Andrew Hanson
What's This?This is a little page documenting the cool projects I've completed or I am working on. Who am I?I'm a computer science/ engineering graduate of UW Madison who spends far too much time coding and playing computer games. I currently work at a mobile software company I co-founded called PerBlue. Our current project is Parallel Kingdom. InterestsDesigning ThingsI really like to design systems, particularly software ones. I enjoy thinking about problems as systems of components that connect other components. Going hand in hand with this I have my own white board. Not some little one on my door, but a full blown 4ft by 3ft monster that I use to keep my thoughts straight. I also like robotics. I was an active member of the IEEE robotics team at UW Madison for 2 years. I have to admit: Seeing my code move actual objects is rewarding. Playing GamesI enjoy playing games. I like real time strategy games, simulation games, role playing games, and first person shooters. Though lots of the games I play are computer games, I always jump at the opportunity to play sit down games. A good sit down game is Dungeons and Dragons. It's fun because I enjoy creating worlds that players can explore and interact with. One of its more appealing aspects is the ability to run with a half baked idea and let the players mold it a bit. Another interesting and fun game is Nomic. Essentially it's a game of making rules for the game. For those of you who think that sounds boring, I don't blame you. You're in the vast majority. But for those few people who actually want to play, welcome to my world. How I thinkI like the quote: "One man's component is another man's system"; it shows how we can keep pushing deeper and deeper into things until we basically run into physics. However, I think viewing it the other way is much more appealing: Every project we build has the potential to become just a block on some larger project's diagram. I really believe with that kind of notion we can get to Star Trek level computers. |