Freshman brings his computer talents -- and his software program -- to CU

Computer science major freshman David Sun displays his software program TurboZip Express in his Donlon Hall room. Charles Harrington/University Photography

By Bill Steele

It's not uncommon for Cornell computer science students to be doing a little commercial programming on the side. Freshman David Sun just started a little earlier than most, writing his first professionally marketed software at the age of 16. One result is that Cornellians now have use of that software for free.

The program is TurboZIP Express, a fast, easy-to use utility for creating and decompressing Windows ZIP and CABinet files. The latest version offers the ability to view compressed files, including graphics files, without decompressing them. (ZIP, for the uninitiated, is a method for compressing computer files so they take up less disk space and travel more swiftly over the Internet.)

Partly in honor of Sun's arrival at Cornell this year, Pacific Gold Coast Corporation of Locust Valley, N.Y., has granted the university a free site license for the program.

The program, Sun says, is being marketed worldwide and is "doing very well," as is another program he recently wrote, WinSettings, which helps people manage the Windows desktop. TurboZIP is currently available in English, French, German, Japanese and Portuguese versions. It is the standard compression software for the Dutch educational system for all levels of schools and universities in the Netherlands. In addition to Cornell, it is being used at the NYU Stern School of Business and in SUNY Stony Brook's department of physics and astronomy.

Sun's parents are both computer professionals, but while he was always interested in computers, he didn't really become involved in programming until he took a course in the Pascal language during his sophomore year in high school. He spent the following summer learning the C language, and at the age of 15 went to work at Pacific Gold Coast Software, where his mother, Dr. Ta-Na Lee, is senior vice president of technology. At age 16 with, he says, some help and advice from his mother, he wrote the first version of TurboZIP.

"David Sun is a very talented software programmer and has been a key employee at the technical end at Pacific Gold Coast Corp. even for his young age, " said Yao H. Chu, chairman and CEO of the company.

Sun's parents are originally from Taiwan, but Sun was born in Long Island and grew up there and in various parts of New Jersey. He attended Lawrence High School in New Jersey. His resume bristles with AP and honors classes.

As a freshman Sun hasn't officially declared an affiliation, but he plans to major in computer science. His web site features a description of his desktop computer, which would make a lot of senior CS majors salivate (400 Mhz Pentium with lots of multimedia bells and whistles). On the side, he's developed an interest in Japanese animation and is taking a seminar on writing mystery stories.

TurboZIP Express is available for downloading via the Cornell Software Information Directory page at http://www.cit.cornell.edu/software/licenses/.