My name is Ken Domino. I am a software developer and publisher, programming since the mid-1970s, starting with a CMOS-PDP-8 computer during high school. As an undergraduate at Michigan State University, I studied chemical engineering but found that I enjoyed computer programming, using Fortran, punched cards, and a CDC 6400. After graduating from MSU with a BS in Chemical Engineering, I went to the University of Michigan and graduated with an MS in computer engineering. My advisor was Uwe Pleban who had a demanding and rigorous style of teaching. Uwe’s mathematical and scientific view of software completely changed the way I would view software to this day. My studies included the implementation of an LALR(1) parser generator using DeRemer’s and Pennello’s method described in “Efficient Computation of LALR(1) Look-Ahead Sets”. In the late ’80s, I pursued further studies in Computer Sciences at Boston University. My advisors were Bryant York and Wayne Synder. Afterwards, I settled into a long career in industry, until 2000 when I lost my job with the Dot Com bust.

In 2001, after failing to find further work, I decided to pursue other interests and graduated in 2006 with an MS from Northeastern University in Biology. My advisor, Carol Warner, was as demanding as my previous advisor. My thesis concerned Qa-2, a mouse protein which is associated with fast embryo development. The hypothesis to test was whether Qa-2 is bound to a transmembrane protein, in particular CD8αα, would function in signal transduction for Qa-2. In addition, predictive protein binding was used to determine the best binding of Qa-2 and CD8αα, assuming if they would bind. The thesis is available in pdf and html. The thesis defense was presented on March 31, 2006, and is available in Powerpoint. It requires Chime and Liveweb. HLA-G, the human homologue of Qa-2, can also function as a signaling molecule. This result was published.

Although I loved the biological sciences, I never really left programming behind–at least in my mind. After looking for work and always rejected, I decided in 2007 to “buff up” and started studying GPGPU programming and obtained IEEE Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP) in 2010, in the false hopes of trying to fine work. In 2010 I wrote Waste, an emulator for an NVIDIA PTX machine. In 2015, I started Campy, a compiler and runtime for GPGPU programming for C#. In 2018, I started Piggy, a program transformation system, and Antlrvsix, an Antlr grammar editor extension. I am now active in maintaining grammars-v4.

This blog is a collection of my own ramblings, mostly for my own benefit.

You can contact me at “ken dot domino at-sign gmail dot com”.