people at the Code Project listen to while they code." (Yeah... I might be stalling just a little bit...) I'm not asking what you like in general, but more when you are in the process of coding (Is there a difference?). Do you find that certain types of music help with coding vs debugging? I'm afraid that the answer will be similar to my answer to this question... Depends on the day. If I'm trying to figure something out, then I like it as quiet as possible. If it's just grunt work, then I like just about anything lively. What I can't do is listen to books on tape. It's a little to much distraction. Anyway, I'm curious to know what works for y'all.