Zane Olds

Teacher, learner, software creator.

Trained in physics and mathematics with a passion for solving hard problems and communicating technical ideas, I’ve spent the last few years teaching a variety of subjects, helping others learn some of what I know: anything from the theorems of calculus and the mysteries of thermodynamics to the subtleties of English grammar or 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

Deployments coming soon; Source code available on request.

Leggera

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 and watch Youtube videos 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.
- 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 and parsing
- Service repository design with dependency injection of database connection and machine learning models
(Not!) Spelling Bee

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

Features

Roadmap

Frontend

Backend

Features

Roadmap

Frontend

Backend