My name is Jonathan Fritz, an Honours Computer Science student with a minor in History at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.
This is my blog, if that’s what you must call it. Moreover, it is intended as a record of my personal work and musings about politics and technology. Here you will find not only my ramblings, but a selection of small programs that I’ve worked on for both school and pleasure.
Other Places:
In addition to this site, you can find my writings at the following locations:
- The Linux Experiment: My education didn’t provide me with much Linux experience, so I went out and learned it the hard way. Hilarity ensues.
- LinkedIn: Check out some additional information about me and my work.
- Twitter: I don’t buy into the fad, but I figured that I’d try it out nonetheless.
- inScope Software and Solutions: A small business that I started with fellow computer science students Tyler Burton and Philip Downey. The company currently exists as a research and development outfit, and is not taking on new work.
- Last.fm: I am a little bit of a music addict. You can see what I’ve been listening to here.
Past Projects:
Over the years, I’ve worked on a number of different projects.
- Keyfinder: An example of the power of distributed computing, this web-based project uses a dedicated botnet and any number of in-browser Java applets to perform a distributed brute force attack on an RC4 ciphertext. The site is written in a combination of HTML, PHP, AJAX, JavaScript, and Java. It was written by myself, Tyler Burton, and Philip Downey.
- Fire Alarm Interface: A database front end that I wrote for a local small business. It is used daily as a part of their business processes, and has been in active development since 2006.
- Max 3D Engine: Created in one week as a final project for a computer graphics course, this application showcases a basic C++/OpenGL game engine that I hope to one day revisit and improve upon. Read more about the project and check out the screen shots here.
- Tile Based Map Editor: Once upon a time, I decided that I would write a top-down role playing game. To that end, I built a basic map editor that allows you to arrange images from your computer as tiles for a 2D map. The program can export the map as an xml file, and the images on a palette, allowing the two to be imported into any game engine. I never got around to writing that engine, and the code could use a little polish, but it is pretty cool.
- yourTunes: A couple years ago, I picked up a Microsoft Zune and fell in love with the hardware but was unimpressed with its playlist creation features, so I wrote this handy application that exports your iTunes library to the Zune playlist format (*.zpl). Over the years, I have continued to keep it up to date and to add new features, even though I no longer use either iTunes or the Zune on a regular basis.
Essays:
I’ve written a few papers for classes at school. Check them out in *.pdf format below:
- Technology and Tactics: How German U-Boat Forces Lost the Battle of the Atlantic – An essay exploring the lessons learned by both sides during the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII. The essay explores the military and industrial capabilities of the combatants, the technology behind the German Enigma and Allied code breaking efforts at Bletchley Park, and the consequences of the ignorance of new technologies by leaders on both sides.
- Digital Rights Management: Flawed at Best – An analysis of the Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems that are widely used as security systems designed to protect the rights of content owners from unscrupulous pirates. The essay analyzes the effectiveness of various DRM schemes using the five-step security system evaluation process outlined in Bruce Schneier’s Beyond Fear.
My resume and work history is available upon request. You can contact me either by posting on this site, or by emailing me at jonfritz at gmail dot com.
Thanks for visiting,
Jon
