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Michael Leonhard's WebsiteBluedogs Artificial Life Simulation - Updated! (2007-07-06)I'm updating Bluedogs. I have refactored the code to use standard C++ practices. There is also a proper webpage with screenshots, downloads, a changelog, and a license. There's a ZIP file for Windows users and source code for compiling on unix. One goal of Bluedogs is for the user to see everything that goes on in the simulation. I want interesting data to be visible at all times, updating on-screen as the simulation runs. The next feature I wish to add is dynamic coloring of bacteria. This will show closely related populations with similar shades of color. See: Bluedogs IMAP Backup tool (2007-05-28)I fixed Rui Carmo's imapbackup.py to work with Courier IMAP 4.1.1. Now I use it to backup my 480MB webmail account to my PC. It performs an incremental backup, downloading only new messages. See: IMAP Backup Presented Research at Conference (2007-05-19)I presented my undergraduate research project at EIT 2007. This was my first time to present at a conference. I enjoyed the presentation, which went very well. I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. V.N. Venkatakrishnan, for his help with the study, paper, and slides. See: PwdGen Study Modeless Wiki (2007-04-06)I am trying to create a modeless wiki. HCI research has shown that user interface modes are a common source of errors and frustration for computer users. Wikis are no exception. Current wikis have four main modes: viewing, editing, previewing, and viewing changes. People sometimes make mistakes because of these modes. On several occasions, I have lost information that I typed into a wiki because I accidentally changed modes. While editing a page, I accidentally pressed TAB and then BACKSPACE, causing Mozilla Firefox to jump to the previously viewed page. This was an unintended mode change. When I pressed the Forward button, Firefox returned to the editing mode, but my changes were lost. The difference between viewing mode and editing mode is very important with current wikis. A new wiki user must master this skill as she learns to use wiki markup. Learning to use a wiki is a trial-and-error process that involves editing wiki text, moving to preview mode, editing some more, previewing, and finally saving changes. This model of document editing is unfamiliar to many computer users. Popular document editing software, such as Microsoft Word™, combine viewing, editing, and previewing modes into one. Such software eliminates the set of error prone mode transition commands. Some wikis offer an editing mode called WYSIWYG. I think this is a misnomer for wikis, as the wikitext is what you really get. Additionally, it has been my experience that first time wiki users do not immediately recognize the utility of wikitext and are repelled by it. I think that the wiki should focus on the wikitext. This means that the wiki markup should be visible to the user during viewing, editing, and previewing. Additionally, the wiki should combine all of the modes into one. Every page on such a wiki is immediately editable. There is no "save" operation to transition from editing mode to viewing mode. Rather, the wiki saves automatically, without a command from the user. This wiki design will surely require complicated JavaScript for implementation. I am currently learning how existing JavaScript WYSIWYG editors work. The wiki will appear at seriousit.com. Undergraduate Research to be Published (2007-04-03)Prof. Venkat and I prepared a paper on my undergraduate research project, A Comparative Study of Three Random Password Generators. We submitted the paper to the IEEE Electro/Information Technology Conference, eit 2007. It is accepted! Graduated! (2006-12-17)I have graduated and received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the College of Engineering of the University of Illinois at Chicago. I completed my senior research project under Dr. V.N. Venkatakrishnan. Past News (1999 through 2006)
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