[AMA] Toast++

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Toast++

Nexus is literally the worst.
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Programmer Alumnusis a Top Researcher Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus


This Ask Me Anything (AMA) thread is a resource provided to you by the Smogon Mentorship Program. In it, feel free to ask this mentor about anything you'd like. They're most prepared to answer Smogon-related questions, but don't be afraid to ask them about their personality and life outside of this site. Have some patience when you post a question in this thread; it will likely take the mentor a few days to reply. If you're looking for our up-to-date list of mentors, check out our Mentor Profiles onsite. Read through their relevant information below, and enjoy!



Username: Toast++
Areas of Expertise: Wi-Fi, The Smog, Programming & HTML
Background
I came to Smogon back in 2010 after I learned to RNG. After getting tired of some lagging issues with the then standard RNG timer, I made a very simple version of my own. There was a bit of interest and over the next few months it grew into a pretty cool app. I spent a lot of time hanging out in the RNG help thread back then. I ended up on IRC shortly afterward and became pretty involved in the 5th gen RNG research, thanks to Bond697 and Kaphotics. We made a tool called PIDRNG that was used until RNG Reporter was brought up to date. As I brought my timer to 5th gen, I became unhappy with it and my ability to work with it. I opted to rewrite the whole thing in another language and EonTimer was born.

After all that excitement, there was a lull where I had no idea what to do around here. I ended up contacting Setsuna about doing work for The Smog back in June of 2012. Somehow that went nowhere until November when they told me I was being considered for staff. Seeing that it was my first real conversation with these people, and I had never even read the magazine before that, it really confused me. It may have had something to do with the
that showed up in my postbit sometime around then. Anyway, after that I took it upon myself to transform it from this into this.

I officially joined The Smog staff in January of 2013 and gained the powers of moderation along with it. I even had a brief stint as the editor of issue 29. Some genius decided it was a good idea to turn me into a Super Moderator in October (direct all complaints to user: Birkal). I've been on a power trip ever since.

Hobbies
Video games, programming and.. umm.. I hope there are others. I'd really like to get back into art and math but ugh.. time.
Favorite Pokemon
I've never been good at picking favorites. Articuno, Lapras, Jolteon, Espeon, Glaceon, Porygon & Mew have all held that spot at one point or another.

Good Questions to Ask Me
Feel free to ask whatever. I'm fine with personal questions. If you want anything competitive though, you've got the wrong guy.
 
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Redew

κακκῶ σεαυτόν
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
What is your irl job?

How did you start programming?

Username origin?????
 

Toast++

Nexus is literally the worst.
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Programmer Alumnusis a Top Researcher Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Could you please post the chronicals of you being a corrupt admin for all to see
Alright, I'm going to post a link here. For those of you who are new and reading this, you probably should not post in the thread I'm linking to. Firebot is.. unique. With that disclaimer out of the way.. here you go.

How's the puppy
Crazy.

What is your irl job?
I am a web programmer at a local hospital for now. I'd really like to get into something less corporatey but it's hard to find something like that in the area.

How did you start programming?
For some reason, I decided it was going to be a really cool major to switch to after hating 3 semesters of engineering. I took an intro to (ick) VB.Net class and just went from there.
I did write a bit of HTML back in jr high when the <font> tag was still an acceptable thing. Any programmer will tell you that HTML isn't programming, though.

Username origin?????
Well, it just seemed like a more fitting version of my old username (ToastPlusOne) because programming references. As for how I got that, it's was really me just coming up with random things until I found something that I knew no one else would have. I could keep it consistent across sites and stuff. I think I only changed to Toast++ on here and Steam though.
 
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Are you golden brown or overly cooked with black crums on the side?

Probably not the right place to post this but how can I fix my sig? (Or just direct me to a place lol I'm quite new here xD)
 

Toast++

Nexus is literally the worst.
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Programmer Alumnusis a Top Researcher Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Are you golden brown or overly cooked with black crums on the side?

Probably not the right place to post this but how can I fix my sig? (Or just direct me to a place lol I'm quite new here xD)
I prefer to think of myself as golden brown and buttery. In reality, I'm more like un-toasted wonderbread.

And that depends on what you mean by "fix". There's a height limit on sigs here to keep image spam at bay. If you just resize your cobalion to be under 120px, it should fit fine.
 
Alright thanks for the tip!
Eh could you simplify the Apprentice program for me? Like when is it happening and so on... I'd love to learn more about competitive battling, Ive played pokemon for a long time but never cared about online trading/battling

Infact 6th gen is the first gen I've actually battled/traded online lol

Alright, sweet! I got it working :D Looks very err low quality tho now ahah..
 
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Toast++

Nexus is literally the worst.
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Programmer Alumnusis a Top Researcher Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Eh could you simplify the Apprentice program for me? Like when is it happening and so on... I'd love to learn more about competitive battling, Ive played pokemon for a long time but never cared about online trading/battling
Alright, sweet! I got it working :D
Glad you got it working. As for the apprenticeship program, I'm not much of a help. I would say to take a look at this page and contact someone that deals more with Battling 101.
 

aVocado

@ Everstone
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
For some reason, I decided it was going to be a really cool major to switch to after hating 3 semesters of engineering. I took an intro to (ick) VB.Net class and just went from there.
I did write a bit of HTML back in jr high when the <font> tag was still an acceptable thing. Any programmer will tell you that HTML isn't programming, though.
Are you saying it's possible to get into programming even if it's a bit too late? I'm in 12th grade right now, 1 semester away from graduating, and I know zip about programming (except very basic things on visual basic lol), but I'm a bit interested in it just because, well, it looks interesting to me.. and it could possibly lead me to working in the video games industry, eventually.

Is it possible to self-teach programming or do I have to major in it to "qualify" as a programmer?
 

Toast++

Nexus is literally the worst.
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Programmer Alumnusis a Top Researcher Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
I'm new to competitve battling, so could you tell me how to build a team?
Honestly, you could probably teach me about as much as I could teach you. I'd bet someone like Cherub Agent would be willing to help you out there though.

Are you saying it's possible to get into programming even if it's a bit too late? I'm in 12th grade right now, 1 semester away from graduating, and I know zip about programming (except very basic things on visual basic lol), but I'm a bit interested in it just because, well, it looks interesting to me.. and it could possibly lead me to working in the video games industry, eventually.

Is it possible to self-teach programming or do I have to major in it to "qualify" as a programmer?
I was pretty late myself. I didn't even get dial-up access until late '07 (the year I graduated) and I think I was 19 when I started learning. I had a job doing it at 21. If you're motivated to learn and it's actually interesting to you, of course you can learn! It's much easier to get a job with some sort of degree. That being said, one of the best programmers I know never got more than a high school diploma. My former boss had an English degree and could do programming pretty well. The best skill a programmer can have, is problem solving.

Feel free to bug me if you ever need some help/direction/etc.
 

GatoDelFuego

The Antimonymph of the Internet
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
What was the first language you ever learned?

Have you ever changed your avatar?

What's your favorite smog article & issue?
 

Sephirona

t-t-t-tubearrific. (✿≖ᴗ≖) ・゚✧*:・゚✧
is a Top Artist Alumnus
Where's this SCMS I keep reading about and how do you queue stuff with it? Not that I have any articles or changes to queue or anything, I'm just curious.

Also, what would you consider your favorite video game of all?

I offer this piece of flying toast as payment for your time.

Thank you.


---------(¯¯¯¯¯¯¯)
----------| ◉ω◉ |
----------|___ロ_|

woooshh
 
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Toast++

Nexus is literally the worst.
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Programmer Alumnusis a Top Researcher Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
What was the first language you ever learned?
English.
Non-smartass answer is VB. I wouldn't recommend it.

Have you ever changed your avatar?
I did.. but there was so much outrage that I put it back. iirc, my first avatar was just a paint drawing of a stick figure with a bubble that said "I'm awesome" or something.

What's your favorite smog article & issue?
I definitely don't have a favorite issue and because I'm competitively retarded, I probably don't read quite as much as you'd think. Anyway, I've liked things like The Oddish and Battling 1337. I'm also really interested in some of our LC & doubles articles but I've never really been able to put them to good use..
 

Toast++

Nexus is literally the worst.
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Programmer Alumnusis a Top Researcher Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
And this is why I should refresh a page before replying...

Where's this SCMS I keep reading about and how do you queue stuff with it? Not that I have any articles or changes to queue or anything, I'm just curious.
It is in the mythical world of cotton candy and mustache unicorns. Or github..

Also, what would you consider your favorite video game of all?
I'm so bad with favorites. They're always based on genre, how I feel at the time, etc. The entire Pokemon series of course has place on that list. Super Mario World & 64 would both hit that list. The Ocarina of Time, and Oracle Zelda games get a mention. Terraria is one of my all-time most played games and easily a favorite. Okami was amazing. And the most recent Tomb Raider is easily one of the best games I've ever played too. I could keep going but I've already managed to turn 1 into like 10 or so...

---------(¯¯¯¯¯¯¯)
----------| ◉ω◉ |
----------|___ロ_|
This seems an acceptable payment.

what happens when you put a toaster in a bathtub
You get a toaster in your bathtub.

I bet you use butter instead of tanning oil.
Well it tastes better, that's for sure.
 
Where do you recommend colors should be picked for HTMLing interviews and stuff?
Why does your avatar have a slice of cheese in the bottom-left D:
Why does user GatoDelFuego use ampersand despite being on the GP team (hint hint)?
 

Toast++

Nexus is literally the worst.
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Programmer Alumnusis a Top Researcher Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Where do you recommend colors should be picked for HTMLing interviews and stuff?
Why does your avatar have a slice of cheese in the bottom-left D:
Why does user GatoDelFuego use ampersand despite being on the GP team (hint hint)?
I usually use a chrome extension called ColorZilla to pull some colors from the avatars and adjust those as needed.

It's butter...

&& ampersands are cool.
 
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