About Kim

Contact

You can contact me via email: kimbly -at- pobox -dot- com.

School

I'm currently working on a master's degree in computer science at Brown. School has been incredibly exciting for me, and has kindled a passion for at least a dozen CS topics. So far I've taken classes on parallel and distributed computing, combinatorial optimization, computational biology, and formal verification. My independent project is to write a compiler for a dynamically typed functional reactive programming language called FrTime (pronounced father time). If I don't have the opportunity to take a class on them before I finish my degree, I plan to study randomized algorithms, machine learning, machine vision, and mathematical logic on my own.

Work

In between semesters at school, I'm working at StreamBase, where my tasks range from project management to QA to architecture and design. I spend most of my day sticking my nose into design discussions, reviewing bugs and feature requests, maintaining the test framework, and generally doing whatever is necessary to make sure the product has everything it needs to be technically successful. Before StreamBase, I was a senior software engineer at Endeca, where I spent my day working on server-side C++ software, with occasional forays into Java, Perl, and C#. If you're interested in more about what I do for a living, check out my resume.

Learning

I'm always interested in learning new things. When I first started programming I was fascinated by graphics, so I learned a lot about vector algebra. That evolved into an interest in fractals, artificial life, and genetic algorithms. I actually got a job working on genetic algorithms at one point. Eventually my hobby shifted over to programming languages. After learning Scheme, Prolog and Forth, I (mistakenly) felt I had run out of interesting new programming languages to learn, so I studied Mandarin Chinese for two years at Harvard. My fascination with programming languages continues, and I am currently (2006) interested in Functional Reactive Programming and dataflow languages. In the late 1990's I went through a philosophy phase, reading everything from Plato to Kant to Nietzche. More recently (since the summer of 2003), I have become interested in history.

Projects

I sporadically launch new spare-time projects, some of which I have actually finished. My most recent project was Diamond Wiki, but it went through a bit of a crisis which killed my passion for the project.

Music

I tend to like all kinds of music, as long as it's not reggae or pop. Some of favorites include industrial (Nine Inch Nails, VNV Nation), alternative (Cibo Matto, P.J. Harvey), experimental noise (Robert Normandeau), and modern (Lee Hyla). I also like hip hop, lounge, and bluegrass, but don't listen to them enough to have favorites.

Vitals

I was born in December 1976, so that makes me 29 years old, last I checked.