A Brief History of Logicly
While attending university, Josh Tynjala received a brief introduction to logic gates in a class on computer architecture. During one afternoon session, his professor demonstrated a simple logic gate simulation applet that he had discovered on the web. It offered rather crude features, and the professor asked the class if anyone might be interested in recreating the applet to improve it. Josh thought it would be an interesting project, but he couldn't find time for it between all his other homework and his involvement in extracurriculars.
Several years later, Josh was enjoying a bottle of cider and a cool breeze on the patio during some much-needed vacation time. Lost in thought, he was suddenly reminded of his professor's request, and he challenged himself to finally create that logic simulator as a fun weekend project. Only a few days into his vacation, Josh opened up his editor and started coding. He named the result Logicly, and he uploaded it to his personal blog to share it with others.
Over the next couple of years, Logicly quietly promoted itself. Word of mouth eventually brought it positive response from the web communities at HackerNews, Reddit, and StumbleUpon. Unprompted, people were sharing screenshots, and even videos, of digital circuits far more complex than Josh had imagined anyone building with Logicly. Finally, with enthusiastic emails coming in week after week from educators, students, and computer science enthusiasts, Josh realized that Logicly actually had a real audience. In the summer of 2010, Josh opened his editor again, and Logicly was reborn.
About Josh Tynjala
Josh has been architecting Rich Internet Applications for over half a decade, and he is recognized among his peers as a leader in the RIA community. Throughout his career, Josh has worked with companies like Adobe, Yahoo!, BT, Business Objects, and Cisco to provide significant improvements to their web applications—refining both user-facing experiences and behind-the-scenes code quality. In 2009, he started an indie game company, Bowler Hat Games, where he explored the challenges of authoring content for mobile devices. With Logicly, Josh seeks to improve the experience of designing and learning about digital circuits. The immense enthusiasm of Logicly's users keeps him continually inspired, and he is excited to see the community grow with Logicly as it morphs from a personal project into a full-fledged software product. When Josh isn't writing code, he sings karaoke in the Japantown district of San Jose, CA.