Thanks to these successful entrepreneur coders, there’s no longer shame in admitting that you are a programmer geek. In fact, it means that you are a member of an exclusive club of brilliant logicians who are all just one killer app away from retiring rich and living large.
As a result, the image of geeks in movies, TV and pop culture has shifted away from the dorky “Revenge of the Nerds” virgins with thick glasses. Now the geeks start dot-coms, stop bad guys, save the world, make millions, and get the (real live, not virtual) girl.
This short quiz will help you see if you’ve got what it takes. The more questions you answer “yes”, the more you are programmed to be a geek.
I am a programmer geek if:
I consider 256 to be a nice, round number.I become annoyed when 10K means 10,000.
I start counting from 0 and end up with one less than everyone else.
I end my sentences with a semi-colon.
I write equals as == and not equals as !=.
I know where to find the {braces} keys without looking.
I call text phrases “strings.”
I frequently use words like iteration, contiguous, trivial, version, array, polymorphic, parse and WTF in casual conversations.
When someone asks me what languages I speak, I reply: “C#, Java, PHP and Python.”
I hear the word “Scuzzy” and don’t think it’s a bad thing.
My favorite f-word is fdisk.
<rant>I include XML in regular correspondence.</rant>
I use camelCase for names.
I take things too literally. For example, my wife gets upset when she asks “Do you want to take out the garbage?” (no) instead of “Will you take out the garbage?” (yes).
I respond to questions too logically. For example, when a waitress asks me, “Would you like coffee or tea?” I respond, “Yes.”
I answer negative questions in the technically-correct but awkward way. When my mom asks me, “Wouldn’t you like a glass of milk?” I respond, “Yes, I wouldn’t like a glass of milk.”
When I make a mistake or say something I shouldn’t have, I wish I could press Ctrl+Z.
When searching a paper book, I get frustrated that I cannot simply press Ctrl+F to find the text I’m looking for.
When a store cashier asks me for my zip code, I demand to see the store’s privacy policy.
I get sudden attacks of bittersweet nostalgia when thinking about my long-lost Commodore 64, Sinclair ZX-81, TRS-80, or Amiga 1000.
It’s hard for me to make an absolute statement because I always consider there may be an edge case.
I unit-test my wife, expecting deterministic, solid outputs for a certain input with boundary conditions.
I tell my wife to “stop throwing exceptions that I’m not willing to catch.”
I hold a mouse more than my wife’s hand.
I assume that most people love their jobs like I do.
I’d rather text the guy in the next cubicle than talk to him.
Nighttime and sleep are no longer irrevocably linked.
I understand (0×2b||!0×2b) and find it funny.
I think these programming jokes are hilarious.
I think xkcd is the funniest webcomic ever.
I believe these laws to be self-evident and true.
I think the three primary colors are red, green and blue.
I have more than one monitor.
I have more email addresses than pairs of shoes.
The number of computers in my house exceeds the number of romantic relationships I’ve had in my lifetime.
I run a Web server at home.
Instead of playing games on my Xbox, I install Linux and use it as a server.
I carry a USB flash drive in my pocket wherever I go.
I know what a router is, and I know what a bit is, but I don’t know what’s a router bit.
I helped my grandma create her own blog.
Whenever I use another person’s computer, I complain that they are not using Firefox and attempt to switch them.
I email myself to remind me to do something.
I rig up elaborate mechanisms to perform basic tasks.
I’ve written a useless program “just for the fun of it.”
(http://www.devtopics.com/how-to-tell-if-youre-a-programmer-geek/)
