Zombie apocalypse how?

Ever wondered just how a Zombie attack could play out in your town—or what a Zombie apocalypse might actually look like? By the end of this year, it’s quite probable that student Jacob Duligall will be able to answer those questions, and more. He’s currently developing software that will simulate the spread of Zombie disease through a virtual city, turning everyday (virtual) folk into the flesh-eating un-dead.

“As any good Zombie fan will tell you, Zombie-ism is spread by disease,” says Jacob, a fourth-year student who is studying towards a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours, majoring in Software Engineering. “By building a system that models a Zombie apocalypse, I’ll also be able to create a simplified simulation of how real diseases—such as colds or flu, or even Ebola—are spread.”

Able to choose the direction the project will take, Jacob is focusing on enabling the system to deal with a range of diseases, and allowing users to specify how the Zombies behave—rather than the alternative, making a more accurate model of the virtual city. He will, however, devote some time to adding geographic data by laying real maps over the top of the simulation to enhance user experience. “I’ll be able to pick a person’s home town, wherever it is in the world, and overlay the relevant map to show Zombies invading his or her town or home!”

Using Java to implement the system, Jacob says he is really enjoying the visual simulation aspect of the project as it means working at the front-end of software development. “If I make a change to the code, I can almost instantly see a change to what’s depicted on screen. Working at the back-end of development, on servers and gateways, is usually a less visually responsive exercise.”

At the end of the project, Jacob will look for volunteers to test his simulation program, and he’ll write a report evaluating his findings.

Jacob’s supervisor, Roman Klapaukh, says he wanted Jacob to tackle a real-world problem—the spread of disease—and build a system from scratch, using all the skills he’s learnt during the past three years of study. “When he finishes his project, Jacob will have a fantastic block of work to add to his portfolio that shows future employers just what his capabilities are,” says Roman.

Jacob, who is originally from Havelock North, chose Victoria because of its strong focus on, and good reputation for, Engineering and Computer Science. “One of my favourite subjects in Year 12 was computing. We had to build our own educational game, which I really enjoyed, although I didn’t actually learn to write code until I started at Victoria.”

So what are his career plans when he graduates? “I’m hoping to turn my internship at Snapper into a full-time job,” he says. Jacob is already working part-time at Snapper—a New Zealand contactless payment system—after being introduced to the company through his course work at Victoria.

“When we studied agile development as part of our course work, Snapper’s chief technology officer, Norman Cumerford, was one of our mentors,” Jacob explains. “He ended up offering me and three others the opportunity to join Snapper as interns. I’ve been working on mobile app development there during the holidays (and part time during term time) and I'm really enjoying it. It would be the ultimate for me if I could go straight from university into a job I love!”