Matthew Mikolay



Hi there! Welcome to my corner of the internet. My name is Matthew Mikolay, often called mattmik. I'm currently a student at Rutgers University in New Jersey majoring in computer science and minoring in mathematics. My hobbies include food writing, swing dancing, and collecting vintage computers.

On this page, you'll find a little bit about the programs and projects to which I've contributed and much, much more. Feel free to look around.

For my food writing resume, please see food.mattmik.com

Programs

The following is a brief list of programs on which I've worked. For a more complete list, click here!
Mixxx 2012
Mixxx is a top notch open source DJing program capable of competing with commercial DJ software. In the summer of 2012, I took part in Google Summer of Code with Mixxx.
Mixxx Website
ReRap 2011
ReRap is an interpreter for the English dialect of the Rapira programming language. Rapira was a procedural programming language created in the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Google Code Page
vowels 2011
vowels is an esoteric programming language designed to explore alternative ways to pass data to command calls. By using the repetition of vowel letters, the vowels programming language breaks free from the conventional system of parameters and arguments.
Google Code Page
chasm 2010
CHIP-8 is an interpreted programming language developed by Joseph Weisbecker for the COSMAC VIP computer in 1977. chasm is a pseudo-assembler for the CHIP-8 language used to simplify programming.
Google Code Page

Publications

  • Extension-based Security Exploits in Firefox
    June 2010
    Matthew J. Mikolay, Vincent N. Sparacio, Tara C. Nealon, Caleb J. Levine, Reid D. McKenzie
    Advised by Vinod Ganapathy, Professor of Computer Science, Rutgers University
    Download
  • A Basic ASCII Art Algorithm
    July 24, 2012
    A brief tutorial describing a rather straightforward algorithm for converting bitmap data to grayscale or color ASCII art
    Online Version
  • Computing at Rutgers
    Work In Progress
    A brief history of computing at Rutgers
    Online Version
  • Mastering CHIP-8
    Work In Progress
    An introduction to the CHIP-8 programming language
    Online Version
  • PC World Community Voices Blogger
    November 2007 - August 2008

Retrocomputing

I consider myself a collector of vintage computers; my basement is filled with a variety of machines from years gone by. In the past, I've volunteered my time for the MidAtlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists at their vintage computer museum in Wall, NJ.

In August of 2008, I founded the COSMAC VIP group, an online community dedicated to preserving the history of the RCA COSMAC VIP computer.

Click here to browse for documents relating to vintage computers, specifically the COSMAC VIP and COSMAC ELF!

Click here to see a list of the vintage computers and video games in my collection!