

Ask HN: what projects are you working on? - basdevries

Hi HN,<p>I thought it was nice to open a tread in which people can post their projects and get feedback on it as a better way to gain attention than solely submitting a HN post.<p>Unthough HN is the best way to get feedback in an honest way, it's hard to gain traction due to their populairity.<p>Tell me what projects you are working on and don't forget to vote up so, more feedback will be given!
======
stevekemp
I'm working on a modal, console-based, email-client. It's developed in C++ and
has fully integrated scripting provided via lua.

<http://lumail.org/>

<https://github.com/skx/lumail/>

It is pretty different from the existing mail clients for the console (pine,
alpine, mutt, sup, notmuch), partly for being modal, and partly because it
only handles Maildirs. No IMAP or POP3 support at all.

In terms of functionality it is usable for sending, processing, and receiving
emails. But there is still missing support for attachments.

~~~
shurane
If I wanted to pair this with an imap or pop3 mail account, what other command
would I need to run?

~~~
stevekemp
I think you have a lot of choices, so it comes down to personal preferences.

Basically this tool will only work against a local set of Maildirs, so your
job is to get the mail from the remote host onto your local system in Maildir
form.

Off the top of my head that means one of:

* imapsync

* fetchmail

* offlineimap

------
neilxdsouza
I am working on a survey programming and cross tabulation engine. It's open
source hosted here: <http://sourceforge.net/projects/xtcc>

There are 2 versions of the Survey compiler, one in production use and a newer
version in advanced prototype targeted at tablets etc. The production use
compiler is targeted at India and the Middle East and anywhere else where you
do Market Research using Pen and Paper format. It can generate outputs for IBM
SPSS-Quantum (a specialised software for data processing) and SPSS and and my
own cross tabulation engine, described below. Our current offering to clients
is a potential 70% speedup in data processing using our system for Pen and
Paper data entry.

The cross tabulation engine is on similar lines to IBM SPSS-Quantum but
removes many limitations and is potentially much faster. I tested it on 1
million records - each record had about 64000 conditions, it was able to
process the data in 20 seconds (I tried this after seeing Evan Miller's post
on HN and someone asked about how fast his software was on 10 million
records). I compile the input programs to simple C++ fixed size arrays and
data is stored on disk as a flat file, fixed length per record. I have been
experimenting with sse instructions - there is a lot of potential for further
speed improvement.

This is a git repository, active branches are: nc - this is a stable version
of the compiler, but uses ncurses and

web-questionnaire-2: this is the new survey compiler

    
    
       Active GUIs/Framewors we can compile to are :
       1. gtk
       2. wxWidgets
       3. webtoolkit
    
       I have also separated out the runtime environment so that we can compile with emscripten
       Using this, we can compile with 
    
        1. Dojo, ExtJs
        2. DojoMobile - I could not get Sench Touch to work.
    

web-randomizer: this is a branch for a randomization grammar

rdg: this is a branch for a Random Data generator. This was used to generate
the 1 million records for my testing. I was able to get it to go at a speed of
about 170 records a second.

If anyone is interested in playing with it, please write to me - my email
should be all over the source code. We are also looking to make a business out
of this (I have 2 friends and family investors).

------
helen842000
I've been working on <http://www.postalcandy.co.uk> \- it was an MVP test for
two weeks. It has been an idea I kept coming back to for a while now. I really
want to sell a fun product.

While it's just basic technically, I've learned a lot about A/B testing &
driving traffic.

Have taken the first few orders which is proof of concept! Currently working
on the next version, integrating more product images & branding too.

Also I work on <http://foundcamera.com> \- it gets quite a bit of natural
traffic & submissions are backing up. Could do with some php help if anyone
needs a weekend gig!

~~~
basdevries
That looks very cool! Could you share some intel with me about gross margins
and how you calculated the prices for postalcand.co.uk? Foundcamera is awesome
too :D I'll check for a lost camera tomorrow in Amsterdam, you might just want
to add the feature of sharing your lost camera but maybe I overlooked it (says
already enough) and a reward program would probably finish it up. Good luck!

~~~
helen842000
Thanks! I've been putting the candy packs together for quite a while, for
family & as gifts for friends in the US.

Offering flat pricing including shipping seemed to make sense for this type of
purchase. I checked the prices of similar food subscription packages and kept
that in mind - they seem to range from $17 to $33 typically.

I put together several candy packs at different weights and settled on 250g,
500g and 1kg - I priced them up and worked out a per gram price point so when
I'm looking at new products I can work out if it's good value. Eg. x pence per
gram of candy.

I put together a chart of shipping prices. Listing 3 different world zones
(EU, US/CAN, AUS/NZ) and delivery speeds (surface/airmail/48hour). That
enabled me to put a flat price on shipping. So for example I use the AUS/NZ
price as standard, if people order from other locations then I save on
postage.

I'll probably make some pricing adjustments over time, as orders grow I should
be able to improve margin by buying larger packs, once I get around 10 orders
per day that brings down shipping costs too, I can pass that value on to the
customers. I'm looking forward to getting the new site launched! Thanks for
your feedback!

------
pkinsky
I've built a tool to create arbitrary rigid 3D surfaces and support structures
from laser-cut-and-perforated folded tyvek panels. It's probably never going
to be commercialized, but it is fun to tinker with.

The use case is 3d shapes where the volume makes 3d printing cost-prohibitive,
for example this 4 foot long tyvek dolphin:
[https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/102064314320177820526/alb...](https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/102064314320177820526/albums/5870981854584352017)

If you're in boston, stop by the collision19 show for a look:
<http://collisioncollective.org/show/collision19>

------
bjoerns
I'm working on a revision control system for spreadsheets
(<http://www.spreadgit.com>) so people can sort out their Excel mess, ie.
track changes, diff and eventually merge versions like you'd do with code.

~~~
saturdayplace
A while back I tried brainstorming a bunch of revision control for <x>'s. I
figured there were plenty of industries outside of programming that could use
a tailor-made versioning system. Later on, I ran across one of them at
<https://layervault.com/> which is for graphic designers, which seemed (to me
at least) to prove that the more general concept has legs.

------
clockwork_189
I am working on a SCRUM project management solution:
[http://scrumptious.io/](http://scrumptious.io/)

Why? Well, in my current company where I am doing my internship, we wanted to
use SCRUM, but couldnt find a resource that was light weight, integrated with
3rd party tools like google cal, github, etc, and was cheap at the same time.
As a coder, I decided to work on my own solution for this problem. I know that
it may not be very monetizable, but in the long run, I can be proud of it as
something I built.

------
wturner
I'm working on a very simple and inane tool that block diagrams my code with
cables so I can write programs visually. It doesn't compile or run any of it,
it's just a visual tool. It's a mashup of two JQuery libraries: JsPlumb and
Jquery TE. I also have an idea for a very large meteor.js/Web Audio API
project that I am gradually piecing my way towards with small one-off do-dads
like this: <http://helpknow.com/portfolio/drumapp/>

------
mast
I made a tool (<http://complex-area-calculator.appspot.com>) for calculating
areas of polygons. Initially, it was really just cobbled together and there
are a lot of problems with the code. I'm currently in the process of a re-
write, but by blog (<http://foodconstrued.com>) also takes up a lot of my
time.

~~~
jamesk14022
The area calculator is really interesting, good job!

------
kkoppenhaver
Just launched subtleshade.com to help my learn about all this cool new
HTML/CSS stuff I keep hearing about! Design and cross-browser support is
sketchy at the moment, but it's a v1.0.

EDIT: Should probably provide some more information. It's a easy way to add
colors to the patterns provided on subtlepatterns.com without having to dive
into Photoshop.

------
joshcrowder
Nice idea for a thread!

I'm working on a new project management tool called Matterhorn.io its for
companies who are design led and follow agile for development.

There are a million and one project management apps but none of them are a fit
for us, we like basecamp but need a scrumboard, we like jira but find its too
complicated. We are building a happy medium

~~~
atomical
Used Pivotal Tracker?

------
jamesjguthrie
I'm working on a few things:

A 32 channel data logger, driver communication and information aid for
motorsport and automotive testing

A kids education app with a Scottish 'teacher' character - this will hopefully
be uploaded for App Store approval this weekend

and I have a few client projects on the go

------
zedw
I am working on a P2P network based around Kademlia. I have not got very far
mostly due to lack of time and knowledge, but I keep going with it when I can.

[https://github.com/zwerfvogel/Mimosa](https://github.com/zwerfvogel/Mimosa)

------
ThaiWood
I'm currently writing Ruby For System Administrators at
[http://ruby.elevatedintel.com](http://ruby.elevatedintel.com) A book that
helps SysAdmins become more productive and repeat themselves less using Ruby.

------
huseyinyilmaz
<https://github.com/huseyinyilmaz/talkybee> . I haven't work on it lately due
to a class I am taking on coursera. But I will finish is as soon as I am done
with the class I am taking.

------
pantoine
three projects: Homenet a closed source home networking system, multimedia,
it's own TV stack. Currently re-writing as i thought the networking was a bit
weak, and the android remote control/EPG was UGLY!

Also playing with some vimscripts
[https://github.com/PAntoine/vimgitlog](https://github.com/PAntoine/vimgitlog),
and
[https://github.com/PAntoine/timekeeper](https://github.com/PAntoine/timekeeper).

also, just starting a project planner vimscript, ms project style, with
project diagramming.

------
jlengrand
I am currently working on a simple way to share spotify tracks so that anyone
can listen to them (and not only spotify users). The core is finished for a
while, but I struggle with the design! Man it's hard to make something look
nice

------
hbien
I've been working on a console Pomodoro timer: <http://thymerb.com>

There were already a few around, this was for fun and I wanted one with easy
pre/post hooks.

~~~
shurane
This looks cool. All the fun terminal programs are all over the place, but I
love it when I come across another one!

------
danielhughes
Just launched [http://www.babelmatch.com](http://www.babelmatch.com). It's a
crowd-sourced alternative to language-learning programs like Rosetta Stone.

------
markwillis82
My pet project at the moment is programmatic battleships. Write your own
client - play against other users running automatic games and see how we'll
your client fairs up in the leaderboard

~~~
siddboots
Similar to mine. I'm working on an online ant colony sandbox where people can
write AIs to compete for resources, etc.

------
goo
Working on Zoomforth, helping companies collect, manage and display video from
their employees and partners.

<https://zoomforth.com>

------
stuglaser
I'm reimplementing Go-style channels in Python, including multiplexing:

<https://github.com/stuglaser/pychan>

------
phdtree
[http://phdtree.org](http://phdtree.org) is a Wiki site that allows users to
create & edit their academic family tree.

------
yen223
I'm currently trying to teach myself web development by building a simple
wedding organizing app. Still in its early stages though, nothing to show for
it yet.

------
johnmoore
Hotel Comparison Website.

[http://www.cutpricedhotels.com](http://www.cutpricedhotels.com)

------
stevoo
I am currently working on creating a p0rn site ( there are some money there,
but it is hard to implement ) as well as a photographer site

------
dmitripopov_com
I am working on my own help authoring tool "with blackjack and hookers" :) It
has a cool name: Helpinator.

~~~
krapp
I upvoted this because everything is better with blackjack and hookers.

------
flipcoder
p2p file transfer tool w/ some cool features like auto-accept rules, tag-based
(semantic fs) syncing

<http://deployanything.com> (win,mac,lin + pi)

Tech: C++11, Qt, node.js

:)

~~~
shurane
Wow, that's cool. Very cool. Do you guys have any competitors? Does this even
need a server to use? If it's p2p, it's already decentralized, right?

------
boulem
personally i work on making a little java ide using javafx

