Software Toys

How good is a $2nK computer if you cannot have some fun with it?

Cartography

From my childhood I have had a fascination for maps. My curiosity was specially aroused by their diversity. How could so many renditions of Earth be so different? Does South America's south cone turn westwards or eastwards? Isn't there a "right" way to represent our planet? So I studied and later experimented with map-making.

Note: from a small description of amateur explorings into applied carthography, this has evolved into my site's largest and most visited section. Had I known it, I would have started this in a different section - please update your links...

Game Programming

Games and simulations are nice exercises for programmers as they seem to squeeze the last bit of performance of any system, no matter how powerful. They also provide a good opportunity to tell a friend: "I can do that too". Unfortunately my own attempts in game programming never fully developed (lack of spare time, of course).

Since I have always preferred flight simulations, this is the favorite subject in Flight, TeamSim and Netspace.

Other Toy Programs

Programming is fun. Every new language, every new system is a new learning opportunity. For instance, look at my first experiences with Java.