"Parameterized Abstract Data Type"

Hell no, this is not a programming post.

Prof. Paolo Manalo, our teacher in CW 198 (Online Writing) is to blame for this gem of an idea. How many of you are aware of the 'Book of Answers'? A waste of good paper, I say, but still useful for the utterly bored and/or the utterly listless people. You know the drill -- concentrate until you feel you are the nexus of the universe's astral energies, ask a deep question extremely relevant to your life, then flip open the book. What you read first is what you get; question answered.

Prof. Manalo told the class that this 'activity' can actually give birth to a written piece (count the un-literary ones), so I gave it a shot. My Book of Answers: Concepts of Programming Languages, by R. Sebesta. My question (whispered to me by my astral alter ego): What is this blog? More specifically, what are the words which best describe my blog?

With a pompous jerk of my hands, I flipped opened the book. Ta da! The divine answer:

Parameterized Abstract Data Type.

Divine answer all right, straight from the geek gods. If the phrase sounds Greek to you, then take comfort in the knowledge that I, a programmer, was confounded, dumbfounded, and humiliated by the answer. What the hell does that mean?

Life poses many mysteries, and answers can only be found by delving deep into our subconscious and, yes, daydreams. And finally, after much rumination (10 minutes is lengthy prison time for the wandering mind), I have broken down the answer and arrived at the conclusion that this blog, Slip of the Pen, is indeed a parameterized abstract data type.

Parameterized. Everything is bounded, restricted, chained to some rule. Even the free wolf can only roam where there is prey. The corsair can only sail seas where the law doesn't hold; the cutlass can only remain unscratched when sheathed. Same goes for this blog. What I write here has limitations -- you haven't seen the worst of me, nor the best. You have seen the bad and the good, but not all. Knowing me only in person won't work either. I'm a writer, so part of me lives in the pedestrian world and another in the pen-world. Know both, know me all.

Abstract. Writers, insert knowing laugh here. Many artists proclaim their work as abstract, and love to hear others comprehend and imbue mystical meanings to their art. I guess the same goes for me (even though I write in relatively concrete images). This blog is an abstraction of its author -- it presents to you the Corsarius through a mishmash of vignettes which, oddly enough, have something in common.

Data type. What is a data type? According to E.P. Quiwa, it's the kind of data a variable may take on in a programming language. Examples are integers (9 and 23), characters (i and x), Boolean values (true and false). To put it more bluntly -- it's a category. And without trepidation, I can say that this blog is a category of its own. Why, every blog is! Each blog has that x-factor, that intangible something which renders it inimitable. My blog and your blog might have similarities, but they are not the same. Don't be misled by web directories which order you to "kindly place your blog under the most relevant category, e.g. literary, technology, showbiz, etcetera". They're only there to give some semblance of homogeneity amongst blogs. Use them, but don't let them dictate what your blog is all about.

So, there you go, my friends. Parameterized abstract data type. In short, Slip of the Pen.

I gave the Book of Answers a shot. Try it, too. Let me know what profound answer you get, so I can share with your delight (or misery).


(You might be asking: why this blog-centric post? Admittedly, I'm excited about this month. December marks the birth of this blog and my blog-life. 29 is the special day.)