Where are you from, and where do you live now?
I live in a little village called Ottenburg, that is part of Huldenberg in the province Vlaams-Brabant and not so far from Brussels, the capital of Belgium in the EU.
How long have you been programming?
I made my first program at the university college Groep T in Leuven in 1978. It was a Fortran program encoded in a stack of punch cards to resolve quadratic equations.
What is your expertise?
I have made and modified a lot of programs for PLC, PDP, Palm, PC, weighing terminals, etc in various languages as assembler, Fortran, TL1, C and Delphi.
It's difficult to single some out, because they are like children and you love the ugly ones as much as the brightest (without designating them as such).
Among the things that I have realized are production and weight registration systems in retail and various industries such as carton mills, glass factories, chemical and pharmaceutical plants and slaughterhouses; an athlete training system and a telephone number portability system, just to name a few.
What got you to XOOPS?
I was starting a year ago a website for my badminton club and I accidently singled out XOOPS in the installable CMS scripts from cPanel.
What do you like the most about XOOPS?
It's rich possibilities by the choice of modules.
In what area of XOOPS do you contribute and why?
I give some support on XOOPS.org and frXOOPS.org. For XOOPS.nl I could also, but I'm in doubt and I have some reservations.
What are your hobbies, when you're not coding?
Reading books, badminton, swimming, walking and I have a big garden which I regulary neglect.
You favorite dish and drink?
I have as all the people from Belgium Burgundian roots, so we enjoy a good meal amidst our friends or family. Typical dishes are: Steak and salade, Flemish Carbonades or Mussels, all with frites. And I think you all know the Belgian Waffles and Chocolates. Our region is also known for its glasshouses with grapes and I own one myself, so in the season I can enjoy plenty of this exclusif fruit.
I like to drink a good beer.
What about movies and music?
My favourite writer is Jack Vance. I liked very much the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I'm also in for action, romantic or comedy movies. For music I like mostly rock, but also more contemporary music, as turned daily on my favorite radio station Studio Brussel (live), without forgetting old time favorites as Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Hawkwind, Brownsville Station, David Bowie, etc.
If you would have a chance for a 30 seconds commercial with a message to the world, what would you say?
I agree with Albert Einstein who has said: "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." So, I believe whatever I say in such a commercial will have very little or no impact at all. But for the record: We are borrowing a lot from the future to sustain our current lifestyles. It's now time to change and to think how we can sustain the future, otherwise our centuries will be cursed for millenia to come.
If you could choose a place and time to live, what would it be and why?
I believe all places and times have their merits, but not more or less then what we have. Anyway the law of conservation of misery is in effect, so on one side you will always loose what you have gained at the other.
This way, there is no use to pursue happiness elsewhere. You better make the most of it, right here and now.
You could dream of some unreal places, but if they become reality, what will then be left to dream of?
Who is the person that you would like to meet and why?
Nobody.
02. XOOPSers of the Month 2
