Lyvathon: first steps

Today I made a list of the first 5 steps in implementing Lyvathon. After finishing Step 5 I intend to post a help-wanted notice on SourceForge, to recruit Python programmers as well as web programmers who know server-side languages and web development frameworks. Those individuals I recruit will help me transform Lyvathon from a bare-bones language for server-side web programming to a useful tool for professional programmers. Those 5 steps are as follows:

1. Finish user authentication
2. Implement image collection manager
3. Implement Lyvathon (console mode)
4. Combine Lyvathon with Flask
5. Convert image collection manager from Python to Lyvathon

Lyvathon will be developed using Python, Flask, and MySQL. Step 3 is the hardest step, since it involves developing a brand-new programming language which I call Lyvathon. I expect it will take up to one year to implement all 5 steps, and the entire project will be up and running before this decade is out. So that's my own personal moonshot, in a nutshell (said the certifiable techie --I must be having delusions of grandeur once again --nevertheless, at least I'll be busy for some time to come, and that beats vegetating half the time).

Lyvathon: reinventing my oldest project

What used to be my games program years ago is now called Lyvathon. Lyvathon.org is a platform that hosts and monetizes web apps, and includes 2 brand-new open source languages: Lyvathon (similar to Python), and LVM (similar to HTML). Eventually Lyvathon-based web apps will be hosted at Lyvware.com. Lyvathon is implemented using Python, Flask, and MySQL.

Lyvaic: changes to documentation

I recently made a lot of changes to my Lyvaic.com project, which are summarized below:

1. Simplified business model (see Revenue Sources)
2. Lyvaic.com u/p subdirectory structure (project URLs)
3. Handling inappropriate content posted by users
4. Lyvathon as language for developing desktop apps
5. Table-slides as multi-page documents
6. Desktop apps manipulate documents in previous point
7. Lots of changes to Database Tables
8. Approaching Specialisterne and then the DMZ
9. DMZ connects me with Venture Capitalist
10. VC funds salary of Python programmer
11. Development to take 2 years before going live
12. VC funds salary of CEO after going live

Revenue Sources:

1. Subscription fees
2. Google AdSense ads for non-subscribers
3. Data usage fees for power users
4. LyvAIDE code editor for non-subscribers
5. Royalties: 10 percent of sales of Lyvathon software (user-to-user)
6. Financial transactions: 3 percent (user-to-user)

The next step is to force new users to pick a user name in addition to entering an email address and password, which entails a fair amount of changes to my existing user authentication Python code. I expect to finish that task by Monday. So as far as Lyvaic is concerned, it's full speed ahead!

Lyvaic is the new MoPyica

I changed the name of my project from MoPyica to Lyvaic (took me about 45 minutes). The old name was somewhat awkward, and people might have made fun of me by calling it Myopica. Lyvaic = Lyv(athon) + (mos)aic, which is a mosaic of images and text. Lyvathon = L(isp) + (p)ython + (ja)va, and borrows features from those 3 languages: Lisp, Python, and Java. You can visit my site by clicking on Lyvaic.com. Now I've come full circle, as the first business that I've ever been involved in starting was Mosaic Desktop Publishing in 1991. I was their tech expert, and worked there for 5 years.

Recently I discovered that many images on the Net (and most porn images) are not free, you have to pay licensing fees if you want to post them on your blog or some other website such as MoPyica.com. That discovery made me realize that my porn-based business model was no longer valid, so I changed my business model to hosting websites and charging web hosting fees. That meant that I now have to implement Lyvathon in order to monetize my website. I'm glad that Lyvaic no longer has anything to do with the porn industry.

Later today I must write 3 lines of code to call 2 helper functions: generate random password and set the password of the current user ("forgot password" feature). After I implement the image collection managing functionality of Lyvaic, I must approach Specialisterne so they can help me recruit an autistic programmer who knows Python and/or server-side web programming. He will work for free for 4 to 6 months in exchange for equity, and after that he will be paid a competitive wage. Then I will submit an application to join the Digital Media Zone at Ryerson University, which is an incubator for tech start-ups. If they don't reject my application then I will have to pitch my Lyvaic business plan to the folks at DMZ. I already made 3 pitches to StartMeUp Ryerson, which was affiliated with DMZ but no longer exists. Those 3 pitches were made for older projects at various times in the past 3 years, and for each pitch I received feedback from a panel of 3 industry experts. I must now spend a few months writing code before I'm ready to approach Specialisterne.

Monetizing MoPyica

I feel that my previous plan to invent a new web programming language, along with social networking for MoPyica, is too grandiose. After MoPyica.com is up and running, I intend to monetize it by selling subscriptions to men who want to view porn. All image folder names and image captions that contain XXX will be flagged as porn. Every user has a 3-way setting: enable porn, disable porn (the default), hide porn. Those users who choose to enable porn can access porn folders/images. Those users who choose to hide porn do not see porn folders/images when browsing the image collections of other users. Non-subscribers can only view the top ten porn images of other users, and cannot use the copy command to copy porn images of other users. All images which contain nudity must make use of the concealing bar tool to hide intimate details. Only subscribers can make those concealing black bars disappear when using the locally hosted version of MoPyica (only on their own local drives). I will not approach Josef Nulman of Specialisterne. That's the way the porno cookie crumbles.

No more developing a porn site

I have been advised that developing a porn site is not cool. MoPyica.com is now just a website that lets you manage your image collection online, no more hosting soft-core porn. When that's up and running I hope to monetize it by inventing a new web programming language called Lyvathon.org. Prior to implementing Lyvathon I intend to approach an organization called Specialisterne (they find IT jobs for those on the autism spectrum). I want them to help me recruit a Python programmer, who will pick up where I left off and make MoPyica much more elaborate. Meanwhile I will be implementing Lyvathon. Tomorrow I intend to finish implementing the "forgot password" feature, except I may not get around to writing the code that performs the actual password reset and sends the new password via email (although those 2 tasks are fairly straightforward to implement). Now I'm going to pig out on mini-donuts covered with white powdered sugar, and then I'm off to bed. It's wonderful to have a software project to fill my days. Boredom sucks. Time for a sugar snack.

User Authentication

I'm almost finished implementing user authentication for MoPyica.com, enabling the user to log in or sign up (I'm in the middle of implementing the "forgot password" feature). After the user logs in, he is presented with a web page containing 4 buttons and a logout link near the upper right-hand corner. Those buttons are SFW, NSFW, Both, and Help. The Help button toggles on/off the display of the following message: "If you're unsure what the button captions mean, please click on SFW." So as you can see, MoPyica includes both pornographic and more neutral images, competing with Instagram and Picasa.