Winter Scripting Games: Profiles in Perfection
Tim Laqua
As part of the 2008 Winter Scripting Games the Script Center is profiling competitors who recorded a perfect score in the 2007 Scripting Games. Here, in his own words, is a little something about Tim Laqua, who received a perfect score in the VBScript Advanced Division.
Check out more Profiles in Perfection from the 2007 Scripting Games.
Tim Laqua
I’m 26 years old, have been happily married for over 2 years now, and live in Minnesota. I am currently finishing up my undergraduate degree in Business Computer Information Systems (a.k.a. MIS) at St. Cloud State University. During the day, I work part-time at the SCSU Computer HelpDesk as Supervisor of the Campus Tech group, a group that assists Faculty and Staff on campus with anything related to technology. Evenings are usually spent on various development projects and, of course, hanging out with my beautiful wife. When I do find some free time lying around, I enjoy working with the MediaWiki development team (PHP/MySQL) and have learned a great deal from their development community about collaborative development and quality assurance.
Scripting Tips
| • | Understand and learn to use XMLHTTP requests. |
| • | Understand and learn to use WMI. |
| • | Don’t just cut and paste code you find out on the web – understand it. |
| • | Use HTAs when it makes sense to do so – we might be fine with command-line execution, but most people like to click buttons. HTAs are also very useful for combining multiple scripts in one interface. |
| • | Give back. We use other people’s code every day – post your own solutions to unique problems as frequently as possible. That’s what the Internet is for. |
I will be graduating in May 2008 and plan to obtain a Masters in Network Security (or something like that) in the future. I’m currently looking for employment, so feel free to drop me a line at t.laqua@gmail.com if you’re interested in hearing more about me. Or visit my Web site: http://www.timlaqua.com/.
Finally, here’s a quote I came up with it the other day while trying to optimize a ludicrous SQL query:
“You can’t optimize ignorance.”
