Portfolio: Code

I have been coding since the days of MS-DOS via batch files at the command prompt. One of my first simple programs was a rudimentary operating system; it categorised programs on the machine and displayed these cateogories to users, once a user selected a category the programs available in that category would be displayed and users could select again, their choice causing the computer to load the selected program. As I young boy, I used this mostly to enable quick loading of computer games, but it did help the non-technical members of my family too! Using the same techniques I developed simple password protection for my computer that loaded after the boot cycle; and auto-installers to friends, so they could install games off disks with a single command and not the multiple commands that were required at the time.

Since those days I have moved both up, and down, the computer language list. Going down, as part of my undergrad I programmed a 68000 processor in assembly language. A team of four, we had to assemble the component hardware, including wiring each individual pin, and then write the assembly language that would allow the simple computer we had built to boot up and perform simple calculations. In college I was required to develop multiple different program types, including booking systems, distributed file-sharing systems with concurrent user access, and routing algorithms.

Going higher up the computer language stack, I have coded in numerous languages, and these days when presented with a new language can often pick up the syntax on site and start coding quickly.

I am currently implementing a Power Management simulator for a server environment as part of my PhD. This is being written in Java. The simulator must accurately represent the load on servers, the job queues, and completion time, as well as many other variables. Samples of this code will be added shortly.