Chicken Wing Software

I’m very excited to tell you about Dev Ideas, a new video and slide presentation series where I will be drawing on my decade-plus of industry experience to discuss cutting edge concepts in the field of software development. For the first few episodes, I’ll be addressing some of the lesser known programming languages and techniques. This is a very exciting time to be in software, as new languages and paradigms are emerging and ideas that were previously limited to academics and research projects are now becoming mainstream.

In today’s first episode of Dev Ideas, I delve into the Haxe programming language. Haxe’s main claim to fame is as a free open-source alternative to the Flash development environment, but it is really a multiplatform language and toolkit. In addition to Flash .swf files, Haxe can target JavaScript, NekoVM, PHP, or C++ source code, making it possible to use the same language for all phases of a project. Haxe also gives you access to advanced language features like closures, type inference, and algebraic types. Come join me as I give a quick (23 minute) overview of what makes Haxe interesting and worth learning.

Watch the presentation now

I've published version 0.6 of my Python implementation of the PayPal NVP interface. You can download PayPal on Python here. The recent changes include:

• Fixed handling of dates. You can now use a Python datetime.date object anywhere the API calls for a date.
• Implemented recurring payments.
• Implemented Fraud Management Filters.
• Implement reference transactions.
• Changed the license from the Affero Public License to the GPL.

Enjoy! And, as usual, please feel free to contact me with any questions or issues.

I've created a new section of the chickenwingsw.com website dedicated to listing some of the open source projects created or maintained by Chicken Wing Software. They run the gamut from a metronome for the desktop musician to a Flash video player to a Python implementation of the PayPal API. I have previously blogged about most of these, but now they're all collected in one place.

Why not head over there now and check it out?

Chicken Wing Software's Open Source Projects

I've created a modified and updated version of Neolao's FLV Player. This is a very useful video player for FLV files that you can embed on your web site.

There were some features that I wanted added and some bugs that needed fixing, but there did not seem to be much activity on the original app's message board (at least the English language version), so I decided to make the changes myself.

I took the "MAXI" version of the player, and added in some more JavaScript support, improved some performance issues, and fixed a couple bugs.

Here is what I changed:

Read the rest of this entry »

I am excited to announce Chicken Wing Software's online multimedia presentation system. The pilot presentation, created by Christine Perfetti of Perfetti Media, is online now. Facilitating a Usability Test is the first in what will be a series of presentations on usability testing techniques gleaned from her ten-plus years of experience in the field.

The system combines video with PowerPoint slides and text, all tied together with Dynamic HTML and JavaScript for a fully interactive experience. You can click on a slide thumbnail to advance the video to that spot in the presentation, and the displayed slide stays in synch with the video.

Even now, with only the first presentation, the system's potential is inspiring, and we are brimming with ideas for new features to add!

If you would be interested in using this technology for your own presentations, please contact us.

» Watch the presentation.

Get it? It's a fantasy sports draft application, but it's spelled draught. Like draught beer. I like to watch football with a beer or two, and everyone loves a good pun. So there you go.

In my fantasy football and baseball leagues, we wanted to do a live draft, but we have players who live on both coasts, who work varying schedules, and some of whom have kids. Plus one of our rules is we allow keeping two to four players from year to year, to give some continuity.

Because of those two factors, it's impossible for us to use Yahoo!'s live draft or autodraft. So what does your trusty software engineer do? He codes up his own draft application, of course!

Read the rest of this entry »

As of version 0.6, click here for the new home of PayPal on Python.

Thanks!

My Texas Hold'em poker site is now fully operational! It's called Best Texas Hold'em and you can play now at www.bettorbest.com. Fun features include:

• Play online for FREE in your browser - no Flash or downloads required.
• Play against your friends, or meet new friends.
• Log in using your Twitter, Hotmail, or MySpace account.
• Challenge yourself against artificial intelligence robots.
• Get 1,000 free chips just for joining, plus another 500 chips for every day you log in.

In addition, there is a thorough help system where you can learn to play Texas Hold'em, learn all about the Moving Button rule, and even get some poker strategy tips. And check back often as new pages are constantly being added. And more great features to come! The site is still under active development, so you can expect lots of great changes and ideas.

After many months of hard work, I'm proud to announce that my new poker site, Best Texas Hold'em, is now up and ready for a Beta test. You can play now at www.bettorbest.com.

It's still in its early stages, but gameplay is working. You can log in with a Yahoo, MySpace, or Hotmail account, or your email address (Facebook support coming soon).

Since it's brand new, there may not be anybody to play against right away, so you may have to check back, or better yet invite a friend, if there is nobody there. Soon enough there will be artificial intelligence support to fill in when necessary.

For the technically interested, the site is programmed in the Python programming language using the Django web framework, and hosted on a Slicehost server. The front end is pure JavaScript with no downloads or plugins required.

Give it a try if you get a chance, and please let me know if you find any
problems.
Thanks!

I've been very busy lately working on my next project: an online Texas Hold'em poker site. It's been a lot of fun, and I have most of the actual gameplay functionality working. Now I'm working on the less-fun but just as necessary part: the authentication and login infrastructure.

Since I'm using Django, I can piggyback on its useful authentication module. That's a nice start, but users still need to choose a username and password before they can use the site, not to mention filling out their name, email address, and date of birth. My goal is to lower the barriers to potential users - both psychologically and in terms of effort. Folks are hesitant to sign up for yet another login and password, and to go through a lengthy registration process

Enter OpenID. OpenID sounds like a very promising standard. Unfortunately, the standard promises more than the implementations deliver. Or rather, the standard doesn't quite promise what it seems to. Read the rest of this entry »