0 users browsing Engineering. | 1 bot  
    Main » Engineering » Surprisingly popular software
    Pages: 1
    Posted on 18-10-30, 12:02
    Full mod

    Post: #3 of 443
    Since: 10-30-18

    Last post: 863 days
    Last view: 60 days
    There's a lot of projects I've worked on that I've put a lot of effort into, that I wanted to succeed, that I hoped would be useful to people and make the world a better place. None of them have achieved any level of popularity that I know of.

    On the other hand, nearly a decade ago I got interested in bitmap fonts and wrote a quick-and-dirty Python library for working with fonts in the Adobe Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format, originally intended as a way to upload fonts to laser-printers, but eventually becoming the official font format for X11. Since I wanted to use it in various projects (a tool to convert Mac NFNT fonts to BDF, and a tool to convert the OS/2 Warp system font to BDF), I uploaded it to the Python Package Index, where it got a non-zero number of downloads, which I assumed were just companies that automatically mirrored every package on PyPI just because.

    Turns out, people actually use it. Somebody filed an issue a week or two ago asking for a port to Python 3, and luckily I had an old half-finished branch with Python 3 support I could finish off and merge, and made a new release. Then last week somebody dropped by and said they wished the library had some documentation, so I spent a few days writing up an API reference.

    I'm very surprised, and quite gratified, but I'll be disappointed if I never manage to make anything more useful than *this*.

    The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
    Posted on 18-10-30, 13:30 (revision 1)

    Post: #1 of 100
    Since: 10-30-18

    Last post: 1543 days
    Last view: 1108 days
    Every once in a while I get an issue or pull request on ffam, a terribly-written pair of C++ programs for converting Grub2's PFF2 fonts to/from an editable format.

    EDIT: I find it funny that these are both about fonts.
    Posted on 18-10-30, 19:28
    Post: #1 of 20
    Since: 10-29-18

    Last post: 1498 days
    Last view: 1384 days
    I find it sad.

    There is a whole market for font utilities which is blatantly ignored and underserved. So both your programs are way more than welcome.
    Posted on 18-10-30, 23:10 (revision 1)

    Post: #2 of 49
    Since: 10-29-18

    Last post: 1663 days
    Last view: 1548 days
    Posted by Braintrash
    I find it sad.

    There is a whole market for font utilities which is blatantly ignored and underserved. So both your programs are way more than welcome.


    I fully agree!

    Also, to add to this list I once made a typographic clock widget for the Mac OS X Dashboard almost 100% based on the iOS jailbroken lock screen app "TypoClock" (which also inspired an Android version). By my last count it's had an actual number of downloads, and I even found out one of my college classmates installed it without even knowing it was mine! If you count typography as related to fonts, then so far we're all about fonts!
    Posted on 19-02-15, 02:14
    Post: #2 of 7
    Since: 02-15-19

    Last post: 1845 days
    Last view: 1753 days
    I used to write frontends for super nintendo and neo geo emulators back in the mid to late 90's. The interface for NeoRage was based on my front end and SNeeSE ripped off some of my art from my homepage. But i never got any positive feedback until i said i was done writing frontends.

    It is pretty hard to find out what would be popular or useful or who appreciates your work. The more people get overloaded and distracted on the net due to social media and such, the less feedback you get. Nowadays there is a lack of contact information on a lot of pages and you can't send someone a love note.

    I really think that git hub / git lab should have some kind of way to shout encouragement and thanks at programmers rather than just starring things or submitting issues. Cuz it's nice to get some love or at least feedback.
    Posted on 19-02-15, 02:44
    Custom title here

    Post: #246 of 1150
    Since: 10-30-18

    Last post: 6 days
    Last view: 1 day
    Posted by neptronix
    SNeeSE

    Gesundheit.



    --- In UTF-16, where available. ---
    Posted on 19-04-03, 16:23
    Post: #17 of 36
    Since: 12-21-18

    Last post: 969 days
    Last view: 93 days
    Can remember how Nightcrawler spoke about the website he runs being filled with programs with names like TUSH and Tile Molester.
    Not exactly great for the resume. :D
    Posted on 19-04-03, 16:55 (revision 2)
    Dinosaur

    Post: #242 of 1282
    Since: 10-30-18

    Last post: 4 days
    Last view: 15 hours
    Posted by neptronix
    I used to write frontends for super nintendo and neo geo emulators back in the mid to late 90's. The interface for NeoRage was based on my front end and SNeeSE ripped off some of my art from my homepage. But i never got any positive feedback until i said i was done writing frontends.

    It is pretty hard to find out what would be popular or useful or who appreciates your work. The more people get overloaded and distracted on the net due to social media and such, the less feedback you get. Nowadays there is a lack of contact information on a lot of pages and you can't send someone a love note.

    I really think that git hub / git lab should have some kind of way to shout encouragement and thanks at programmers rather than just starring things or submitting issues. Cuz it's nice to get some love or at least feedback.


    I used to write localizations (translations) for emulators, the most popular one being the VisualBoy Advance Spanish DLL.

    Once or (maybe) twice a year, I still receive greetings from random people that used my translation (as my email address is prominently displayed at the README and about dialog). Either that or kids asking me "I can't Pokeymanz RAWMz". Yes, that still happens too.

    Licensed Pirate® since 2006, 100% Buttcoin™-free, enemy of All Things JavaScript™
    Pages: 1
      Main » Engineering » Surprisingly popular software
      Yes, it's an ad.