I'm Hamza N

hi there

About me

I'm a high school student. I spend a lot of time programming. I've mostly done full stack web dev, but am learning Kotlin for Android development, and trying out Godot for the school Game Dev Club. Also in school robotics! Writing C++ for that (doing Vex robotics). Used to use Linux (Kubuntu), waiting to use it again (prob. Fedora). Btw, I use the programmer's dvorak (~100 wpm).


Work

Like I mentioned above, I've been just experimenting around recently. Working on a bunch of small projects in Python, GDscript, Java, and Kotlin. Until I find something good enough to stick with, because web dev doesn't sound great as a career choice. If you want to see whatever project I'm working on this week, it'll be up on my GitHub.

A ambitious project I was working on in JavaScript was Git Organized, a project management and planning tool; web hosting isn't working right now, but you can set it up yourself if you like.

Other work

Another small tool I made is Activity Log, which is meant to be used for tracking time. It's a really cool project, with a nice design and charts and everything. I'm trying to make this an Android app.

I also made a small JS library called Digit, which writes out long numbers in words. I'm still polishing this, and plan on adding time related features; this is probably the most useful thing I've made.

My really old work includes some games; they are still up on my GitHub.


Tools

When working with JavaScript: Node.js, Ejs, Tailwind CSS, and MongoDB

Android development: Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, Android Studio. The built in Jetbrains editor is actually really nice

Game development: Godot, GDscript

Python, sometimes, when I can't avoid it. The worst parts are how varibles are declared and the dependance on indentation

Some Java, with Eclipse because Comp Sci A. The type checking in Java is actually really nice

Software

Browser of choice is Firefox, because there is enough chromium in the world.

IDE depends on the language, but usually VS code.

Blender, Kdenlive, Simplenote, Inkscape, Gimp

Trying to switch to more open source stuff, like libreoffice. It's not bad, just having everything online is helpful because I can't exactly install libreoffice write on a school chromebook.

For operating systems, I have to use Windows now, but hate it with a passion. As soon as possible, I'm switching to Linux and never looking back. I installed Asahi on an Apple Silicon Macbook; some stuff didn't work. But everything else is so much faster.


Strange behavior

Empty start menu, task bar, and desktop

I know what app I need, and the fastest way to find it is with a quick search. Having a good launcher that searches only through apps and files, not the web, is a great way to find everything I need on my computer. And I do like to keep everything on my computer, with only Google docs and code backed up to GitHub staying in the cloud, and I plan on moving from docs to libre office. Keeping a clean desktop, start menu, and file system is important to find what I need. What would be great is if the search was much better so I could look through my files without folder searching, but I'll just have to wait until I switch to Linux.


More

Developer jokes! Check them out

See my friend tildejustin's GitHub. It's a lot of minecraft stuff


Achievements

Justin and I won third place at the MAGIC cybersecurity CTF! Here are the results.


Fun stuff

Change the website color theme

Thoughts

The Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza: Then and Now

Nov 29 2023

A brief history of Gaza, with a special focus on the recent events.

The iMessage Lockin

Dec 1 2022

Didn't update this for the RCS announcement, but that'll take a while to come into effect and still won't change much socially in the U.S.

An Argument Against Folding Phones

Dec 1 2022

They're expensive, fragile, and impractical; I'll tell you why if you click right here.