jtolds.com - Projects http://www.jtolds.com/projects/rss.xml JT Olds' RSS Feed for Projects en-us Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License <![CDATA[JT FileSafe]]> JT Olds 1246754986 Sun, 5 Jul 2009 00:49:46 +0000 I don't really trust email security. Email is hardly ever delivered over SSL with end-to-end verification. :) So, when sending someone some important document, I tend to end up printing out and faxing things. Not much better.

But I suck at printing and faxing. Hardcore. It takes me hours to figure out either, not to mention both at once. Weird.

So, I wrote a FileSafe service. JT FileSafe is a simple Google App Engine hosted tool that allows you to upload files over SSL. Once the file is uploaded, both a URL and password are automatically generated for you. You send someone the URL, and then you can call them or do something else you trust to deliver the password. Then only they (well, and Google) have your file.

Project links Dependencies
No dependencies are listed for this project. Hooray!
]]> <![CDATA[SHA1 Javascript Tool]]> JT Olds 1238267871 Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:17:51 +0000 Occasionally, I need a SHA1 hash of something, and I'm not in a convenient place to get one. For instance, it is hard to open up a terminal to run sha1sum on public internet kiosks. It's also obnoxious to have to SSH anywhere from my phone to get access to a SHA1 algorithm.

So, I took Paul Johnston's Javascript implementation and made a simple webform. Trivial, I know. But I took out unnecessary HMAC calculation code, so it should be relatively easy to examine the source if you're worried about using something secure. The webdesign is, hah, optimized for mobile devices.

Project links Dependencies
No dependencies are listed for this project. Hooray!
]]> <![CDATA[AI 2 Algorithms]]> JT Olds 1236672686 Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:11:26 +0000 In Spring of 2008, I took Artificial Intelligence II at the University of Minnesota. I, unfortunately in many ways, am not one who is very consistent on class attendance, and, as a result, I was forced to find alternate ways to learn the missed material. One of the best ways to learn an algorithm is to implement it, so, I implemented general solutions to a few of the topics we covered.

I had completely forgotten about this stuff until I recently Googled myself, and I was surprised at how unmessy the code was, so I'm posting it here. :)

Project links Dependencies
  • Python
    Python is like pseudocode
]]> <![CDATA[PyNarcissus]]> JT Olds 1235103926 Fri, 20 Feb 2009 04:25:26 +0000 So, I haven't actually just been watching TV recently, as my newsletter might currently suggest. I'm trying to be productive in a few ways, and one of them is the release of PyNarcissus here.

PyNarcissus is a direct port of the Narcissus Javascript engine by Brendan Eich. Narcissus is Javascript implemented in Javascript, and, while the evaluator does a few things metacircularly, the parser was pretty much a piece of cake to write in Python.

PyNarcissus does not introduce any new features whatsoever. Correctness using the original Narcissus as a baseline was an important priority, so even the pretty-printed string-converted output of the PyNarcissus parse tree is identical to the Javascript version. Using this feature, I simply ran both parsers on all of the Spidermonkey Javascript tests to make sure that the output was the same.

Because the port was so easy, I am considering going all the way and making a full on Javascript interpreter, but that wasn't my main goal for this port, so I'm not sure I'll get there soon, if at all.

Project links Dependencies
]]> <![CDATA[To-Dlo!]]> JT Olds 1225568754 Sat, 1 Nov 2008 19:45:54 +0000 Back when I had a plain Nokia cellphone, I had this need to keep track of notes and todo lists. What I wanted was simply a service to which I could text message reminders and todo items that would store them for me on the internet. There were a few services that did similar things, but none scratched my particular itch. So, I wrote the service I wanted.

Please see To-Dlo's about page for a more detailed explanation.

Note: I just got my G1, so I don't know how much more I'll be working on this. Perhaps I'll end up making an Android/iPhone interface.

Project links Dependencies
]]> <![CDATA[OLPC shortcuts]]> JT Olds 1202855815 Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:36:55 +0000 I wanted a way to start native Linux applications on my XO Laptop without having to open a terminal. In other words, I wanted to create a shortcut activity that would execute arbitrary Unix commands, and then go away.

So, I did, and posted it to the XO wiki.
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/ExecCommand

Project links Dependencies
]]> <![CDATA[Viricide]]> JT Olds 1181979973 Sat, 16 Jun 2007 07:46:13 +0000 I'm currently working on a clone of a falling-pieces, Tetris-style game. My version is a networked implementation of a popular game that often features an Italian plumber masquerading as a physician.

I've been working on this project in various respects for over a year, as it was originally a way to teach myself Python. However, the project has since matured a bit and now features a client/server architecture, among other things.

I've open-sourced the project and put it up for development at Google Code. For more information, please see the official Viricide website.

Project links Dependencies
  • Pygame
    A Python library that eases the use of videogame creation.
  • Python
    The Python programming language is required to interpret Python code.
]]> <![CDATA[Horseshoe Implementation]]> JT Olds 1176592953 Sat, 14 Apr 2007 23:22:33 +0000 A while back I wrote about a game I was thinking about that I called 'horseshoe'. You can find more information on its entry on my newsletter. I'm considering researching various aspects of the game more, including strategies and such, and it occurred to me that having an environment in which to write artificial intelligences for the game would be incredibly useful. I suspect that it is a solvable game given a significant amount of computing power, but to show that I would need to actually solve it.
To facilitate this, I've written a very bare-bones Python game of Horseshoe. There is now an AI. It's pretty naive, but you can now play against your computer. In the immortal words of Donald Knuth, I have only proved it correct, not tried it. I think its win detection is right, which is the part that matters.
To run it, execute main.py.

Updated to include a reference to my poster I presented on Horseshoe.

Project links Dependencies
  • Python
    The Python programming language is required to interpret Python code.
  • Pygame
    A Python library that eases the use of videogame creation.
  • VPython
    A Python library that makes 3D programming really easy.
]]> <![CDATA[DDR Pad Window Manager hooks]]> JT Olds 1164106100 Tue, 21 Nov 2006 10:48:20 +0000 This summer I had the idea of hooking up a DDR pad to the computer, and using it as window-manager modifier keys for workspace switching, etc. I thought it'd be pretty cool to rotate my XGL cube by hitting a button with my foot. Anyway, Compiz didn't support all of the EWMH calls I was making, so development has currently stalled. Furthermore, the prototype I got working was not as productivity-increasing as I had hoped.

Project links Dependencies
There are no project links available for this project. If you think there should be, please contact me.
]]> <![CDATA[Zaurus Apps]]> JT Olds 1136536811 Fri, 6 Jan 2006 08:40:11 +0000 Before I broke it, stupidly, I had a Linux-based Sharp Zaurus. I wrote some useful if not trivial applications for it, some of which are featured in Japanese books about the Zaurus (I got emailed by a Japanese tech writer). I put all two of my online Zaurus programs on this page.

These applications are horribly out of date and are really only here for historical purposes.
Project links Dependencies
  • shell_0.2_arm.ipk
    A Qtopia-menu program that runs console commands. Similar to the run command in the start menu of Windows. Asks for a single line input of the command and then spits out the command's output through a message box. The "Run" icon appears in the Q menu at the bottom-left of your Zaurus' screen.
  • blanker_0.3_arm.ipk
    A program that turns off the screen for music playing or server work. Includes a console program. Note: I fixed the stupid dependencies. May need to have the "execute with root privilege" option set. Still, remember, once the screen is blanked the Zaurus is still fully on.
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