My name is Ryan Skonnord, and I'm the operator of LambdaWolf.com. As is the privilege of anyone with their own website, this page is where I unload all sorts of fascinating autobiographical minutiae. (This information is current as of November 2010.)
I am in my late twenties. Until recently I was a computer science undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley and I am now seeking employment in the tech field.
The programming languages with which I am proficient currently are Scheme, C, C++, Java, and Python.
My formative experiences in programming included using the QBasic interpreter that came with everyone's DOS system as a young child; I remember having an intuitive sense of the Turing-completeness of the thing, that the variables and GOTOs it provided me were sufficient to do pretty much anything at all. (Not that you would want to use them that way, of course. Luckily, I think I avoided the dreaded BASIC brain damage.) I also cultivated a love of programming in high school with my TI-86 graphing calculator, which is programmable in a dialect of BASIC, and the Starcraft Campaign Editor.
I use a Fujitsu LifeBook that runs Windows Vista. I used to dual-boot Ubuntu from it using Wubi, but I learned the hard way that the setup was too precarious, so I bought a used IBM ThinkPad from Craigslist and have used it as my dedicated Linux machine ever since. I also have an older desktop computer that I have lovingly repaired an upgraded over the years and an Asus 901 netbook (the latter also runs Linux).
Personal bias section: Emacs is better than vi; Python is better than Perl; I like Java; Apple is overrated.
I finished a bachelor’s degree in computer science at Cal in 2010. I also received associate’s degrees in computer science and mathematics from Diablo Valley College in 2008.
Outside of computer science and math, my academic background includes physics, literature, and philosophy. I also dabble in psychology, world history, and economics, more on Wikipedia than in school.
I am an avid player of computer, console, card, and board games. My video game tastes run towards strategy games (especially Blizzard Entertainment’s), RPGs, and some of the better action games (Metal Gear Solid is one of my favorites, and anything by Valve). I also play occasional games of chess, backgammon, hold ’em, and cribbage.
The trading card game Magic deserves particular mention, because I love the number of opportunities it presents for making your own computational tools, some of the products of which are available on the software section of this website. I mostly play online these days, usually in short periods of obsession.
As for athletic sports, I practice golf, fencing, and target shooting on and off.
I have a wonderful girlfriend whom I've been with for nine years. We got engaged in August 2010 and will be married the following January. She has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from U.C. Davis and works as an apprentice actuary.
My parents live in Antioch, CA, where they own and operate Quick Qualifier Software. My sister is an anthropology student living in Walnut Creek.