Tagged 'software'
"Welcome to InfoLink, the best way to organise your life."
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I recently found one of my first shareware programs, InfoLink, tucked away in a BBS (bulletin board system) archive.
Twelvety
In an effort to develop software while travelling, without having to lug a laptop or use a fiddly on-screen keyboard, I've put together a small keyboard.
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Think SQL
Several years ago, I spent a lot of time developing a relational database management system - ThinkSQL.
In a future post I'll write down the reasons why, and probably release the development diaries. But for now, the source code for the server is available here: https://github.com/ggaughan/ThinkSQL
As I say in the README:
The source code is linear per se, but while writing it, it was an organic thing, generating great interwoven trees in the computer memory and in my head that were many-layered and that were modified and traversed, and impacted on a dynamic multi-versioned data store alongside many other threads, causing and needing deep psychological flow. The code comments are released as-is, and are often streams-of-consciousness.
ThinkSQL ODBC Driver Source
The ThinkSQL ODBC driver source code is now available here.
The driver is pure Delphi but the specification is C-based and very detailed. Memory handling and complex state transitions between client and server made this a large undertaking.
Read moreThe Sinclair ZX Spectrum Keyboard
When I was 12 years old, I got sight of an actual computer. One day at my cousins' house, set on a table and wired up to their TV was a small, black rectangle. They were pressing keys on it to play games (Schizoids and Ant Attack I remember). I was curious - the games looked more interesting than the simple arcade games I played on my Atari console. I got closer and peered over and saw the keyboard and it changed my life. Here's what I saw:
Space Invaders
We invent games to build worlds, often founded on reality. Chess is an ancient example. The chess pieces represent real-world characters from the time of the game's creation. The medieval world had fighting kings and queens and knights on horseback and... bishops? As a child, I found it strange that there were bishops on the chess battlefield, not realising that the church used to be a more militant power.
Games let us replay history and simulate what-ifs and what-might-have-beens.
Computer games also build worlds, in ever more immersive ways. They are simulations of their time. The seminal video game Space Invaders was released by Taito in 1978. A genre-defining shoot 'em up, it introduced the concepts of multiple lives for the player and high scores.
The creator of Space Invaders was Tomohiro Nishikado. This guy was driven: for over a year he designed and built every part of the game himself. He built his own hardware and composed the sound effects, programmed the game and designed the artwork.
Space Invaders was released around the time of Star Wars, not long after the race to the moon. People believe the game is about defending Earth from waves of invading alien creatures from another planet. It's not. The game is about an earlier time.
Tomohiro Nishikado was born in the city of Osaka, Japan in March 1944.
Read moreOrder Yourselves
Are you going to a festive, company meal this year? Many restaurants want you to pre-order your food. This usually involves a number of frustrating, error-prone steps[1]. And, unlike ordering at the table, guests are in the dark about what everyone else is choosing.
There is a better way: FuseOrder.
Read moreHow your bank is tracking your phone
I strongly suspect that my credit card company and my bank have access to my mobile phone location. Here's why:
Game Over
I finally finished a game. I don't mean I played a game and completed it, I rarely do that, I get so carried away looking at the scenery and lighting. No - I finished writing a game.
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