2000

This year starts with a small project with MS Excel 8.0 It have to be an "underlying calculator" who's results would be linked to fields in any MS Office document. The data in that sheets has some DBMS-like relations and is accessible via UserForms. VBA modules execute validations and some reports.

Since April I have 14,400 bps Internet connection so start ASP/ADO technology learning. The free hosting for this I found at AtFreeWeb.com . Here is my second house in The Web - http://www.zelensky.atfreeweb.com

1999

I present myself the AMD-K5 PR75 for New Year and still use it. Well, I have 32Mb RAM and 3,2Gb HDD (Seagate) - but NEED JOB! And my modems (2400bps) also needs upgrade.
To say more, earlier this HDD works with 386DX-40 8Mb RAM. By the way, it runs even MS Access 8.0 - slow but runs! I don't like MS Access 8.0 much, but have experience with it also.

First of all that year I continue to explore GIS software. In order to fully learn MapBasic the MapInfo's .MBX files were decompiled. The application for this was written with FoxPro , once more shows that data structures used in DBMS are enough flexible to do many things. Here is it's snapshort.

Then cataloque of the "Tours & Leashure" exhibition was designed - trivial but complex MS Word mail-merge document.

Later, in May, the TESSART Corp. invites me to test objects classes and convert some screen forms in their project with Visual FoxPro 5.0 as client and MS SQL Server 6.5 . This experience was useful, I think, for all. Unfortunatelly, that was short time job, as many others, when managers ask us too close to the end of project. And too often they loose success.

The summer was given to alma mater , where I supervize database of entrants since 1991. This DB runs with FoxPro 2.6 for DOS . This year we add printing of lists from WinWord using templates and macros for converting. It's looks nice!

And now I am a lector at Economic faculty of Kyiv University after Taras Shevchenko with 9 academic hours/week (3 lectures for course "Systems for economic information analisys" and "Information systems and technologies at enterprise" and 6 practice in MS Excel 8.0 ).

Here I also do some efforts to use external data (DOS-based language learning courses "French Gold", "Deutch Gold" and "Platinum English") for similar training applications in Windows (with FoxPro , of course).

1998

The year starts with new de-jure but the same in-fact place of work. European Center for Technological Safety (TESEC), located in Kyiv, organizes scientific visits and summer schools for researchers of nuclear energy and radioecology at Chernobyl Zone, contamined after Accident in 1986.
Since education of ministry clerks was planned didn't starts I had some time to learn more in real operatimg systems . I examine OS/2 Warp 4.0 in Windows95 partition with InJoy Internet Dialer and OS/2 WebExplorer, Linux ( DragonLinux , Slakeware Linux 3.3 ) and QNX (demo-disk and 4.24 distribution) that time.

Every summer we serve for Kyiv University, which hold entrance exams.

The "Chernobyl project" at Chernobyl Scientific Center for International Researches (CheSCIR) deals with integrating Visual FoxPro 5.0 with GIS MapInfo 4.x-5.0 and tooks only three months. But that fruitful period in autumn gave me practice in OLE automation and working with database in LAN. There are applications for data management in similar maner via LAN with all version of FoxPro I have (2.6 DOS/Windows, VFP 3.0, VFP 5.0), and it was marked as fully realized project by Ministry for Accidents of Ukraine. Snapshorts of its screens are here.
Or course, I had to learn more in GIS and MapBasic particularly, so develop some small but useful programms with it.

1997

Winter brings some money: we developed Computer-Based Testing System (CBTS-II) for IAEA with a MS Word 6.0 on-line forms. Here is it's title page , describes main idea.
From that time I like WordBasic : it is enough flexible, and we organize simple documents database with MS Word .

There was also the DB of annotations to issues deals with Chernobyl Catastrophe. It mainly was imported from INIS sourse. "Know-how" lays in total words indexing for quick filter building and generating of HTML-formatted files for publishing in Internet.

Summer days were spent in Kyiv University, which hold entrance exams.

In the same time our director, Victor Pojarkov initiate a project for modelling of territory contamination. I do some interesting attempts with Visual FoxPro 3.0 (we were fond of HIGHLANDER that time so projects was named "Mac_Cloud") and Excel 7.0 and its Visual Basic . We had no appropriate computers and had no skill to concurent with RODOS at HP server , so project was cancelled.

The autumn starts educational year and I had to read lectures for "Using computers for data analisys".
Number of small "one-table" databases were created: Library, Nuclides, Laboratories and others.

1996

Being "free forward" I work as security manager at some exhibitions hold by EuroIndex Ltd. They also ask me to input data to the DB of exhibition visitors.

The summer was a time of hard work:
while University entrance exams still had to be under supervising
I starts to develop Computer-Based Training/Testing System for Ukrainian Radiology Training Centre (URTC) with FoxPro 2.6 for Windows .

It two months I show pre-release both for DOS and Windows environment for multy-choice questions in text strings, then add but soon we had problems with showing mathematic equations (Word document as OLE Object [BLOB]) on screen form.
This project migrates to MS Word 6.0 on-line forms.

In this period the telephone numbers database of Kyiv was published so I developed data stuctures for such one and import external data.

1995

Previous projects finished and I gone to separate fly. Natalie starts work in Computer Center so University got everything needed for entrance exams.

When Window'95 was deployed, I said to Natalie : "My dear, we must start with whole world to learn it. Only in this case we'll win". So we ask for money and bought DX2-66 for $1000. It help to do a private project for Family Tree ("Heritage' Project) (DOS and Windows, 2.6 and VFP 3.0), but next year was too difficult and we sold that computer.

We also tried to distribute LaserGraver , designed in Moskow by ALFA company equipment for creating rubber stamps or foto-forms for color printing.

1994

Carrier raising to a vice-head of the University Computer Center does not change my duties much. First of al it remains the database of University professors, students and entrants.

Later I was invited to participate in market-research project in field of business information. Since salary was much more and computers much better I did my choice for free employment.

1993

There were two main projects - HTVS and HDBS (library of DBF-oriented applications).
In May we came to Moskow at Comtek'93.

The actual discussion to compare FoxPro and Clipper turns me to write original decoders for them.

1992

Having stabil position in the University as engineer and project leader, I had time to learn what I want. There was x86 assembler inside project named HTVS . So all year round worked with it and databases.

1991

Ocupating position of a group manager I had to develop PC-based DBMS for University entrants. I couldn't. Really Ms. Anatoly Milto do everything for this with PC XT and FoxPro 1.01 .
Close to winter I had to learn FoxPro myself.

1990

This year I graduate from Cybernetics Faculty of Kyiv State University. My diploma project deals with organizing automated work and educational place for programmer (software developer) in multiuser environment of RSX-11M. It counts time spent by user and runs routines like text editor and compiler automatically.

Summer duty for entrants' documents database was our obligation. Then we starts got job at the University Computer Center as engineers.

We got some PC XT and try to learn new OS (DOS). Few AT's were given by sponsor.
The main software project at that time was Russian-English-Russian translator (word-by-word) as seperate application and a functional part of the original text editor Gen, developed by Igor Mameshin - he is now somewhere in USA. .

1989

That time I was going to found the solution for city transport (as bus and trams) traffic modelling queue of units on road.

Entrants DB was further developed and more comfortable vs IBM/360 version.

Then first PCjr were installed and main finction was information channel from Moskow with TASS news, business and scientific reviews.

1988

We understood file system of RSX-11M and enwide our software lists. Being in other towns (Odessa, Cherkassy, Lviv) we went to universities for software exchange. But much more information came as texts (poetry and fiction) or pictures.

Summer was marked with new DB for entrants - and friends visited Hungary but I came to the Black Sea with loved girl (my wife now).

We got our computer (PDP) in full-time operation and it was so - all-night we wrote code or type some texts. Social activity of students made some changes in their life - we vote for best professors and use computer for statistics.

1987

We starts to by-pass lectures in mathematics to learn more in ComputerScience. Schoolarship program was based on PL/1 in package forms, but we prefer C over PASCAL. We often work until deep night and wait one another to take place near VTA. This year we do two original projects for information support with database, written in C and used unmounted disk volume (our the very first DB of entrants). As a bonus I visited Yugoslavia in August.

1986

Starting education in 1985, we quickly grew with algorithmic thinking and sook for any possibility to work with computers. Mainly it was PDP-11 (CM-4) with C, PASCAL, FORTRAN and "Iskra-226" with ALGOL and audio-cassete storage(!).
The first problem I try to solve was Rubic's Cub - links to some sites.