My Software
I wrote my first software program in 1976 in Fortran. Since then I've written software using Assembler, COBOL, C, Visual Basic, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Java, and dabbled with some others. My first commercial software was NCAA Basketball Pool software in 1986 in which I made $10. Let's just say I'm a terrible businessman.
But, overall, I was fortunate to enjoy programming during the time when the field was really taking off. It was fun working with brilliant people who were passionate about software development.
But, overall, I was fortunate to enjoy programming during the time when the field was really taking off. It was fun working with brilliant people who were passionate about software development.
My long-term programming goal now is to learn enough so that I can develop just about anything I can imagine. Until then, what I can develop now is restricted to what I've learned to do so far. I know I have a long road to follow, but it's been an enjoyable ride so far. What else should I be doing with my time? Watching cat videos?
For now my goal is to have fun following wherever my interests take me.
For now my goal is to have fun following wherever my interests take me.
List of Software... the most recent on top... Click on the title of the software to read more about it!

Flying Text Java Edition - A desktop Javascript game. Text moves from the right side of the screen to the left side. The player is supposed to click on the correct Java syntax and let the bad stuff go.
There is a quick mode, a regular mode, and a sudden death mode. There are 13 levels.
My class enjoys playing this and doing it on the big intereactive white board in the front of the class is a blast for the player and the audience who is cheering or booing them!
There is a quick mode, a regular mode, and a sudden death mode. There are 13 levels.
My class enjoys playing this and doing it on the big intereactive white board in the front of the class is a blast for the player and the audience who is cheering or booing them!

Dot Animation - Several desktop JavaFX games with the same interface. Eat some dots and avoid others until the eating is done.
These are not full-featured games - they are demonstration programs I used to learn more about JavaFX animation and keyboard/mouse control of objects. But they are still kind-of fun to play.
These are not full-featured games - they are demonstration programs I used to learn more about JavaFX animation and keyboard/mouse control of objects. But they are still kind-of fun to play.

Falling Blocks - A full featured desktop JavaFX game. Uses the State Pattern code from below. Uses open source "Tetris" code that I modified somewhat. Options are language (English or Spanish), allows custom block colors, and the width of the board can be 10, 15, or 20 blocks. High scores are kept also.

State Pattern Demo - A desktop JavaFX demonstration program showing how nested State Patterns could be coded in Java. Code is provided to the demo program.
I wasn't satisfied with the structure of the below games so I read a few books. (See my book reviews).

Draw Poker - A desktop JavaFX desktop game. Minimal user interface. Just play. I wanted to create the AI to play poker and make good decisions, so that's what I did one weekend.

Blackjack - A desktop JavaFX desktop game. Minimal user interface. Just play. I wanted to create a card game so one weekend that's what I did.

Operation Rescue - A desktop JavaFX game. Created to learn more about JavaFX and to implement the mazes from Mazes for Programmers. Rather fun and challenging to play, if I do say so myself. Multiple levels are randomly generated and the guards are controlled by an AI that will chase you. The player has to manage resources.
You can also create your own maze to be included in the game.
I learned a lot from writing this, but I can do better.

I took some of the ideas from Mazes for Programmers by Jamis Buck and transformed the Ruby code from the book into Java code. Go here to see the code.
There is lots more to the book than the code I created. Go buy the book and read it!

Battleship! - a JavFXa desktop game. Minimal user interface. I wanted to learn how to create a simple AI to play the game and to use JavaFX as the interface. The AI turned out to be surprisingly good and can beat me most of the time.

The Oracle - Android phone or tablet App on the Google Play Store. Magic 8 ball, basically. Added some "thinking" comments by the AI.

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spook - Android phone or tablet App on the Google Play Store. The classic game as shown on the Big Bang Theory.
My first version was named Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock, but it was flagged as being in violation of copyright. I wonder how other apps are named that.

Gemini Falcon: All Boxed In - Android phone or tablet App on the Google Play Store. Different game mechanics than the below Gemini Falcon: Asteroid Miner, but uses the same artwork. In this one the obstacles bounce from side to side and you have to avoid them for a period of time.

Gemini Falcon: Asteroid Miner - Android phone or tablet App on the Google Play Store. A variation on the Gemini Falcon app below. This was published on the Google Play store on January, 2015. Fully featured and provides the ability for players to purchase upgrades. Not that anyone has actually bought any, but I wanted to learn how to do it. You can play this to completion without purchasing anything.

Gemini Falcon - A game of flying a spaceship and avoiding obstacles and running into dollar signs for game cash. Unfortunately the dollar signs kind of took the player out of the game.
This was based on the code from Major Bob/Bonnie Bee. Android App. Published on November 16, 2014 and replaced later by Gemini Falcon: Asteroid.

Major Bob / Bonnie Bee - A first real effort at writing a game for the Android platform, but with totally ridiculous graphics. The user could choose between flying a spaceship or being a bee flying from flower to flower and avoiding obstacles like golf balls, flies, and beetles. Never published due to acute interface embarrassment.

¡Ay Caramba! - Software to learn Spanish.
Demo version and Full versions published on the Google Play store on June 10, 2014.
I implemented a demo version that a small purchase could unlock.

Dots vs Dots - Created for learning how to program in the Android environment. Better, but it still sucks. Never published beyond my phone.
Dots were better than ants because I didn't have to face the ants in the direction they were travelling. Much easier to code!

Ants vs Ants - Created for learning how to program in the Android environment using the Eclipse IDE. The game sucks, but all my first efforts suck.
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Duke Nukem maps
Back when Duke Nukem was first released, I enjoyed playing, but I enjoyed making game maps even more. I created several maps that were downloaded tens of thousands of times from AOL (yes, it was that long ago). One map was my apartment building with a shrunken Duke Nukem running around, swimming in my water bed, and eventually shrunken down to molecular level for the final Boss fight. One map that people really enjoyed was a Borg cube with a Star Trek away ship. Through the use of creative and invisible beaming, that map allowed the player to fly around the Borg ship in any direction -- it was like it was really floating. My typical fan email read like this, "DUDE! YOUR MAPS ROCK!" The sentiment was appreciated. |