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Luc Pattyn - Professional Profile



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I am an engineer with a background in electronics, software and mathematics.

I develop technical software, both for embedded systems and for desktop equipment. This includes operating systems, communication software, local networks, image processing, machine control, automation, etc.

I have been using all kinds of microcontrollers and microprocessors (Intel 4004/8080/8051/80386/Pentium, Motorola 680x/680x0/ColdFire/PowerPC, Microchip PIC, Altera NIOS, and many more), lots of programming languages (all relevant assemblers, Fortran, Basic, C, Java, C#, and many more), and different operating systems (both proprietary and commercial).

For desktop applications and general development tools I have been using both UNIX systems and Mac/MacOS for many years, but I have switched to x86-based PCs with Windows, Visual Studio and the .NET Framework several years ago.

I specialize in:
- cross-platform development (making software that runs on diverse hardware/OS combinations)
- instruction set simulation
- improving software performance, i.e. making sure the software runs the job at hand in as short a time as possible on the given hardware. This entails algorithm selection, implementation design, accurate measurements, code optimisation, and sometimes implementing virtual machines, applying SIMD technology (such as MMX/SSE), and more.

   

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Have no restrictions on voting frequencysilversilversilversilver
Bypass spam checks when posting contentsilversilversilversilversilversilvergoldSubEditor, Mentor, Protector, Editor
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Generalsig [modified] Pin
Luc Pattyn19-Jun-10 1:33
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn19-Jun-10 1:33 
GeneralRe: sig Pin
Moak12-Jul-10 3:13
Moak12-Jul-10 3:13 
Generalsig Pin
Luc Pattyn16-Jun-10 3:16
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn16-Jun-10 3:16 
Generalsig Pin
Luc Pattyn13-Jun-10 4:47
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn13-Jun-10 4:47 
GeneralSIGs March 2010 [modified] Pin
Luc Pattyn23-Mar-10 5:36
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn23-Mar-10 5:36 
GeneralJanuary 2010 Pin
Luc Pattyn4-Jan-10 16:34
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn4-Jan-10 16:34 
GeneralSIG December 2009 Pin
Luc Pattyn24-Dec-09 1:07
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn24-Dec-09 1:07 
General10 reasons why QA sucks (extended on 30-NOV-2009) PinPopular
Luc Pattyn28-Nov-09 2:04
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn28-Nov-09 2:04 
The programming forums are very well organized; they are the result of years of experience, feedback, and improvement. Now CP plans to replace all of them by the QA subsystem, which focuses entirely on looks, and not at all on user comfort. Here is a selection of issues:

1.
others can modify text that I have published and signed my name to. IMO this is unacceptable; the only concession I am willing to make is when someone with a significantly higher reputation adds to and/or strikes through my text (without deletions nor changes), and such additions/strikeouts are marked in a different color and mention name and datetime in loco; and I then would prefer to have an opportunity to amend my text to include the new material (with proper acknowledgment) or remove it when I don't agree. The choice is clear, either it is my text with my name under it; or it is something else. If it is to be a wiki, then it should be anonymous.

2.
page efficiency is gone; a forum shows 25 messages by default. With an average of 5 messages per thread, this means 5 threads are available, within a single page. If you want to read them all in QA, it takes more than 5 pages (1 per thread, and a fraction of the list page). So you wait much longer to get it all, you get the ads every time, you have to click and wait, and you loose the overview. And yes I have DSL (and my mobile PC hasn't).

3.
visual memory no longer works; on forums, within those 25 messages, you see the names, the scores, the modifications to the subject lines, etc all at once. In the QA list page, you don't see who has answered, what votes the answers got, etc. So you end up reloading and reading the same thread because you don't recognize it in the list page.

4.
The so called "WYSIWYG" editor stinks
for one, it is not a WYSIWYG editor, as it still needs a preview mode to show how it really looks (with proper page width, syntax coloring, ...)
[ADDED 27-NOV] there have been several remarks/complaints in the forums; and now it got removed, and replaced by the good old message editor on 27-NOV-2009 [/ADDED]

5.
SIGs are gone. no SIG, no fun.

6.
cross-post problem (a minor issue: someone asking the same question in more than one forum) replaced by reread problem (a major issue: how to read messages with a specific tag (e.g. C#), later read messages with another tag (e.g. databases) without getting a lot of messages more than once?)

7.
repost problem (a minor issue: someone asking the same question in the same forum, just starting a new thread to get higher up on the first page) not solved; some kinds of edits (on the question or on an answer) are sufficient to bump the message.

8.
The guidelines have been shortened, most of the valuable content is gone.
item 3 ("Keep the question as brief as possible. If you have to include code, include the smallest snippet of code you can.") is completely wrong, it stimulates people to withhold essential information.

9.
I don't understand the function of the question, answers, and threaded discussion parts, and so do lots of other users. How can one react to an answer? ask additional questions? It is a mess.
[ADDED 30-NOV] Here is a simple example[^] of a poster adding an answer because he wants to ask something about a reply he has got.[/ADDED]

10.
Lots of bugs and minor issues; I trust those will be ironed out eventually.


PS: no need to react here, I will remove all replies; if you want some of this discussed, move it to the appropriate forum (probably the QA forum).

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles]

I only read code that is properly indented, and rendered in a non-proportional font; hint: use PRE tags in forum messages


modified on Monday, November 30, 2009 8:29 PM

GeneralRe: 10 reasons why QA sucks (extended on 30-NOV-2009) PinPopular
Jörgen Sigvardsson5-Dec-09 3:09
Jörgen Sigvardsson5-Dec-09 3:09 
GeneralRe: 10 reasons why QA sucks (extended on 30-NOV-2009) PinPopular
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.11-Dec-09 23:37
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.11-Dec-09 23:37 
GeneralRe: 10 reasons why QA sucks (extended on 30-NOV-2009) Pin
Moak3-Jun-10 7:55
Moak3-Jun-10 7:55 
GeneralRe: 10 reasons why QA sucks (extended on 30-NOV-2009) Pin
Luc Pattyn3-Jun-10 8:10
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn3-Jun-10 8:10 
GeneralRe: 10 reasons why QA sucks (extended on 30-NOV-2009) Pin
Moak23-Jun-10 8:28
Moak23-Jun-10 8:28 
GeneralRe: 10 reasons why QA sucks (extended on 30-NOV-2009) Pin
Luc Pattyn23-Jun-10 8:33
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn23-Jun-10 8:33 
Generala few links to more discussions on Q&A [modified] Pin
Luc Pattyn5-Jun-10 7:32
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn5-Jun-10 7:32 
GeneralRe: 10 reasons why QA sucks (extended on 30-NOV-2009) Pin
LimitedAtonement11-Jun-10 8:44
LimitedAtonement11-Jun-10 8:44 
GeneralRe: 10 reasons why QA sucks (extended on 30-NOV-2009) Pin
Luc Pattyn11-Jun-10 9:11
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn11-Jun-10 9:11 
GeneralRe: 10 reasons why QA sucks (extended on 30-NOV-2009) Pin
Chris Maunder27-Apr-11 19:11
cofounderChris Maunder27-Apr-11 19:11 
AnswerRe: 10 reasons why QA sucks (extended on 30-NOV-2009) Pin
Luc Pattyn29-Apr-11 9:14
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn29-Apr-11 9:14 
GeneralRe: 10 reasons why QA sucks (extended on 30-NOV-2009) Pin
Chris Maunder29-Apr-11 11:25
cofounderChris Maunder29-Apr-11 11:25 
GeneralRe: 10 reasons why QA sucks (extended on 30-NOV-2009) Pin
Luc Pattyn29-Apr-11 12:33
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn29-Apr-11 12:33 
Generalsearch test (plural) [modified] Pin
Luc Pattyn16-Oct-09 18:14
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn16-Oct-09 18:14 
Generalsearch test [modified] Pin
Luc Pattyn16-Oct-09 18:14
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn16-Oct-09 18:14 
Generalsearch test (both) [modified] Pin
Luc Pattyn16-Oct-09 18:14
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn16-Oct-09 18:14 
GeneralHTML tricks Pin
Luc Pattyn23-Sep-09 4:29
sitebuilderLuc Pattyn23-Sep-09 4:29 

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