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Unfinished projects 1992 - 2005

Here is a selection of simple programs that I wrote for DOS or Windows in the distant past... In most cases I either don't have the source code anymore or I'm too embarassed to upload it, so mostly only executables are available. I realize that most of these programs have only some sentimental value to me, so if you stop reading here you probably won't be missing much. Some of the older executables compiled from Borland Pascal had to be patched using tppatch so they should run without problems on newer systems on Windows. Also note, that these programs are uploaded here without any sort of support or documentation so explore at own risk.

My first computer in 1992 was the HC-91, one of the last in a long series of Romanian-made clones of the ZX-Spectrum. By the time I arrived the party was mostly over, as Intel 486s were already wide-spread in the rest of the world. The function plotting program and the ship bombing game I wrote in BASIC on this machine survive in my memory only, as all tapes and floppy disks have (un)fortunately became unreadable since then. The later programs I wrote on various XT-286-...-Pentium computers throughout the nineties, while most of my friends were listening to this or this.


AXIS - a mirrored drawing program made for children by me as a child

Paint using various colors in any of the four parts of the screen, and it is mirrored in all other parts. Make nice symmetric drawings, which you can not save, unless you use some screen capture tool.
Usage: mouse cursor draws, right button clears screen, TAB switches to the palette and back and ESC exits.


Zipped executable for DOS: axis.zip

Plankton - an extremely dumb rule-based five-in-a-row

Plays with fixed set of rules. Wrote in a short afternoon as a bet. After realizing how dumb it was, I was planning the next logical step of automatically learning rules through self-play. Luckily before delving into this more deeply I realized that the idea has been implemented four decades earlier by Arthur Samuel and others.
Usage: start with planktai.exe, then keep clicking. Right click exits.


Zipped executable for DOS: plankton.zip

Lifecode - an embarrassingly unsecure encryption tool

My contribution to the vast field of snake-oil cryptography, one of several encryption utilities I made with the ignorance of the youth. This one happens to use an algorithm based on cellular automata (!). If it still pops up on any repository or freeware collection, let me know, so that I can ask its removal. No source code or executable here as this one is worse than useless...




Particle simulation

Coursework for a computer graphics class, an exercise in OpenGL and C++ programming. Basic simulations of particle attraction-repulsion.



Zipped executable for Windows: particle.zip

BEE - Boolean Expression Evaluator

My first (and last) java applet that evaluates and simplifies boolean expressions. Written as an exercise in programming in a first year programming course. Access it on its separate page.



KBlast - simple two-player game of reflexes

Summary of rules: enter number of rounds (say, 10), then the two players compete for collecting the gems represented by circles. Sometimes you need to blast some walls in order to get to the gems. Number of blasts are limited and these can be saved and used in later rounds. Extra bonus for collecting all gems in a round. If both players run out of bombs, ESC proceeds to next round. In the end the player with more points wins (saved bombs give extra points). Controls: player 1 - QAEW (Z), player 2 - arrows (Enter)


Zipped executable for DOS: kblast.zip



© László Kozma