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Anyone remember Simply Transparent?

— Comments — code, extjs, freeware, git, javascript, life, microsoft visual studio, nostalgia, screen savers, site, tech, techtv, user interface design, web, web design — 1 min read

It was my first public offering to the world of freeware! My high school after-hours project is now on github (opens in a new window).  I don’t know why I haven’t done this sooner, but I thought it would be a fun _git-_to-know git activity.

Just looking through all these files brings back memories – my, how far I’ve come. My first rendition of this project mostly used the MFC classes Microsoft shipped with their Visual C++ 5/6 projects (this was before Visual Studio .NET).  I eventually released this gem as Simply Transparent 6.5, and was the version that was honored as the “Free file of the Day” on TechTV’s “The Screen Savers” (opens in a new window) with Leo Laporte (opens in a new window) and Megan Morrone, post Kate Botello era.  Right around that time, I kicked MFC to the curb and rewrote the entire program with nothing but the Windows bare API at my mercy.  I had grown as a programmer and found a new love of strait-up-no-hand-holding raw C++.  Those were the days… learning something new every day, and digging for more – constantly digging – knowledge in software development and the art of UI design.

I find myself in the same boat I was in over 10 years ago.  Digging.  Researching and plotting the next big thing.  8-9 years ago, I began really jumping into web development and Web site design.  I had architected something that was a kind of predecessor to a 100% client-side Javascript Web site (a la ExtJS), a blog — before I knew that’s what it was called – and asynchronous data loads (before I knew what AJAX was).  I took what I learned and molded it into a CMS I called HybridEngine, eventually to be written in PHP and be the abstracted layer between my app and my filesystem/database. Oh memories. :)