To Infinity and Beyond

          I am in the USA Computing Olympiad platinum division, and have won a few prizes in the Korean Olympiad in Informatics. I have done some major computer science research including two papers published in an international journal, and numerous minor projects. I am also creating a novel SNS system to overcome the stress that current SNS gives.            But actually, none of these are the answer to why I code. I am not a code competitor, nor a researcher, nor a utilitarian developer. I am a humanist philosophical coder, coding to understand the principles of life. And I became so when I realized three things:            1) When I realized no two codes can be the same. Even for the same problem, the codes of two individuals will be different. The range of difference can be broad from the difference in the fundamental algorithm to a simple differenc...

“…and they lived happily ever after.”            The ending I hated the most during my childhood. What happened to Snow White and Prince Charming for three quarters of their life? What happened to Harry Potter after he graduated Hogwarts? Frustrated by the unsatisfactory endings of the movies and novels, I started reconstructing the stories and searching for answers of the numerous ideas popping in my head in an artificial world: a world made of toys. From the moment I unboxed my first Power Ranger, these little figures have endured a steady presence in my life. My jointed rainbow rangers were not just toys for children; they were a bridge, bringing my imaginations to life. With them on my side, I searched for the answers to epilogue of novels, sudden peculiar ideas, and much more. The 3-inch soldiers and I became the children of Harry Potter one day, drawing the epilogue of what happened after Voldemort’s death. Another day, we b...

1. Where do you belong?     I belong in a constantly shifting maze. One step, I see green mountains and transparent rivers. I see rainbow birds chirping, with a smell of strawberries stinging in my nose. Another step, I see a empty desert. Harsh sandstorms throw sand at me, piercing my skin. Everything changes in a second. One thing, however, does not change. A path still remains below my foot. Whether I am in a melting-hot volcano or a freezing ice land, I will still navigate through the maze. Same in life. Whether I am in Seoul, KMLA, or even in college at US, nothing changes. I will struggle to find my way and navigate through my visions. Belonging to a place is a temporary concept. I belong to the path of my dreams. I belong to myself. 2. Sympatico?     That day was a pretty hot summer. Because my mom wouldn't let me turn on the air conditioner, I decided to go to a cafe to study. There I started coding one of the problems of a computing olympiad. After a few min...