Michel Rodriguez

Consultant, Perl and XML

xmltwig@gmail.com

I am a Perl developer.

My main area of expertise is XML, but I also work with all sorts of other types of data. I can offer a wide range of services, from data conversion, data cleanup, data enhancements through machine learning to web scraping and full-fledged SaaS.

In 20 years of work with Perl I have talked a numerous Perl conferences, taught the Perl & XML class at the O'Reilly Perl University and I am the author of a few CPAN modules, most notably XML::Twig.

Recent Projects

• SaaS: management tool for the network of external experts for a consulting firm, with full-text search of documents in various formats, email alerts...
  stack: linux, apache + starman, dancer2, perl, DBIx::Class, postgresql, bootstrap, jquery, postmark
  challenges: deal with a range of document formats, including linkedIn profiles, manage SaaS
• Request Tracker (RT) for Best Practical Solutions: development of RT 5. New features, "coring" existing extensions, integration with external services, custom development for clients, support.
  stack: linux, perl, mason, DBIx::SearchBuilder
  challenges: dealing with an existing complex software, understanding customers requirements
• XML Quality Checking Tool: automatic, rule-based, checking of XML: numbering, structure restrictions, style rules... creation of custom rules, visualization of error context
  stack: linux, apache + starman, dancer2, perl, SQLite
  challenges: allow easy creation of new rules, report problems in an helpful way
• Machine Learning: categorization of tenders, assigning a CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary) code based on their title (in French). Implemented as a micro service returning JSON
  stack: linux, perl, TensorFlow, grocery, starman, Lingua::Stem, dancer2
  challenges: obtain training data, monitor and adjust the system behaviour
• Web Scraping: scraping of a range of public websites to feed a search engine
  stack: linux, perl, phantomJS/CasperJS, SQLite
  challenges: add structure to the data, monitor activity to detect changes in websites structure
• mif2mml: tool converting FrameMaker's MIF equations into MathML (github repository).
  stack: perl, Parse::RecDescent, XML::Twig
  challenges: cover the entire MIF specification, based on Adobe's docs.
• Open Source: creator of the XML::Twig Perl module, widely used to process XML data in Perl
  challenges: make sure the module installs and passes the tests on a wide variety of configuration, answer questions about it and general proselitism about the module
• XML expert for the IEEE Standards Department: adaptation of the STS DTD to IEEE standards
  challenge: making sure all of the data structure was captured by the JATS based DTD.

Education:

1987: Degree in Computer Science from ENSEEIHT (Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Electronique, Electrotechnique, Informatique et Hydraulique de Toulouse), equivalent to a Masters Degree.

Skills

Programming Languages

Perl, Javascript, C.

DBMS

PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle, MySQL, SGML/Store.

Web

Apache, CSS, JavaScript, JQuery, PhantomJS, Puppeteer, Bootstrap, Dancer2, Web Scraping.

Operating Systems

Unix: mostly Linux.

Other

Revision control tools (git), Quality Assurance, Artificial Intelligence (Machine Learning).

SGML/XML

XML modeling, conversion to XML, XML conversion to HTML, style sheet development, SGML databases, XML data processing.

Languages

French (mother tongue), English (fluent), Italian (spoken), Spanish (spoken).

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Past Positions

2000-2022

Consultant, Perl & XML

1996-2000

Senior Programer-Analyst for the IEEE (Institute for Electrical & Electronics Engineer), Standards.

1992-1996

Member of a group that provided SGML expertise to the Technical Publication Direction of Aerospatiale (now part of Airbus), in Toulouse (France): SGML related studies and prototypes

1989-1992

Quality Assurance for the SMART project (250 man x year) for Airbus, in Toulouse (France).

1988

Artificial Intelligence expert for the Meteosat Operations Department of ESA (European Space Agency) in Darmstadt, Germany. Real-time expert system for fault detection and recovery.