What's happening lately

The last couple of months, I've been doing a lot of work preparing for the new Windows 7/8 Phone app and Windows 8 tablet development I've planned.  The fun things I've been bogged down with include:

• Research into Windows 8 and Windows 8 Phone details, including new software development stuff from Microsoft
• Continued enhancement of my underlying ICE framework, including (for those who know the lingo) full XML support for app-data persistence and cloud data sharing and synchronization between devices running my apps
• App feature requirements and detailed design work
• Cross-platform support for Windows 8, Windows 7, phones, tablets, and web pages

Doesn't all that sound like loads of fun?

After a few more technical tweaks to my underlying framework stuff (and completing some more documentation for other programmers using it), I'll dive in to development of the prototype for the Cool Grader app upgrade.  Hopefully, I'll have it ready for review by testers within this next week or the next.  One hopes, anyway.

What fun ... :)

The existing product to be upgraded

For those not familiar with the current Cool Grader app, here are some screen shots to give you an idea of the existing product to be upgraded in this next release (see 'First app development in a year ...' below):



Grading screen





Menu (displayed via '...')





Calculator





Help information

First app development in a year ...

Some real news from Mr. Winkle ... Now gotten to the point where some actual app development can continue, after all this time developing some underlying technology I needed ...

First project is a paid upgrade to Cool Grader, which will include a new average sheet, a grading table, and a random number generator.  Storage of the average sheet(s) will allow for later retrieval of previous grading sessions.  Also, various improvements will be made in the user interface, to make new features easily accessible and dress up some of the existing display elements.

Bulletin just in: RV Winkle awakes

Sources today disclosed that RV Winkle (usually known as "Rip" or "Van the Man") has finally awoken and is stirring again.  He was recently found to have resurfaced within MJ App Factory, apparently working as a software developer of all things.  According to our sources (who asked to remain anonymous since they were not authorized to disclose details), Mr. Winkle plans to announce some "big things" soon, although what those big things are have not yet been explained.  Our sources only hinted vaguely about things like 'frameworks' and 'data sharing', although what those meant was not clarified.

We will stay on top of this developing story and bring you updates as soon as they are available.

Status from Neverland

Hey, all.  I call this "Neverland" because my project is "never" finished.  Or maybe it gets finished only in a fantasy world where the heroes belong on peanut-butter jar labels.

Anyway, ICE has taken a turn for the better, but the direction is very different.  Instead of being only a repository of mathematical algorithms, it is becoming a general-purpose "dynamic software framework".  Without explaining exactly what that means, its new design, which is taking shape really well, is aimed at making it easier both for me and other developers to quickly design and develop mobile and desktop software applications.  All that sounds like a mouthful of hot air.  We'll see ... please stay tuned.

I'll just leave it at that for now.  Anyone interested in understanding more can send me a personal e-mail.  And I'll try to do better at poking my head out of Neverland more often and let the real world know (at least the part that cares) what mysteries might or might not be occurring in there.  (Don't you love meaningful phrases like "might or might not"?  I know I do, as proven here yet again.)

Mark

Some ICE design tidbits nonetheless

To avoid sharing no real info about the upcoming changes while remaining silent on the details and "secrets", I thought I'd share certain aspects of the new stuff for those interested in the pending developments surrounding ICE (Integrated Computation Engine) and Cool Calc:

• Either users or programmers will be able to extend the library of supported operations (an operation is a special function, such as your favorite forumula or a built-in function like sine(), etc.).  Two primary extension methods are provided -- human-readable text formulae and programming extensions to the core ICEOperation library.
• Data types are extensible also, meaning that both the simple, scalar types are supported (like integers and decimal/floating point numbers) and also arbitrary data types, such as your favorite list, matrix, data record, or other information-containing 'object'.
• ICE is being designed and documented to eventually be sold separately as a math library for software development, so other engineers can use it in their own application products (and optionally extend it for their own purposes).
• Multiple performance-vs-rich-features models are supported, giving programming users the ability to choose based on their application requirements.
• Future growth into supporting math-education functions, such as equation solution, prime factorization, graphing, etc., is possible, should there be a need for those in a product version down the road.
• ICE will be usable from multiple applications (both MJ App Factory's and others') and also will run on multiple OS platforms, like Windows, Windows 7 Phone, and multiple web browsers.
• ICE will provide the functionality and extensibility options that allow Cool Calc to eventually be a competitive scientific/engineering-calculator product in its own right.  This will of course be a long and extensive process of product enhancement, testing, certification, and support.

That's probably enough tidbits for now.  If anyone is interested to learn more, just send me a note.

Progress on ICE

Since I last posted a couple of weeks ago, I've discarded some major design concepts in favor of better ones.  As they say, the proof is in the pudding, and in this case, you don't find out how good your design is until it makes it off the page and onto the screen.  In short, I've rethought some of the fundamental aspects of the ICE engine, and I believe what I have now is much better, both for my own app development purposes and for customers.  Sorry to be so vague, but I'm not much really into sharing internal technology details on a public forum.

Anyway, I think things are looking up, and I still believe the first fruits of my recent efforts will be showing up this next month, in the form of the scientific mode of Cool Calc.  Other stuff will appear a bit later, such as web/Windows versions, other apps like Cool Register, special-function pages for things like loan calculations, unit conversions, etc.  I'll keep you up to date as I have something to share.