Programming languages and other languages that I have used professionally:

Cobol Fortran Basic Pascal Ada Lisp some assemblers C C++ tcsh, bash and similar ColdFusion PHP and Smarty SQL HTML and CSS JavaScript XML and XSLT Java ESI

The language I like most is C++, although my heart still belongs to the C language.

I would rather have left ColdFusion out, but unfortunately I have used it.

Operating systems I have used professionally:

VAX VMS Unix Irix Linux Windows NT and XP

I prefer those ending with an x.

I have liked and still like to deal with the following:

nontrivial algorithms nontrivial data structures bit-juggling file formats API's and libraries raster graphics geometry mathematical tools simulators

This does not mean that I cannot tackle other areas successfully, of course.

I work at my best when I can optimize a combination of the following:

speed compactness accuracy correctness robustness clarity maintainability extensibility

without being too frustrated by time and cost constraints (although I cannot ignore them, obviously). In other words, don't ask me to do something that you just want to be done, no matter how well.

As an example for the above list, I believe that I am good at designing API's (and often the stuff behind them too), but not so good at designing GUI's. That's because a good GUI has qualities that are missing from the list.