About me
My full name is Thomas Michael Shea, but most of my friends call me Tom. On the Internet I occasionally use the alias thristhart. I was born and raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States, by a librarian and a sysadmin, and was raised with an unhealthly love of all things computers.
I taught myself programming (with tips from my brother) from as young as 10 years old. I've experimented with everything from BASIC to C to Ruby and Javascript. I went to Thomas Edison High School of Technology, where I studied Network Operations, and am now a certified CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+ and Linux+ engineer.
I believe in Free and Open Source software. I also believe in the right to sell your software, if that's how you want to spread your ideas. I believe in no higher power but logic and the scientific method. I believe that all humans, regardless of gender or orientation, have the right to bond with whomever they please, and that no human, regardless of gender or orientation, has the right to tell them otherwise.
I currently attend the University of Advancing Technology in Arizona, studying Artificial Life and Robotics. I am particularly interested in emergent behavior and the applications of advanced artificial life to games and interactive mediums. I take part in Ludum Dare gamemaking competitions, and you can see my entries here.
