The First Software I Ever Built (At Age 15): The Story Behind My Vastu Calculator
When I was about 15, my father an House plan designer showed me how he manually calculated Vastu Shastra floor areas for his designs. Each time he worked on a house plan, he had to calculate eleven parameters, known in Sinhala as “Porondum.” Watching him do all that by hand made me curious.
Back then, I had just started learning about computers and programming. I decided to take on a small challenge: could I make a program that does this automatically?
My First Real Project
Using Visual Basic, I built a simple software that calculated all eleven parameters. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked. My father used it for his real architectural projects, and soon, a few of his friends started using it too. That’s when I realized something important: even simple software can make a big difference if it solves a real problem.
How It Worked
The logic was purely mathematical, based on traditional Vastu formulas.
For example:
Income = (area × 8) mod 12
Expenses = (area × 9) mod 10
The tool analyzed eleven key parameters including Income, Expenses, Nature, Nakshatra, Day, Zodiac, Caste, Deity, and more all from a single floor area input.
Thirteen Years Later
To my surprise, this little tool kept being used for more than thirteen years. My father and other architects relied on it regularly. For something I wrote as a teenager with no formal programming knowledge, that felt special.
The 2025 Rebuild
In 2025, I decided to rebuild the project as a modern web tool so anyone could use it instantly no installation, no dependencies, and completely free. The new version is written in pure HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, making it fast, clean, and mobile-friendly.
You can try it here:
👉 Vastu Floor Area Calculator
What I Learned
Building my first program taught me that curiosity matters more than experience.
Seeing it used for over a decade taught me that usefulness outlasts complexity.
Rebuilding it today reminded me that technology changes, but the purpose stays the same to make life easier.
Looking Back
That small idea, born from watching my father’s work, became the first step of my journey into building meaningful tools. It’s simple, nostalgic, and deeply personal
but it still works.
Read more about my projects at
👉 techymicky.com/projects
