Hi! I'm Jochem, and I like to build things.

When I was young, I would carry a Nonogram puzzle book practically anywhere. In these grid-based puzzles, series of numbers vaguely describe what the contents of every row and column should look like. Correctly deduce for every cell whether it should be filled and you'll find that the unique solution becomes a nicely drawn image!

Once I learned some basics of programming in high school, Nonograms were the first thing I wanted to try my new coding skills on. I taught a computer to repeatedly try out all the tricks I would look for when solving these puzzles and see how far it would get - on small grids, it was able to solve the puzzles in seconds! It was the coolest thing I had ever seen in my life.

I then learned many interesting techniques in mathematics and combinatorial optimization during college. Using these techniques, it became possible to build a solver that could solve practically any Nonogram - even without using any of my tricks. A whole world of ideas then opened up to me, with fun projects that would at first have seemed too complex now becoming possible.

I also picked up skills in web app development and building interfaces over the years. This made it possible to make my hobby projects more accessible, allowing you to interact with them by clicking some pretty buttons instead of typing commands on a code-filled black screen like you see hackers do in the movies.

After graduating, I decided it would be fun to create a place where people can check out and interact with the projects I've built over the years. That resulted in this site, which you have now found! If you're curious, make sure to check out the projects page. And if you've got an idea for a project that could use my skillset, make sure to reach out!