User:Bwagstaff

This is the user page for Bryan Wagstaff (BWagstaff)

Career
I am a professional computer game programmer. In addition to my day job programming, I accept contract work with various organizations.

I have written many types of software. Projects have included computer games, radar detection, wireless communications, assorted embedded systems, handheld computers, Internet software, Internet applications, and database work.

I have been a contributing editor to five books, and listed as co-author on one where I completely revised the second edition (Game Development with Unity, 2nd ed. ISBN 978-1305110540)

I have worked with over 30 programming languages, including variants within those languages. The languages in the user boxes include those I'm most comfortable with.

Interests
When editing, I loathe the use of the s/he and similar contrived words developed for people who are insecure or who perhaps feel that referring to "mankind" somehow excludes females. I also understand that "he" can be used as gender neutral pronoun, and that "you" can be singular and plural.

I am interested in intellectual property law and laws relating to information security. This is affected by my career choice, as my game programming work is also interrelated with business work, all of it interrelated with intellectual property and information security.

I have studied numismatics and have a nice collection of ancient and modern coins.

I fly kites, large and small, indoor and outdoor. While many people think of them as kids toys, there is an enormous world of kiting out there. Kiteboarding is a global sport with millions of participants globally, it is set to be an Olympic event, and is a great way to spend time on the water. Sport kites have competitions and demos, I love team flying and giving demos both outdoor and indoor, from gale-force winds to calm air. Indoor kites and gliders give a little exercise but can be breathtaking. It's a fun hobby that allows for time outside, gives exercise, and opportunities to meet friends and strangers.

I am an insatiable reader. When reading fluff fantasy fiction, I tend to read about 150 pages per hour. Technical books about mathematics, algorithms, and computation theory tend to be much slower. I currently go through about 1000 pages of books every week, in addition to everything else in my life.

Mental
I have a great bipolar-2 personality. My wife jokes that she doesn't care that I don't do much when I'm depressed. She just makes a long list of tasks for me, and everything will get done three weeks later during a manic stage.

Perhaps the most difficult part of my personality is working with my employer at my day job. Although they love the productivity of my manic weeks, they have come to accept the reality and inevitability of the depressed side.