A Start....

I've decided to become more involved on the internet. I'm forever searching forums and blogs for the solution to a particular software development problem. Or reading about the next big thing. So, I thought I'd start sharing my thoughts, my experiences, and technical solutions with others. I know how difficult it is sometimes, finding a solution to a really obscure programming or configuration problem.

I work with Java and 'Web 2.0', but over the years I have developed in a whole host of languages - as, I think, most good developers can. I don't know everything. The more I learn, the more I realise how much there is to learn. But I do have over two decades of experience with the last 12 years spent at university and then in industry. I've worked on a lot of cool things too. R&D at IBM as a student placement, the voice controlled element of a unified messaging system, a number plate recognition system, a browser based e-learning framework and CMS, and most recently working on an AJAX based web app with a scaleable serverside n-tier architecture for the processing of very complex user requests.

I also develop software\code in my spare time. Mostly things I like that I find challenging. My main personal project is a Mandelbrot\Julia set explorer with the ability to render the plots in semi 3D (the plotted values act like contours on the model). Although, I am interested in extending the software to render 'true' 3D models of the fractal. I need to do some research for that though. Anyway, the URL is:

http://java-apps.org/content/show.php?content=118577

You can also find it on a few other sites such as under the Mac content on Softpedia.com and on Freshmeat.net. I wrote the 3D API for the software too. A heavily refined and much faster version of the API I wrote for my final year project at Uni.

I do plan to make the software open source at some point. And also share a lot of the 3D research I've done over the years.