Current Situation
I am open only to exceptional opportunities. That includes:
- High-performance work with PowerPC/AltiVec or Cell processors.
- Developing a full-feature high-performance vector and signal processing
library, including high-performance routines, strip mining, cache management,
and compiler integration.
- Research-affiliated positions.
- Self-directed work.
- Part-time positions or ongoing contract relationships.
Other discussions can be only informational at this time. That is, I will
discuss my skills and interests with employers to get know each other and lay
the ground for a future relationship.
I am unlikely leave Apple before 2009 for anything less than an exceptional,
nearly ideal opportunity. In particular, Apple's stock price has increased
greatly, and I would not forego the options that are vesting without
compensation in some form, whether monetary, professional interests, personal
satisfaction, or quality of life.
A Copy of My Résumé
Use edp.org/resume.htm for a copy of my
résumé that you may print, save to disk, and forward without breaking links. It
is an HTML document, which is open, portable, and easily read by all web
viewers and most word processors (including Microsoft Word).
High-Quality Work
Many businesses scramble for the next buck, putting everything into the next
release and little into future development. I prefer to do high-quality work
that becomes a superior product over time, providing a competitive advantage.
Doing a better job makes a better product, reduces cost, and reduces stress. I
am sufficiently interested in high-quality work and lower stress that I seek a
good position even if the compensation is less than I make now.
There are opportunities in high-performance computing to develop a robust and
comprehensive product, and that is what I would like to do. If you contact me
trying to fill a position where they are bumping into deadlines and are short
of time, you will be wasting your time—I am not interested.
My Employment Goals
Some things that interest me are:
- Academic or research-oriented work.
- High-performance computing using low-level programming, design of
algorithms and software, and mathematical analysis of calculations
(for example, proving error bounds on sine calculations).
- Mathematics, such as software that does mathematical operations, software
for mathematicians, or a mathematical product.
- Returning to New Hampshire or Massachusetts.
- A business planning five years ahead or more, not just working on the
current project.
- A company with fewer than 100 employees.
- Embedded systems or operating system development.
- Detailed software engineering at the instruction level.
- Intellectual challenges.
- Contract work, including fixed-price, fixed-task contracts.
- Part-time work.
Thank you,
Eric Postpischil
Synonyms and Related Phrases
This section is here to help people find my résumé.
It lists synonyms and related phrases for terms in my résumé that people might
be looking for.
- High-Performance Computing.
-
The high-performance numerical computing work I did at Apple, Sky Computers,
and EADS is sometimes called supercomputing. High-performance computing is
abbreviated HPC. It involves digital signal processing (DSP), optimization,
designing optimized routines, math, and assembly language. I worked at Sky
Computers, but Mercury Computer Systems does similar work.
- AltiVec.
-
The PowerPC architecture from IBM and Freescale (formerly Motorola) describes a
scalar instruction set. AltiVec Technology is an additional feature that
provides vector instructions, also described as single-instruction
multiple-data (SIMD). This is one type of parallel computing because four sets
of data are operated on in parallel by one instruction. Velocity Engine is
Apple's name for AltiVec, and VMX is IBM's name. (We can thank the lawyers and
trademark issues for that.) Apple's G4 and G5 systems use various AltiVec CPUs.
I worked directly on 604e, 7400, 7410, and 970 CPUs. The 7447 and 7450 are
similar. The Cell processor shares some features with PowerPC and AltiVec.
- SIMD and Intel's SSE.
-
Since Apple started switching to Intel processors, I have been working with
Intel's SIMD technologies, SSE, SSE2, and SSE3, which use the MMX and XMM
registers in IA-32 CPUs. SSE is similar to AltiVec.
- Vector Processing.
-
Vector processing refers to calculations involving arrays of numbers. The most
common examples are digital signal processing and image processing, in which
arrays contain information about audio, visual, radar, or other signals.
Routines I wrote include the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT); finite impulse
response (FIR) filters; infinite impulse response filters (IIR); sine, cosine,
tangent, logarithm, and exponential routines; and an Advanced Encryption
Standard (AES) routine.
- Operating Systems and Embedded Systems.
-
At Digital Equipment Corporation, I worked in operating systems groups for many
years, mostly in the kernel. Embedded systems work is like operating systems
work in miniature, so all of my operating system experience is relevant to
embedded system work.
- Résumé.
-
What we call a resume or résumé in the United States is typically called a
curriculum vitae or CV in Europe.
Are you looking for a software engineer with experience with any of the
above? Please see my résumé.