Posts on bradleycarey.com

How I Hit a 315 lb Bench Press

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 11:53:59 -0400

The projected max got there before the actual lift did. I hit 275 for 5 reps on December 9, 2022, which projects to a 320 lb estimated one-rep max via the Epley formula. I did load 320 on the bar shortly after just to say I’d actually touched it. But the data already called it. That took almost four years of training, two years of spinning my wheels, and one program that finally made the difference.

Checkbox Canvas: Images & Video

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 10:15:00 -0500

These two demos are the only ones in the series that process external input. One takes images, one takes live video. They’re also the only ones where a canvas element sneaks into the pipeline. The output still goes entirely to checkboxes; the canvas is just the fastest way to sample pixel data from a source that the browser won’t otherwise let you read directly.

The underlying algorithm in both cases is the same: Floyd-Steinberg error diffusion.

Checkbox Canvas: Games

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 21:00:00 -0500

Games are an interesting stress test for the 1-bit constraint. A simulation can skip frames and still look fine. A game can’t. Input latency matters, collision detection matters, and the player is paying close attention in a way that they aren’t when watching a visual effect. If the game loop is wrong, you notice immediately.

Both of these work. Unironically.

Pong (interactive) Link to heading

Two players. Left paddle: W and S. Right paddle: up and down arrow keys.

Checkbox Canvas: Visual Effects

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 10:30:00 -0500

Every effect here is the same underlying structure: for each checkbox, compute a number, threshold it to on/off. The interesting part is what function you use to compute the number. Pure math, no textures, no precomputed lookup tables, just trig per cell per frame.

Spirals Link to heading

Four modes that cycle automatically:

Checkbox Canvas: Simulations

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 19:45:00 -0500

The 1-bit constraint is most interesting when you stack it against a system with real state. These four demos are simulations. They evolve by rules, and the checkboxes just report what happened. The display isn’t the computation; it’s the readout.

Slime Mold Simulation (interactive) Link to heading

Physarum polycephalum is a slime mold that navigated mazes, solved the shortest path between oat flakes, and independently approximated the Tokyo subway network. It has no brain, no neurons, no central coordination. Researchers at Hokkaido University published a paper about it in Science in 2010 and everyone was appropriately unsettled.

Checkbox Canvas

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0500

At some point I asked myself: how bad of an idea is it to use HTML checkboxes as pixels?

I Built a Full CLI for a Legacy Web App in One Afternoon (with AI)

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0400

Our platform has been around for nearly two decades. The backend is a sprawl of three separate HTTP services: a legacy REST API (v1), a newer REST API (v2), and an Elasticsearch-backed search service. They share a JWT token but have different base URLs, different conventions, and different quirks. There’s no unified CLI. If you want to poke at the API, you open Swagger, copy a Bearer token, and start curling.

Proof Of Work: A Strength Training Dashboard

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0500

I’ve been tracking my workouts with the same Android app for almost 7 years. Nearly a thousand workouts, 59,000 reps, 6.8 million pounds of volume. The app does its job, but the data just sits there. I wanted to actually see it.

Check out the dashboard

The Problem Link to heading

Workout apps are great at recording sets and reps. They’re terrible at showing you the big picture. I wanted to answer questions like: how has my squat progressed over 6 years? When was my best training year? How consistent am I really? What does 6.8 million pounds even look like?

I Fed 17 Years of Blog Posts to an AI and It Roasted My Evolution

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0400

I’ve been blogging since 2009. That’s 72 posts across 17 years: Java homework dumps as a college kid, strength training posts with programming metaphors as an adult. I recently pointed an LLM at the whole archive and asked it to analyze my writing voice. The results were both flattering and humbling.

The three eras Link to heading

The AI identified three distinct phases in my writing, and it nailed it.

From Many Repos to One: An Honest Nx Monorepo Migration Retrospective

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0500

Migrating a standalone Angular app to Nx is a one-liner: npx nx@latest init. Migrating many Angular repos to an integrated monorepo is not. We consolidated several large enterprise Angular apps and libraries into a single Nx monorepo in late 2023. Here’s what that actually looked like.

Problem Statement Link to heading

To share components across multiple frontend surfaces (a main web app, a Microsoft Office add-in, and a mobile app), we maintained multiple Angular libraries. Every time we needed to change a shared component, the workflow looked like this:

Weight Projector - Interactive Calorie Tracker

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 14:30:00 -0500

I wanted a simple way to visualize weight loss projections over time, and while sites like Losertown provide calculations, they only display results in an HTML table. I wanted something with a nice graph that shows the trajectory at a glance.

Try the Weight Projector

Features Link to heading

The Weight Projector calculates your weight trajectory over a full year based on your profile and daily calorie budget:

How to block YouTube Shorts

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 02:13:35 +0000

I’ve always preferred long-form content. YouTube Shorts, TikToks, and Reels feel like junk food to me—quick dopamine hits that leave me unsatisfied and craving more. They disrupt my focus and make it harder to engage with meaningful videos. Here are some methods I’ve found to block YouTube Shorts entirely.

Install uBlock Origin for your browser (available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, etc.).
Open the uBlock Origin dashboard by clicking the uBlock icon in your browser toolbar and selecting the gear icon.
Navigate to the “Filter lists” tab.
Scroll down to the “Custom” section and click on “Import…”
Paste the following URL into the text box: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gijsdev/ublock-hide-yt-shorts/master/list.txt
Click “Apply changes” at the top of the dashboard.

Using a Browser Extension Link to heading

Firefox Link to heading

Chrome Link to heading

Youtube-shorts block

Strength Training Is a Force Multiplier for Knowledge Workers

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 15:19:44 -0400

“It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” — Socrates

Most knowledge workers treat their bodies like a laptop they never charge properly. Good enough to get through the day, running at 60%, wondering why they’re tired by 3pm.

Strength training fixes this. Not walking, not yoga, not “being more active.” Specifically lifting weights, progressively, a few times a week. It is a systems upgrade. Improves throughput (energy), stability (stress), error rates (focus), and uptime (health) across the entire human stack. Here’s why.

CLI-Powered Win 11 Setup: Fast, Private, and Bloat-Free

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:47:46 -0500

Just unboxed the new machine and the first thing I want to do is strip away all the nonsense and turn it into a productivity powerhouse, quickly. The default Windows 11 setup is slow, packed with bloat, and frankly, a bit invasive.

My goal for this setup:

Speed: Get all my essential software installed in minutes using the CLI.
Automation: Set up continuous auto-updating for all those apps.
Privacy: Disable as many of the nagging, data-hungry features as possible.

Here’s the reference guide for my personal Windows 11 “clean install” process.

Quasicrystals in Your Browser

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 17:50:42 -0500

Click here to view the interactive demo Link to heading

Epilepsy warning: The demo contains rapidly changing patterns and colors which may trigger seizures in susceptible individuals.

What is a quasicrystal? From Matthias Matthiesen:

Quasicrystals are highly structured patterns which are not periodic. Unlike the crystalline structure of e.g. hexagons, a quasicrystal will never line up perfectly with a shifted copy of itself. Here such a structure is created as the interference pattern between 7 waves approaching the centre of the image at equal angles. The 2011 Nobel prize in Chemistry was awarded for the discovery of quasicrystals in chemical compounds.

Nx Angular Component Generation Schematic: Path Does Not Exist

Sun, 06 Oct 2024 15:48:48 -0500

A few years back, I successfully migrated several Angular libraries and applications from individual projects to a monorepo using Nx. Nx is a great tool for managing multiple projects and libraries in a single repository.

Nx provides many schematics to generate code and migrate existing code. One of the most common tasks is generating a new Angular component. However, I encountered an issue where the schematic was unable to resolve the path where it was supposed to generate the code.

Handling Case-Insensitive Query Parameters in Angular

Fri, 15 Dec 2023 13:42:39 -0500

After searching through Google and StackOverflow and finding nothing, I decided to write my own reusable class to handle case-insensitive query parameters in Angular. I hope this helps someone else!

How to Use It Link to heading

Using it is as easy as:

import { ActivatedRoute } from '@angular/router';
import { CaseInsensitiveParamMap } from '../case-insensitive-param-map';

constructor(private activatedRoute: ActivatedRoute) {}

ngOnInit(): void {
  // subscribe to query params changes:
  this.activatedRoute.queryParams.snapshot.paramMap
    .subscribe((params) => this.handleQueryParamsChanged(new CaseInsensitiveParamMap(params)));
}

private handleQueryParamsChanged(paramMap: CaseInsensitiveParamMap): void {
  const returnUrl = paramMap.get('returnUrl');
  // Returns the value of the first query param named 'returnUrl' case-insensitively
  // See the test suite below for more examples
}

Or if you don’t want to subscribe to changes, you can use the snapshot:

Safely migrate from hash-based routing to modern routing in Angular

Fri, 15 Sep 2023 17:45:40 -0400

If you have an old angular app that is still using hash-based routing via the HashLocationStrategy, you can safely migrate to modern PathLocationStrategy routing without breaking existing bookmarks or SEO.

Add this snippet to your AppComponent > ngOnInit:

this.router.events
  .pipe(filter((event) => event instanceof NavigationStart && /^\/#/.test(event.url)))
  .subscribe((event: NavigationStart) => this.router.navigateByUrl(event.url.replace('/#', '')));

Note that router.navigate will strip any query params. I used router.navigateByUrl instead.

You can now safely turn off useHash:

RouterModule.forRoot(routes, { useHash: false })

Now, if you hit a URL like https://example.com/#/foo/bar, the router will automatically redirect to https://example.com/foo/bar. This will allow you to incrementally migrate your app to modern routing without breaking existing links.

Serving an Angular CLI App over HTTPS Made Easy

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 10:49:47 -0400

I’ve discovered a simpler method than those discussed in this Stack Overflow post for serving an Angular CLI app over HTTPS using office-addin-dev-certs. Don’t be fooled by the name, these certs work for any local development!

Generate the certificates by running the following command and click “Yes” to trust them when prompted:
- npx office-addin-dev-certs install --days 365
You’ll find the generated certificates (localhost.crt and localhost.key) in your home folder ~\.office-addin-dev-certs
- Copy them to your angular project: cp ~\.office-addin-dev-certs\localhost.* .
- Don’t forget to add them to your .gitignore
Use these certificates with Angular by running:
- Run ng serve --ssl --ssl-key localhost.key --ssl-cert localhost.crt

Alternatively, add them to your angular.json so you can run ng serve as usual:

Theme-aware syntax highlighting for Hugo using SCSS + Chroma

Wed, 23 Aug 2023 17:59:17 +0000

Hugo static site generator has built in syntax highlighting for code blocks that uses Chroma udner the hood. The newer CLI, known as hugo-extended, finally supports SASS transpilation.

Using the power of SASS @import statements + prefers-color-scheme media queries or CSS class name toggles, we can apply separate themes for light vs dark modes. Tailwind CSS refers to these strategies as media vs class.

I am using solarized-dark256 for dark mode and solarized-light for light mode.

Install hugo-extended: choco install hugo-extended or winget install Hugo.Hugo.Extended

Customizing my PowerShell CLI using Oh My Posh

Sat, 19 Aug 2023 17:31:54 -0400

For years, I relied on Cmder as my terminal emulator of choise. With the release of Microsoft’s modern terminal, it’s time to transition away from Cmder. In this article, I’ll outline my approach to customizing my CLI for improved productivity:

Prerequisites Link to heading

I recommend installing as much as you can using Microsoft Store so that auto updates are enabled. You can also use package managers such as winget or choclatey.

Bypass Angular interceptors using HttpContext factory + HttpContextTokens

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 00:37:53 +0000

If the HttpClient is being used within a dependency outside of your control (such as a 3rd party lib) you can still use the HttpContextTokens that were added in Angular v12 by using a HttpClient factory provider. You can scope this to individual modules or components using the providers array:

1. Add DisableInterceptorHandler + token (disable-interceptor.handler.ts) Link to heading

import { HttpContextToken, HttpHandler, HttpRequest } from '@angular/common/http';
import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';

export const DISABLE_INTERCEPTORS = new HttpContextToken<boolean>(() => false);

@Injectable()
export class DisableInterceptorHandler extends HttpHandler {
  constructor(private httpHandler: HttpHandler) {
    super();
  }

  handle(req: HttpRequest<unknown>) {
    return this.httpHandler.handle(
      req.clone({
        context: req.context.set(DISABLE_INTERCEPTORS, true),
      }),
    );
  }
}

2. Provide the handler in either your `component`/`module`/`service`/whatever `providers` array Link to heading

  providers: [
    DisableInterceptorHandler,
    {
      provide: HttpClient,
      useFactory: (handler: DisableInterceptorHandler) => new HttpClient(handler),
      deps: [DisableInterceptorHandler],
    },
  ],

3. Enforce the HttpContextToken in your interceptor Link to heading

import { HttpErrorResponse, HttpEvent, HttpHandler, HttpInterceptor, HttpRequest } from '@angular/common/http';
import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { Observable, throwError } from 'rxjs';
import { catchError } from 'rxjs/operators';
import { DISABLE_INTERCEPTORS } from './disable-interceptor.handler';

@Injectable()
export class AuthenticationInterceptor implements HttpInterceptor {
  intercept(request: HttpRequest<unknown>, next: HttpHandler): Observable<HttpEvent<unknown>> {
    if (request.context.get(DISABLE_INTERCEPTORS) === true) {
      return next.handle(request);
    }

    return next.handle(request).pipe(
      // add your typical interceptor logic
    );
  }
}

Make dynamic PrimeNG table columns conditionally editable

Tue, 10 May 2022 16:11:00 -0400

The PrimeNG table component is a powerful data visualization tool and is a great free alternative to AG Grid.

Table columns can be defined dynamically using the *ngFor directive. However, if you do this there is no apparent way to conditionally mark a column as editable!

There is actually an undocumented pEditableColumnDisabled boolean directive that can be used to control if a cell is editable or not. The only documented directives are pEditableColumn and pEditableColumnField.

Customizing my CLI using Oh My Posh (Old PS modules version)

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 20:19:44 -0400

Update Link to heading

Oh My Posh has since migrated from PowerShell modules to an executable. See the updated version of this article here.

Why Customize? Link to heading

For years I have used Cmder terminal emulator for a fancy CLI while developing in Windows. Now that Microsoft has finally released a modern terminal it is finally time to put Cmder to rest. In this article I am documenting my opinionated manner of customizing my CLI.

SQL Server (T-SQL) Data Types to system_type_id list (2022 update)

Tue, 05 Apr 2022 10:33:59 -0400

I received metadata for a SQL Server database which contained the system_type_id but not what I needed: the data types of each column. Google did not seem to have a list of these so I ran the queries and posted them here as reference. I hope you find it useful.

system_type_id	datatype
34	image
35	text
36	uniqueidentifier
40	date
41	time
42	datetime2
43	datetimeoffset
48	tinyint
52	smallint
56	int
58	smalldatetime
59	real
60	money
61	datetime
62	float
98	sql_variant
99	ntext
104	bit
106	decimal
108	numeric
122	smallmoney
127	bigint
165	varbinary
167	varchar
173	binary
175	char
189	timestamp
231	nvarchar
239	nchar
241	xml

Here is the SQL query I used to get the above data:

How I chose my specialization as a developer

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 22:13:08 -0400

Early on in my development career, one of the toughest choices was what to specialize in. Programming is such a broad subject that learning it all is basically impossible! How was I to know what to concentrate on?

What specializations are there? Link to heading

A non-exhaustive list of specializations from a random post on the internet:

Frontend – help shape the user interface and experience

Backend – create database optimizations and business logic

Embedded Systems – work on hardware specific software

Data Pipelines – produce effective data flows for machine learning and storage

Consulting – communicate how software can help a client’s needs (or discover their needs for them)

Project Management – delegate work effectively between members of a team

Games/Graphics – help implement technical game mechanics and effects

Some people have particular interests that instantly fall into a specific category listed above. If you are one of these people, then why are you even reading this article?

Building a PC (during a global chip shortage)

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 02:13:08 +0000

The global chip shortage was such a big deal it has its own wikipedia article. Me (and apparently the entire world) wanted to have the latest tech to use while being locked up at home.

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em Link to heading

Basically, finding one of the latest GPUs or CPUs was almost impossible. Scalpers and bots have made online shopping a nightmare but I was determined to find them at MSRP.

NgBootstrap Datepicker - US Date Formatter - Improved edition

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In a previous post, I outlined my strategy of using the ng-bootstrap datepicker with a formatter for US dates (mm/dd/yyyy).

In this post, I will provide an updated version. Check the specs below for specifics on improvements. Among these are:

Allows basically any separator (including none at all!)
Works with or without zero padding months or days
Allows entry of double digit years, which will then assume 19XX or 20XX depending on the breakpoint that is set (40 is used below - check tests for details)

us-date-parser-formatter.ts Link to heading

import * as _ from 'lodash-es';
import { NgbDateStruct, NgbDateParserFormatter } from '@ng-bootstrap/ng-bootstrap';
import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';

@Injectable()
export class DateParserFormatter extends NgbDateParserFormatter {
  private shortYearBreakpoint = 40;

  parse(value: string): NgbDateStruct {
    if (!value) { return null; }

    let dateParts: string[];
    if (/^(?:\d{6}|\d{8})$/.test(value)) {
      dateParts = /(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d{2}|\d{4})$/.exec(value).slice(1, 4);
    } else if (/^\d{1,2}[-\/]\d{1,2}[-\/](?:\d{2}|\d{4})$/.test(value)) {
      dateParts = value.split(/[-\/]/);
    } else {
      return null;
    }

    let year = _.toInteger(dateParts[2]);
    if (year < 100) {
      year += year <= this.shortYearBreakpoint ? 2000 : 1900;
    }
    return { year, month: _.toInteger(dateParts[0]), day: _.toInteger(dateParts[1]) } as NgbDateStruct;
  }

  format(date: NgbDateStruct): string {
    return date ? `${_.padStart(date.month.toString(), 2, '0')}/${_.padStart(date.day.toString(), 2, '0')}/${date.year}` : '';
  }
}

us-date-parser-formatter.spec.ts Link to heading

import { DateParserFormatter } from './date-parser-formatter';

describe('DateParserFormatter', () => {
  let parser: DateParserFormatter;

  beforeEach(() => {
    parser = new DateParserFormatter();
  });

  describe('When a string of the format m/d/yy is parsed', () => {
    it('it returns the correct date object.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('1/2/34')).toEqual({ year: 2034, month: 1, day: 2 });
    });
  });
  describe('When a string of the format mm/dd/yyyy is parsed', () => {
    it('it returns the correct date object.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('01/02/1934')).toEqual({ year: 1934, month: 1, day: 2 });
    });
  });
  describe('When a string of the format m/d/yyyy is parsed', () => {
    it('it returns the correct date object.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('1/2/1934')).toEqual({ year: 1934, month: 1, day: 2 });
    });
  });
  describe('When a string of the format m-d-yy is parsed', () => {
    it('it returns the correct date object.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('1-2-34')).toEqual({ year: 2034, month: 1, day: 2 });
    });
  });
  describe('When a string of the format mm-dd-yyyy is parsed', () => {
    it('it returns the correct date object.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('01-02-1934')).toEqual({ year: 1934, month: 1, day: 2 });
    });
  });
  describe('When a string of the format m-d-yyyy is parsed', () => {
    it('it returns the correct date object.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('1-2-1934')).toEqual({ year: 1934, month: 1, day: 2 });
    });
  });
  describe('When a string of the format mmddyy is parsed', () => {
    it('it returns the correct date object.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('010234')).toEqual({ year: 2034, month: 1, day: 2 });
    });
  });
  describe('When a string of the format mmdd19yy is parsed', () => {
    it('it returns the correct date object.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('01021934')).toEqual({ year: 1934, month: 1, day: 2 });
    });
  });
  describe('When a string of the format mmdd20yy is parsed', () => {
    it('it returns the correct date object.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('01022034')).toEqual({ year: 2034, month: 1, day: 2 });
    });
  });
  describe('When an invalid string with alpha characters', () => {
    it('it returns null.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('abc')).toBeNull();
    });
  });
  describe('When a valid string with additional invalid chars', () => {
    it('it returns null.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('123456abc')).toBeNull();
    });
  });
  describe('When an invalid string with numeric characters', () => {
    it('it returns null.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('12345')).toBeNull();
    });
  });
  describe('When a struct is formatted', () => {
    it('it returns a string in the format mm/dd/yyyy', () => {
      expect(parser.format({ year: 1934, month: 1, day: 2 })).toBe('01/02/1934');
    });
  });
  describe('When a falsy value is formatted', () => {
    it('it returns an empty string.', () => {
      expect(parser.format(undefined)).toBe('');
    });
  });
  describe('When a short year is greater than 40', () => {
    it('it assumes 1900s.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('1/2/41')).toEqual({ year: 1941, month: 1, day: 2 });
    });
  });
  describe('When a short year is less than or equal to 40', () => {
    it('it assumes 2000s.', () => {
      expect(parser.parse('1/2/40')).toEqual({ year: 2040, month: 1, day: 2 });
    });
  });
});

System.Text.Json.Serialization - Read Numbers from JSON strings

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Lets say you are POSTing a json that looks like this:

{
  "someNumber": "123"
}

…to a server-side web api DTO that looks like this:

public class Stuff
{
    public int? SomeNumber { get; set; }
}

This thing will fail since the number in the json is quoted. It looks like System.Text.Json is adding JsonNumberHandling.AllowReadingFromString which will accomplish this once .NET 5.0 is finally released.

In the meantime, I wrote a custom converter which works with nullable ints.

StringJsonConverter.cs Link to heading

public class StringJsonConverter : JsonConverter<int?>
{
    public override int? Read(ref Utf8JsonReader reader, Type typeToConvert, JsonSerializerOptions options)
    {
        return reader.TokenType switch
        {
            JsonTokenType.Number => reader.GetInt32(),
            JsonTokenType.Null => null,
            JsonTokenType.String => int.TryParse(reader.GetString(), out var parsed) ? parsed : (int?)null,
            _ => throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(reader), reader.TokenType, "Cannot parse unexpected JSON token type.")
        };
    }

    public override void Write(Utf8JsonWriter writer, int? value, JsonSerializerOptions options)
    {
        if (value.HasValue)
        {
            writer.WriteNumberValue(value.Value);
        }
        else
        {
            writer.WriteNullValue();
        }
    }
}

Don’t forget to register it in one of the many ways you can do so:

NgBootstrap Datepicker - US Date Formatter mm/ff/yyyy

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

If you have used Angular and Bootstrap then you are probably familiar with ng-bootstrap.

The default formatter that the datepicker uses is the ISO8601 format (yyyy-mm-dd). The docs have a sample that show you how to format the date as dd/mm/yyyy. I have adapted that sample to use the format that is the most widely used in the US (mm/dd/yyyy). Hope you find it useful!

us-date-parser-formatter.spec.ts Link to heading

import { UnitedStatesDateParserFormatter } from './us-date-parser-formatter';

describe('UnitedStatesDateParserFormatter', () => {
  let sut: UnitedStatesDateParserFormatter;

  beforeEach(() => { sut = new UnitedStatesDateParserFormatter(); });

  describe('Parsing', () => {
    it('should parse null undefined and empty string as null', () => {
      expect(sut.parse(null as any)).toBeNull();
      expect(sut.parse(undefined as any)).toBeNull();
      expect(sut.parse('')).toBeNull();
      expect(sut.parse('   ')).toBeNull();
    });

    it('should parse valid date', () => {
      expect(sut.parse('05/12/2016')).toEqual({ year: 2016, month: 5, day: 12 });
    });

    it('should parse non-date as null', () => {
      expect(sut.parse('foo/bar/baz')).toBeNull();
      expect(sut.parse('2014/bar')).toBeNull();
      expect(sut.parse('2014/11/12/15')).toBeNull();
      expect(sut.parse('5/7')).toBeNull();
    });
  });

  describe('Formatting', () => {
    it('should format null and undefined as an empty string', () => {
      expect(sut.format(null)).toBe('');
      expect(sut.format(undefined as any)).toBe('');
    });

    it('should format a valid date', () => {
      expect(sut.format({ year: 2016, month: 10, day: 15 })).toBe('10/15/2016');
    });

    it('should format a valid date with padding', () => {
      expect(sut.format({ year: 2016, month: 10, day: 5 })).toBe('10/05/2016');
    });

    it('should return empty string for invalid dates', () => {
      expect(sut.format({ year: 2016, month: NaN, day: undefined } as any)).toBe('');
      expect(sut.format({ year: 2016, month: null, day: 0 } as any)).toBe('');
      expect(sut.format({ year: null, month: null, day: 1 } as any)).toBe('');
    });
  });
});

us-date-parser-formatter.ts Link to heading

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { NgbDateParserFormatter, NgbDateStruct } from '@ng-bootstrap/ng-bootstrap';
import * as _ from 'lodash-es';

@Injectable()
export class UnitedStatesDateParserFormatter extends NgbDateParserFormatter {

  parse(value: string): NgbDateStruct | null {
    if (value != null) {
      const parts = value.split('/');
      if (parts.length === 3 && this.isNumber(parts[0]) && this.isNumber(parts[1]) && this.isNumber(parts[2])) {
        return { month: _.parseInt(parts[0]), day: _.parseInt(parts[1]), year: _.parseInt(parts[2]) };
      }
    }
    return null;
  }

  format(date: NgbDateStruct | null): string {
    return date && this.isNumber(date.day) && this.isNumber(date.month) && this.isNumber(date.year)
      ? `${this.padNumber(date.month)}/${this.padNumber(date.day)}/${date.year}`
      : '';
  }

  private isNumber(value: any): value is number {
    return !isNaN(_.parseInt(value));
  }

  private padNumber(value: number) {
    if (this.isNumber(value)) {
      return `0${value}`.slice(-2);
    } else {
      return '';
    }
  }
}

2023 Update Link to heading

Note the usage of the lodash parseInt function in the above code. This can be replaced by the ES5 version of parseInt in modern browsers.

SSMS – Selecting rows as json truncates long json strings

Sun, 18 Nov 2018 00:40:04 -0500

In the newer versions of Microsoft SQL Server, it is now super easy to return selected rows as json data.

Unfortunately, SSMS seems to truncate json strings that are longer than 2033 chars no matter what you do. This seems to happen no matter if you show the results in the grid, text, or a file.

Here is a workaround using a variable and PRINT if you want to just get the json string on your clipboard:

Chicken tornado - A PixiJS experiment

Mon, 14 May 2018 00:28:02 -0400

I was bored and decided to see what PixiJS is all about. Sooo… I made a tornado of chickens.

Confused? No worries! Once you see the demo you will be even more confused!

Seizure warning. 200 multicolored chickens violently spinning will grace your screen.

Click here to unleash the chicken tornado Link to heading

FluentAssertions – Make null and empty strings be equivalent

Fri, 30 Jun 2017 00:40:04 -0500

FluentAssertions is my assertion library of choice when writing tests in C#. It is very easy to extend and has a ton of nice functionality out of the box.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no way to make a string be equivalent if it is both null and empty. Thankfully we can create our own using AssertionOptions.AssertEquivalencyUsing!

AssertionOptions.AssertEquivalencyUsing(options =>
  options.Using<string>(ctx => (ctx.Subject ?? string.Empty).Should().BeEquivalentTo(ctx.Expectation ?? string.Empty)).WhenTypeIs<string>()
);

Douglas Adams on teaching programming

Mon, 16 May 2016 23:12:35 -0400

What I mean is that if you really want to understand something, the best way is to try and explain it to someone else. That forces you to sort it out in your own mind. And the more slow and dim-witted your pupil, the more you have to break things down into more and more simple ideas. And that’s really the essence of programming. By the time you’ve sorted out a complicated idea into little steps that even a stupid machine can deal with, you’ve certainly learned something about it yourself. The teacher usually learns more than the pupil. Isn’t that true?
Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

Return of the Bad Error Message

Thu, 14 Apr 2016 04:43:50 -0400

Yes, it will? What do I click?

Source: Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Update 2 installer

Uncle Bob quote on Work Ethic

Sun, 16 Aug 2015 04:18:52 -0400

You should plan on working 60 hours per week. The first 40 are for your employer. The remaining 20 are for you. During this remaining 20 hours you should be reading, practicing, learning, and otherwise enhancing your career.
Robert Martin in

Clean Code
I’m not a great programmer; I’m just a good programmer with great habits.
Kent Beck

Enum friendly names using attributes in C# ASP.NET MVC

Sun, 02 Aug 2015 14:58:24 -0400

Are you using enums in dropdowns or radiobuttons or something similar? Instead of hard coding display names, a way of reusing these names was coined in the MVC 3 days that involved decorating the enum with the DescriptionAttribute. Judging from posts on stack overflow, this was a very popular method.

When MVC 5 came out, it included new helpers for Enums (which was fantastic). However, MS used the typical DisplayAttribute (the DisplayAttribute.Name property to be exact) instead of the DescriptionAttribute to pull this off.

The answer to every programming question ever asked

Thu, 16 Jul 2015 20:31:40 -0400

What is the proper answer to every programming question ever asked? Easy:

It depends.

Using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) in an ASP.NET MVC project

Mon, 08 Jun 2015 14:21:49 -0400

There are a handful of examples out on the internet on how to use SSRS from an ASP.NET website but all of the ones I came across seemed like hacks. They range from throwing an ASPX page with a ReportViewer control to complex JavaScript hacks. The following method is the one I have used for many years that adheres to the true MVC manner. This method connects to SSRS through the web service using Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms assembly.

Podcasts you should listen to right now

Wed, 06 May 2015 01:50:59 -0400

This Developer’s Life – Podcast in the style of This American Life dealing with programming related topics. An all time favorite of mine.
Hanselminutes – Scott Hanselman talks about web development, usually dealing with C#, javascript, ASP.NET, and other MS technologies.
Herding Code – K Scott Allen, John Galloway, and others talk about programming topics.
Programming Throwdown – The hosts pick a random technology and give you a broad overview of it followed by its advantages and disadvantages.
Javascript Jabber – The JavaScript frameworks that are released approximately 20 minutes are discussed here.
Developer Tea – Podcast covering a diverse amount of topics relating to being a developer.
Iterate – UX, design, and related ideas are discussed in this podcast.
Debug – Mobile development is discussed in depth, mostly on iPlatforms.
/dev/hell – Uncensored ramblings of two insane developers.

Hall of Fame – My favorite non-programming podcasts Link to heading

99% Invisible – The best podcast ever? Short, well produced episodes dealing with design.
TED Radio Hour – TED Talks are a must.
Radiolab – The best production of any podcast ever made. Interesting and seemingly random discussions.
This American Life – I think this has been cited as the most popular podcast ever until Serial came along… which was also created by them.
Reply All – Random things relating to the internet are discussed. Gimlet Media is worth paying attention to as every podcast they release is solid gold.
Startup – A podcast documenting company creation from brainstorming, soliciting investors, creating a startup, running it, and more. Interesting look at something not normally public.
Freakonomics – Economists can be interesting too.
You Are Not So Smart – Self delusion… and cookies?

Philosophy as told through bad error messages

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 03:28:51 -0400

Who debugs the debugger? Link to heading

Who troubleshoots the troubleshooter? Link to heading

Who delivers the text message which does not exist? Link to heading

MSI Web Setup Project: Unable to build project output group

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 20:18:59 -0400

MSI Web Setup Project - Unable to build project output group ‘Content Files from SOMEWEB (Active)’

I stumbled onto this error and thanks to Scott Hanselman’s blog I was able to find a solution to it.

The only problem? My project had a TON of files marked as Content (such as multiple versions of angular) and I didn’t want to spend all morning going through the countless folders to figure out which files were missing in order to resolve the conflict. If only Visual Studio has some way to verify this and let you know which files were missing…

Savarez Cristal Corum High Tension 500CJ String Review

Sat, 31 Jan 2015 02:52:47 -0400

I recently bought a brand new Cordoba classical guitar. I am extremely happy with my purchase and would recommend this guitar a thousand times over. My only problem with it is the Savarez Cristal Corum High Tension 500CJ strings that came stock on the guitar.

The good On the plus side, these strings seem to settle in and stay in tune much faster than other ones I have tried. Perhaps this was done on purpose by Cordoba to ensure that floor models of their guitar would always sound great when picked up and played by a shopper.

Segue 3 Classical Guitar Cover

Sat, 24 Jan 2015 00:46:06 -0400

Played using my Cordoba classical guitar. This was recorded mainly as a test for my new Zoom H4N portable digital recorder.

WebGL 3D Wireframe using GLGE

Sat, 23 Nov 2013 23:41:08 -0400

This is the same as the 3D wireframe example which was done in OpenGL, only ported to the new technology known as WebGL. WebGL is still a new technology that uses GPU acceleration to render 3D graphics in a web browser and it has shown vast potential to modernize the web.

Many browsers do not even fully support WebGL at the moment. As such, to view this example you will need an updated, modern browser such as Firefox, Chome, or Opera. Internet Explorer does not support WebGL rendering at the moment unless you install a plugin.

Book Review: JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 18:50:08 -0400

JavaScript, which was originally thrown together over a span of 10 days, has its share of bad parts. Of course, many of these have been remedied over the years thanks to ECMA standards process and the creation of high performance JS engines such as Google’s V8. Enter the highly divisive and opinionated book from the original JS guru, Douglas Crockford.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and felt that I learned so much from it even though it is a shorter book. Though it is necessary to state that this book is not for JS beginners. The main thing that I did not enjoy are the reliance upon the railroad diagrams, which are not very intuitive to anyone who has previously not implemented some sort of context-free grammar (which I would wager is a majority of JS programmers).

GridView Column Grouping in ASP.NET

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:39:30 -0400

If you are writing code to show a large amount of records in an ASP.NET GridView control, you should do your best to make them easily readable since it can be overwhelming. I’ve ran across a few different hacks using JQuery to enhance the presentation of GridView records, but this seems to lag the user’s browser when a large number of rows is encountered. I have wrote a small function that performs this action server-side and rids the user of the content-rendering JQuery lag spike.

SAS Data File to PostgreSQL friendly CSV using Perl

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 00:06:39 -0400

In my database course at Marshall University, I helped my professor with a side project involving Cancer research data that has been collected since 1973 by the National Cancer Institute. My first job was to take the SEER data and load it into a postgreSQL database.

The job was simple enough. The only problem? The data files were in SAS format. Basically the format was CRLF delimited entries composed of fixed-length fields. Here is a list of the fields and lengths that I used for the script.

Windows – Deleting files and folders with a long filenames (256+ characters)

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 01:50:40 -0400

So I was using a 3rd party iPod management program to copy songs from my iPod back to my hard drive and the program somehow made a folder with a name that was absurdly long. So long that even windows refused to delete it no matter what. The exact error says: “The filename or extension is too long”. The official MS documentation gives 5 suggestions and none of them seemed to work for me. Here is what I did to fix the problem.

Mandala University Project

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 02:20:16 -0400

This is a Mandala I created in Adobe Photoshop from scratch for the RST department at Marshall University.

Click the thumbnail to see the full size image.

Installing Cinnamon on Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 10:54:32 -0400

So there is now a PPA for Cinnamon which makes it incredibly easy to install on Ubuntu. If you are sick of Gnome 3, Unity, etc and just want your old traditional Gnome 2 style desktop back then you are almost required to try Cinnamon (which is a fork of the older Gnome).

To install it, just enter these commands into a terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install cinnamon

Fractal Mountains in OpenGL using GLUT

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 00:16:21 -0400

This was a project from my Computer Graphics course at Marshall University. The mountains are randomly generated from a normalized pseudo-random number generator and a fractal function. Every time you resize the windows or launch the program, they are drawn differently.

How to upgrade the OS on a TI89 Titanium (or most TI Graphing Calculators)

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 23:22:42 -0400

The option to upgrade or reinstall the OS on these calculators is hidden deep within the UI nightmare known as TI Connect.

Make sure you have TI Connect installed.
Connect calculator to PC, make sure it shows in TI Connect
Select TI DeviceExplorer
From the menu at the top, select Tools > TI OS Downloader
The wizard will guide you through the installation process. It has an automated downloader built in so you do not have to worry about downloading the correct OS version from the TI website.

Pseudocode Interpreter

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 23:20:58 -0400

This program was an assignment for my Programming Languages course. The idea is to implement a simple pseudocode interpreter which has very basic functionality as well as a contiguous memory store. Here is how it works:

You feed the program a CRLF separated list of valid syntax. In this case, the file “pseudocode.txt” which should be in the same directory as the program (no file picker implemented).
The program reads, parses, and executes the given instructions
Any errors that are found are reported, else the program runs until STOP instruction or EOF.

The instruction set is very limited. There are a total of about 18 operations which can have 2 operands. If something is contained in [brackets] then that is referring to one of the 1000 available memory locations ([0] to [999]). You will find the instruction format in the source code, but here is a better explanation:

Galaguh Lua / LOVE2d Space Shooter

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 22:51:37 -0400

This game was actually my final project for my Programming Languages class at Marshall University. It is a space-style shooter in the spirit of the classic Galaga. The game was built on top of the LOVE2D game engine and is mostly coded in Lua.

Above, you will find links to download it. The *.exe file has LOVE2d packaged with it so you should be able to run it without installing the LOVE2d back-end. The *.love file is a compressed archive of the complete source code for the program.

Simple Java *nix shell (Proof of Concept)

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 22:26:54 -0400

This is a very simple shell interface with a built-in history feature for use in your favorite *nix environment. This small project comes from a project in my Operating Systems class at Marshall University in which we were studying message passing models in modern OSs.

It should work fine with any program that is defined in your system $PATH variable (usually /usr/bin, etc). If you type !!, it will re-run the previous command. Or n!, where n is the number of the previous command. To get a list of these previous commands and their corresponding numbers, use the ‘history’ command which will show you all of your previous entries.

Tutorial: How To Create Your Own Sprite

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:36:12 -0400

While there is some documentation for the *.spr file format, it can be underwhelming and full of technical jargon. This post aims to provide an easy to follow tutorial for the creation your own sprites so together we can populate the sprite network with an even larger amount and variety of random sprites.

Table Of Contents Link to heading

What is a sprite? Link to heading

If you right click your favorite sprite and open it with notepad, you’ll notice it is nothing more than plain text. This text tells the sprite engine how and what to display. When a sprite is opened, this text is read by the sprites engine which is then rendered using the sprites engine according to the file’s contents:

Run-Length Encoding (RLE) in C#

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:47:10 -0400

I recently came across a file format that required usage of Run Length Encoding to handle. This involved writing methods for both decoding and encoding. Here are my results:

To decode, you just use a string and concatenate it with each numeric character that is encountered until you hit a non-numeric character. You use this string to figure out how many times you need to repeat the character:

public static string Decode(string toDecode)
{
    string coefficient = String.Empty;
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

    foreach (char current in toDecode)
    {
        if (char.IsDigit(current))
            coefficient += current;
        else
        {
            if (coefficient == String.Empty)
                sb.Append(current);
            else
            {
                int count = int.Parse(coefficient);
                coefficient = String.Empty;
                for (int j = 0; j < count; j++)
                    sb.Append(current);
            }
        }
    }
    return sb.ToString();
}

Similarly, for encoding. I used a stringbuilder and a counter to figure out how many times a character was repeated then appended this to the stringbuilder:

Maze Solving Algorithms – Wall Follower

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 10:44:53 -0400

Maze solving algorithms are a well known area of research. Of these, one of the most well known solving strategies for simply connected mazes is the wall follower algorithm. This post will delve into the coding and implementation of such an algorithm (in C#, of course).

Simple PHP Image Gallery

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 22:14:48 -0400

This script is a very simplified version of the imagery section of my old wordpress website. To use it on your own site, follow these steps:

You need to create a folder containing only the images that you want to display. You need to set the path to the this folder on line #2.
The thumbnails should be stored in a separate folder, which you must specify the path to on line #6. In the code, the tumbnails are stored in a subfolder called “thumbs” and the filename of each thumbnail is “thumb_originalFileName.jpg”.
On line #6 you need to specify the path to the full images, which is probably the same path that you used on step #1.
If you notice on line #7, each image is displayed inside of a html DIV container that uses the CSS class titled “gallery”. I included the CSS that I used in my imagery section in the second code box below. Feel free to customize this CSS to go along with your website’s layout.

<?php
foreach(new DirectoryIterator('/path/to/images') as $iterator)
{
    if($iterator->isFile())
    {
        $thumbPath = "./path/to/thumbs/thumb_" . $iterator->getFilename();
        echo '<a href="./pathto/fullsize/images/' . $iterator->getFilename() . '\ ><div class="gallery"><img src=';
        echo $thumbPath . "" />\n<p>" . $iterator->getFilename() . "</p></div></a>\n";
    }
}
?>

Here is the CSS code for the gallery class that I used:

Window Minimize / Maximize Event (C# winforms)

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:58:34 -0400

If you are working in C# winforms and need to respond to window minimize and maximize events, it seems that winforms does not provide native event handlers. Such a feat is still very much possible through hooking into the Windows API.

The exact message you need to catch is WM_SYSCOMMAND and look for the SC_* messages:

SC_CLOSE 0xF060
SC_MAXIMIZE 0xF030
SC_MINIMIZE 0xF020
SC_RESTORE 0xF120

There are indeed more messages. Check the above link for a full list. Now for some sample code:

Sprite Editor FAQ / User Guide

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:55:50 -0400

Sprite Editor Frequently Asked Questions and User Guide » Here you will find a list of common questions and concerns regarding sprite editor.

What are the requirements to run Sprite Editor?
- .NET 4 Client Profile (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17113)
- Newtonsoft.Json.dll (Compact version, Included in zip)
- Gif.Components.dll (Included in zip)
Where are all the options?
- Try right clicking the sprite tree to find all the goodies.
- The context menus are different depending upon what is selected.
Where can I find detailed documentation on the *.spr file format?
- http://sprites.caustik.com/topic/356-how-to-create-your-own-spr-files/
How do I perform a Quick Crop?
1. Select a Valid State.
```
</div>
```
1. Click and drag on the displayed image / sprite sheet to select a rectangular area.
```
</div>
```
1. cropX, cropY, cropW, and cropH values are automatically set from your selection.
```
</div>
```
Where are the application settings stored on my PC?
- They are stored in %AppData%LocalSpriteEditor
- This folder is normally located in C:UsersYourUserNameAppDataLocalSpriteEditor
Is there any other shortcuts for setting parameter values?
- Right click a Parameter and go to “Set Current Value To”. Here you are given a few options:
  1. X or Y value. Useful for cropX,Y.
  2. Image color code. Useful for capturing the background color of a sprite sheet for transparency.
  3. Use Current Image Filename. Useful for easily setting URI parameter to currently displayed image’s filename.
What does “Add Next Chain” do?
- Check out the *.spr file format documentation for more details on how chains work.
- For example, if you select SPRITE_STATE_WALK_LEFT_0 and click Add next Chain, it will add SPRITE_STATE_WALK_LEFT_1 for you.

Common Regular Expressions

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 11:31:12 -0400

Any programmer worth their salt should have a few tricks up their sleeve. Among these should be regular expressions. The syntax for RegEx is unusual and hard to get used to, but only with a little practice (or even a cheat sheet) you can realize the full potential when it comes to text processing and string handling.

JSON resources in .NET

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:25:50 -0400

While working on Sprite Editor, I had to dig deep into the web in order to come up with a fast, lightweight method for the deserialization or parsing JSON files. The .NET 4 Framework does have a few methods to enable this functionality, but they are not very customizable or powerful.

Up and Running

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 19:14:24 -0400

Blog is oficially up and running.

Sprite Editor

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 23:01:56 -0400

Caustik wrote a neat program that lets sprites walk around on your desktop and perform all kinds of random interactions with each other. The program is networked as well, so if you throw a sprite off of your screen it actually goes to another user’s desktop.

Sprite Editor is what it sounds like – it is basically an editor to streamline creation of sprite *.spr and *.spi files. Create your own custom sprites then submit them on the sprites forums and all the users will be able to see your creations.

NGif C# Library with assorted bugfixes

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 23:05:24 -0400

NGif is a C# .NET library to handle encoding and decoding of animated GIFs. I found a use for it, but it had a few bugs. The very last two pixels were being rendered incorrectly as red and the transparency was not functioning properly. I have fixed these bugs, made a few minor improvements, and included writing to a Stream instead of to a File.

Links:

Apache Commons JSP Web Implementation

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:03:02 -0400

If you are a Java developer then you are very familiar with The Apache Commons. This web app is just basically a web implementation of the commons’ Math library. Here is an excerpt from the Commons’ website about Commons Math:

Commons Math is a library of lightweight, self-contained mathematics and statistics components addressing the most common problems not available in the Java programming language or Commons Lang.

Simple *nix pipes proof of concept

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:17:06 -0400

This program is a simple program that uses pipes to relay information. In this case, the information is a string which the case is inverted and then displayed. This program was written on Minix using the elvis text editor and compiled in gcc.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#define BUFFER_SIZE 25
#define READ_END 0
#define WRITE_END 1

int main(void)
{
    printf("start");
    char write_msg[BUFFER_SIZE] = "Greetings";
    char read_msg[BUFFER_SIZE];
    pid_t pid;
    int first_pipe[2];
    int second_pipe[2];
    int i;

    if(pipe(first_pipe) == -1)
    {
        fprintf(stderr, "First Pipe failed");
        return 1;
    }

    if(pipe(second_pipe) == -1)
    {
        fprintf(stderr, "Second Pipe failed");
        return 1;
    }

    pid = fork();

    if(pid > 0)      // parent process
    {
        close(first_pipe[READ_END]);
        close(first_pipe[WRITE_END]);
        read(second_pipe[READ_END], read_msg, BUFFER_SIZE);
        printf("parent read :%s<\n",read_msg);
    }
    else            // child process
    {
        close(second_pipe[READ_END]);
        close(second_pipe[WRITE_END]);

        read(first_pipe[READ_END], read_msg, BUFFER_SIZE);
        printf("child read >%s<\n", read_msg);

        for (i=0; i < strlen(read_msg); i++)
        {
            if (isupper(read_msg[i]))
                write_msg[i] = tolower(read_msg[i]);
            else if (islower(read_msg[i]))
                write_msg[i] = toupper(read_msg[i]);
            else
                write_msg[i] = read_msg[i];
        }
        write(second_pipe[WRITE_END], write_msg, strlen(write_msg)+1);

        close(second_pipe[WRITE_END]);
        close(second_pipe[READ_END]);
    }
    return 0;
}

Page Replacement Algorithm Benchmarker – Memsim

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:11:15 -0400

This Java program simulates three common page replacement algorithms and displays benchmarks such as number of faults (and more). Also provided in the *.rar file is trace files which were captured in Linux and can be loaded into the program via command line to test either LRU, FIFO, or Random algorithms for comparison.

Download memsim.rar

Sierpinski in OpenGL

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:35:07 -0400

This is just a simple 2D rendering of the famous Sierpinski gasket.

This was rendered using recursion, simple math, and GL_LINES.

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
#include "GL/glut.h"

#include<GL/glut.h>

void sierpinski2d(float vertex1[], float vertex2[], float vertex3[], int current_depth)
{
    float next_vertex1[3],next_vertex2[3],next_vertex3[3];

    //float perimeter = sqrt(vertex1[0]);

    //if(perimeter > 0.01)
    //  return;

    if(current_depth >= 12)
        return;

    glBegin(GL_LINES);
        glVertex3fv(vertex1);
        glVertex3fv(vertex2);
        glVertex3fv(vertex3);
    glEnd();


    next_vertex1[0] = (vertex1[0]+vertex2[0])/2;
    next_vertex1[1] = (vertex1[1]+vertex2[1])/2;
    next_vertex1[2] = (vertex1[2]+vertex2[2])/2;

    next_vertex3[0] = (vertex2[0]+vertex3[0])/2;
    next_vertex3[1] = (vertex2[1]+vertex3[1])/2;
    next_vertex3[2] = (vertex2[2]+vertex3[2])/2;

    next_vertex2[0] = (vertex1[0]+vertex3[0])/2;
    next_vertex2[1] = (vertex1[1]+vertex3[1])/2;
    next_vertex2[2] = (vertex1[2]+vertex3[2])/2;

    sierpinski2d(next_vertex1,vertex1,next_vertex2,current_depth+1);
    sierpinski2d(next_vertex1,vertex2,next_vertex3,current_depth+1);
    sierpinski2d(next_vertex3,vertex3,next_vertex2,current_depth+1);
}

void myInit(void)
{

}

void display(void)
{
    float vertex1[3]={5.0,0.0,0.0};
    float vertex2[3]={-5.0,0.0,0.0};
    float vertex3[3]={0.0,5.0,0.0};
        glClearColor(0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0);
    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);
    glColor3f(0.0,0.8,0.0);
    glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
    glLoadIdentity();
    gluOrtho2D(-5.0,5.0,0.0,5.0);
    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);

    sierpinski2d(vertex1,vertex2,vertex3,0);
    glFlush();
}

int main(int argc,char **argv)
{
    glutInit(&argc,argv);
    glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_SINGLE | GLUT_RGB | GLUT_DEPTH );
    glutInitWindowSize(800,800);
    glutInitWindowPosition(10,10);
    glutCreateWindow("Sierpinski 2D");
    myInit();
    glutDisplayFunc(display);
    glutMainLoop();
}

3D Wireframe Solids in OpenGL using GLUT

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:33:56 -0400

This is esentially the same thing as the code from 3D wireframe except now it has textures. Instead of GL_LINE_LOOP as in the last example, the solid was rendered using GL_POLYGON and colored accordingly.

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
#include "GL/glut.h"

void init();
void display();
void myIdle();
int main(int argc, char** argv);
float f(double x, double z);
void normalVector(float x, float y, float z, float *norm);

float thetaY = 0;
float thetaX = 20;
float increment = 0.5;
float xNear = -6, xFar = 6, yNear = -6, yFar = 6, zNear = -6, zFar = 6;
float n = 50, m = 50;

void init()
{
    glClearColor(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0);
    glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
    glOrtho(xNear, xFar, yNear, yFar, zNear, zFar);
    glColor3f(1.0,1.0,1.0);
    GLfloat light_specular[] = {1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0};
    GLfloat light_diffuse[] = {1.0, 0.8, 1.0, 1.0};
    GLfloat light_ambient[] = {0.9, 0.9, 0.71, 1.0};
    GLfloat light_position[] = {0.0, 8.0, 20.0, 0.0};
    glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_AMBIENT, light_ambient);
    glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_DIFFUSE, light_diffuse);
    glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_SPECULAR, light_specular);
    glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_POSITION, light_position);
    glEnable(GL_LIGHTING);
    glEnable(GL_LIGHT0);
    glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
}

float f(double x, double z)
{
    return 4*cos(sqrt(x*x+z*z));
}

void normalVector(float x, float y, float z, float *norm)
{
    norm[0] = 4*sin(sqrt(x*x+z*z))*x/sqrt(x*x+z*z);
    norm[1] = 1;
    norm[2] = 4*sin(sqrt(x*x+z*z))*z/sqrt(x*x+z*z);
    float d = norm[0]*norm[0] + norm[1]*norm[1] + norm[2]*norm[2];
    if(d > 0)
        for (int k = 0; k < 3; k++)
            norm[k] /= sqrt(d);
}

void display()
{
    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
    glLoadIdentity();
    glRotatef(thetaX,1,0,0);
    glRotatef(thetaY,0,1,0);
    float norm[3];
    double xGap=(xNear-xFar)/n;
    double zGap=(zNear-zFar)/m;
    for (int i=0; i<n; i++)
    {
        for (int j=0; j<m; j++)
        {
            glBegin(GL_POLYGON);
                float x = xFar + i*xGap;
                float z = zFar + j*zGap;
                float y = f(x,z);
                glVertex3f(x,y,z);
                normalVector(x,y,z,norm);
                glNormal3fv(norm);
                x = xFar + i*xGap;
                z = zFar + (j+1)*zGap;
                y = f(x,z);
                glVertex3f(x,y,z);
                normalVector(x,y,z,norm);
                glNormal3fv(norm);
                x = xFar + (i+1)*xGap;
                z = zFar + (j+1)*zGap;
                y = f(x,z);
                glVertex3f(x,y,z);
                normalVector(x,y,z,norm);
                glNormal3fv(norm);
            glEnd();
            glBegin(GL_POLYGON);
                x = xFar + i*xGap;
                z = zFar + j*zGap;
                y = f(x,z);
                glVertex3f(x,y,z);
                normalVector(x,y,z,norm);
                glNormal3fv(norm);
                x = xFar + (i+1)*xGap;
                z = zFar + (j+1)*zGap;
                y = f(x,z);
                glVertex3f(x,y,z);
                normalVector(x,y,z,norm);
                glNormal3fv(norm);
                x = xFar + (i+1)*xGap;
                z = zFar + (j)*zGap;
                y = f(x,z);
                glVertex3f(x,y,z);
                normalVector(x,y,z,norm);
                glNormal3fv(norm);
            glEnd();
        }
    }
    glutSwapBuffers();
}

void myIdle()
{
    double zzz=0;
    thetaY += increment;
    if(thetaY > 360.0)
        thetaY -= 360.0;
    for (int i=0; i<1000000; i++)
        zzz = sqrt((double)i);
    glutPostRedisplay();
}

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    glutInit(&argc,argv);
    glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_DOUBLE|GLUT_RGB);
    glutInitWindowSize(800,800);
    glutInitWindowPosition(10,10);
    glutCreateWindow("3D Wireframe Solids with Lighting");
    glutDisplayFunc(display);
    glutIdleFunc(myIdle);
    init();
    glutMainLoop();
    return 0;
}

3D Wireframe in OpenGL using GLUT

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:32:12 -0400

The wireframe you see here is nothing more than the 3d plot of the function f(x,z) = 4*cos(sqrt(x*x+z*z)) rendered using GL_LINE_LOOP and a little math. As of now, is is still untextured and without lighting. Though in 3D Wireframe Solids, I added that functionality as well.

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
#include "GL/glut.h"

void init();
void display();
void myIdle();
int main(int argc, char** argv);
float f(double x, double z);
void normalVector(float x, float y, float z, float *norm);

float thetaY = 0;
float thetaX = 20;
float increment = 0.5;
float xNear = -6, xFar = 6, yNear = -6, yFar = 6, zNear = -6, zFar = 6;
float n = 50, m = 50;

void init()
{
    glClearColor(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0);
    glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
    glOrtho(xNear, xFar, yNear, yFar, zNear, zFar);
    glColor3f(0.0,0.0,1.0);

}

float f(double x, double z)
{
    return 4*cos(sqrt(x*x+z*z));
}

void normalVector(float x, float y, float z, float *norm)
{
    norm[0] = 4*sin(sqrt(x*x+z*z))*x/sqrt(x*x+z*z);
    norm[1] = 1;
    norm[2] = 4*sin(sqrt(x*x+z*z))*z/sqrt(x*x+z*z);
    float d = norm[0]*norm[0] + norm[1]*norm[1] + norm[2]*norm[2];
    if(d > 0)
        for (int k = 0; k < 3; k++)
            norm[k]/=sqrt(d);
}

void display()
{
    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
    glLoadIdentity();
    glRotatef(thetaX,1,0,0);
    glRotatef(thetaY,0,1,0);
    float norm[3];
    double xGap=(xNear-xFar)/n;
    double zGap=(zNear-zFar)/m;
    for (int i=0; i<n; i++)
    {
        for (int j=0; j<m; j++)
        {
            glBegin(GL_LINE_LOOP);
                float x = xFar + i*xGap;
                float z = zFar + j*zGap;
                float y = f(x,z);
                glVertex3f(x,y,z);
                normalVector(x,y,z,norm);
                glNormal3fv(norm);
                x = xFar + i*xGap;
                z = zFar + (j+1)*zGap;
                y = f(x,z);
                glVertex3f(x,y,z);
                normalVector(x,y,z,norm);
                glNormal3fv(norm);
                x = xFar + (i+1)*xGap;
                z = zFar + (j+1)*zGap;
                y = f(x,z);
                glVertex3f(x,y,z);
                normalVector(x,y,z,norm);
                glNormal3fv(norm);
            glEnd();
            glBegin(GL_LINE_LOOP);
                x = xFar + i*xGap;
                z = zFar + j*zGap;
                y = f(x,z);
                glVertex3f(x,y,z);
                normalVector(x,y,z,norm);
                glNormal3fv(norm);
                x = xFar + (i+1)*xGap;
                z = zFar + (j+1)*zGap;
                y = f(x,z);
                glVertex3f(x,y,z);
                normalVector(x,y,z,norm);
                glNormal3fv(norm);
                x = xFar + (i+1)*xGap;
                z = zFar + (j)*zGap;
                y = f(x,z);
                glVertex3f(x,y,z);
                normalVector(x,y,z,norm);
                glNormal3fv(norm);
            glEnd();
        }
    }
    glutSwapBuffers();
}

void myIdle()
{
    double zzz=0;
    thetaY += increment;
    if(thetaY > 360.0)
        thetaY -= 360.0;
    for (int i=0; i<1000000; i++)
        zzz = sqrt((double)i);
    glutPostRedisplay();
}

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    glutInit(&argc,argv);
    glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_DOUBLE|GLUT_RGB);
    glutInitWindowSize(800,800);
    glutInitWindowPosition(10,10);
    glutCreateWindow("3D Wireframe Solids");
    glutDisplayFunc(display);
    glutIdleFunc(myIdle);
    init();
    glutMainLoop();
    return 0;
}

Dynamic Lighting in OpenGL using GLUT

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:30:35 -0400

This is a simple program to show dynamic lighting. The heavy lifting is done in the shadePolygons() function which determines the luminosity of the surface of the cube according to the angle.

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
#include "GL/glut.h"

void init();
void display();
void myIdle();
int main(int argc, char** argv);
void shadePolygons(double x[], double y[], double z[], double kr, double kg, double kb);

float xNear = -3, xFar = 3, yNear = -3, yFar = 3, zNear = 3, zFar = -3;
double lightPos[3] = {-60, 10, 20};
double Id = 4.0;
double Ia = 1.0;
int direction = 1;

void shadePolygons(double x[], double y[], double z[], double kr, double kg, double kb)
{
    float vx = x[1] - x[0];
    float vy = y[1] - y[0];
    float vz = z[1] - z[0];

    float wx = x[2] - x[1];
    float wy = y[2] - y[1];
    float wz = z[2] - z[1];

    float Nx = vy*wz-vz*wy;
    float Ny = vx*wz-vz*wx;
    float Nz = vx*wy-vy*wx;

    float Lx = lightPos[0] - ((x[0]+x[1])/2);
    float Ly = lightPos[1] - ((y[0]+y[1])/2);
    float Lz = lightPos[2] - ((z[0]+z[1])/2);

    float LdotN = (Lx*Nx)+(Ly*Ny)+(Lz*Nz);
    float normL = sqrt(Lx*Lx + Ly*Ly + Lz*Lz);
    float normN = sqrt(Nx*Nx + Ny*Ny + Nz*Nz);

    float lightAmt = ( (LdotN*Id)/(normL*normN) );
    lightAmt = lightAmt + Ia;
    lightAmt = lightAmt / (Ia+Id);
    glColor3f(kr*lightAmt, kg*lightAmt, kb*lightAmt);
    glBegin(GL_POLYGON);
        glVertex3f(x[0], y[0], z[0]);
        glVertex3f(x[1], y[1], z[1]);
        glVertex3f(x[2], y[2], z[2]);
        glVertex3f(x[3], y[3], z[3]);
    glEnd();
}

void init()
{
    glClearColor(0, 0, 0, 0);
    glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
    glOrtho(xNear, xFar, yNear, yFar, zNear, zFar);
    glRotatef(30, -1, 1, 0);
}

void display()
{
    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);
    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
    glColor3f(1,1,1);

    char title[15];
    sprintf(title,"%f", lightPos[0]);
    glutSetWindowTitle(title);

    double face1x[] = {0,0,1,1};
    double face1y[] = {0,0,0,0};
    double face1z[] = {0,-1,-1,0};
    shadePolygons(face1x,face1y,face1z,1,0,0);

    double face2x[] = {0,0,1,1};
    double face2y[] = {0,-1,-1,0};
    double face2z[] = {-1,-1,-1,-1};
    shadePolygons(face2x,face2y,face2z,0,1,0);

    double face3x[] = {1,1,1,1};
    double face3y[] = {0,-1,-1,0};
    double face3z[] = {-1,-1,0,0};
    shadePolygons(face3x,face3y,face3z,1,1,1);

    double face4x[] = {0,0,1,1};
    double face4y[] = {-1,-1.5,-1.5,-1};
    double face4z[] = {-1,-1.5,-1.5,-1};
    shadePolygons(face4x,face4y,face4z,1,1,0);

    double face5x[] = {1,1,2,2};
    double face5y[] = {0,-1,-1,0};
    double face5z[] = {0,0,0,0};
    shadePolygons(face5x,face5y,face5z,0,0,1);
    glutSwapBuffers();
}

void myIdle()
{
    lightPos[0] = lightPos[0]+direction;
    if(lightPos[0] >= 60)
        direction = direction*(-1);
    if(lightPos[0] <= -60)
        direction = direction*(-1);
    double zzz=0;
    for (int i=0; i<2000000; i++)
        zzz = sqrt((double)i);
    glutPostRedisplay();
}

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    glutInit(&argc,argv);
    glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_DOUBLE|GLUT_RGB);
    glutInitWindowSize(400,400);
    glutInitWindowPosition(20,20);
    glutCreateWindow("Shader Lab");
    glutDisplayFunc(display);
    glutIdleFunc(myIdle);
    init();
    glutMainLoop();
    return 0;
}

Dynamically Generated Textures in OpenGL using GLUT

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:29:12 -0400

The textures in this small program were generated procedurally and added to 3 sides of a cube. If you look at the sourcem the createTexture functions actually create the three textures. After created, the textures are then added onto a GL_POLYGON. Finally, simple lighting and rotation is added.

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
#include "GL/glut.h"

void createTexture1(GLubyte image1[64][64][3]);
void createTexture2(GLubyte image1[64][64][3]);
void createTexture3(GLubyte image1[64][64][3]);
void myinit();
void display();
//void myReshape(int w, int h);
void idle();
int main(int argc, char** argv);

#define PI 3.141592653
typedef float point3[4];
double theta=0, beta=40, r=6;
float xMin=-4, xMax=4, yMin=-4, yMax =4, zMin=-6, zMax=6;
int n=32, m=32;
GLubyte image1[64][64][3];
GLubyte image2[64][64][3];

void createTexture1(GLubyte image1[64][64][3]) // checkerboard
{
    int row, col;
    for(int i=0; i<16; i++)
    {
        for(int j=0; j<16; j++)
        {
            row = i*4;
            col = j*4;
            int c1, c2, c3;
            for(int k = row; k < row+4; k++)
            {
                for(int l = col; l<col+4; l++)
                {
                    if((i+j)%2==0)
                    {
                        c1=128; c2=128; c3=128;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        c1=255; c2=255; c3=255;
                    }
                    image1[k][l][0]=(GLubyte)c1;
                    image1[k][l][1]=(GLubyte)c2;
                    image1[k][l][2]=(GLubyte)c3;
                }
            }
        }
    }
    glEnable(GL_TEXTURE_2D);
    glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D,0,3,64,64,0,GL_RGB, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, image1);
    glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_S, GL_CLAMP);
    glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_T, GL_CLAMP);
    glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_NEAREST);
    glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_NEAREST);
}

void createTexture2(GLubyte image1[64][64][3]) // blue flag
{
    for (int k=0; k<64; k++)
    {
        for(int l=0; l<64; l++)
        {
            if((l >= 0 && l <= 8) || (l >= 16 && l <= 24) || (l >= 32 && l <= 40) || (l >= 48 && l <= 56) )
            {
                image1[k][l][0]=255;
                image1[k][l][1]=100;
                image1[k][l][2]=0;
            } else {
                image1[k][l][0]=0;
                image1[k][l][1]=100;
                image1[k][l][2]=0;
            }
        }
    }
    glEnable(GL_TEXTURE_2D);
    glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D,0,3,64,64,0,GL_RGB, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, image1);
    glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_S, GL_CLAMP);
    glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_T, GL_CLAMP);
    glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_NEAREST);
    glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_NEAREST);
}

void createTexture3(GLubyte image1[64][64][3])
{
    for (int k=0; k<64; k++)
    {
        for(int l=0; l<64; l++)
        {
            if(k<l)
            {
                image1[k][l][0]=100;
                image1[k][l][1]=255;
                image1[k][l][2]=0;
            } else {
                image1[k][l][0]=255;
                image1[k][l][1]=255;
                image1[k][l][2]=255;
            }
        }
    }
    glEnable(GL_TEXTURE_2D);
    glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D,0,3,64,64,0,GL_RGB, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, image1);
    glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_S, GL_CLAMP);
    glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_T, GL_CLAMP);
    glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_NEAREST);
    glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_NEAREST);
}

void myinit()
{
    GLfloat light_ambient[] = {0.75, 0.75, 0.75, 1.0};
    GLfloat light_diffuse[] = {1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0};
    GLfloat light_specular[] = {1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0};
    GLfloat light_position[] = {0.0, 0.0, 28.0, 0.0};
    glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_AMBIENT, light_ambient);
    glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_DIFFUSE, light_diffuse);
    glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_SPECULAR, light_specular);
    glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_POSITION, light_position);
    float lmodel_ambient[] = {0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1.0};
    //glLightModelfv(GL_LIGHT_MODEL_AMBIENT, lmodel_ambient);
    glEnable(GL_LIGHTING);
    glEnable(GL_LIGHT0);
    glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
    glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
    glLoadIdentity();
    glOrtho(xMin, xMax, yMin, yMax, zMin, zMax);
}

void display()
{
    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
    glLoadIdentity();
    glRotatef(20, 1, 0, 0);
    glTranslatef(1, 0, 0);
    glRotatef(theta, 0, 1, 0);
    glTranslatef(-1, 0, 0);
    createTexture2(image2); // side 1
    glBegin(GL_POLYGON);
        glTexCoord2f(0,0); glNormal3f(0,0,1); glVertex3f(-2,-2,0);
        glTexCoord2f(0,1); glNormal3f(0,0,1); glVertex3f(2,-2,0);
        glTexCoord2f(1,1); glNormal3f(0,0,1); glVertex3f(2,2,0);
        glTexCoord2f(1,0); glNormal3f(0,0,1); glVertex3f(-2,2,0);
    glEnd();
    createTexture1(image1); // side 2
    glBegin(GL_POLYGON);
        glTexCoord2f(0,0); glNormal3f(0,1,0); glVertex3f(2,-2,0);
        glTexCoord2f(0,1); glNormal3f(0,1,0); glVertex3f(2,2,0);
        glTexCoord2f(1,1); glNormal3f(0,1,0); glVertex3f(2,2,-4);
        glTexCoord2f(1,0); glNormal3f(0,1,0); glVertex3f(2,-2,-4);
    glEnd();
    createTexture3(image2); // side 3
    glBegin(GL_POLYGON);
        glTexCoord2f(0,0); glNormal3f(1,0,0); glVertex3f(-2,-2,-4);
        glTexCoord2f(0,1); glNormal3f(1,0,0); glVertex3f(2,-2,-4);
        glTexCoord2f(1,1); glNormal3f(1,0,0); glVertex3f(2,2,-4);
        glTexCoord2f(1,0); glNormal3f(1,0,0); glVertex3f(-2,2,-4);
    glEnd();
    //createTexture1(image1); // side 4
    //glBegin(GL_POLYGON);
    //  glTexCoord2f(0,0); glNormal3f(0,0,1); glVertex3f(-2,-2,0);
    //  glTexCoord2f(0,1); glNormal3f(0,0,1); glVertex3f(2,-2,-4);
    //  glTexCoord2f(1,1); glNormal3f(0,0,1); glVertex3f(-2,-2,-4);
    //  glTexCoord2f(1,0); glNormal3f(0,0,1); glVertex3f(-2,-2,0);
    //glEnd();
    glutSwapBuffers();
}

void idle()
{
    theta += 0.25;
    if(theta > 360)
        theta -= 360;
    glutPostRedisplay();
}

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    glutInit(&argc, argv);
    glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_DOUBLE | GLUT_RGB | GLUT_DEPTH);
    glutInitWindowSize(800,800);
    glutInitWindowPosition(50,50);
    glutCreateWindow("Texture Map, 10-2b");
    myinit();
    glutDisplayFunc(display);
    glutIdleFunc(idle);
    //glutReshapeFunc(myReshape);
    glutMainLoop();
    return 0;
}

3D Walkthrough Skybox in OpenGL

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:38:29 -0400

This is a walkthrough with a bunch of random items. Included are: a giant pyramid (hide it by pressing the p key!), a snowman, a bird, a torus, a rotating texture, and a golden spiral of teapots in the background.

Look at the myKeyboard() function to see what keys move. This program also relies upon texture.bmp as well as grass.bmp and BitmapLoader.h in order to run.

BASH script for LOVE2D + Gedit External Tools Plugin

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:19:28 -0400

Due to a severe lack of good IDEs for Lua, I have resorted to using gedit. The External Tools plug-in greatly extends the functionality of gedit by giving the user the ability to run scripts from the press a keyboard shortcut. Go to Tools > External Tools and add a new shortcut. Make sure to set the hotkey of your choice and then enter this script into the edit box on the top right:

Simple Multithread Java Webserver (proof of concept)

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:20:38 -0400

This project was nothing more than a proof-of-concept and should not be put into usage (get apache instead). It is a simple webserver written in Java that can take simultaneous requests via multithreading, parse the request, and properly respond. This program served as my forray into multithreading as well as the gritty details to what happens behind the scenes in a webserver.

/**
 * web server and client
 * @author Bradley Carey
 */

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.util.*;

public final class WebServer
{
    public static void main(String argv[]) throws Exception
    {
        //set port number
        int port = 8080;
        ServerSocket myServerSocket = null;

        //establish listen socket
        try {
            myServerSocket = new ServerSocket(port);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            System.out.println("Could not listen on port # " + port);
            System.exit(-1);
        }

        //process http service requests in infinite loop
        while(true)
        {
            //listen for tcp connection requests
            Socket clientSocket = null;
            try {
                clientSocket = myServerSocket.accept();
            } catch (IOException e) {
                System.out.println("Accept failed on port # " + port);
                System.exit(-1);
            }

            HttpRequest request = new HttpRequest(clientSocket);
            Thread thread = new Thread(request);
            thread.start();
        }
    }
}

final class HttpRequest implements Runnable
{
    final static String CRLF = "\r\n";
    Socket socket;

    public HttpRequest(Socket socket) throws Exception
    {
        this.socket = socket;
    }

    public void run()
    {
        try
        {
            processRequest();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println(e);
        }
        //throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Not supported yet.");
    }

    private void processRequest() throws Exception
    {
        //get reference to socket's input & output streams and setup filters
        InputStream is = socket.getInputStream();
        InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(is);
        OutputStream os = socket.getOutputStream();
        DataOutputStream dos = new DataOutputStream(os);
        BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);

        String requestLine = br.readLine();
        System.out.println(requestLine);

        String headerLine = null;
        while ((headerLine = br.readLine()).length() != 0) {
            System.out.println(headerLine);
        }

        StringTokenizer tokens = new StringTokenizer(requestLine);
        tokens.nextToken();
        String fileName = tokens.nextToken();

        if (fileName.equals("/"))
                fileName = "/default.htm";

        fileName = "." + fileName;

        System.out.println("\nfileName:" + fileName);

        FileInputStream fis = null;
        boolean fileExists = true;
        try {
            fis = new FileInputStream(fileName);
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            fileExists = false;
        }

        String statusLine = null;
        String contentTypeLine = null;
        String entityBody = null;
        if (fileExists) {
            statusLine = "HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted" + CRLF;
            contentTypeLine = "Content-type: " + contentType(fileName) + CRLF;
        } else {
            statusLine = "HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found" + CRLF;
            contentTypeLine = "text/html" + CRLF;
            entityBody = "<HTML>"
              + "<HEAD><TITLE>Not Found</TITLE></HEAD>"
              + "<BODY>404 Not Found</BODY></HTML>";
        }

        //Send the status line
        dos.writeBytes(statusLine);
        System.out.println("statusLine: " + statusLine);

        //Send the content type line
        dos.writeBytes(contentTypeLine);
        System.out.println("contentTypeLine: " + contentTypeLine);
        System.out.println("entityBody: " + entityBody);

        //Send a blank line to indicate the end of the header line
        dos.writeBytes(CRLF);

        //Send the entity body
        if (fileExists) {
          sendBytes(fis, os);
          fis.close();
        } else {
          os.write(entityBody.getBytes());
        }

        dos.close();
        os.close();
        br.close();
        socket.close();
    }

    private static void sendBytes(FileInputStream fis, OutputStream os) throws Exception
    {
        byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
        int bytes = 0;

        while((bytes = fis.read(buffer)) != -1) {
            os.write(buffer, 0, bytes);
        }
    }

    private static String contentType(String fileName)
    {
        if (fileName.endsWith(".htm") || fileName.endsWith(".html"))
            return "text/html";
        if(fileName.endsWith(".gif"))
            return "image/gif";
        if(fileName.endsWith(".jpg"))
            return "image/jpg";

        return "application/octet-stream";
    }
}

Simple Java websocket currency exchanger (Proof of Concept)

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 23:07:45 -0400

This program is a simple client/server websocket program. The client sends a currency amount, type, and type to convert it to and the server responds with the correct conversion. Conversion factors are way out of date since this program was written in 2009.

Client source code:

/**
 * Client for currency exchange server
 * @author Bradley Carey
 */
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;

public class ExchangeClient
{
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
    {
        String hostname = args[0];
        String amount = args[1];
        String from = args[2];
        String to = args[3];
        String toSend = amount + "?" + from + "?" + to;
        Socket mySocket = new Socket(hostname, 52719);

        OutputStream myOS = mySocket.getOutputStream();
        DataOutputStream myDOS = new DataOutputStream(myOS);

        InputStream myIS = mySocket.getInputStream();
        InputStreamReader myISR = new InputStreamReader(myIS);
        BufferedReader myBR = new BufferedReader(myISR);
        myDOS.writeBytes(toSend + '\n');
        toSend = myBR.readLine();

        System.out.println(toSend);
        mySocket.close();
    }
}

Server source code:

XOR Encryption with Brute Force methods for decryption (proof of concept)

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 22:25:43 -0400

This project evolved from my time in the Cyber Security class at Marshall University. The goal was to create an implementation of a simple encryption scheme as well as brute force methods for decrypting the ciphertext without the original key. To use it:

Select a text file as the active file for encryption/decryption.
Enter your choice of operation.
If the file has been previously encrypted, you can decrypt it as long as you know the key.
If you don’t know the key to an encrypted file, select the brute force method to have the program try all possible combinations to detemine which key was originally used to decrypt the file.

This program uses a wordlist of more than 58,000 words from the English language when brute forcing, which is parsed into a java TreeSet for maximum speed. As such, a text file containing words to match it to is required. I’ve used the one found at this link: Corncob Wordlist

Simple UDP Fortune Client/Server (Proof of Concept)

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 23:09:37 -0400

This program is a simple client/server UDP/Datagram network program. The client sends a random number which is then used to display a random fortune on the client’s screen.

#Client

/**
 * Fortune Cookie Client. Sends random number to specified host via UDP and prints reply.
 * @author Bradley Carey
 * @version November 2, 2010
 */

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.util.*;

public class FortuneClient
{
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
    {
        if (args.length<= 1)
        {
            System.out.println("You must specify a valid hostname and port number.");
            System.exit(0);
        }
        String hostname = args[0];
        String port = args[1];

        InetAddress destination = InetAddress.getByName(hostname);

        Random myRandom = new Random();
        int requestNo = myRandom.nextInt(10);
        String toSend = "" + requestNo;

        DatagramSocket mySocket = new DatagramSocket();
        mySocket.setSoTimeout(2000);
        byte[] os = toSend.getBytes();
        DatagramPacket sendThis = new DatagramPacket(os, os.length, destination, Integer.parseInt(port));
        mySocket.send(sendThis);

        try
        {
            DatagramPacket replyPacket = new DatagramPacket(new byte[1024], 1024);
            mySocket.receive(replyPacket);
            String recvMsg = new String(replyPacket.getData());
            recvMsg = recvMsg.replaceAll("\n","");
            System.out.println("Fortune: " + recvMsg);
        }
        catch (SocketTimeoutException e)
        {
            System.out.println("Error: Timeout!");
        }

        System.out.println(toSend);
        mySocket.close();
    }
}

#Server

Finding square roots using Newton’s Method (Proof of Concept)

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:15:06 -0400

This program uses the famous method by Isaac Newton to iteratively find the square root of a number. It relies upon an inital guess which is then improved until the answer is accurate within 0.000001.

/**
 * Computes square root of a number (Newton's Method)
 * @author Bradley Carey
 * @version 16-Oct-2009
 */
import java.util.Scanner;
public class NewtonsMethod
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        Scanner myScanner = new Scanner(System.in);
        boolean done = false;
        double guess=0.0;
        while (true)
        {
            done = false;
            System.out.print("\nEnter the number to take the square root of: ");
            String answer = myScanner.nextLine();
            double x = Double.parseDouble(answer);

            if (x<=0)
            {
                System.out.print("Error: only positive inputs are valid.\n");
                return;
            }
            else
            {
                System.out.print("Enter a guess for the square root: ");
                answer = myScanner.nextLine();
                guess = Double.parseDouble(answer);
            }

            while (!done)
            {
                double newGuess = guess-(guess*guess-x)/(2*guess);
                System.out.print("newGuess = " + newGuess + "\n");

                if (Math.abs(guess-newGuess)<0.00001)
                {
                    System.out.print("To within .000001, The square root of " + x + " is " + newGuess);
                    System.out.print("\nDo another? y/n  ");
                    answer = myScanner.nextLine();
                    done=true;

                    if(answer.equals("n"))
                    {
                        System.out.print("Good Bye!!\n");
                        System.exit(0);
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    guess = newGuess;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Posts on bradleycarey.com

How I Hit a 315 lb Bench Press

Checkbox Canvas: Images & Video

Checkbox Canvas: Games

Pong (interactive) Link to heading

Checkbox Canvas: Visual Effects

Spirals Link to heading

Checkbox Canvas: Simulations

Slime Mold Simulation (interactive) Link to heading

Checkbox Canvas

I Built a Full CLI for a Legacy Web App in One Afternoon (with AI)

Proof Of Work: A Strength Training Dashboard

The Problem Link to heading

I Fed 17 Years of Blog Posts to an AI and It Roasted My Evolution

The three eras Link to heading

From Many Repos to One: An Honest Nx Monorepo Migration Retrospective

Problem Statement Link to heading

Weight Projector - Interactive Calorie Tracker

Features Link to heading

How to block YouTube Shorts

uBlock Origin with the ublock-hide-yt-shorts filter list Link to heading

Using a Browser Extension Link to heading

Firefox Link to heading

Chrome Link to heading

Strength Training Is a Force Multiplier for Knowledge Workers

CLI-Powered Win 11 Setup: Fast, Private, and Bloat-Free

Quasicrystals in Your Browser

Click here to view the interactive demo Link to heading

Nx Angular Component Generation Schematic: Path Does Not Exist

Handling Case-Insensitive Query Parameters in Angular

How to Use It Link to heading

Safely migrate from hash-based routing to modern routing in Angular

Serving an Angular CLI App over HTTPS Made Easy

Theme-aware syntax highlighting for Hugo using SCSS + Chroma

Customizing my PowerShell CLI using Oh My Posh

Prerequisites Link to heading

Bypass Angular interceptors using HttpContext factory + HttpContextTokens

1. Add DisableInterceptorHandler + token (disable-interceptor.handler.ts) Link to heading

2. Provide the handler in either your component/module/service/whatever providers array Link to heading

3. Enforce the HttpContextToken in your interceptor Link to heading

Make dynamic PrimeNG table columns conditionally editable

Customizing my CLI using Oh My Posh (Old PS modules version)

Update Link to heading

Why Customize? Link to heading

SQL Server (T-SQL) Data Types to system_type_id list (2022 update)

How I chose my specialization as a developer

What specializations are there? Link to heading

Building a PC (during a global chip shortage)

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em Link to heading

NgBootstrap Datepicker - US Date Formatter - Improved edition

us-date-parser-formatter.ts Link to heading

us-date-parser-formatter.spec.ts Link to heading

System.Text.Json.Serialization - Read Numbers from JSON strings

StringJsonConverter.cs Link to heading

NgBootstrap Datepicker - US Date Formatter mm/ff/yyyy

us-date-parser-formatter.spec.ts Link to heading

us-date-parser-formatter.ts Link to heading

2023 Update Link to heading

SSMS – Selecting rows as json truncates long json strings

Chicken tornado - A PixiJS experiment

Click here to unleash the chicken tornado Link to heading

FluentAssertions – Make null and empty strings be equivalent

Douglas Adams on teaching programming

Return of the Bad Error Message

Uncle Bob quote on Work Ethic

Enum friendly names using attributes in C# ASP.NET MVC

The answer to every programming question ever asked

Using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) in an ASP.NET MVC project

Podcasts you should listen to right now

Programming Related Podcasts Link to heading

Hall of Fame – My favorite non-programming podcasts Link to heading

Philosophy as told through bad error messages

Who debugs the debugger? Link to heading

Who troubleshoots the troubleshooter? Link to heading

Who delivers the text message which does not exist? Link to heading

MSI Web Setup Project: Unable to build project output group

Savarez Cristal Corum High Tension 500CJ String Review

Segue 3 Classical Guitar Cover

WebGL 3D Wireframe using GLGE

Book Review: JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford

2. Provide the handler in either your `component`/`module`/`service`/whatever `providers` array Link to heading