Zane Olds

Teacher, learner, software creator.
Seattle, WA • zaneolds@gmail.com

Trained in physics and mathematics with a passion for solving hard problems and communicating technical ideas, I’ve spent the last few years working as a tutor and teacher of various subjects, helping others learn some of the things I know: anything from the theorems of calculus and the mysteries of thermodynamics to the subtleties of English grammar and the drama of the French revolution.

My passion for learning brought me to studying foreign languages, and then to learning software development to try to make the process easier for myself. Now I'm building educational software and trying to make learning easier for everyone.

Current Projects

These full-stack projects are my primary focus right now.

  • Leggera

    Closed Source
    Play

    A platform for tracking and learning foreign language vocabulary through immersion: learn while reading books and content on the web, and watching videos, shows, and movies.

    Features

    • Read ebooks with inline vocabulary lookup. Dictionary stored locally for 0 latency and offline availability.
    • See new words visibly highlighted before reading, allowing pre-studying to enhance immersion.
    • Mark words as known or learning, and create + export flashcards to Anki for spaced repetition studying.
    • Query LLMs to help understand words in context and add information to flashcards.

    Roadmap

    • Create dashboard views so the user can view their vocabulary progress and gauge their readiness for new content.
    • Integrate word tracking into YouTube viewer to faciliate learning from video content. Use official YouTube API to let users log in and access playlists.
    • Enhance ebook parsing to be more robust in the face of varied ebook formats.
    • Create a browser extension to allow importing arbitrary content from the web.

    Frontend

    • React/Typescript with React Router and Tanstack Query
    • Custom CSS design system and responsive design

    Backend

    • Python/FastAPI
    • Multi-lingual natural language processing with spaCy
    • .epub and YouTube data scraping + parsing
    • Service/repository design with dependency injection of database connection and machine learning models

  • (Not!) Spelling Bee

    Closed Source
    Play

    A clone of the popular word game from the New York Times, but for languages other than English.

    Features

    • Play Spelling Bee in Italian!
    • Use modified input controls to allow inputting of accented characters.
    • Easily click through found words to see definitions from wiktionary
    • Admin dashboard for curation and scheduling of games and editing game data to fine tune word lists.

    Roadmap

    • Set up user authentication and role-based access.
    • Add Spanish and English support, with other languages down the line.
    • Integrate with leggera backend, tie in with language learning features.

    Frontend

    • React/Typescript with React Router and TanStack Query
    • Faithful recreation of the original game with language-specific UI adjustments.

    Backend

    • Python/FastAPI
    • Prefix tree data structure for efficient processing and retrieval of game data

  • Wiktionary Database/API

    Details coming soon

Past Projects

Things I'm not working on currently, but that I either finished or plan to pick back up in the future. I intend to share more details about these and also write in depth about some of them later.

  • Grocery receipt tracker

    Details coming soon

  • Italian grammar construct generator

    Details coming soon

  • Math practice problem generator

    Details coming soon

  • Statistics concept visualizer

    Details coming soon

  • Smart light controller webapp

    Details coming soon

Guided Projects

Structured builds and curriculum-driven projects completed to develop specific skills or to learn more about the tools I use every day.

Coming soon.