This was a project for one of my classes that taught how to make large projects with a team. We had a 4-person team that needed to make a clone (with improvements) of
iSketch. We also had to make it in Java. Basically it’s just a network game of Pictionary. Everyone is on their own and get points for guessing correctly. We also added sounds, multiple colors/sizes of brushes, eraser, being able to save/load the drawing, and even webcam support. Though I don’t think the webcam had a place in the program, it was fun to make. We also had to create the server program that could host multiple sessions at once and kick out people or cancel games. For this project we got to practice all sorts of cool high-level Java: Design Patterns, Multi-threading, Sockets,
really planning out a project instead of just coding from the beginning. Sadly I no longer have the program or code so I’m going to show you a picture of iSketch instead. Just keep in mind ours looked better.
iSketch
Java, Portfolio, Programming
Finally a Desktop Application. This one was for the
Tempe History Museum. (Government Contract, Sweet!) For the renovation of the History Museum(Not “Historical”) they wanted a kiosk that a patron could sit at, take a photo of themselves, and have a mosaic be made of them using tiny picture of previous patrons. Then you can email that image to yourself (With the THM logo on it, obviously). The program turned out fairly well. I created my own algorithm and implemented the whole thing in Java. Being that it was made in Java I would like to say that it’s cross platform, but it’s not. Due to the fact that it uses a webcam, the implementation has to depend on the operating system. Here’s a PDF that I sent them as an original mock-up for the flow of the program:
Mosaic Slide Show
Java, Portfolio, Programming
Back to a more interactive example. I’ve done some work for
http://posadacondominiums.com. The site was designed by somebody else. What I did was take the site, strip out the content from each page, and create a template engine to display all the same content with a more consistent look and feel. Also making changes, like copyright text changes, became ridiculously easy. I also put together a nice way to view info on condos for
rentals and
sales. As you can see it has a nice little tab-drop-down effect, and light-boxes for the photos. Another thing that I did was make a
webcam script for them. What was difficult was later on making it
not break. The first issue was the camera couldn’t handle the traffic they would get during storms. So I made the script cache a local copy of the photo every 10 seconds. The next issue was that the caching script was too “cpu intensive” according to the hosting provider that shut the site down. So the script was moved off the server on to my own where it updates the photo through ftp every 10 seconds.
Javascript, MySQL, PHP, Portfolio, Programming
As you can see I started piecing together my
portfolio today. You can see the link in the menu at the top also. Obviously it’s not complete yet. I’m going to try and keep it up to date, but don’t worry, if I make anything new that I think you’ll like I’ll be sure to post it here to show it off.
Sweetness
This is a PHP app I made to create rug appraisals from. You fill in a bunch of fields and choose a rug photo and it makes up this image file for you to email/print out. If I had to do it again I might make it just a fillable PDF form like I did with their consignment sheets(assuming I could figure out how to import the photo into the PDF). At the very least I would most likely make it print out a PDF. I am finding those to be my preference when it comes to printing from a browser-based program.
Ouput of Appraisal Program
Javascript, PHP, Portfolio, Programming
Here’s one of the first programs I made in PHP/MySQL. This program was made to replace a physical stamp time-clock. It had been in use for years and was constantly slowing down and creating payroll issues. Then each week the time cards were collected and put into an excel sheet to calculate hours. With the new program it was all automatically calculated in an easy-to-print format for input into your actual payroll software.
I was experimenting and decided to try making the whole program in one file. What page was shown was based on some POST variables to decide what page you were on. I eventually added another file for admin.
Shot of Time-clock Admin
Javascript, MySQL, PHP, Portfolio, Programming
http://www.asiantraderugcompany.com/
So for the first example of my work here’s a site I made while working for Asian Trade. It’s an example I often like to point out. It is just a standard e-commerce site, but what makes it special is that I made everything in it from the ground up. All of the functionality including: Searching, Sorting, Paging, Categories, Secure Shopping Cart, Contact Forms, even the cool Flash on the front page I made from scratch. Now making a shopping cart from scratch is not something I would suggest someone else do if they wanted one. Nor would I choose to do it again unless specifically requested. But it was great experience in completing a large project in PHP/MySQL.
Flash, MySQL, PHP, Portfolio, Programming
I thought I might take a moment and share with you my favorite
Javascript Library.
I have had experience with a few different libraries. Not all, obviously, but some.
- Scriptaculous was my first, and I fell in love. While it’s no longer my preference it will always have a place in my heart. Alas, I found it to be less robust then I needed and had to break off the relationship.
- Dojo I played with but found it to be a little too broken for different browsers. While it may have gotten better, I feel that if the demos of a library are broken then it doesn’t really inspire confidence.
- MooTools is supposed to be good and stable, but I had a hard time finding any useful effects, which are important to me in a Library.
- I would be interested in trying Ext JS sometime, as they have quite an impressive collection of widgets, but I have been resistant to put time into something with such an iffy license.
So this is the reasoning, along with positive experiences, that I have chosen jQuery as my library of choice. Bear in mind I don’t often check the current state of any of these libraries and they may have changed for the better since I last looked into them. Feel free to comment and let me know if you’ve had conflicting or supporting experiences with any of these.
~JM
Javascript, Programming
Great news! I finally took the little puzzle creating app I made for my mom and created a
website to host it. Hopefully this will just be the start. I plan on adding more puzzle generators in the future and offering all this as a free service. I have some Google Adword credits that I might use to start up some traffic, and maybe push it on some forums. If it gets popular enough I might add other features like user logins to post puzzles they created and rate them or something. Of course the hope is for publicity for
BigTree I.T.. Also if it gets enough visitors maybe add an ad or two. We’ll see. I’ll just be happy if it gets used at all
Sweetness
