PhoenixPo.com: Codic Engine.Net

Codic Engine.Net: Author

About the Author?

Tell you about me? Are you serious? Isn't there something else more interesting or some work you have to get to? Well, if you really want to know, I'll give you the down and dirty, but categorized.

Personal Information

Name:	Christopher
Birth:	02/1981
Home:	Smithfield, NC Greensboro, NC
Work:	Student; Master's of Science, Information Technology and Management (UNC Greensboro) Bryan School of Business IT Department (web developer), ResNet (connecting students to campus network), UNCG Sports Information (in-game computer statistician, volleyball and basketball), and tutoring (Special Support Services). If that wasn't enough, I take odd jobs if I know I can accomplish them. If I wrote the Codic Engine.Net whilst juggling all this, I think that's fairly remarkable.

My Connection With Example Codes on the Engine

Even if I don't like the code sets, I put them in. I try to give people an accurate representation of me even if I don't consider myself part of the subculture the code set is describing. It's an example code, so I must have it. Therefore, if you decode those, you can find out more about me than in here. Be warned: with those codes, I'll either describe myself or one of my characters a story I wrote.

Hobbies

Reading sci-fi/fantasy (Zelazny is my favorite), writing (two series: To the Outside and Phoenix's Rising), some drawing (I'm not too good)

Making web sites, fiddling with my server and laptop, experimenting with things on the computer

Digital photography

Air hockey (I'm quite good--challenge me and see for yourself)

Minor collecting--knick-nacks, many things related to "Initial D" and "Pet Shop of Horrors", some fantasy, some stuffed animals, some of everything (but minor)

Favorites

Foods	Steak, shrimp, lobster, beef jerky
Snacks	Cookie dough, soda, pineapple, Cheese Nips, Debbie Cakes, No-Bake Cookies
Music Type	Eurobeat (listen to "Initial D"), Japanese, instrumental (Star Wars and classical) Sometimes country, sometimes techno-dance, sometimes easy-listening --I don't have anything specific, but Eurobeat is tops, though after two years it's starting to get old.
Animal	Red Fox (natural), Phoenix (mythical)
Rune	Perth (I don't exactly delve into this topic; I read a book for research on a story I was writing and this was the one that most applied to me)
Sport	Air Hockey, WRC Racing
Vehicle	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII Rally
Color	Midnight Blue

The Technical Favorites

First Programming Language:	Visual Basic 6.0
Favorite Language:	ASP 3.0, written in VBScript The Codic Engine.Net is programmed in VB.Net because anything experimental I write will be in a language I am completely familiar with. I wanted the Engine to be in C#, but didn't want to spend time learning the advanced syntax needed when I already knew it in VB.Net (when debugging, I can read this easier than C#). One day, I hope the Engine is put in C#.
Second Favorite Language:	C#
Language Experience:	VB6/.Net, C#, Java, ASP3/.Net, basic JavaScript
Languages I Want to Learn:	Perl & CGI, more JavaScript, and the proper use of CSS

Computer Type and Brand:	Industrial Laptops (always laptops), Sager
Computers Used:	1) Sager 8560 (pic)--1GHz PIII, 512MB, 30GB, 15" SXGA, Windows XP Pro (network name "SAGER") 2) Self-built "server"--2.4GHz P4, 1GB DDR, 80GB(IDE) x120GB(SATA) x40GB(USB2.0), 52xCDRW, 16xDVD, 4xDVD±RW, TV-tuner, Windows 2003 .Net Server (network name "MAGE")
Network Names:	"Kaine"--Linksys 10/100 router "SAGER"--laptop "MAGE"--server "Preece"--Win 2003 server HDD "Mighs"--Archival and storage HDD "Talen"--USB2.0 portable HDD "Xias"--dead 80GB HDD, used to be primary CD drives shared under MAGE's drive lettering scheme "Exils"--Creative Nomad MuVo mp3 player
Web Authoring Program:	I started in FrontPage and I am still here. I use Visual Studio.Net to design the Codic Engine.Net
Image Editors Used:	Microsoft Photo Editor & Image Composer, Macromedia Fireworks
Favorite Program:	Remote Desktop
Fun Web Design Fact:	I used MS Word to create the 3D "target" logo for the Codic Engine .Net's logo. Odd, isn't that?

About My Online Aliases:

PhoenixPo

This was my first online handle, and I use it today to identify myself because it is unique to any system. When I made this, I was into poetry. The first poem I made was about a phoenix, as it is my favorite mythological creature. "Po" literally stands for "poetry," though the service only accepted up to that number of letters at the time. I hung around in tech support chat rooms and solved people's problems. I became fairly well-known in that room, and began documenting everything on my online service's free web site. This was my first foray into web development. I wanted more control, so I bought "PhoenixPo.com" and a hosting service for $10 a month providing 50MB of space. This was some time in 1997 and the domain was reregistered at tucows in July of 1998, as per my WHOIS domain lookup. I no longer have my technical documentation up, but the domain is still here and I haven't a need to change the hosting plan to this day because it allows unlimited bandwidth (something that might be good to have with the Codic Engine.Net here). I keep this name solely because it is unique online.

Kaine

This is the name of one character in a story series I seldom write, Phoenix's Rising Kaine de'Urgil is my favorite character and I found I actually like the name "Kaine." Everyone mispronounces the name, with is fine--Kaine actually rhymes with "fine", not "main". The character is patterned off one or two character traits I have, though the rest is his original character. I thought it interesting to make him half fox to provide a nice balance between my two main alias--PhoenixPo after my favorite mythological animal (originally standing for "Phoenix Poetry" back in the days of Win95), and Kaine after my favorite natural animal. It seemed ironic, I guess. Still, I like the name.

MAGE

Not really an online alias. Most of the stuff I write, the Codic Engine.Net especially, has the tag line of "PhoenixPo.com & Kaine/MAGE Server Project". Therefore, what is "MAGE"? In actuality, it is nothing more than my desktop server, running on Windows 2003 .Net Server. The name itself is taken from Phoenix's Rising. MAGE is a major magical business that serves as something for the reader to call "the bad guys." Actually, that's not so, but I enjoy leading the reader on like that because I follow the main characters' points of view, of which they are in the minority. MAGE, in the story, stands for "Magic Affairs and Guerilla Enforcers, Inc.". When it came time to gather names for my network, I decided to pattern it after the story. Therefore, any hard disk in the MAGE server has a network name corresponding with a MAGE employee that does roughly the same task the hard disk does. Pretty interesting naming convention, eh?