Hello All,I have been away from the flight simulation hobby for some time now, but have returned and am loving how it has progressed! I am in love with the PMDG 737 addon, as I fly it all the time.However, in coming back to the hobby I was thinking that I would develop an application to contribute back to the community. Now, I know a fully featured flight planner that hopefully would grow to be the FliteStar of FS would be a lot of fun to program. I was just wondering, would the community be interested in such an application?Sincerely,Nathan NeitzkeEmbry Riddle Aeronautical UniversityDaytona Beach, FL 32114

>Hello All,>I have been away from the flight simulation hobby for some>time now, but have returned and am loving how it has>progressed! I am in love with the PMDG 737 addon, as I fly it>all the time.>>However, in coming back to the hobby I was thinking that I>would develop an application to contribute back to the>community. Now, I know a fully featured flight planner that>hopefully would grow to be the FliteStar of FS would be a lot>of fun to program. I was just wondering, would the community>be interested in such an application?I'm sure the answer to your question will be an enthusiastic 'Yes', because what else would you expect them to say really ?To do something in the level of the 'FliteStar of FS' will take a considerable amount of time and effort. My estimate would be well over 12 months , especially if you plan on doing it all by yourself. Which that's what it sounds like.Really you'd be better served by just going ahead and developing the project because 'YOU' are interested in doing it, and not be concerned as to whether the community is interested. If/when you come far enough with the project that you believe you will complete it, it is only then that you should begin informing the community of what you have done, and what you intend to do.Because if you only intend to do it if the community shows you enough interest, you are doomed to fail. What will keep you motivated to complete such a large project will be 'YOUR' desire to complete it, not the community's.Regards.Ernie.

A very wise and experienced comment from Ernie, who has spent several years working and tweaking on his FS Build flight planner. FS Build is one of those labors of love that has survived because it offers superior automated flight plans and has a large and personally customizable database put together by volunteers over the years, and it is able to export/import from all major flight plan formats as demand requested. An excellent product that exemplifies Ernie's comments.MDavis

Ernie,Thanks for the comments and I will take them all to heart.However, I doubt it will take 12 months. I have already written an entire mapping layer, along with some of the planning code for a final project during my sophmore year at Embry Riddle.The cool part is since it is written in a high-productivity language - C# and on the .NET platform I can usually pump out features pretty fast.There has been very little demand here on the forum, but I am going to do the project anyways as you say I should.And btw - I didn't ask for a lecture on software development. I want to develop something the COMMUNITY wants, not that I want. I can finish a project if I start it.Sincerely,Nathan NeitzkeEmbry Riddle Aeronautical UniversityDaytona Beach, FL 32114

>There has been very little demand here on the forum, but I am going >to do the project anyways as you say I >should.>>And btw - I didn't ask for a lecture on software development. I >want to develop something the COMMUNITY >wants, not that I want. I >can finish a project if I start it.Sorry you took it as a 'lecture'.The advice was sound, but hey, you know yourself better than anyone. Good luck on the projectRegards.Ernie.

Ernie,Thank you much. Did you get the email I sent you? I really do take your comments to heart.Thanks,Nathan Neitzke

Oh dear, oh dear!Ernie gave some honest advice to your question, in fact, I didn't see anything in his post that lectured you about software development! The forums are full of bad tempered posts so the attitude in your last paragraph will be greeted with dismay by many of the regulars to this and other forums.Ernie is a well respected developer of a flight planning utility, that I have been using for a while now. You may think he would be the last person to offer some advice but he gave it anyway - I read his reply as a friendly 'been there done that' post!There are many differing views on what a planning utility should be. Many love FSNav but I personally don't like it at all - show other traffic on the screen and your own plane, humbug ;-). FSBuild gives me the professional planning features that I really need when planning a flight. So, you may develop for the serious simmer or the casual gamer, either way you will find people who will use your software.I too am a software developer but not in the sim field and I was dismayed by your attitude! Your first post gave no indication to progress on a project or to your level of 'expertise' either, so that is why you got the reply you did from Ernie. I too read your post and thought, 'oh dear, this person is about to find out the hard way'!So, good luck with YOUR project and if you give it the tender loving care and the passion shown By Ernie Alston, you will have a sure fire winner ;-)Ray Keattch

I beg to differ Ray, while I know of Ernies creditials, his advice did come across that way a bit, even though it may not have been intended, maybe the use of "YOUR" is what did it.I see nothing wrong with developing for the community as well as yourself, afterall, many look for kudos and pats on the back and what better way to get them than to develop something others want and enjoy. I read the initial post and thought, here is someone that wants to develop a program, and wants to see what kind of demand there might be for it, if any. Since he seems to care if the "community" is interested in it's development, I tend to look at it as not "HIS" project, but "ours". Probably another case of taking the written word the wrong way. Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VAwww.calvirair.comCougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviationwww.cgrmtnhelos.com

I thought 'And btw - I didn't ask for a lecture on software development' was over the top, but I do agree the written word can be taken out of context ;-). With so many talented people leaving the hobby I was a little worried with his comments to Ernie to be honest :-).As his technical knowlege only became apparent in his second post, I thought Ernies post was a well balanced reply to the first post.Ray Keattch.

>I see nothing wrong with developing for the community as well as >yourself, afterall, many look for kudos and pats on the >back and >what better way to get them than to develop something others want >and enjoy. Oh brother !Where did anybody say it was wrong to develop for the community ??He asked if there was community interest in his project. Clearly inferring he hadn't decided to do the project yet.I tried to give him a reason to go ahead complete the project whether he had community interest or not.I fail to see what was so wrong about that, I really do.Oh well live and learn. I won't make this mistake again, I'll keep my advice on this touchy issue to myself from now on.Regards.Ernie.