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JOSEPH CASSAVAUGH

Winder GA, 30680
JoeCassavaugh@aol.com

 QUALIFICATIONS

Twenty-eight years experience in all facets of software engineering with an emphasis on resolving complex reliability issues in a multi-user real-time environment.  Excellent debugging skills. 

Exceptional language independent skills with strong algorithmic abilities.  Solved difficult problems using high, medium and low-level languages. Fluent in both UNIX and PC development environments.

Data conversion expert with proven ability to adapt quickly to new languages and systems.

Strong background in project development including:  analysis, specification, documentation, design, programming, testing, training and troubleshooting.

EDUCATION

      B.S. – Mathematics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1979)

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

Languages:     C++, SDL, C, WINDOWS SDK, DIRECT-X, JAVA, AWK, KORN  SHELL,  MASM, TAL, COBOL,
NEAT/3, BASIC, FORTRAN.

Databases:      SYBASE, NONSTOP SQL, UNIFY/2000 – RHLI – SQL, CLARION, C-TREE.

PC Tools:         VISUAL C/C++, WIN XP, MKS-TOOLKIT, BORLAND C/C++, PHARLAP 386, AWKCC.

EXPERIENCE AND RESULTS

Self-Employed Consultant and Creator of PuzzlesByJoewww.PuzzlesByJoe.com, Binghamton, New York (2000-2004)

Created nine non-violent logic and puzzle games for Windows using Visual-C++ and Direct-X.  Everything on www.PuzzlesByJoe.com was designed/coded/created by me with the exception of  some artwork and background music.  All products are available for download as shareware with a trial period of at least an hour.  Recon is my earliest and most complex game.  GemShot is my most recent and most visually compelling game.

Created Task Master which is jointly owned by myself and a local business.  Task Master is an integrated task management tool that allows multiple users to all work on the same task/project list at the exact same time. 

Principal Engineer  – America Online (1998-2000) – WorldPlay Entertainment, Burlingame, Calilfornia (1995-1998)

Sole ownership of 3rd-party SDK and testing environment (written primarily in Visual-C++ with some MASM).
Enhanced Siera’s “Jack Nicholson’s Golf” to allow multi-player over the Internet.
Heavily involved in development of GILS (Game Install and Launch System) tool for AOL’s game channel.
Responsible for wrapping and releasing in-house libraries to 3rd-party developers.
Responsible for enhancing testing environment to keep it in-line with ‘real’ code.       
Responsible for all endian conversion routines that run on the client side.
Responsible for teaching SDK classes.
Enhanced testing environment to support multiple terminals connected over a LAN using TCP-IP.     
Created simplified way of switching between local and network testing.
Created automatic endian converter to help in integration of new libraries.

Software Engineer – Interactive Network, San Jose, California (1993-1995)

Created “IN-Cryptions”, “I Know, I Know”, “Math Wheels”, and “IN The Crib”.

Fully automated the porting of game code between GAS (test) and production. In my first two months at Interactive, I replaced the manual porting procedures (a 2-4 hour per game process) with a completely automated one-button procedure (that takes 20 seconds).  This allowed us to go to a completely single source development environment.

Created pre-compiler to add limited data typing to GAS-code.  In addition pre-compiler supports limited label-saving conventions used with ‘IF’ and ‘WHILE’ statements.  This solved the multiple assembler source problem that required large programs to be broken up into small chunks in order for the macro-assembler to handle it.

Created standard commercial format to be used with all of my off-line games.

Significantly enhanced “Maze Runner” and two existing trivia games.

Software Engineering Consultant – KUB Systems Inc., IGC, and Digicom, California (1993)

(KUB Systems Inc.)  In a six week period, I ported 30,000+ lines of a Borland C++ Broadcast Automation application to MetaWare High-C++.  Using PharLap’s DOS Extender which allows Protected Mode portions of the application to communicate with Real Mode portions.  The application communicates with a Mac and a special Digital Video board (through direct access of low memory reads and writes).  The single source port allows dual compilation by the Borland and High-C compilers including extensive use of the Rogue Wave 5.1 libraries (with Template instantiation).

(IGC)  Reversed engineered Windows to run as a DPMI client under IGS’s operating system VM-386.  Using IGC’s assembler level debugger and the “Undocumented DOS” book, I was able to get the Windows kernel to make a DPMI call while under VM-386.

(Digicom)  Completed a Stereo Rack system prototype to go with an audio-visual card to run in the Windows environment.  Had never programmed in Windows before but I got the prototype up and running during my initial four-day stretch.

Software Engineer – Tandem Computers Incorporated, Cupertino, California  (1990 – 1992)

Constructed a low-cost Unix workstation integrated with multiple Tandem hosts. Responsible for several successful quality IPMs for the Transaction Monitoring Facility.Responsible for designing new testware, as well as TPR verification and Softdoc Review.

Senior Programmer Analyst – Triad Systems, Livermore, California (1984 – 1990)

Designed and  implemented –

Auto-generation of 120 programs to port COBOL files from a TI to a UNIX platform.
Q/A database interface verification tool for comparison of multiple file systems.
Report Queue Management system with support for Data Communication and Spooling.
Automated file rebuild system saving over $100,000 during the first two years.
System wide changes to increase the terminal capacity by 40%.
Bisynchronous Communication Test Utility for Field Service Personnel.
Automated customer conversion for 4 software release levels.  Estimated savings of 15,000 man hours per release.
Space saving methodologies which reduced disk usage by 20%, permitting release of several software levels.

Programmer Analyst – Shoney’s South Incorporated, Memphis, Tennessee (1983 – 1984)

Created an on-line tax credit tracking system saving $250,000 the first year.
Cut run times of several existing programs (Payroll Batch System) by as much as 80%.

Programmer Analyst – Victory Markets, Norwich, New York (1982 – 1983)

Teacher (Evening Classes) – Ridley Lowel, Binghamton, New York (1982-1983)

Programmer – Albany Savings Bank, Albany, New York (1981 – 1982)

30 Comments

  1. Lucia Permowicz says:

    I love your games. I buy them without even a trial. (I even go back and replay sometimes in between versions) I think it would be great if you were to create a facebook version where people play against each other one on one with the same layout, like “solitaire Arena”. Then there could be an app and we could play it on our tablets. Or even just the app would be great.

  2. Jenifer Kidd says:

    Hi, Joe! Loving Clutter V! (As well as all the others!) if you are gonna release on iOS, this solves my iPhone 6 dilemma, I will go for the big one! Lol! Thanks for your hard work and great quality games!

  3. Donna says:

    Hi Joe,

    I was wondering why I can’t pick up where I left off in Clutter III when I come back to the game. I will reach a certain level in the Void Quest and if I have to exit, when I come back I find that I have to start at the beginning again. Am I missing something? Is there a way to save where you’re at and then resume at that point when you come back to the game? I love your Clutter games. Keep them coming!

    • joe says:

      Hi Donna:
      Have you already won the Quest once? (There might be a bug there).
      Otherwise, try changing names and see if that helps.
      (It might be a permissions thing on your appData area…but in general, that shouldn’t be it).
      Joe

  4. Ed Gillette says:

    Joe,
    I loved reading your resume. It filled in the big gap between today and the Phi on Sunset Terrace of the mid 70’s. Glad to read that life has been good to you.
    I read that your puzzles are not yet workable on my iPad. If that is correct, I will wait patiently for the iPad versions to appear next year.
    In Ichthus,
    Ed

  5. joe says:

    Hi Pat:
    I consider many, many things when I try to add more variations to the Clutter games.
    1. The “never ending” games are timed faster…and learning to “notice” the new ones coming in…is supposed to be part of the intermittent “fun” of those levels.
    2. I thought about not doing the food levels…but…people are getting sick of the same old Clutter…and I had a lot of food items that I thought looked interesting enough to be included. Sorry about that.
    3. The Big/Small variation originally started with a Blue/Red coloring and I thought it was awesome but Ana thought it looked too awful to be included (and although it was awesome gameplay-wise…it was kind of ugly and too much like Black and White mode so I created the Big/Small instead).

    Thanks again for the great feedback.

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