How's everyone's summer slash summer vacation going? Did it end, is it almost done, or does it still have a ways to go? Get any cool progress done on your projects? Looking forward to anyone else's projects getting released? What's on the agenda for you for the fall?

I spent a good portion of this past summer working on Doors CS 7, and as most of you know, I'm currently ironing out bugs in Doors CS 6.9 beta in preparation for a planned DCS7.0 release on September 1st. I've also been getting a head-start on research with my research group at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU, where I start official research and classes for my PhD this fall. I'll be taking Honors Analysis of Algorithms and Distributed Systems the first semester. Other things from this summer: I've been helping the Cooper EE labs get ready for the semester, I've been teaching the Advanced Java continuining education class at Cooper, and have been occasionally toying with other projects like Cemetech, Document DE, Tokenizer, SourceCoder, BinPac8x, et alia. I'm hoping to have a tiny bit of free time this coming semester to do a bit of work on CALCnet2, but with the amount of classes, research, and teaching that are on my docket, I don't know how well it's going to work out.

Thoughts? Others?

My summer is usually more work-intensive than my school year, because my parents always have some home improvement project for me to do. This year, it was digging a patio. Last, it was a sidewalk.

On a side note, my brother gets home from texas on the 24th.

I've had almost no programming time this summer.

Ah, that sounds fun, does that take a long time?

Aww, sorry to hear it. Any projects you're hoping you'll have time to start or resurrect once the school year starts?

Summer is still on, and I really just working on TI-MAIL and improving my C#

Well, all summer I've been working on an iPhone game. It's a kids game to promote recycling. Should be getting wrapped up pretty soon if the darn art kids on the project ever finish the animations..

Other than that, I just started working on my thesis for the Honor's College. I'm writing a program to run the sound cues in a live theatre. Looks like it's going to be in C# (<3) using Bass.NET.
< http://www.un4seen.com/ >

Next fall, I've only got 3 actual classes (12 credit, plus 2 more for an independent study for the thesis). The courses are on networks, parallel processes, and botany.

The iPhone developing job I have now is paid by a grant that expires this summer. If it gets renewed, I'll be doing that again next fall. If not, looks like I'm back on the job hunt. :/

Oh yeah, I remember when you were first asking me questions about that! That was a long time ago.

Cool, how does that work, is it automated? If so, that would be quite extremely impressive.

Hmm. Which of those doesn't belong....

Good luck, I hope that it gets renewed.

Mine wasn't bad... I finally got my website up and running, although its just a freebie. I spent a lot of time on programming this summer, mostly on Casion Royale, Ultimate Fight, and MFDCSP. The latter was the only one that got finished, since the other two were on my 1545 that got wasted. On a plus note, Dell sent me a new computer AND Harddrive since my computer was f'd up and fried both harddrives i recieved. The plus is that they screwed up and sent my new laptop pre-loaded with Windows 7 when I only had Vista before, and I must say, its stunning. I know I sound like the commercial but the snap feature is amazing, now I can have dual screens open when I work on my projects, my variable and my project screen. Other than that I mostly spent my time playing Call of Duty or with some friends.

@Svakk, sounds like fun, you were one of if not the first DCS contest submitter with MFDCSP. Do you ever play any other games, like (for example) UT2k4?

@Qazz: Do you have any C# projects yet, or you're still working on learning the language?

Err, I plan on making a prank program that fills the screen with message boxes >

Oh geez, the C# equivalent of the old Javascript popup box trick. I froze many a browser with that in my early days. At least you're not planning on try that with Doors CS.

thanks for the idea Kerm >

I was hoping to write a fighting game in axe, and a while ago (several resets ) I was working on a text-based game engine (for games like Zork, ever played it?) for the nspire (only OSes with the input function)

And actually, I didn't think of it as "fun" at the time The worst part about digging for this kind of stuff is the leveling. If it's not level, the sidewalk/patio will be weaker in the higher places.

Yeah, that was sort of sarcasm. I'd assume working in the hot summer sun on that is no fun; it's bad enough working one day a week in the hot sun. So is the patio finished, or is there more of it still in progress? Sorry to hear about the RAM resets; are you planning on restarting the project or shelving it for now?

I took a stab at C#, brushed up on Java and Python, played with AutoCad, and failed at installing MatLab.

In my personal life, I got my first job (as a cashier), bought a shiny new laptop (very, very shiny), and started my freshmen year at Carnegie Mellon (just moved in yesterday!)! This fall, I'll have 7 classes, for a total of 53 "units" of coursework --1 unit short of the maximum allowed. For some reason, CS classes have crazy prerequisites; we pretty much _have_ to take 2 math courses first semester :/ I'll probably take a little break from doing any biggish calculator projects to try to stay abreast in class, haha.

Oooh, a bunch of my favorite things except for C#! What did you make in AutoCAD? Why did you fail at installing *Matlab?

Carnegie Mellon, very impressive. What math classes are you taking the first semester, then?

Yay! . I play Hitman a lot (hence my user picture) and Assassin's Creed. I don't have UT2k4, which a presume is for PC, and I prefer mostly console games. My current PC isn't too good with PC gaming, but it probably wouldn't hurt to give it a try. I have heard quite a bit about UT2k4, so I'll probably give it a try, however I have absolutely no idea what it is or what its about. Perhaps you could assist me with that .

Ah, nothing much with AutoCad -- I took an engineering class last year that used it, and so I got a free copy, but never bothered to install until now. But hey, it's significantly easier (for me) to use than Blender...

And I had a 2007 copy of MatLab, and I couldn't get it to install in Windows7, even with compatibility mode; the buttons in the interface don't work for some reason :/


Thanks! Calculus in 3 Dimensions, and Discrete Mathematics.

Btw, I'm considering minoring in EE or mathematics; on one hand, EE is insanely cool, but I'm required to take most of the courses for the math minor anyways... I know I have plenty of time to figure it all out, but what would you recommend?

@Rthprog: Personally, I would (of course) go EE, because I find abstract and theoretical math pretty excessively boring. If you enjoy math for its own sake, go math. If you prefer using it for things, I think EE is better.

@Svakk: It's an FPS, there's a bunch of modes like deathmatch, capture-the-flag, vehicle capture the flag, missions, teams, etc. We play it a lot, and there is a Cemetech UT2k4 server.

The patio is still in progress, we've laid out some sand and we need to get it level for the bricks to lay on.

I've never tried UT, but from past experience I doubt I would enjoy it much. For FPSes, I prefer 1 player ones, especially puzzle ones like half life and portal. Half life 2 was okay, but I would have preferred more creeping around in air vents and less shooting zombies.

AutoCAD probably would be easier to use, since they won't have as many fancy options, like texturing. It's mainly for designing real-world stuff and less for making 3d computer stuff, if I'm not mistaken.

Can blender output cad files? That would be really cool, because my dad uses that kind of stuff a lot. That software isn't cheap!

Yeah, pretty much. Blender is also pretty neat for creating short animated 3D sequences.

And to your question, yeah, but it has a steep learning curve. Btw, http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.4/Py/Scripts/CAD/ProCAD