Brian's Quality Software

The Goods

• var'aq -- my biggest personal project so far, a collaboration with Chris Pressey of Befunge fame and Mark Shoulson of the Klingon Language Institute, var'aq is an attempt to create a programming language for Klingons, partly to help expand the culture of the best-documented sci-fi culture out there, partly just for the challenge of seeing what a programming language for a language so unlike English looks like (a lot like PostScript, actually). Check it out; the three of us have (and continue to) put a lot of work into this project. A mailing list is available.

• the hacker's calculator -- Or hc(1). This is a fairly simple multiradix integer calculator designed for those that need to play with bit-level calculations. Currently available for Unix systems only, but easily ported.

• coffeetalk(6) -- As befits my status as a coffee specialist, I offer this nifty little perl script for anyone who's having trouble deciding what to order at their local coffee bar. There is a Starbucks emphasis, but the nice thing about Perl is that you can tweak things like that...

• NQCIPC -- A very simple interprocess messaging package for users of Dave Baum's Not Quite C programming language for Lego Mindstorms robots. You might also want to see my Mindstorms page; it needs updating at the moment but I intend to fix that Real Soon Now.

• My CueCat Code -- A couple of utilities I've written to support Digital Convergence's CueCat bar code scanner.

A Digression on Personal Style

Although comfortable in several different environments, I prefer to write my software in Perl. Perl is great because it's what I call a "slacker hacker" language; it handles all the high-level stuff such as string matching so you don't have to think about it.

I have strong opinions as well on licensing. I am very much an Open Source advocate, but I'm not a GNU-loving hardliner. Though some of my older material is GPL, I prefer to use the MozillaPL so as not to impinge on the rights of those who use my code (APSL is tempting but a bit intrusive). To see my reasons, read my essay Why Richard Stallman is a Crackpot.