Hello World

In case you didn't already know, my name is Martin Andersson and I'm in my thirties. I was born and raised in Sweden, moved to the U.S. (Williamsburg, VA) in June 2015. I work full-time as a Java EE developer for Swisslog.

Basically, I try my best to not go away from home and write code. Computer Science and.. code.. has totally ripped my life apart ever since I opened my first book on the subject. I'm an obsessed person to start with and there's just no end to the knowledge base of computer science.

I also misuse coffee and hot sauces. I work out a couple of times each week and listen to trance music.

With a homie, Feb '07

Programming preferences

The real challenge for me right now is to keep this topic short.

I love all internet related things. Front-end is a whole lot of fun but I enjoy back-end most. I've given game programming a run in the past using XNA, but recently I've been developing for web and desktop only.

At the front-end, I'm most experienced with HTML & CSS, JavaScript and the adoring newcomer TypeScript. TypeScript is strongly typed JavaScript with keywords and syntax for modules, class hierarchies and interfaces. TypeScript even has the notion of varargs, enums and polymorphism with method overloading and overriding. All TypeScript code compiles down to pure JavaScript that uses well-known design patterns with closures and prototype extension. Even better, you can mix the two if need be and make TypeScript sound and walk like a duck, so give it a try if you haven't already. It makes building a front-end architecture so much more fun!

Over at the back-end, I used to be a PHP junkie. Until I tried some Java EE code and was completely sold. Compared with PHP, Java EE is strongly-typed for real and provides standardized APIs for object relationship mapping, dependency injection and transactions - just to mention a few. But, Java EE is also proliferated with age-old stuff such as JSF and EJB. Also, some of the more important specs have still not made it to the stack (JSR-107, JSR-347) and many more important aspects for modern web apps are completely missing. Did I mention that every spec in Java EE is a nightmare to read? Bottom line is that I do not have much hope for Java EE's future. I personally intend to concur Lightbend's Reactive Platform next.

If you ask me what is the coolest language to write desktop applications in, I'd have to say C#. Together with WPF you can have a whole lot of fun. Because of platform independence, I personally prefer JavaFX which is hardware accelerated and support touch events.

Proud to be

Since Dec '13

Since Sep '13

Education and all of that

For nosy people:

Cover letter: martinandersson.com/f/cover-letter.pdf

Resume: martinandersson.com/f/resume.pdf

Code gallery: martinandersson.com/f/code-gallery.pdf

For those that prefer the English language:

I began my education in 2008 working on a degree of Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics from Linnaeus University. When I was almost finished, I started to work at an accounting firm doing other people's chores and realized that actually working with economics is the most horrible thing. My driver had been learning more about the world, how to run my own business and how to value company shares. All of which is great and fun things to do and learn. However, due to my latest epiphany, I had to seek a new long-term focus in life and figured computer science would be cool. I've been scripting and hacking my whole life but never given programming a serious try. So in 2010, I began to work on a degree of Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering from Mid Sweden University. The first two years was a got damn cocaine trip. I've never had so much fun and I learned new stuff every minute of the day. Fortunately, the school failed to provide adequate challenges for me and kept forcing us students to read more than a decade old books. So in the beginning of 2013, I began my professional career working as a Java EE developer for Swisslog. I eventually got my head straight in 2017 and grabbed a degree from Stockholm University.

Early life

I was raised by adult children that belonged to Jehovah's Witnesses. Life was filled with preaching agonizing morals copied from holy literature in the streets and make hate speech before other brainwashed people in the Kingdom Hall (an internal language used for "church"). I was intellectually raped by the religion, mentally and physically abused by my caretakers.

In short, life was so tough that I sooner or later - inevitably - had to question the existence of a loving God. Like the old Greeks, and despite already "having all the answers", I could never figure out how to add together the properties of God. Still, with a warm faith in hand, I had to dispose the worshiping of invisible life and adhere myself to unbiased love for all humans.

My story has made grown men weep, but I seek no empathy. In fact, even if I had the power to, I still wouldn't change the course of my first twenty years in life. To begin with, losing faith and all the people that once hurt me (Jehovah's Witnesses shun apostates), has been the most fantastic thing that ever hit me. I've been high on life ever since. I've learned so much from my experiences that I am grateful for. The most important lesson of them all is that you can never ever be assured of the truth. All one can know, is that we don't know.

Other lessons I've learned is to never bargain with your honor, as long as it is based on the love for others. Else, have no honor. I've also gained an unbeatable feeling that impossible is nothing.