Damn it feels good to be a programmer!

At 10:56pm EST I finally accomplished what I thought would take me ages. I successfully used PHP to read in a mod music file, calculate hz/bpm/speed changes and account for special pattern break commands which jump ahead to the next bit of music . When all these complex calculations had finished my beloved, hand crafted, limited edition, mod reader told me the test song was 4:12 minutes long…

So what was the real length of the song as reported in a full mod file player such as Winamp? Yep, you guessed it. 4:12 minutes! Woohoo!

I feel like a programmer now more than ever. I took on a massive challenge and it payed off big time. I also learned a lot along the way including a better understanding of binary+hexadecimal formats, time calculations, C code and an intimate understanding of the mod file format. Oooh sexy.

Music is something I’ve always been in love with and one of the few things I have a really good memory for. To be to use my new programming skills to build a system for sharing that music makes me feel quite giddy inside.

So, what’s next on the agenda? Forging the last few bits of code to handle advanced features like “position jump” and “pattern delay”. These effects are not used in every mod song but I want to create a really complete reader than can tackle my whole collection.

Once those bits are done it’s on to code optimization (I already have some good ideas on this) and beautification before finally launching the new music section.

It’s funny how this litte self created project turned from a simple title/sample listing to a full fleged mod reader.

Ah the passion, she is back.