Joel on Software Reader

Joel on Software is a popular online forum where bright and not so bright minds discuss various subjects of IT related stuff. Although I like this forum very much, I think it has has two drawbacks:

• Whenever I go to the forum, I don't know what I have already read. But I want to know where I stopped reading so that I don't have to re-read text. Similarly, if nobody has responded to a topic since my last visit, I want to see that.
• There are some topics that just don't interest me and others that interest me very much. I want to mark the interesting ones and to hide the unintersting ones.

In order to address these drawbacks, I have written a Joel on Software reader.

When it is started up, it lets me choose which of four forums I want to read. By clicking on one of these forums, it shows me the current topics in this forum. There is a yes and a no link right to each topic. Clicking yes marks the topic as intersting. The topic will then be displayed with a yellow background. By clicking no, the topic is marked as unintersting and the topic won't be shown again.

The topic's title is either shown bold or normal. Bold means that there are postings that I have not yet seen while normal font indicates that there are no new postings since the last time that the topic was read.

All postings that belong to a topic can be read by clicking on the topic's title. Then, at the bottom, there will be three links: interesting, lame and back. The first two links mark the topic as yes and no do. back just takes one back to the topic pane.

The data for the program is stored in an SQLite database (named jos.db). This database stores which topics and postings were already read and if a topic is interesting or not.

JOS.db is created when the program is started for the first time. As it is created in the current directory, the program must be started from the same location in order for the program to find jos.db.

The Joel on Software reader can be downloaded from here.

This program can be used as you like. But I cannot be made responsible for any damage it causes.

The program does not install any spyware or other malware.

The project's site is here.