Biography
I was born in Linköping in 1987, but the following year my parents moved to Katrineholm, where I live today. At autumn 1994, I started school at Skogsborgsskolan, where I studied for six years.
At Skogsborg, I had my first real contact with the personal computer when the school bought computers to every classroom. I learned to work in the graphical user interfaces of the operating system of that time, Windows 3.11. In 1996, I received my first computer at home, on which I further could develop my technological interests; almost spending all of my daytime in front of the computer, I quickly obtained excellent autodidactic knowledge in the fields of Windows, Office, the Internet, and programming. In 1997, I developed the first version of my web site, chiefly concerning a lagoon in the lake at our summer house.
Today, I have a practical view of computers, which are excellent extensions of human beings. Computers may be used for simplified communication between humans, for planning, for regulation of necessary machinery, for authoring, processing and distribution of text documents, images, video files, and other media (particularly for distribution of important information and knowledge), and for entertainment from playback of digital video, audio, and pictures, and perhaps from computer games. Thus, computers extend the possibilities of the human being and improve her every-day life. Today, I use my computer for communication, planning, authoring, research, and storage, manipulation, and playback of digital media. In addition, I use my computer as an experimental universe, in which - by the means of programming - I am able to simulate and understand our world. Since 2006, I am also administrator of the Swedish language Wikipedia, and administrator and bureaucrat at the Swedish language Wiktionary. All in all, my Vista computer is undoubtedly my very best friend.
Being an autodidact, I have programmed since 1997. I am both a webmaster and a software developer. The first task I learned was the use of pure HTML to create web sites, but I would soon learn to create more interactive web pages using JavaScript. Furthermore, in 1999, I bought a book about server side programming using CGI, so that I could create web pages able to acquire and store information and to allow two-way communication. Before long, I also learned Windows development in Borland Delphi. Nowadays, my first motivation for programming concerns practical usefulness: I programme to create useful software, and I create web sites to present information and to communicate with other people.
In 2001, I began to work on two major Windows applications: the word processor Easy Writer and the web editor Easy Coder. Lacking any advantage compared to the commercial products, Easy Writer was abandoned later the very same year. Easy Coder, on the contrary, is still being developed. The application is meant to be a simple, gratis and easy-to-use alternative, yet having advanced and powerful features, simplifying the creation and maintenance of web sites. Easy Coder has become a quite advanced product and has been discussed in several e-based newspapers as well as in Datormagazin, the largest computer magazine for advanced users in Sweden.
In autumn 2003, I won a prize in Datormagazin's Great Programming Contest with my contribution "Text Processing", a simple software simplifying the execution of homogeneous modifications in a set of text files at once. Of almost 90 contributions from different developers, Text Processing was awarded third place.
During almost my entire time at Skogsborgsskolan, I was bullied by other pupils, probably as they considered me to be "different". As a consequence, I became more introvert (yet not shy) and developed a strong, unique philosophy of life and a strong self-confidence, although it took a long time; I did not reach complete self-confidence until the last term at Duveholm (see below).
In autumn 2000, I was to attend the senior level at Tallåsskolan (later Järvenskolorna). I applied for the newly started science class; somewhat more than 50 pupils had applied for it, but only 22 could be accepted. I was accepted and studied there for the following three years.
My interest in philosophical and ethical questions developed during my time at Tallås. Then, as now, I often preferred solitude in front of socializing, giving myself more time to reflect about questions, whose answers to many "social" individuals may be pre-understood, but not necessarily correct. I am interested in questions regarding how a human being is to live: what the meaning of life is, what is important and what humans should and should not do.
My basic philosophy is available at the Philosophy page; briefly, it says that the goal of all actions should be to increase the well-being of all involved individuals, and that this goal most easily may be achieved if one rationally thinks, instead of impulsively feels. Except for these general rules of living, I follow additional "rules" myself. One example relates to ingestion of ethanol ("alcohol") as a "pleasure". Indeed, in the modern society, a major part of all such ingestion is unethical and problematic. Even so, however, one cannot completely deduce that all such consumption is unethical - there are in truth occurrences of mature and wise people relaxing by means of drinking ethanol, after carefully having considered all potential risks. I, however, completely dissociate myself from all ingestion of alcoholic beverages. By doing so, I want to act a "counterbalance" to the less thought-out values of the society. In this case, the discussion may be taken even further: ingestion of ethanol often implies that that the self-discipline and self-control of the drinker are reduced, which is against one of my principles, stating that one always should have the same, stable personality, and always should be able to fully motivate one's actions.
My interest in science was developed during my time at Tallås, too. Today, I am interested in most subfields of natural science, particularly physics and mathematics, though. Science offers a unique understanding of the nature of the entire universe - including everything from the birth of the universe itself, its structure and modern content of stars, planets and asteroids, to the development and chemistry of all the organisms of earth - from the very first micro-organisms to the more complicated Homo sapiens. Science implies, except for the intellectual pleasure of understanding itself, everyday applications improving the life of each human and the whole of her society, as well as rational descriptions of the phenomena of nature, which can result in improved societal values.
In autumn 2003, I began studying at Duveholmsskolan (a Swedish "gymnasieskola", br: upper secondary school, am: senior high school), later renamed "Duveholmsgymnasiet". During all three years, I found the taught mathematics and science very simple. Almost daily, I helped other students with their school exercises. Moreover, quite frequently, I used to participate at events such as meetings with future students, creating interesting software and lecturing. During my last year, for a period, I was also an acting Swedish teacher, giving some lectures on "efficient use of Microsoft Word", both to students and teachers.
I finished school with the highest grade possible in all subjects except for physical education, where I received the next highest grade. Full table. During my final year, I also developed the numerical mathematical software AlgoSim, which is available for gratis download and is one of my most well-used applications.
Autumn 2006, I began to study physics (five-year master's programme) and mathematics at Linköping University. So far, I have recieved the higest possible grades in almost all courses; see table of courses. Since 2008, I also work as a teacher of mathematics at the Department of Mathematics (MAI) at Linköping University.