Interests & Projects

Interests & Projects

Alan Burr's Web site

Interests & Projects Photo Album Favorites

 

Interests & Projects
Photo Album
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I am interested in a multitude of topics, but most (all of the ones listed below) are related to software development. I also am interested in photography (see my photo album) and music (piano).

Below you can find information on my projects. Most of my projects are developed in Python, web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), PHP, Java, or C#.

Web Music Player A web-based music (playlist, movie, TV show, and audiobook) player for Windows servers built in Python using Flask and Jinja templates, featuring a now playing screen, library browsing, and time-synced lyrics. Development started in fall 2023. The user interface was designed from scratch but influenced by iTunes and built in HTML, Bootstrap CSS, vanilla JavaScript, and other custom CSS. Libraries are managed through iTunes, as the application connects to iTunes via COM and retrieves the library that way. Supported media (for your browser) will be played directly in-browser or converted using FFMpeg (ALAC) if not supported. This project is largely ready to be released, but has not yet been open-sourced.

Grade Book Web Application A web-based grade book for high school and college students built in PHP using Laravel framework with Blade templates and an SQLite backend database. Development started in spring 2023. The application includes features for organizing courses, assignments, weighted categories, learning standards, attendance, and GPA calculation. The user interface was designed from scratch but influenced by PowerSchool and built in HTML, Bootstrap CSS, vanilla JavaScript and some jQuery, and other custom CSS. The project was not designed with college students in mind but quickly adapted to their needs. This project is still in development as many features can only be manipulated via database alterations directly and do not have a web component; thus, it has not been open-sourced yet. A native Windows application

Ambient Dashboard A home monitor displaying the time, weather, featured photos, and currently playing AirPlay media. The application was developed in Python using GTK 4.0 and other GObject (is that what they're called?) libraries. Development started in spring 2026. The interface was built to resemble the Windows 10 Lock Screen. The display is designed for continuous daytime operation on a Linux-based system, and automatically puts the physical monitor into standby (off) at night and turns it back on in the morning. Weather data (including temperature and its description, humidity, heat index, warning, and air quality) is sourced from government APIs (weather.gov and airnow.gov). Featured photos are controlled via images, and can be copied directly; the application also fetched images from Windows Spotlight daily, although this can be disabled. AirPlay information is retrieved from an MQTT server running ShairPlay; some additional metadata may be sourced from a filesystem named pipe. The application is designed to be fully independent of a pre-existing graphical environment, as it creates and Xorg server and OpenBox client itself. The application is largely ready to be released, but has not yet been open-sourced.

Robot Code As part of FRC team 5724 Spartan Robotics (from Salem, VA), I developed lots of teleoperated and autonomous robot code in Java using the WPILib framework. Specifically, I wrote code for the 2025 (REEFSCAPE) and 2026 (REBUILT) seasons. For the 2024 season, I wrote computer vision systems using Python including a custom ApriTag distance and angle detection system, and an object distance detection system using color recognition on a PixyCam. All robot code and related subsystems that I have written can be found on the team's GitHub organization page. I recently created a video explainer series for the team's 2026 robot code, available here on my site and on YouTube!

 

 

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