Photo

This page has information about computer programs I wrote (some of which are available to download), my IT qualifications, and IT work that I've done. - C. A. Broadribb.


My Programs

I know I'm showing my age by using the word 'programs' instead of 'applications', and steadfastedly refusing to use the abbreviation 'apps'. I was born in the previous century (and I don't mean the 1990s!)

These programs are for IBM compatible PCs, for DOS or Windows or both. Programs written in BASIC or Java may run on other types of computers as well e.g. BASIC programs should run on Macintoshes and Java programs should run on Macintoshes or UNIX systems. But don't be surprised if there are compatibility issues.

Most of these include both the exe file for people who want to run the program and the source code for programmers who are interested in looking at how it was written. All of them are free to use, but most are copyrighted.

The Java programs were written using J2SDK1.4.0 and the C programs were written using Borland Turbo C 3.0. The program ddchr.bas was written using MS QBasic 1.0. Xmas10.bas was written using a BASIC interpreter on a Macintosh. The BBS doors use the shareware ckit 2.58 library by Rickie Belitz.

I've included programs I wrote as a hobby and some that I wrote as part of a computer science degree.


Fun Things



Simulations



Text Adventure Games



Utilities

  • Budget Programs: for household budgeting (C) - 1993
  • Cipher: for text file encryption and decryption (C) - 1995
  • Essay Count: counts the number of words in an essay excluding quotations and references (C) - 2002
  • Evaluate: analyses sentences (C) - 2002
  • Preprint: reformat and print text files (C) - 2000, 2002
  • Random: random number generator (C) - 1993
  • Ransig: UNIX signature swapper for e-mail (C source code) - 1997
  • Rendir: renames directories (C) - 1996
  • Split: splits a large text file into two halves (C) - 1995
  • Wait: for batch files, to pause for 1 or more minutes (C) - 1996
  • Word Count: counts the number of words in a file, ignoring punctuation, graphics, title, copyright notice, HTML tags, and labelled links and comments (C) - 1994


BBS Related Programs

These are mostly obsolete now, but I'm including them for interest. Some are doors, some are stand-alone programs, some are doors that can also be run stand-alone.

  • 047: reads the NSW BBS lists and finds BBSes that are a local call from the (047) telephone zone (C) - 1996
  • Brad Quiz: a completely useless quiz (C) - 1996
  • BBS Read: reads the BBS listings and creates statistics (C) - 1994, 1995
  • CAB Chat: chat program with actions for single line BBS (C) - 1996
  • Convert: converts BBS dropfiles from one type to another (C) - 1994, 1996
  • Door Count: counts the number of times doors are used (C) - 1994
  • Echat: sysop-user chat program for a BBS that outputs to BIOS (C) - 1995
  • Index: reads QWK index files and finds out which block is for which message area(C) - 1996
  • Info: displays a text file for BBSes, with self-deleting dated entries (C) - 1994
  • No Lines: removes headers and lines from the BBS listings (C) - 1996
  • The Penguin Quiz (C) - 1995, 1996
  • Punfin: text adventure game (C) - 1993
  • Quest: questionnaire programs for BBSes to ask questions remotely, read answers remotely, for sysops to use to look at answers (C) - 1993, 1994, 1996
  • Reformat: reformat message headers for echomail using qwkmail (C) - 1994
  • Startup: Starts up a BBS upon rebooting a DOS computer (C) - 1996
  • Thought of the Day generator: creates an ASCII, ANSI or Avatar file for a BBS (C) - 1993, 1994, 1996


Unfinished PC Programs



Vic 20 and C64 Programs

I wrote other programs besides these, but I don't remember them all now.

  • Guild House Adventure: text adventure game where you wander around student accommodation to find a marihuana-smoking criminal. (VIC20, BASIC) - 1987
  • Backup: utility to keep track of which programs are on which disk (allows two copies of each program) (C64, BASIC) - between 1989-1992
  • Backup sorter: utility to work out which files will fit on which disks - between 1989-1992 (C64, BASIC)
  • Bouncing Ball: a game from a BASIC programming book - 1985 (VIC20, BASIC)
  • Bricklayer: land people from a spaceship and drop bombs to destroy a wall that's being built. My own version of a game listed in a magazine (C64, BASIC) - between 1989-1992
  • Cats and Mice: text game of cats and mice breeding and cats eating the mice (VIC20, BASIC) - 1986
  • City Adventure: open-world text adventure game wandering around the city - unfinished (C64, BASIC) - between 1989-1992
  • D&D game: based on basic D&D - unfinished (C64, BASIC) - 1992
  • Diamond Dash: inspired by Boulder Dash - unfinished (VIC20, BASIC) - 1986
  • Easter Egg Catch: use a basket to catch Easter eggs falling from the sky (VIC20, BASIC) - 1987, 1988
  • Fantasy text game: collect valuables using a magic skill such as flying (there were several skills and the player received whichever one they first attempted to use) (VIC20, BASIC) - 1986
  • He Said She Said: funny dialogue (C64, BASIC) - between 1989-1992
  • Jungle: swing through the jungle on vines - unfinished (C64, BASIC) - between 1989-1992
  • Karate: fighting program (text) (C64, BASIC) - between 1989-1992
  • Map Game: navigate the screen to collect treasure, fight monsters and avoid pits. My own version of a game for another type of computer (VIC20, BASIC) - ~1985
  • Maths game: to help young kids learn arithmatic. I wrote it at home for a school assignment, but the teacher knew nothing about computers or programming, seemed to have no idea what it was about, and probably didn't even attempt to run it (VIC20, BASIC) - 1985
  • Mosaic: pretty pictures (C64, BASIC) - between 1989-1992
  • PVC: Pet/VIC20/C64 - an animal breeding game that would run on all three - unfinished (C64, BASIC) - between 1989-1992
  • Pyramid Adventure: text adventure game with five layouts including one randomly generated (C64, BASIC) - between 1989-1992
  • RAG: Random Adventure Game - text adventure - find Queen Gwenivere's noseguard, using randomly generated objects (e.g. broken shopping bag) - unfinished (C64, BASIC and assembly code) - between 1989-1992
  • Ross' Game - a game of shooting at alien spaceships where the spaceships don't move or fire back (C64, BASIC) - 1986
  • Selling: lemonade sale strategy game (C64, BASIC) - between 1989-1992
  • Spaceship: land colonists and build houses for them (C64, BASIC) - between 1989-1992
  • Progchar: utility to create programmable characters (C64, BASIC) - ~1989
  • Zoo: text adventure game: collect and use items to catch an escaped monster (C64, BASIC) - between 1989-1992


IT Work

  • IT help desk assistant, also wrote a program to count money and a program to convert text files to HTML, for a uni (DOS, Windows, UNIX, C).
  • Six week research project (analysed data, set up databases, wrote a program to convert data), for a hospital (CRS, MS Access, DB2, QBASIC).
  • Wrote a data transfer system to transfer order information, for a software business in the bookstore industry (C, Ezycom software).
  • Worked on existing code to produce statistics about the manufacturing industry and also wrote a data entry program, for a govt dept (embedded SQL in SAS, custom script language).
  • Set up a website for sharemarket information and wrote some programs for data formatting, for a private business (C, HTML).
  • Worked on existing code that ran IVR systems, wrote a program for bar customers to send messages to each other, and wrote programs to read log files and store blocked phone numbers, for a business in the telecommunications industry (C + Codebase 5 library, Foxpro, VOS, Delphi, Java).
  • Internet Assessor, evaluating webpage quality and search results, for a software/language business.


IT Qualifications and Training

  • Bachelor of Science (Computing) with distinction
  • Attitudes and Actions for Achievement
  • Delphi Primer
  • Project Management
  • Leadership and teamwork
  • Windows 95
  • FTP
  • Lotus 123
  • Lotus Notes 4.5
  • UNIX Solaris 2.x File Management
  • Lotus Notes Application Development 1
  • Lotus Notes Application Development 2
  • Introduction to SQL Windows
  • Introduction to SAS
  • Advanced SAS
  • Introductory Statistics
  • Occupational Health and Safety
  • Keyboarding and Computer Awareness