Nathan CrauseMusings of a Software Developer

I currently hold two certifications from BrainBench. You may see these in the left panel of the page.

You may verify these certificates by going to the BrainBench website and searching for transcription ID 8228487.

I am currently the administrator of the following Open Source projects:

• JavaStubs - A Java-based class library which offers JUnit 4 the capacity for performing not only complete class mocking (as is provided by jMock), but also partial mocking (method stubbing). Also provided is an entirely new Behaviour-Driven Development test framework (with JUnit 4 integration).
• JavaDIF - A Java-based class library which allows reading and writing of spreadsheets in the Data Interchange Format (DIF). It's syntax is inspired by Apache POI.
• JEntities - A Java-based class library which replaces HTML "entities" (i.e. "&") with their single-character textual equivalent (i.e. "&" = "&"), and visa-versa.
• BrowserScripting - Perhaps the most ambitious of all my Open Source projects, this is a framework which includes a Java Applet and several JavaScript files which, when correctly embedded into a webpage, will allow scripting in languages other than the browser's native JavaScript. There have been several 1/2-hearted attempts at this, but I plan on making sure this project does not fall by the wayside, and becomes a serious effort to bring choice to the browser scripting environment.
• Syringe - A Java-based class library which provides a Dependency Injection (Inversion of Control) container for small applications which require a simple embeddable solution.

The following section contains both large projects which I have been a part of, and smaller contract-based jobs which I had tendered for.

These are projects which I undertook in order to tender for contract jobs. Unfortunately, most of these were not accepted, and so have fallen by the wayside. You are free to view them at your leisure.

• Editable SVG - A web designer was developing a site for a real-estate agent who wanted the capacity to modify an SVG file visually on-line. My submission was a Java Applet based solution using Apache Batik as the SVG rendering engine.
• File Uploader - A web hosting company needed the ability for a user to upload multiple files via HTTP without having to go through the arduous process of selecting one file at a time as is done in HTML forms.  The decision was made to not use SWFUploader because it couldn't provide some desirable functionality, such as file previews. Unfortunately, the hosting company buckled under the strain of the financial recession, and scrapped all new projects.

These are some projects which I have been involved in (some are not web-based, and so cannot be given demonstrations):

• NxPay - MLM merchant-centric on-line payment and funds distribution platform developed for NxSystems, featuring international funds transfers and pre-paid debit/credit cards. System was developed in Java running on Apache Tomcat, using iBatis as the database layer, Struts as the MVC framework, and using a PostgreSQL database.
• UniClear - (no longer in existance) On-line payment system. System was developed in PHP using a MySQL database.
• Bravenet - Web hosting and domain management. System is developed in Ruby-on-Rails using a MySQL database with various Java-based back-end modules.
• DigitalCove Interactive - web design and hosting company for real-estate agents on Vancouver Island. Sites are developed using a custom CMS system written in PHP using a MySQL database.

As with any good programmer, I have my own personal proprietary projects

• WebCron - a website written in Groovy and Grails which provides a service similar to Unix/Linux CRON, but using URLs instead of command-line instructions. The motivation for this type of service was that any kind of shared hosting package typically doesn't allow setting up CRON jobs. If a user has a site which requires some task to fire at regular intervals, they have no solution but to try to open a URL on their site using their own workstation. For Windows users in particular, this can be arduous to configure, and unreliable (loss of internet connectivity, power-outages, etc.)