Ask the Mormon

[ArchAngel]

I'm talking about what's true and what's false. Everybody has to make judgement calls on this, otherwise you live your life in a relativistic wasteland. Of course, it matters if something is wrong.

Is Allah God and Muhammad his prophet?
Is Jesus not the Son of God but just a prophet?
Do we reincarnate?
Do we go to one of the three heavens or outer darkness?
Do we go to Valhalla?
Is Shiva the God of Destruction?
Does Zeus rule in Olympus, having defeated the Titans?
Did Jesus visit the Americas?
Are some Native Americans the lost tribe of Israel?
Is Papal Supremacy true?
Is the earth resting on the back of a giant turtle?

Do you claim to not judge which of these is correct or incorrect?

[ArcticFox]

Of course I have my own beliefs on which of those are true. I don't think you're getting my point here. If a Muslim claims to have had a genuine religious experience, I will not presume to judge it, because God may very well have spoken to him. That isn't an endorsement of Islam, or relativistic truth. It's an acknowledgement that God will use whatever methods are required to get someone's attention. God isn't going to say "Well, I had this really great plan where I'd get this person to lead his community but... since he isn't a Mormon, and since I could only talk to him if he were, I guess I may as well not bother."

[ArchAngel]

Okay, I think I'm coming to an understanding on what you mean.

For a follow-up question, when a person claims to have a genuine spiritual experience and they claim something that you find directly contradictory to what you believe, what is your stance?

The writings of holy books often come by these mean. How do you feel about the Quran?

[Deepfreeze32]

I almost feel out of place talking CS in the presence of a theological discussion, but...


I finally got my profiler working. Turns out I'm making API calls at two to three times the rate allowed. Whoops.

Favored Source Control and Versioning system? And if there are sites for it, favored online repository?

[Chozon1]

Slushees?

[ArcticFox]

Okay, I think I'm coming to an understanding on what you mean.

For a follow-up question, when a person claims to have a genuine spiritual experience and they claim something that you find directly contradictory to what you believe, what is your stance?

The writings of holy books often come by these mean. How do you feel about the Quran?

I look at that stuff philosophically. Maybe they're right and my understanding of my own religion is flawed. Maybe their understanding of the revelation they received is flawed. Maybe they're lying. A million maybes. I can't know truly what passed between them and God and I'm not meant to know. How can I do more than nod politely?

I think the Quran contains some truth. I haven't read it so I can't say more than that. (I would like to have a copy, though.)

I almost feel out of place talking CS in the presence of a theological discussion, but...

I finally got my profiler working. Turns out I'm making API calls at two to three times the rate allowed. Whoops.

Favored Source Control and Versioning system? And if there are sites for it, favored online repository?

Awesome!

I don't really have a favorite source control, but I've only used SVN, CVS ans SourceSafe. As for online repo, I like GitHib. I even have an account there with my own open-source stuff available to the public.

[Sstavix]

I think the Quran contains some truth. I haven't read it so I can't say more than that. (I would like to have a copy, though.)

I'm not sure how effective that would be. I've heard that (in some countries, at least) it's a crime and blasphemous to translate the Quran into any language other than the one it was written in. (I've also heard that it's one of the requirements of Muslims to have the Quran memorized... but that actually understanding the words they are speaking is optional)

Personally, I don't understand why they'd take that approach. I believe that, aside from the actual instances of Jesus, Martin Luther translating the Bible into German - essentially tearing the Bible from the hands of the high priesthood authorities and allowing the average lay worshipers the same access to Jesus' teachings and ministry - to be one of the most important things to happen in Christianity.

But maybe it's just me.... What do you think?

[Deepfreeze32]

Well in regards to the API, funny story.

First, some background. It's an LMS API that is in extreme beta. I am (Primarily, since my partner doesn't work as much) responsible for writing a Student Information System adapter for this API. I chose to write in Java since Java provides rapid application development, is flexible, and above all, the API developers had some rudimentary example code that could use the API in Java. Naturally, I had to change a few things to account for our system, but the starting point was super helpful.

So as part of this SIS adapter, I need to write a course creation tool (Pretty much done), an enrollment management tool (My current project), and a web handler to forward students to the course page from our portal (That's my next project). The first two are primarily server-side apps, so I don't need to worry too much about making it a user-friendly experience. The web handler is going to be fun, since I'll have to interact with the currently-being-upgrade portal, and I'll have to make the redirection as quick as possible.

Well, I've been finding lots of bugs with this particular API. Certain methods don't work, there's a minimum requirement of information to create a course that is not documented, and errors are exceptionally vague. Anyway, after my latest bug report (That the API demanded a parameter that was not normally specified or required), the vendor decided to help us out. They said, more or less, "Since our API is really buggy, we'll handle your batch uploads for you". Talk about a good-guy vendor.


Anyway, I just felt like sharing that particular story since I figured you might in some way appreciate it (And I'm probably wrong, lol).


On a related note, is anxiety normal when an application is about to go live? My course creation tool is about to go live (In a few weeks, once it passes some code reviews), and I'm really nervous that it will explode or something once it runs on the server. Is this just normal for software developers, or will it get less nerve-wracking as I have more programs enter production?

[ArchAngel]

I look at that stuff philosophically. Maybe they're right and my understanding of my own religion is flawed. Maybe their understanding of the revelation they received is flawed. Maybe they're lying. A million maybes. I can't know truly what passed between them and God and I'm not meant to know. How can I do more than nod politely?

If this is so, why do you believe what you believe?

[ArcticFox]

But maybe it's just me.... What do you think?

I agree, I think keeping Scripture in a language that only allows certain people to read it makes God's word inaccessible to people without going through a middle man who may or may not fill that role correctly.

Well in regards to the API, funny story.
...
Anyway, I just felt like sharing that particular story since I figured you might in some way appreciate it (And I'm probably wrong, lol).

Of course! Which portal are you using?

On a related note, is anxiety normal when an application is about to go live? My course creation tool is about to go live (In a few weeks, once it passes some code reviews), and I'm really nervous that it will explode or something once it runs on the server. Is this just normal for software developers, or will it get less nerve-wracking as I have more programs enter production?

Absolutely normal. It gets better as y our confidence grows, but there's always that moment when it gets rolling where you either get to go celebrate, or spend the next few hours freaking out on the brink of panic, trying to fix errors...

If this is so, why do you believe what you believe?

Because of my own personal testimony. I know that the Lord told me personally to follow Him through joining the LDS Church. I believe that it isn't the sole source of truth, but it is the most complete.

[ArchAngel]

How is it the most complete?

[ArcticFox]

How is it the most complete?

In that a lot of lessons and truths of the Gospel were lost to apostasy over the centuries, and the Church is a restoration of those things.

[ArchAngel]

I guess I'm asking on how you know, because it seems you're saying other people's claims and beliefs are just as or similarly as likely.

[Deepfreeze32]

Of course! Which portal are you using?

We use Liferay with some semi-custom portlets and Google Apps integration. It's pretty awesome, and the new version of Liferay we're trying to push out is pretty baus.

Absolutely normal. It gets better as your confidence grows, but there's always that moment when it gets rolling where you either get to go celebrate, or spend the next few hours freaking out on the brink of panic, trying to fix errors...

Well, that's good to know. I keep testing the code under highly strenuous conditions and it works fine...just can't shake my pessimism though, lol.



Music while coding: Yay or nay?

[Chozon1]

Is a...food?