KIT eLearning University of Liverpool M.Sc in IT Introducing Dennis Hamilton

orcmid> erudizione> M.ScIT> E040200C> 0.01 2004-10-02 -08:37 -0700

This is the introduction version used in Spring 2004.  It was replaced by version 0.20 for Summer 2004.  The latest version is always found at the main page for this Erudizione note.

Hello, my name is Dennis Hamilton.  I have completed six modules in the M.Sc program: MSC-CS, MSC-SE, MSC-JV, MSC-WA, MSC-DB, and MSC-CC.  In the Spring and Summer of 2004 I will complete MSC-AT and MSC-SN, beginning my dissertation project at the end of August.

I am in this program for a serious tune up of my skills and to equip myself to teach at this level.  My desire is to pursue computer science as a scholar and as a teacher.  My intention is to excel in my participation here, and in the future beyond.  

This is the photo on my Student ID card.

 I am 65 (since January).  I live in Seattle, Washington (on Pacific Daylight Time, gmt-0700, until October), with my wife Victoria and our 3 cats. 

Vicki is a master potter and teacher (<http://millennia-antica.com>).  We have 3 sons, all grown and unmarried.  The youngest, Yogi Japendranatha, is at the Hindu monastery on Kauai, Hawaii, where he supports the monastery's network, among other duties.  The oldest son lives in Portland, Oregon where he is a rock musician and in a recovery program.  The middle son is a professional stage manager for local theatrical productions in Seattle.  Vicki and I have 3 sisters between us.  The middle one, my youngest sister, Carol, works in special education in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

 I wrote my first computer program (in Fortran) in May of 1958 while I was working as an engineering aide at Boeing in Renton, Washington.  I had dropped out of college the year before.  I had been interested in computers before that, and I have worked in practically all aspects of software since.  Some of my experiences as a young, and then not-so-young developer are described in an on-line article, at <http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2001/04/04/se4e.html>. 

By 1995 I had completed my undergraduate education with a Bachelor of Arts degree in an external degree program.  (I earned credits in computer science by taking the Graduate Record Examination in CS and challenging the major.  I then focused on philosophy, economics, and anthropology in a variety of classroom courses over the years.)

My last corporate employment was at Xerox Corporation, where I worked as a software scientist and system architect of document-management systems.  I retired at the end of 1998 and I have occasional consulting projects in my semi-retirement.  The most rewarding of these include travel to Japan, where I have several colleagues.

The E. in my signature is for Eugene, the "orcmid" in my e-mail signature is an on-line "handle" that I have used since 1979.  Compagno is the name of my lap-top computer, where I am set up for the course while I tear down my desktop system ("Centro") for upgrade to Windows XP Pro sometime during this module.  I said that in the last four modules.  Compagno crashed in the last week of April.  It has been cured for now.  It is clear that I must have more of my home-office computers updated to the same OS so I can rely on them as mutual backups.