Southee

/ about

I'm Sam S, aka Southee (full alias SoutheeWesty), a Year 9 student in Australia, and I love making things with code. I mostly work with C++, C#, Python, Java, HTML and React, and I work with APIs a lot too.

Right now my main project is Skyfactor, which I'm in the middle of reworking properly. I've also got StudSys24, and I run Water Bear Group. I've also got a YouTube channel and a Twitch channel.

As for the future, I haven't locked anything in. I'd love to be a pilot, an air traffic controller in Sydney, a chef, or a software engineer, and I'm keeping all four doors open for now.

• Based inAustralia
• SchoolYear 9
• SpeaksEnglish, Hindi, Punjabi, Japanese, German
• Codes inC++, C#, Python, Java, HTML, React, APIs
• BuildingSkyfactor (rework), StudSys24
• RunsWater Bear Group
• Find me onYouTube, Twitch, GitLab, GitHub
• SomedayPilot, Sydney ATC, chef or software engineer

/ projects

Featured project

Skyfactor

In development

One of my products, and my main project right now. It's going through a heavy rework, so expect things to change a lot.

StudSys24

Coming soon

A student systems project.

Just Study and Lock In

Coming soon

A study and focus project.

Daily Lock In

Coming soon

A daily focus project.

Just For Free

Coming soon

Send in something you'd like remade, and I'll rebuild it for free and open-source it.

Send something in →

Random Stuff

Coming soon

A home for random experiments.

Water Bear Group

An organisation and project I run.

/ hangar

A few aviation photos, all from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each one.

/ someday

Not sure yet. Four options, all still open.

/ stories

• Why I'm rebuilding SkyfactorIt worked, but I knew it could be a lot better. So I'm pulling it apart and doing it properly.

  Skyfactor is one of my products, and right now it's going through a big rework. If you visit skyfactor.southee.net over the next while, things are probably going to look different every time.

  The reason is pretty simple. The more I learn, the more I look back at stuff I built earlier and think "I'd do that completely differently now." At some point patching it stops making sense and it's better to rebuild the parts that matter.

  Rebuilding is slower than adding new features, and it's not as exciting to show people. But I'd rather have something I actually understand top to bottom than something held together with fixes. I'll post more about it once the rework settles down.

• What I'm learning right nowC++, C#, Python, Java, HTML, React and APIs. A lot of languages, and they all teach me something different.

  People sometimes ask why I bother with so many languages instead of sticking to one. Honestly, each one shows me a different way of thinking.

  C++ makes you care about what the computer is actually doing. C# and Java are where I've learned a lot about structuring bigger programs. Python is what I grab when I just want to try an idea quickly. HTML and React are how things end up on a screen that other people can use, and APIs are the glue that lets everything talk to each other.

  I'm definitely not an expert in all of them. I'm still learning, and I'll probably keep saying that for a long time. But switching between them has made me better at each one.

• Aviation, code, and not picking just yetPilot, air traffic controller in Sydney, chef or software engineer. I haven't decided, and I think that's fine.

  If you ask me what I want to do after school, you'll get four answers: pilot, air traffic controller in Sydney, chef, or software engineer.

  That probably sounds all over the place, but to me they have a lot in common. Flying and ATC are about staying calm, following a process and making good calls quickly. Cooking is like that too, just in a kitchen instead of a cockpit. And writing software is the same idea again: break a big problem into steps and get them right.

  I'm in Year 9, so I don't need to pick today. For now I'm going to keep building things, keep learning, and see which path pulls me in the most.