User:Alain Michaud

About
I joined Wikipedia in 2005. The following sections will tell you more about my interests.

Science
I am mainly interested in Laser Cooling, Maser, scattering parameters, electromagnetic fields, finite elements.

Computer programing
I switched to Linux four years ago. I really appreciate the open source concept.

My favorite programing language is pascal, and its Integrated Development Environment: Lazarus. I like to write some computer code:

I could write some simple real time data acquisition drivers for my lab.

I am presently working on a finite element software.

My algeabra skills being limited, I sometimes use maxima to help me in simple calculations.

My favorite Linux distribution right now is Slackware.

Editing Wikipedia
I came to wikipedia two years ago. So far, I have tried to make a few edits, but found the process very frustrating.

I am not interrested in writing about delicate or controversial subjects such as philosophy or politics, but instead on very specialized engineering subjects where I feel I am competent. Even there it seemed like an impossible task just to get everyone to agree on the definition of some words.

The result is that some pages are written as if they were Ph.D thesis or science fiction novels. The editors try to squeeze in any possible links thay can think of. For example, think of a High-school student who wants to learn a simple concept in electromagnetic theory and then he gets linked to some pages that apear like Science magazine or Physical Review Letters...

Also, if I spend some time writing an article, I would feel rewarding if my name appeared as an author.

As a consequence of all of this, I did not write anything on wikipedia for a while now. I wish I could understand better the editing policy/process, and how to contribute to Wikipedia.

I have also created an image once (That was fun. They did not remove it yet):



This is an hydrogen maser, an "atomic clock", ie. it delivers a weak periodic signal that is used to measure time.