Chemskillbuilder Online is a college level, online homework/practice problems application for college-level chemistry classes. The client tasked us to convert a VBscript-based CD-ROM to a web application. The resulting site uses Flash, PHP and MySQL to create a dynamic learning experience.
This program presented many challenges. One of the biggest was re-creating the VBscript functionality in Actionscript. The VBscript had little to no comments to help guide us. By using object-oriented programming we made the code more manageable.
Another big challenge had to do with displaying the chemistry and math functions. Flash had no way of displaying sub- and superscripts in dynamic text. I devised a way to display the correct characters. I also developed a method in which the users could enter sub- and superscripts when answering questions. We encountered similar problems (and developed solutions) with strike-throughs when showing how equations were solved.
My employer went through re-organizing and down-sizing during this project. My duties as lead developer were expanded to include the project manager's responsibilities. I quickly gained the client's trust, so much so that when my employer closed their doors for good, the client retained me as a consultant for many months so that I could continue to support the application.