Ok, I have decided, since I'm hunting for a job, that I would slightly increase my chances if I could set up a site and distribute various small apps that I will make. If nothing else, it will show that I take some initiative. So far I have decided for a small-ish problem/bug tracker(yea, everyone does those...) and a cooking recipe-organization app, but other than that, I'm stuck. So I turn to you, fellow GDNetters! I'm primarily interested in desktop database applications, but there is room for others. Do you have any suggestions for a small, or medium in scope,interesting, and maybe even technically challenging app that could fit in my portfolio and could attract some positive attention?

Thanks, and keep the jokes to a minimum, k?

An idea that I've been kicking around for a while, but haven't set aside any time for development, may be of interest to you. It's multimedia centric, but should require any real multimedia programming.

The problem: Every media player has a media library, but they all seem to be designed around a single type of media, thus making it so that any other type of media is sorted in a manner that seems inappropriate. Additionally, each multimedia application seems good at playing a limited set of file formats while either not being able to decode others or simply doing so poorly. My example is the FLAC format with winamp. Winamp is great with MP3 and OGG, but the version I have does not support FLAC. Video files are even more scattered in what programs do well with them, thus making one want to install VLC and Media Player Classic for video while having audio spread between two or three other applications. This means, that adding a few recordings from Librivox necessitates updating at least two application's media library, and even then they do not keep track of which file's I've already listened to (really irritating when you have episodic style files that are named by number alone: I have to guess where I left off and start listening to a bit to tell if I'm in the right place).

The proposed solution: A pure media library application. It does not play the media, it issues a launch command to the application that it has been configured to use for that file type. Allow division of the library by media type (music, movies, non-movie video, texts, non-music audio, and so forth) as well as type of content so that multiple files of the same thing (think audio book chapters) can be condensed into a single expandable entry (logical folder without being an actual system folder). Support configurable sort specification so a user can override 'the' from the sort algorithm. Keep track of which files have been played and when. Also, because it would be too easy to do so, have different 'profiles' that only serve to keep track of file play history (not individual media libraries).

If I were to do it, I would write it as a pseudo web application so I could take advantage of CSS, thus adding the support for themes and layout modification without actually writing that functionality into the program. This approach also allows easy multi-platform support.

Anyway, it's just an idea that I may or may not ever get around to myself, but would really love to see...

So far I have decided for a small-ish problem/bug tracker(yea, everyone does those...)

While it may be true that everyone does those... I have spent countless hours searching for a decent bug tracker system, and have yet to find one that meets my needs. The same is also true for version control software.

Every single bug tracking system out there seems to be web based, multi-user centric, and allows you to add millions of different fields. I am a sole developer, and all i want is a local based database that contains a handful of basic fields - bug title, bug description, status and date. The ability to add comments would also be handy. Most bug tracking software is far too complex for what it is.

With regards to Version Control, again all software is designed around central servers with mutiple users creating and merging multiple branches. Most of what we deal with in my company are binary files, and therefore branching is not possible. We also work on lots of separate jobs, so we need to be able to create new repositories very easily. Every system I have tried fails on one or more of our key requirements.

Creating some small apps will definitely boost your chances of getting hired - it shows you are capable of doing what you say you can do. I always found it incredibly easy to get hired for web development jobs, primarily because I run a couple of websites, so by providing a link to these in my CV I can instantly prove that I know how to develop a website. These apps dont have to be particularly useful to achieve this, but in your example of bug tracking, i think you will be surprised at just how useful some people may find your app.

Every single bug tracking system out there seems to be web based, multi-user centric, and allows you to add millions of different fields. I am a sole developer, and all i want is a local based database that contains a handful of basic fields - bug title, bug description, status and date.

Excel (no, really).

That said, non-web interfaces are rapidly dying breed. The effort needed to develop such software is so absurdly disproportionate to potential reward that it simply cannot be built anymore. Numbers don't add up.

Just because something is web based doesn't mean it cannot run on your machine.

But as far as practicalities go, there's always that matter of backup, redundancy and similar. The once-a-year situation where individual developers simply cannot afford to cover anymore. Hosted solutions are so popular with individuals for precisely this reason.

With regards to Version Control, again all software is designed around central servers with mutiple users creating and merging multiple branches. Most of what we deal with in my company are binary files, and therefore branching is not possible. We also work on lots of separate jobs, so we need to be able to create new repositories very easily. Every system I have tried fails on one or more of our key requirements.[/quote]

You don't need version control What you need is document management system. They are a completely separate type of product and they are huge in enterprise who deals with a lot of opaque documents (you cannot merge scanned legal document either).