Crossword Puzzle Generator - xword.pl
This UNIX Perl console application generates crossword puzzles from a list of words and clues. It's intended to serve as a backend to programs which gather input data from users, then format the resulting puzzle into a human-readable format. This program is the backend for the crossword generator web application I maintain on ClassHelper.org (click link to try out a live version of the generator). Please feel free to download and use it on your own server.
This program is licensed under the GPL. If you use the software on your own web site, a link to either (1) www.palegray.net -OR- (2) www.classhelper.org is appreciated, but not required. Thank you for your interest in this software!
DOWNLOAD: xword.tar.gz [24Kb]
Site Generator - gen.pl
This is the software that generates the web site you're viewing. I wrote it sitting in the duty bunkroom on base; its only purpose it to generate this web site from a set of source files. You could call it a CMS-Extra-Light sort of app, and I'll be the first to say it's a very badly written hack. If you're a novice programmer, please don't use this as any sort of style guide, or let it darken your opinion of the Perl programming language. If you're an experienced developer, have a good laugh with the understanding that I know better, but didn't care :).
gen.pl - Text Format
gen.pl - PDF Format
gen.pl - HTML Color-Coded Format
You may wonder why I took the time to write this little application at all, given the fact that it's most likely of little use to anyone else. The biggest reason is simple: I wrote it to scratch an itch. It had been a while since I had done any serious programming, and (1) had a need to fill, coupled with (2) some time to kill.
The "need" portion was simply my desire to make a modest attempt at separating content from style on my personal web site, which fulfills a basic tenet of sane web development practices. Without this script, every time I wanted to make a change to the visual layout of my web site, I would have to edit every page of the site by hand. Not an appealing prospect :).
