Resume of Raven Black, Senior Programmer


--- Contact Information

 Title : Mr
 Name : Raven Black (yes, really)
 D.O.B. : 02-15-1977
 Email : raven@ravenblack.net
 Current address :
   (withheld)
 Tel : (withheld)
 Employment Status : Freelancing - available for contracts. 


--- Previous Work Experience

* Freelancing; web-design, Perl and C programmer.
 February 2002 - present

* Sole C++ programmer for Deck Wizard for Pokemon, and Perl programmer 
  for the associated website.
 February 2000 - September 2000
   Miracle Play Ltd.
   Centreville, VA (USA)

* NT Network Admin, Database Admin, for an Employee Assistance Program 
  provider.
 May 1999 - November 1999
   PPC UK
   Oxfordshire (UK)

* Level Editor programmer for a real-time 3D game using Visual C++ under 
  Windows 98
 July 1998 - October 1998
   Genetics
   Oxfordshire (UK)

* Windows 95 Board Game GUI programmer using Visual C++ under Windows 95
 May 1997 - July 1998
   Oxford Softworks
   Oxfordshire (UK)

* Temporary WP operator, using Amipro, and spreadsheet operator, using 
  Lotus 1-2-3, under OS/2 Warp.
 August / September 1996
   Acclaim Employment Bureau
   Leicester (UK)


--- Programming Languages

* C and C++
* Visual Basic
* 68000 Assembler
* HTML/CSS
* PHP3
* 8086 Assembler
* Java
* SQL
* Perl
 Of these I prefer C, C++, Assembler and Perl.


--- Programming Projects

* RavenGive (C++, Windows)
   A  minimalist   webserver  for   Windows,   securely  supporting  resuming 
   connections and  multiple  simultaneous  connections  without  unnecessary 
   use of multithreading.  Also supporting plugins which will later implement 
   CGI and streaming video support (using multithreading). 
    [http://www.ravenblack.net/programs/ravengive/]
* RavenGet (C++, Windows) 
   Minimalist  resuming  HTTP  downloader,  supporting  queues  and  multiple 
   simultaneous downloads. 
    [http://www.ravenblack.net/programs/]
* Magnify (C, Windows) 
   Simplistic  visual  aid,  also providing  handy  additional information to 
   the user. 
    [http://www.ravenblack.net/programs/]
* Motepad (C, Windows) 
   A  popular  replacement  for  Notepad;  essentially  a  wrapper  around  a 
   RichEdit   control,  supporting  larger  files  than  ( non-NT )  Notepad, 
   row/column display, and configurable font. 
    [http://www.ravenblack.net/programs/]
* Warlocks (Perl, SQL and HTML; OS-unspecific) 
   A fast and secure multi-user web-based game. 
    [http://games.ravenblack.net/]
* CheckPopPwd (C, *nix) 
   Along with  SMTPAllow,  inserts  into qmail's  chain of  pipes to securely 
   implement POP-before-SMTP with no  timeouts  or  unwieldy  delving through 
   logfiles. 
    [http://www.ravenblack.net/programs/]


--- Further information

 Aside from  working  in programming,  I also  spend  much of my  spare  time 
programming,  both in Windows  (mostly using C and direct access to the APIs) 
and in Unix  (BSD and Linux:  command-line and server tools,  mostly C,  some 
Perl, and the occasional kernel modification). 

 My programming tends to be particularly  conscious of security,  reliability 
and efficiency.  Several of my works are written simply because,  having seen 
the alternatives available, I insist on code more secure than what's offered. 

 My more  security-conscious  works  include  a  modification  to  the  Linux 
2.2-branch  kernel to make  ipchains log TCP  sequence numbers,  to enable me 
to forge  responses  to blocked  packets.  Another  project  was  a  pair  of 
inserts  for   the  qmail   SMTP  and   POP3  chain   of  pipes   to  perform 
POP-before-SMTP  validation  without  the   security   flaws  and  clumsiness 
I saw present in other applications with the same purpose. 

 My minimalist  Windows applications  'Magnify',  'Motepad',  'RavenGive' and 
'RavenGet'  (each smaller than 25K)  demonstrate  efficiency and  familiarity 
with the Windows API. I am also proficient with Direct3D.

 For Windows programming,  I have constructed  a debug wrapper  library which 
warns of potential  resource leaks  and errors  that most  such checks  omit. 
It tracks  usage of  most  common resources,  and warns  if any  creations or 
deletions fail  for any reason,  along with references  to the point  in code 
at which the mistake occurs.

 My web-based game  'Warlocks'  demonstrates my abilities with CGI,  Perl and 
SQL,  as well as my  diligence  in preventing  (where necessary)  cross-site-
scripting and other popular CGI-targetting attacks. 

 Unlike most programmers, I rather enjoy working with arcane (but efficient!) 
binary  file  formats  such  as  the  Truetype  'ttf'  format.   Much  of  my 
predilection for efficiency  comes from my programming history;  I started on 
computers with 48K of RAM,  and later moved on to (still slow) computers with 
512K of RAM and no hard-drive  -  such hardware encourages  creative  ways of 
making code as fast and small as possible. 

 I also  maintain my own  webserver  and firewall,  previously using  BSD and 
Linux, now using Linux only. 


--- References

Keith Thompson
Miracle Play Inc.
PO Box 1449
Centreville, VA 20122-8449
Tel : 703 968 2652
Email : swinsols@aol.com

Contact me (raven@ravenblack.net) for other references.