Developer/project introduction thread

[w1R903]

I suspect there are a lot of talented folks out there monitoring these threads who would like to get involved in a bitcoin project but lack the contacts to do so.  So I would suggest that anyone with an interest in becoming part of a start-up team, introduce yourself in this thread.  You don't have to give your name, but a brief description of your background and interests could help to pair you with others interested in the same area.  I'll start.

My background is in public health and international affairs.  I also did web development out of undergrad back in the 90s (left right before the boom).  I'm very interested in seeing bitcoin expand into Africa and South Asia, particularly given the prevalence of mobile phones in those regions.  If a basic java client for use in non-smartphones could be developed for bitcoin, it could lead to the currency being adopted in the developing world.  Remittances are another interest of mine.  So I'm interested in both supporting an open source client for phones running java (maybe using SIM toolkit and javacard?) and starting up some type of for-profit project in anticipation of Bitcoin's adoption in Africa and Asia.  I can do basic-to-intermediate coding in a number of scripting languages (PHP, Python, Javascript), am comfortable with HTML and CSS (and several web frameworks), and used to maintain multiple databases (using MySQL) when I worked as a biostatistician.  I am also fluent in multiple human languages. So I think I'm in a good position to help Bitcoin expand into the developing world, but would love to find some reliable collaborators to help.

I've got another interesting project that I'm hoping to get off the ground, but which I'm not quite ready to share at the present time.  But it also would help foster the bitcoin's adoption around the globe.

Anyone else?  Please feel free to introduce yourself and describe your background and Bitcoin ideas.  Thank you in advance.

EDITED: To remove the phrase "anyone with an interest in...investing in a promising bitcoin project" in case that's what is preventing people from contributing to this thread.  I'm not personally interested in investors, I only mentioned that in case there were investors our there looking to make contacts.  However, I am very interested in finding collaborators, so please introduce yourself or at least tell me why you choose not to.  Yes, I'm newly registered to the forum but I've been following Bitcoin closely for over a month.  I know that's not long compared to some of you, but relative to Bitcoin's current lifespan, it's not too bad.

EDITED: Removed "Catalyst" from subject since it occurred to me some people may be thinking of the ATI driver and not the type of catalyst I have in mind.

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[w1R903]

Wow, no one is introducing themselves?  How about 0.5 BTC each for the first five bona fide introductions (as determined by me)?  Just a few sentences about your skills and background and an aspect of bitcoin you're interested in. Limited time offer.

[seeARMS @ Bit-Bank]

I'm quite interested in web development, and I currently work part-time at a computer technology store (web hosting, services, etc) while going to school. I've created a few websites within the past few years, such as an Android development forum, computer hardware review site, and my most recent project, a secure online Bitcoin wallet (which is nearly complete).

My next bitcoin-related project will most likely be a Canadian bitcoin exchange of sorts. We Canadians always seem to get screwed in the end. I really like what CAVirtex had going on (such as email money transfers to deposit funds), but unfortunately they encountered legal difficulties. Just waiting until finals are finished prior to working on it.

[Austinh100]

Languages: PHP, HTML, CSS, JS, MySQL, NoSQL, C# (and XNA  ), Java
Currently working on some personal projects but looking into staring up a mining pool after i am finished with them (website and an indie arcade game). I am very good at design and backend of applications and websites so i guess that makes me one of those whole package deals lol. Currently don't have much for a portfolio but i'm working on it.

There's my blurb to get the ball rolling  . Like the idea behind this thread btw.

[w1R903]

SeeARMS:  Very cool.  I'm very interested in seeing what you come up with for your secure online wallet.  Bitcoin needs a truly secure online wallet service for the same reason Dropbox is so popular.  People have multiple computers and move from place to place.  Granted, you don't want to keep your savings in such a wallet, but if it's secure enough it will be perfect for keeping enough for daily transactions.  I'm hoping you'll have some type of dual factor authentication.  Yubikey is a great option if you're willing to implement a hardware solution.   Do you have a public BTC address in which I could put 0.5 BTC?  PS - my wife is half-Canadian so I hear your pain.

Austin: Nice mix of technologies.  What kinds of NoSQL systems have you used? Couch, Mongo?  I've been using RDBMS for so long I can't even imagine how NoSQL would work. So I'm thinking about starting to play around with Amazon's NoSQL implementation -- I'm forgetting what they call it.  I've been playing around with the free tier of AWS and am impressed by EC2, and it's so cheap to use their native NoSQL database in comparison to the cost of running a dedicated relational DB on AWS, and evidently faster, too.  By the way, how familiar are you with Javacard, or JavaME?  (and check your wallet, am about to send 0.5)

Thanks to both of you for helping to get the thread started.

[Adiamante]

I have had only one full year of web-development experience/schooling and have limited experience. My main strength is my advertising/marketing background (20+years). I am more able to give insite into what a website needs than to actually develope one. Now...as for bitcoins..I have a HUGE interest in them. I plan to collect as many as possible and hold for a long term.

I do have a graphic design background as well. I am a professional in virtually every Adobe product-Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator are just the tip of the iceberg for the amount of applications I use professionally in my career.

If anyone has any questions about advertising /marketing your website...feel free to ask me.

[sakkaku]

I am working on a pool server/backend based on gevent with the multiminer protocol.  It uses greenlets so it *should* theoretically scale to thousands of connections with minimal cpu and memory overhead.  Right now it is humming along with 16 connections running at less then 0.5% cpu.  I just finished up the workqueue thingy and notification on new block.  I need to post it on github sometime once I stop being lazy.  Also I need someone to go over everything to make sure I didn't f*ck something up.

There is still a long ways to go before it would be "production" ready. >_<

[Austinh100]

What kinds of NoSQL systems have you used? Couch, Mongo?  I've been using RDBMS for so long I can't even imagine how NoSQL would work. So I'm thinking about starting to play around with Amazon's NoSQL implementation -- I'm forgetting what they call it.  I've been playing around with the free tier of AWS and am impressed by EC2, and it's so cheap to use their native NoSQL database in comparison to the cost of running a dedicated relational DB on AWS, and evidently faster, too.  By the way, how familiar are you with Javacard, or JavaME?

I like MongoDB's implementation and i love the way that NoSQL works, it's a powerful system and very efficient for how new it is. A major reason that i want to see NoSQL thrive is  how insanely easy it is to use, it writes almost exactly like JS and you could learn it in about an hour. It does have it's drawbacks though, currently it doesn't have great security (one login for entire database/server i believe) so u ave to implement more security yourself and it doesn't have a lot of hosting support. I haven't used Javacard or JaveME but sounds like it could be useful  . Also forgot to mention that i'm addicted to photoshop and can create most anything lol

Also thanks for the .5BTC, will help for further Bitcoin ventures  

[pharno]

Hi! I'm a 16 year (soon 17. ~2months)old programmer.I "speak" Python(3 Years), PHP(12 Months) and Java( 2-3 Months) as at April 2011. I like to work with networking, and writing Websites or Servers. For Websites I either use Djano (if its a "special" site) or TYPO3 (for a "normal" site). For Servers I use twisted.

good Known technologies: Python, PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS
Okay: Java, CSS3, JS, jQuery
Looking forward to: go, sass

[sakkaku]

For Servers I use twisted.

Look at gevent, greenlets are amazing.  Also for quick and dirty python websites - flask.

[w1R903]

Good to hear from some more folks.  Sent .5 to Sakkaku and Adiamante -- thanks for introducing yourself.  Would like to do the same for pharno and seeARMS but I see no BTC address. 

So that's the end of my BTC offer but I would still love to hear from some more people interested in connecting with others for Bitcoin projects.  Give us your background and what area of Bitcoin are you interested in? Anyone else interested in see the use of Bitcoin expand into Africa and South Asia (particularly India).  I think BTC could satisfy a huge unmet need in those regions.

[seeARMS @ Bit-Bank]

SeeARMS:  Very cool.  I'm very interested in seeing what you come up with for your secure online wallet.  Bitcoin needs a truly secure online wallet service for the same reason Dropbox is so popular.  People have multiple computers and move from place to place.  Granted, you don't want to keep your savings in such a wallet, but if it's secure enough it will be perfect for keeping enough for daily transactions.  I'm hoping you'll have some type of dual factor authentication.  Yubikey is a great option if you're willing to implement a hardware solution.   Do you have a public BTC address in which I could put 0.5 BTC?  PS - my wife is half-Canadian so I hear your pain.

Yeah, the site gives you a personal URL (site.com/seeARMS for instance) where it displays your public bitcoin address. I was planning on posting about it the past week or so, however the incident at Mt.Gox has prompted me to think a bit more about my security. Since then I've implemented hashed + salted passwords; I'm looking to secure it even further.
Also, I would be looking at a multi-tier authentication system, such as recieving an email with a code when attempting to withdraw money.

Good to hear from some more folks.  Sent .5 to Sakkaku and Adiamante -- thanks for introducing yourself.  Would like to do the same for pharno and seeARMS but I see no BTC address. 

So that's the end of my BTC offer but I would still love to hear from some more people interested in connecting with others for Bitcoin projects.  Give us your background and what area of Bitcoin are you interested in? Anyone else interested in see the use of Bitcoin expand into Africa and South Asia (particularly India).  I think BTC could satisfy a huge unmet need in those regions.

I'm rather against the typical "give me BTC for good posts!" attitude around here, so I don't publicly display an address. However, if you'd like to donate, by all means go ahead: 1DD3pK26M8o5hnkoP4Usu6p5BmtnZgtsem

I agree, as soon as the use of Bitcoin becomes more mainstream then I believe it could become popular, and people will begin to take advantage of it.

[Fireball]

What matters to this thread: I'm a developer (nearly all aspects of development, including high performance web servers, networking, security research and consulting), with financial knowledge (stock markets, derivatives, quantum finance).

My area of interest in bitcoin is stock exchange and derivatives trading, and I'm working towards creating the first real bitcoin futures exchange.

However, it's a bit sad to see many one-day projects pop up here and there, which ruins people's believes, and makes it harder for more serious projects to gain attention ("look, yet another stock exchange developer"). Or when someone pops up and says "hey, here is the project which conquered the world" and shows some amateur half-made website. It's fine that it's amateur, nothing is perfect in the beginning, but just don't say that your project already conquered the world.

[sakkaku]

However, it's a bit sad to see many one-day projects pop up here and there, which ruins people's believes, and makes it harder for more serious projects to gain attention ("look, yet another stock exchange developer"). Or when someone pops up and says "hey, here is the project which conquered the world" and shows some amateur half-made website. It's fine that it's amateur, nothing is perfect in the beginning, but just don't say that your project already conquered the world.

I think it is more an issue with web development and application development at large.  There is little education done with best practices so you end up having people who "learn" php echoing user input everywhere and being vulnerable to SQL injection, XSS, and god knows what else.  You can do searches in google that pops up hundred upon hundreds of sites who have SQL statements embedded in their URL >_<  At that point you just want to shoot yourself.

[Adiamante]

What matters to this thread: I'm a developer (nearly all aspects of development, including high performance web servers, networking, security research and consulting), with financial knowledge (stock markets, derivatives, quantum finance).

My area of interest in bitcoin is stock exchange and derivatives trading, and I'm working towards creating the first real bitcoin futures exchange.

However, it's a bit sad to see many one-day projects pop up here and there, which ruins people's believes, and makes it harder for more serious projects to gain attention ("look, yet another stock exchange developer"). Or when someone pops up and says "hey, here is the project which conquered the world" and shows some amateur half-made website. It's fine that it's amateur, nothing is perfect in the beginning, but just don't say that your project already conquered the world.

You would not believe how many websites no longer exist that were created when the internet was new. Many tried and did not last...yet the internet grew rapidly into something HUGE. Some sites did last though. This is no different....people trying to create projects or develop sites for bitcoin use. It is early in the game...some will fail while others succeed. The main point is that people are TRYING! and that is what matters.

[cunicula]

I am an assistant professor of economics. I cannot program or develop anything. I am interested in helping to design revised currency generation rules that would make markets for cryptocurrency securities more efficient. I believe that bitcoin designers will need guidance from economists if they want bitcoin to survive competition with future cryptocurrency entrants. I am not the best qualified person to offer this advice, but well, I'm not aware of any other economists who take the bitcoin project seriously.

For a more concrete discussion of a proposed rule change, see here:
http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=19130.0

[Fireball]

You would not believe how many websites no longer exist that were created when the internet was new. Many tried and did not last...yet the internet grew rapidly into something HUGE. Some sites did last though. This is no different....people trying to create projects or develop sites for bitcoin use. It is early in the game...some will fail while others succeed. The main point is that people are TRYING! and that is what matters.

I believe, because I saw all of that. Your attitude is very good, if everyone had the same attitude, the world would be a much better place

[w1R903]

Thanks for that address, seeARMS.

Fireball, sounds like you are well-positioned for a number of different opportunities involving Bitcoin. Good luck going forward. (And I think the quality of web projects involving Bitcoin will start improving rapidly.)

Cunicula, I read your proposals for integrating derivatives into the blockchain.  I can't say I understand all or even most of what are proposing yet -- I need to reread it.  But I agree with you that some time of risk mitigation instruments are needed for big players to enter the Bitcoin economy, and it seems like a good idea to integrate this system into Bitcoin.  And the reaction of Bitcoin veterans seems to be by and large positive, as well.  Thanks for your introduction and glad to see an economist in academia who's interested in Bitcoin.