Bill Pringle

Career

I am a senior staff programmer for the Weather Group of Unisys. We provide weather-related products and services to a wide variety of customers.

We also work on a variety of government projects. Presently, I am working on a project for the Transportation Security Agency (TSA), working on several projects dealing with air cargo security.

Since early 2000, I have been working on web related projects. I did a e-community portal project for Unisys. The project involved web design, ASP (Active Server Pages), and databases. The software worked fine, but the business plan didn't. :-( The current projects I am working on involve web sites that are used by the government and/or the commercial segment.

I work a lot with Unix and C, as well as Microsoft ASP and .Net, and have extensive teaching experience. For more details, you can read my (always out of date) resume.

Before working for the e-Business department, I worked on a weather display station software project called SkyVision(tm). This program displays current or past weather data similar to what you see on the Weather Channel. Unisys provides weather data for a number of large weather related companies. As part of this job, I also also supported weather displays at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and The Computer Museum in Boston.

Education

I have a Bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa, and obtained my Master's Degree from Penn State University, at the Great Valley Campus, near Philadelphia, where I also teach classes.

My research interests include Genetic Programming, an extension to Genetic Algorithms. Here is a text version of a research paper on this topic.

Interests

I unwind by playing Role Playing Games (RPGs) on Nintendo or PlayStation, especially anything by Square Soft. Here is a list of the possible endings for Chrono Trigger, my recruitment checklist for Radiata Stories, and my FAQ for the gambit system of Final Fantasy XII.

I am interested in music (with a wide variety of music styles). I have written two music related programs which are available from my download page:

albums: albums is a CD database program. The data files are plain ASCII text files (which are available as albs.zoo from the above sites). The program can retreive entries by artist, title, as well as by time.
pscover: pscover is a program that prints covers for cassette tapes. The output file is formatted for a PostScript printer. This program can read files created by albums

I used to do a lot of folk dancing when I was younger, and have come to love music from many different countries. I especially like Balkan Music, and describe the interesting rhythms they employ.

I am a software engineer, and enjoy writing programs to do a wide variety of things. I have written a number of programs that are available from my download page, including the following:

Web Tools: This package was used to develop this web site, as well as Cheryl Wheeler. This page was created using that tool as well.

I am interested in archaeology, especially Biblical Archaeology. I also enjoy studying scriptures. I am active in the Mormon Church, and have written a number of programs to make it easier for me while in several callings within the church.

I am happily married with four children and five grandchildren. (Two live near, but three in England.)

I have recently been very active in family history. In addition to a list of my ancestors, there are also an autobiography of my Dad.