Projects
I started writing code since I was a little kid. Even though I've been in Engineering leadership positions for a number of years now, I still enjoy building software a lot outside of work.
React Native
Since 2023, I’ve focused on building iOS and Mac apps using React Native, integrating on-device AI and machine learning to create privacy-first apps that work without internet access. These tools apply technologies like OCR, LLMs, and vector search entirely on device:
- Receiptopia – Automatically scans and categorizes receipts using on-device OCR.
- Spanish or Vanish – A vocabulary game that uses computer vision and object identification to help you learn Spanish.
- CJExplorer – A language lookup and translation app that uses OCR and computer vision for object identification.
- Read Aloud EBook – Create audio book out of your ebook on-device, and create chapter summaries using a locally run LLM.
AI
In February 2024, using React/OpenAI/Python/Flask I put together a chat bot that's trained on my resume and things I wrote about.
Before ChatGPT was a thing, I also spent some time with TensorFlow using Google Colaboratory. I created an English to Cantonese language translation prototype with explanations on what was done. This is, of course, much less impressive now with the general availability of Generative AI in recent years.
UX Certificate
In 2023, I started going through the Google UX Design Professional Certificate. In the last course, I have to put on a website with my portfolio. Here is the deck with the 3 required case studies for the final assignment for the final course.
Work
I would love to show some of the interesting work I've done for Apple, Electronic Arts and other companies, but unfortunately those cool projects are covered by non-disclosure agreements. Electronic Arts does (did?) issue plaques for games you are credited for and you can see mine here.
Older projects
Most of the remaining projects started as university assignments that I extended into apps that others might find useful. I've also worked on numerous hobby projects after university. These projects have helped me pick up new skills, meet new friends, and explore new areas of interest.
I thought about renaming this part of the website from "Projects" to "Museum". Some of the projects here are at least 10 years old and some of them are 20 years old!
If you're curious about what I'm up to with side projects, please check out my github page. I have a handful of them in public repositories, though many of them are private.
Algorithm / Programming
In my junior years at Simon Fraser University, I enjoyed spending time extending my favorite class projects during semester breaks. Through them, I taught myself many programming skills and computer algorithms that have proven to be invaluable now.
Shortly after my graduation, I started working on a hobby project I called ASCII Art Steganography. It was slashdotted in January 2009, and I was quite proud of it.
Some examples: Digit Recognition, Huffman Tree Compression, Computer Language Translation, Socket Programming and Zip/JPEG File Mask.
3D Graphics / OpenGL
Computer graphics was the first upper-division computer science course I took in my second year at SFU. I enjoyed the class - all the linear algebra math could finally be put to good use, and we got to use the "new" 1.8 GHz machines that were cutting edge at the time. The results? Very visually pleasing projects! This laid the foundation for becoming a software engineer in the gaming industry after graduation.
Notably, 3D Room Scene was showcased in SFU computing science Employer's Open House 2003, and 3D-Tetris Screen Saver was showcased in 2005.
C# and COM
I picked up a few skills from my co-op experiences at Crystal Decisions/Business Objects and Pivotal/CDC Software. I started using Perl to automate tasks (I used it to automatically generate spreadsheets and status reports(!) that I sent to managers from a single data source). I also mastered C# and COM while developing applications to integrate into Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.
My first side projects done in C# include a multiplayer UNO game, and a small program for automatically refreshing a webpage being browsed (using IE Active-X control).
Miscellaneous
Since I like programming so much, I often spend my free time making utilities that I think would be useful for myself and people. These utilities are written in usually either C++ or C#, and MSN Ad blocker was particularly popular (well, until MSN got shut down..)!
Scripts and Tools
Python used to disgust me greatly - its silly indents and duck-typing. In 2011, I decided to use it more in my regular work since people who love it keep raving about it - it turns out I've fallen in love with it too. Now when I need something written up quickly, I always turn to Python instead of, say, C#. It's cross-platform, it's the opposite of verbose, and you can even hook it up with a UI easily in OSX.
Web Apps
The first real web applications I wrote were done with Perl during the time when blogging was starting to gain popularity. Originally I was hosting my Perl blog on my university site, but I later shut it down in 2005 because I didn't feel like updating anymore.
I picked up PHP and SAJAX a bit later, and along with 2 other CMPT 470 classmates we created a ACM-Style programming contest environment.
I've worked on a number of web apps over the years using Google App Engine, Django and Ruby on Rails as side projects. In 2012, we created Qurious to participate in the Royal Canadian Mint Mintchip Challenge.
Recently, I've done more work with JavaScript (jQuery and SproutCore) to create rich and deeply engaging web applications. Especially with the proliferation of mobile devices, building responsive and feature-rich web applications that work across different platforms and resolutions seems to be the most efficient way to deliver content in terms of development costs.
At Visier, I use Angular, Typescript, Play! Framework on Scala.
ITK Medical Image Analysis Toolkit
As part of the research work I did in August 2004, I proudly created a huge C++ image segmentation and registration program with the use of the ITK library. It's ideal for researchers who want to have some quick experience with the rich ITK library but don't want the hassle of compiling the library and example code.
In 2005, I started the now popular MATLAB library (MATITK) project which allows researchers to access ITK algorithms in the MATLAB environment. There are now hundreds of researchers worldwide that are users of this library!
Fun Projects / High school level projects
Feel free to check out the projects I did in high school and for fun in the old days.
All software is provided here "as is". I hold no responsibility for any unintended effects that may result.