🚀 go-pugleaf

Am interested in employment programming AI applications in Windows. 
Resume is below;


JIM TOWNSEND
(604) 533 - 6736

EXPERTISE:
Windows Software Development
Visual Basic Programmer
Systems Analyst

EDUCATION:

UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
Major: Management of Information Systems	Minor: Economics

MICROSOFT UNIVERSITY
Microsoft Certified Professional #1987
Certified Professional for MS-DOS and Microcomputer Hardware
Certified Professional for Windows

SKILLS:
(Chronological Progression)

Software Languages:
Basic, COBOL, Command Line Batch Processing, Pascal, C, C++

CASE, Programming Tools and Applications:
Cassette Basic, Visicalc, Lotus, DB, Quick Basic, MicroEmacs, Scred, 
SPSS, Turbo C, MS Assembler, Watson Voice Batch, MS C, MS SDK, MS 
Windows for Pens SDK, MS MultiMedia SDK, MS C++, WindowsMaker C, Turbo 
Pascal, Quick C, Excel, Word, Visual C++, Visual Basic W&D and Access.

Hardware Platforms:
Motorola 68xx, s100 boards.  Intel x86 family including 80: 86/88, 186, 
286, 386sx/dx, 486sx/sl/dx, P5.  Valid Vax/PC. Dec VAX.

Operating Systems And Networks:
Cassette Basic, Valid DOS, Xenix, Unix, DOS.  Windows environmental 
overlay.  Novell, DSC Nexos, MS LAN Manager, WinNT, WFW, Win95.  Have 
use all versions of MS-DOS since version 2.0, all versions of Windows 
including 1.0, 2.0, 286, 386, 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, WFW3.1, WFW3.11, WFW32s, 
WinNT, W95.  I have beta tested software for Microsoft since 1985.  This 
has included all versions of Windows since W286 and such diverse 
products as Windows for Pens Computing, Visual C++, FORTRAN Powerstation 
and Visual Basic.

Software Add-Ons And Vbx's for Visual Basic:
Microhelp's MHComm and Fax Libraries. Ward System's NeuroWindows DLL's 
for Neural Networks.  Stylus's Visual Voice for Telephony.  Distinct's 
Visual TCP/IP for Windows Sockets.  Micro Systems 3D application tools 
for 3 dimensional modeling.  The vbasm.dll for assembler routines, 
message tracking, etc.  My Funcy function database for cataloguing 
functions and sub routines is excellent for quickly accessing re-usable 
modules, and I have a little public domain utility that is a user 
programmable interface for declaring functions, types and global 
constants.




EMPLOYMENT PROFILE

August 1992 - present	Dr. Computer
	Windows Programmer - Owner

Primarily employed as a Windows Programmer, but am involved with General 
Computer Consulting as well.  Troubleshoot Hardware and Software in the 
DOS / Windows environment.  I have written a number of Windows Programs 
which I am currently marketing.  Started Dr. Computer when I moved to 
Langley in August 1992.  My development system includes a WinNT 3.51 
Server, 3 W95 and WFW nodes and a JetBook laptop running W95 with VB4 
for on-site programming.  I like to ensure my applications run on all 
versions of Windows whenever possible.

June 1990 - July 1992	Computer Systems Plus Inc.
	Systems Specialist - Owner

Windows Programmer / General Computer Consultant.  Custom Assembled 
Computer Systems and Interfaces.  Provided programming services to a 
number of Corporate Accounts.  (CCH Canadian Ltd., Minatco Mining Ltd., 
T. Lamb Oilfield Consulting, Blomqvist Publishing)  Lost accounts during 
economic downturn and subsequently closed the doors.

January 1987 - May 1990	Student Hacker Unlimited
	Programmer - Owner

Started as a part-time business to support my family while I attended 
University.  Provided computing services to faculty staff and members.  
Primarily spreadsheets and graphs.  Assembled computers with a custom 
written environment.  Incorporated to Computer Systems Plus Inc..

June 1985 - August 1987	TNT Contracting
	Renovation Contractor - Owner

Energy Efficient Renovations Contracting / Building Inspection.  
Specialized in Accessible Housing and Energy Efficient Additions.  Three 
quarters of my contracts were with Alberta Mortgage and Housing 
Corporation.  Sold business to employees when I started University.

November 1981 - May 1985	I.B.P.A.T.
	Journeyman Painter and Decorator

Commercial and Residential Painting Contracts with the International 
Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades Union.  Worked mostly on 
Mega-Projects.  Foreman for IPASCO at Revelstoke Dam, Line Creek Coal 
Mine and Sheerness Power Station.

April 1976 - October 1981	Western Steeplejacks
	Supervisor - High Rigging / Painting

High Rigging and Gas Plant Maintenance.  Stacks, Masts and Tower 
Erection and Demolition.  Industrial Sand Blasting and Spray Painting, 
Swing Stage Rigging and Scaffold Erection.  Ran three crews of up to 15 
people.  Since much of this work was sporadic, I also had a part time 
job teaching ball room dancing for Fred Astaire Dance Studio where the 
owner was a good friend of mine.



POST SECONDARY EDUCATION

Microsoft University	Certified Systems Specialist			
(1992)
University of Calgary	Management Information Systems / Economics	
(1987 - 1990)
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology	Renovations		
	(1985)


CERTIFICATES

Microsoft DOS / Windows - Hardware & Administration
Journeyman Painter & Decorator	Spray Painting / Exotic Coatings
C.M.H.C. Dwelling Inspection	C.M.H.C. Specification Writing / Cost 
Estimating
C.M.H.C. Energy Conservation	C.M.H.C. Project Management
C.M.H.C. Certified Renovations Contractor	Private Plumbing 
Inspection
Swing Staging / Scaffolding		Explosive Actuated Tools

PROJECTS:

Since I am a home based consultant in a small town, my clients have 
tended to be small to medium sized businesses.  A predominant feature of 
these is a general lacking of the finances of larger corporations, 
hence, many of the projects I have taken on have tended to be 
discontinuous but ongoing efforts enacted as the personal finances of my 
clients have allowed.  A subsequent request from my clients has been for 
services of a general rather than specialized nature.  With this in 
mind, following is a brief synopsis of a few of the projects I have been 
involved with, and the services I have rendered in the last few years.

Horizon Fiberglass:
General computer maintenance.  Rebuilt and optimized office system as 
well as updated software.  Custom assembled new system and installed WFW 
with 32s extensions and RAS Server for remote access.  Both systems are 
running Speedy Operating System, the user programmable shell I wrote in 
VB.  Programmed custom Access database for Order Entry, Inventory and 
Cost Estimating.  Also developed a VB front end for the data base and a 
custom menu system designed to automate the process of data base file 
maintenance.  Further development on this system is not planned until 
the spring of 1997 as the company is currently renovating and expanding 
its offices.

J.M.S. Contracting:
Built custom computer system and programmed a Menuing system as well as 
a custom invoicing system in Visual Basic.  Also customized SpeedyBase 
and extended Access database to accommodate customers specific needs.  
Regular maintenance on machines.

Jet Countertops:
Built custom computer system and programmed custom interface in VB.  
Programmed custom invoicing system.  Programmed application to produce a 
cut list for custom cabinets.  Have provided tutorial services for Word 
and Access as well as regular maintenance.

Larry O'Countertops:
Built custom computer system and designed software interface (shell) in 
VB.  Programmed macros in Word to autocompose letters and print 
envelopes from the SpeedyBase database I installed on their system.  
Regular computer maintenance.

Hil-Ron Construction:
Have built four systems and networked them using WFW.  Systems are set 
up with my S.O.S. shell and are using SpeedyBase.  Regular computer 
maintenance.

Broadway Pentecostal Church:
WFW network system installation and maintenance.  Systems us S.O.S. 
shell.  Also custom built dual monitoring system to display scriptures 
and hymns through projection system.  Connected midi equipment to main 
monitoring system for simultaneous remote control from operations 
console.  Regular computer maintenance.

CCH Canadian:
Assisted representative by installing Canadian Income Act Tax software 
on existing clients systems.  General troubleshooting skills involved.  
Also served with this gentleman, Les Kaluzny, as a director of the 
Reform Party S.E. Constituency.


Reform Party, S.E. Constituency:
Served as a director and also as Chairman of the Computer and Data 
committee for 14 months.  Wrote custom databases using WindowsMaker and 
Xerox Formbase to track constituency members and dues.  Trained 
volunteers in the use of Windows and maintenance of the data base.  
Wrote spreadsheets in Excel and macros in Word to automate the process 
of mail merging and addressing envelopes.  Developed automated voice 
system to dial up constituency members and disseminate general 
information and details on events such as town hall meetings.


Personal:
I have been with my wife for seventeen years and have four lovely 
children.  Energetic and curious, I love (b)leading edge technology.  I 
have enjoyed working with computers as a hobby for the last twenty 
years.

I am a member of Northern Telecom's Business Affiliate Program.  
SpeedyBase is listed in their Solution Providers Catalog.  I actively 
beta test hardware and software and have written code modules for a 
number of companies; Microsoft,, MicroHelp, Northern Telecom, Rockwell 
Technologies, Allo Communications, DSC Communications, Ven-Tel 
Communications, Vive Technologies and Zoom Telephonics.


SOFTWARE I WRITE IN VB AND MARKET:

S.O.S. - Custom Shell for Windows.  A lot of useful features. Very handy 
for WFW.
SpeedyBase - Talking Database for Windows.  Uses Caller Id to tell you 
who is calling.
House Inspector - A house inspection program for producing a custom 
report.
GST/PST Calculator - Calculates taxes, margin/markup, exchange 
dynamically.
KeyCodes - Explains 8 bit system, returns Key Codes for programming.
KeyAscii - Ascii, Hex, Octal, Decimal and Binary conversion tables.
Crystal's Xmas Tree - Talking Xmas Tree decorating program I wrote for 
my kids.
Computer Clinic - Computer maintenance and troubleshooting program.
Pandaemonium - Screen Saver.  Very interesting algorithm for graphic 
entertainment.
Funcy Database - Database to catalog code modules for VB,Access, Word 
and Excel.
Xhouse 1.0 - CP290 -x10 control module software for turning lights on 
and off, etc...

I have quite a few other programs as well that I have never had time to 
fully develop and market or are only for my private use as a consultant 
for troubleshooting, etc...

GENERAL OVERVIEW:

Having always run small businesses and lacking the economies of scale of 
mass marketers, I have never tried to compete in the cut throat low end 
computer hardware forum.  Instead I have concentrated my efforts in this 
area to building performance oriented, commercial quality computers.  In 
the last ten years I have assembled over two hundred of these custom 
computers, many with a custom written interface.  My products have a 
decided appeal to those given to a preference for performance, quality 
and luxury products.

I have always been a hands on type of individual.  I assembled my first 
computer from a kit I ordered from a magazine in 1973.  Since then I 
have owned and worked on a wide array of computer systems.  I have 
enjoyed programming for the last twenty years.  First as a hobby, then 
in my own businesses.  Since there were few programs around when I first 
developed an interest in computers, necessity demanded I learned to 
program them myself and I have become adept at integrating information 
and methodologies.  If I don't know how to do something, I can guarantee 
it will not take me long to figure out how to solve the problem.  Upon 
entering university I began building computers and programming 
professionally.  Although I have programmed on a diverse array of 
systems from mainframes, such as the the Valid and Dec, to home pc's 
such as the Vic20, C64, CoCo and TRS80, I have been enamored of IBM 
compatible desktop systems since they were first introduced and am very 
proficient with hardware assembly and troubleshooting.

I have programmed in numerous environments that are now obsolete, and 
indubitably boring to list.  Given that there is nothing so obsolete as 
yesterdays computer, I will only mention my current programming 
environment here.  I make an concerted attempt to stay abreast of 
current technology both with hardware and software.

I am currently developing applications on a network consisting of a 
WinNT 3.51 Server (486) and nodes consisting of WinNT 3.5 Workstation 
(486), Win95 (Pentium) and WFW (386).  My laptop is a 386sx running on 
Win95.  Included is a wide array of peripheral devices including an 
automated voice messaging system, scanners, cameras, sound cards and 
CD's, musical keyboards and synthesizers and a variety of print devices.

My software development environment includes Visual Basic, Access, Word, 
Excel and the Windows SDK, Visual C++, and Fortran Power Station.  I use 
Visual Basic for DOS and Visual C++ to create DOS applications.  My 
preferred CASE Tool for creating Windows applications is Visual Basic.

The first version of VB bore a remarkable similarity to WindowsMaker 
which I really liked using and was the impetus for further investigating 
the possibilities of the tool.  I thought Quick C was an excellent CASE 
tool, though not as efficient.  In actual fact I was somewhat 
disappointed in Visual C++ 1.0 and preferred to use it to program in C. 
 Since it was difficult to create a single document interface with VC++ 
1.0, I developed a C code generator in Visual Basic to create a C code 
skeleton application and then completed and compiled the applications in 
VC++.  I still use my skeleton code generator to create C applications, 
although I much prefer programming in VB.

I have developed applications in all four versions of Visual Basic.  
Even though VB4 is capable of developing 32 bit applications and DLL's I 
am not much enamoured of the baggage overhead of a finished application, 
so I still use VB3. A lot of the features of VB4 are excellent though, 
such as the OLE DLL's and the data aware controls.

I have a fairly large collection of add ons for VB, but generally prefer 
to use DLL's to VBX's.  The majority of third party vbx products on the 
market are unneccesarry complications to the environment, but some are 
very good.  Some of the best that I have used include Stylus' Visual 
Voice for TAPI compliant applications, Microhelp's Comm and Fax controls 
for communications and fax applications, Distinct's TCP/IP and Micro's 
3D application tools for 3D interfaces.

Obviously the ability to use DLL's in the VB environment means that the 
entire API is at your fingertips.  Some of my favourite add ons are very 
good public domain modules.  I have a vbasm.dll which allows me to 
include assembler routines and extends the VB environment to include 
powerful functions such as the ability to peek and poke individual bits 
to the registers.  I am also much enamoured of an application by 
Periscope called Winscope.  Since Microsoft does not document all of 
their API functions, this can be very handy to not only discover all 
available API functions, but to look inside third party DLL's as well.  
(For instance, I used this to use the text-to-speech capabilities of 
First Bytes Monolog utility when I found the modular interface to be a 
little clumsy to use.)  It is far superior to the Spy utility that 
Microsoft includes with the SDK.

Having long been intrigued with Artificial Intelligence, I am really 
impressed with Ward's NeuroWindows DLL for developing Neural Networks.  
I confess to be less than proficient with AI, but dangerously intrigued. 
 (I actually took a couple of psychology courses and a linear/parametric 
programming course in economics while I was in university to augment my 
skills and understanding of this fascinating topic.  What I have always 
found so intriguing is the lack of a need to rigorously define inputs 
and the inherent ability to determine causal relationships.)  
Unfortunately I have never had the opportunity to use these tools in a 
"real world application", but have achieved some intriguing results in a 
number of applications that I have experimented with.  I have developed 
some interesting algorithms for 'self-sensitizing' the nets and 
automating the process of determining optimal levels of training as well 
as determining the most efficient configuration of slabs and causal 
neuronic inputs.

I have used the Internets for the last ten years. I am very familiar 
with email, news, irc, telnet and a number of utilities.  Until recently 
I had my server running as a Web Site, but found the maintenance and 
cost to be prohibitive for the actual benefit derived.  I was using 
O'Reillys Web Site Server, which I highly recommend.  A predominant 
feature of this is a CGI-WIN interface which allows forms processing 
applications to be developed in Visual Basic.  I have written a number 
of Web Pages and find HTML quick and easy programming.  You can find my 
page at http://haven.uniserve.com/~townsend or email me at 
townsend@uniserve.com.