Meet a Developer #2 — interview with ac0v
Meet a Developer is an interview series with Burst developers from all backgrounds to get their insight on development. In this second episode, we interviewed ac0v, a member of the PoC Consortium working primarily on the Burst wallet.
Hi ac0v. Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
ac0v: I’m one of these guys who started programming at six years old and now going straight towards the 40ies. I’m currently working for different companies as a professional DevOp.
What was your first experience with Burst?
a.: I started working on Burst some weeks before the issues with the original wallet appeared. I started mining and got my own pool up and running a few weeks before that, because I was interested in the technology in general.
Frustrated by the unstable network we had at this point, I decided to hack a mysql/mariadb implementation of the wallet because all attempts to get the prior database backend h2 stable and reliable ended up in a disaster. After having this new and scalable burst backend up and running I tried (hard, very hard) to get the well known old burst explorer up and running, but I understood that this was not the way to go due to all of the issues we needed to get rid of. So I created the new block explorer which is the first block explorer to be directly bound to the wallets database — and is still the fastest one around there due to its unique backend design.
More recently, I created packages for different burst tools and platforms to allow for an easier wallet installation.
What are you currently working on?
a.: I am currently working on an embedded version of the wallet for MacOS/Windows/Linux not based on h2 — because in my opinion h2 may not be as stable as it should be for a backend. At the moment I’m working on fixing some syncing issues with this version that would affect the Smart Contracts feature, which is one of the most amazing features that makes Burst unique compared to other crypto coins.
What can people expect in the upcoming version of the wallet?
a.: BraindeadOne has abstracted many database functionalities and implemented a quicksync. The quicksync allows newcomers to synchronize their initial wallet faster. The abstraction of the database backend would allow to migrate existing h2 based wallets with a easy switch to the version we offer. Quibus works mainly on the usability for windows users and plans to bring up some other nice stuff to his launcher after we released the next stable wallet version.
Exciting. Can you share some features planned for future versions?
a.: Currently the plan is to bring the wallet — the backbone of burst — to the next level. This is something we believe should not be done by being feature creepy. We want to avoid software bloat and over-complication. We will mainly work on automated tests, which assure quality first. Besides this, different usability matters are planned for the wallet.
What is it like to work with the PoC Consortium?
a.: I must say it is amazing to work together on Burst, we have reached a high level of quality and professionalism within the PoCC — which is also true for other associated developers who help on stuff like the wallet.
What future do you see for Burst?
a.: I think the real potential of Burst is currently not used. It feels like many people out there think that mining a coin and converting it to Bitcoin is the only thing an altcoin is good for. But this coin offers much more. It can offer to all of us a secure alternative to do business independently of conventional systems. I believe that the combination of energy efficiency and fairness of Proof-of-Capacity and the Smart Contracts technology allows burst to stand out from the crowd.
While there are some politicians who think that global warming is fake, I believe that the efficiency of Proof-of-Capacity compared to Proof-of-Work will get important in time. Do not forget the development force that has come to burst. There will be spectacular improvements. This leads me to think that the price will also go up — slowly or not, but the general trend would be something others call “to the moon”.
Anything you would like to say to our readers?
a.: Contribute to Burst with good things and talk about them, spot the bad things and help to correct them. No need to reinvent the wheel.
How can people track your progress?
a.: All news are published on the PoCC Twitter and on the GetBurst forum. The development version (uneven version number) of the Wallet can be found on my GitHub. I was often asked for the explorer code. That’s something which can not be made open source, as it includes intellectual property of some companies.
Thank you for your time.
Interview by Tom Créance (@Gadrah) on 10/06/2017
Originally published at The Burstcoin.ist — Your #1 News Resource about Burst!.
