I'll apologize in advance if I make observations previously posted here, but I wanted to attempt a clean read of the notebooks. I'm a historian and spent most of my Phd deciphering handwritten documents and have some experience with programming and software design.
Caution: this has become a long post.
I wanted to jot some things down here that struck me after reading the notebooks.
- I think MH has a reasonably high degree of formal education. He writes with intention, is well-organized, and rarely makes spelling/grammatical errors, even when writing a.) in small flip books b.) in pen, c.) in what I assume were less-than-pleasant writing conditions along the trails. I do not assume this formal education to be in the field of computer science or engineering, as he could be self-taught in those fields.
- He might be a foreign national, but based on his word choices, I'd wager he spent his formative years in the US. First, he doesn't display any hallmarks of post-adolescent ESL training. Second, he uses US spelling conventions for words like center, color, defensive, fiber, etc. I think the words "defensive" and "fiber" are most important here, as they are words that do not have a codified spelling to which programmers/coders would become accustomed. In other words, the vast majority (there are exceptions) of programming languages utilize English and adhere to US spelling conventions.
- He has considerable experience with multiplayer roleplaying games, either in their online form or with in-person gaming. MH is absolutely known to others, as--by their very nature--these games are multiplayer. If he only engaged in online gaming, his former gaming partners might not ever be able to recognize his face. His explanatory sections lead me to believe that he would have been more comfortable as a player rather than a game master; he's focused on worldbuilding processes (the code) rather than worldbuilding narratives (the player classes in the flip-top notebook).
- The ordering of his notebook suggests that he has significant experience with web application architecture and IPsec. He's building his application in layers, one of which is a dedicated BLL (business logic layer) that follows this system of construction. He's also concerned about server security and he's knowledgable about blockchain...which seems overly complicated a protocol for the server he's intending to build. I can only find one guy who has blogged about using blockchain w/ Screeps...and his purpose is wholly different.
- His code is written in long-form Javascript, meaning he goes the long way around in places where he could rely on more concise language. That he's doing all of this from memory and without hesitation marks (no mid-code asides indicating he'll need to look something up or return to edit) suggest he's considerably adept at this language (JS) and its underlying logic.
- He seems to be right-handed given how closely he begins his lettering to the left margin. His writing also is incredibly clear, which is not what I would expect from someone writing in an inward-facing/self-referential manner. For example, he's fastidious in marking his zeros with a slash so as to not confuse them with the letter "o". This leads me to believe he a.) intended to compile his code or pass it along to someone to compile, and/or b.) was incredibly meticulous in his former roles as developer/project manager.
Thoughts after examining the timeline:
- He had become highly proficient in a gaming logic/language in a.) a little over two years (~Dec. 2015 [Screeps goes public] to April 2017 [hiking begins]), b.) in six months (we lose him May 2018 to July 2018), or c.) a combination of the both. Any way you cut it, his pace is fast and his engagement frequent enough to warrant him coding from memory.
- As such, he would absolutely have left a digital trail either through downloading a pre-compiled version of Screeps, commenting on/contributing/forking its code repository on GitHub, or showing up as a registered player in the public rankings.
- Let's say he doesn't show up when we look at that the digital trail, what then? Well, I'd suggest we look at the negative space, or what no longer exists. As we say in history, the absence is something does not mean the non-existence of something...it can be quite the opposite! For example, if he engaged at one point online but then deleted all his accounts for forums (shows on reddit, for example, as [deleted]), he wouldn't have also been able to delete replies to his posts or comments. So can we find inactive or deleted users, or find comments made by still existing users that seem to be replying to someone? A GitHub profile like this one, who engaged quite often with the repository in early 2017, then only periodically checked in to tweak some code in later months (including a spurt in August 2017), then disappears completely.
Remaining questions about the code/notes (I'll save my longer list for another day):
- How certain can we be that his notes were written along the trail? Could he have lived somewhere with computer access in the summer months of 2018 where we lose sight of him? Could this explain why his code is relatively free of edits/omissions?
- How many blank pages were left in the notebook(s)? Did he tear a bunch out? Which notebook was written in first: the flip-top or the side spiral?
- What do the fronts of the notebooks look like? Particular brand? Did he write in these same notebooks along the entire AT or pick them up in Florida? If he had different notebooks on the AT, where are those?
- How did he keep the notebooks dry? Ziplock bag? Were they well protected and cared for (invested in the project's completion?) or were they just shoved inside his pack (distraction to keep his mind busy like a crossword)?
- Did he pop into a public library along any of his routes in order to look up some of the dimensions/attributes necessary for this code?
- Could the hosts of the Screeps public servers check their logs to see if anyone visited from a Florida IP during his missing months, or if a regular user disappeared in March/April 2017?
