December 26th, 2004
110406431961274116
Hacking it
In a small way, today I reached a milestone for myself as an engineer. Today marks the first time I have ever “completed” a piece of software on my own time that actually has utility.
Fed up with the slew of images-to-HTML tools that either asked for money or some scripting knowledge, in the span of about five hours I wrote and tuned a piece of software in C++ that does exactly that (well, not the money or scripting requirement). The web pages from last week’s trip to Adachi were generated from said tool [HTMLGallery] this evening.
Basically, it’s just a Windows dialog with folder browsers and a handful of HTML options to set. You just give it a source directory where images reside, then click a button and “zing!” you get a bunch of linked webpages. Yes, the webpages are ugly now, and yes, the interface is clunky. Oh and yes, it does not actually generate thumbnails on its own (I currently possess other freeware tools adequate enough for the time being). BUT, it works. AND it saves me a lot of time and stress.
I figure after a couple more tweaks of the package (it only took me four seconds of use before I got irritated with how difficult it was to perform a certain operation), I think I may spread some good freeware vibes and chuck it up on the web for public consumption, following in the footsteps of many of my (far more skilled) software engineering brethren.
Anyway, I’m happy I put all this ridiculous MFC experience I have to some use other than in-house tools I can never show anyone. Go me.
