Topics I want to learn more about
(Last update = April 2021)
Programming in Lua
Cybersecurity
Mesh Networks
Full Text Search
Docker
E-Ink
Programming in Lua
I’m a huge fan of retro video games, and have even spent some time working on a few retro themed games of my own. I’ve only used PyGame so far, which was fine for my purposes, but it's limited. The biggest drawback is that you can’t share the games you create in PyGame with anyone unless they, too, have Python set up. I want to be able to design simple games as gifts for my friends and family and, from what I’ve heard, it seems Lua is the go-to language for doing so. I’ve looked into it, and there are two frameworks I’m simply dying to spend some time learning.
PICO-8 - Yes! Everything about this is just yes. This seems like a lot of fun, to include the retro sprite editor and IDE.
Love2D - This appears similar to PyGame, which is a lot of fun. I’d like to make a few games using this and publish them as mobile apps.
Cybersecurity
Admittedly, just saying ‘cybersecurity’ is broad. But I’m honestly not sure where to begin. I don’t want to work in cybersecurity, just understand it better. I’d be interested in learning more about network security and penetration testing. But who knows? If I ever have a chance to take a sabbatical one day, I’ll spend it exploring cybersecurity topics.
Mesh Networks
I stumbled across the NYC Mesh project last year and it's been on my mind since. I can see how a project like this would be do-able in an urban area, but I also wonder how it could be done elsewhere? When I was in the Marines, we would use radios to send data over high frequency channels. It was painfully slow, but worked just fine for sending flat files. I wonder if something like that could be added to a mesh network? It would be neat to learn and explore the idea.
Full Text Search
I’m clearly late to the game here, because I see zillions of blogs about creating full text search engines when I look it up. Even so, it’s not something I’ve ever done before, and I’d like to know how. I’m primarily interested because I see how useful this is and can be for small and medium businesses. Its fairly common for smaller businesses to have more data than they can effectively search. Full text search engines can help mitigate the risk of ‘data loss’ for these groups. Accordingly, I’d like to become proficient in setting these up. Right now, I can develop and host a Flask/Dash app in very short order. I’d like to be able to do the same here.
Docker
In truth, I’m not especially excited about learning to use Docker. At this point, though, it seems safe to treat it as a basic development requirement. I’ll probably take a few days on the weekend to shore-up on Docker at some point. I know it's something I should be doing sooner rather than later. But I know myself, and I know that when I have time for it... I’ll just spend the time on a Lua class instead. (Probably PICO-8)
E-Ink
Like a lot of folks, I’ve had a lot more screen time since the pandemic. By the end of the work day, I feel like my eyes are going to bleed. As a result, I now hate being behind a screen outside of work. I have very little interest in watching TV, checking my phone, etc. I’ve been looking up E-Ink monitors for awhile and there really aren’t any good options here. There is a Chinese manufacturer, Dasung, but the monitor they sell is over $1K. That’s absurdly expensive for a monitor, especially because you have to order online without ever actually seeing the product. All that to say, I’d like to learn how to repurpose an E-Ink monitor from somewhere else. I know the refresh rate will be low, but I only plan on using it for coding and consuming static websites anyhow, so hopefully it’s tolerable.