Peer-to-peer

Peer-to-peer apps are cool and useful. I think there is alot of potential there. Sure you can read this and think “Where the hell has this guy been the last 3 years?”, but I think alot of the potential has yet to be realized.

That’s where the coders come in.

So what can be added to p2p architecture? What visions have not been realized? That’s the question I’m pondering today as I gather information in the p2p realm. I’ve found that Warner Bros will be delivering content via BitTorrent in the future. This is a good first step for the real content providers. Now, with p2p being the delivery mechanism, how about a joining of the media, delivery mechanism, and content management? Isn’t this why iTunes has become so popular? This is where “The Lonely Coder” comes in. While others can expound on ideas and not get anywhere, the “Lonely Coder” can do something about it. He can visualize, build, create.

I found a good starting point for information on p2p architecture at the wikipedia article on BitTorrent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent

Where to start?

As I try to pull myself away from my other big project, my motorcycle, I’m pondering what project I should take up in my downtime. A little history…

I originally started coding at 15 or so, self-taught as many were back in the days before the internet and rampant nerd-dom. What I was drawn to was graphics, 3D stuff, games, all very visually stimulating. I dabbled in some other things but this was my love, the thing that kept me at the computer until dawn.
Since taking up software development as a career, I’ve swayed from this initial interest and followed the jobs available to me. I’ve written network code, UI code, web code, whatever.
So here I am, a crossroads in my development career. I’ve got the typical hacker creds: C/C++, some asm, some graphics API’s. I don’t have any experience in the newer web app type languages like C#, .NET, javascript is an afterthought as far as I’m concerned. Now do I jump in and learn these new technologies to keep myself employable? Or should I build on my past experience. May be time to dust off the 3D books and throw a few flashy demos together.

As I sort these things out for myself, I’ll try to keep a good blog going and hopefully provide some entertainment to others as I do it.

Introduction

Today I find myself 2 weeks out of a contract job which has ended. I’m looking at a few more weeks of probable unemployment so I decided I might as well spill my guts here. My hope is that adding some structure to my life by writing each day will prevent the typical unemployment depression I’m sure all of us have experienced at one point or another.

While I hope to use this blog as an outlet for anything I’d like, the title ‘The Lonely Coder’ may provide a loose theme. I’ll discuss later my thoughts on being a lonely coder in this world.