A computer system, like a car or a coffee machine, is something designed to meet some requirements. These requirements usually force the designer to make a compromise, based on which requirements get more attention than others. (Which is the best car? It depends on whether speed, size, sustainability etc. are most important to you.) One … Continue reading Random numbers to protect privacy in a pandemic app
Bump or bumps charts
I recently came across a kind of visualisation called a Bump Chart. This looked oddly familiar to me, and I realised that I knew it as a Bumps Chart (plural). I searched the internet to see if one was the origin of the other, but couldn’t find anything. I’m not claiming to be the authoritative … Continue reading Bump or bumps charts
Capital cities and US place names
This blog post came about because I remembered that there’s a place in Texas called Paris. That got me to wonder: How many countries’ capitals share a name with somewhere in the USA? It seemed to be about the right size of project to tackle, and one I could do without any coding. Like with … Continue reading Capital cities and US place names
Usability for programmers
I recently started learning Xamarin. I should say I’ve started learning it again, because the first time I just couldn’t get into it. This time it’s going better, although I’ve still been struck by something that’s surprisingly labour-intensive and so surprisingly annoying. This made me think about the relatively cushy world I normally experience when … Continue reading Usability for programmers
Computer science while washing the dishes 2: The Stack
As well as stacks as mentioned in the title, this also touches on sorting and fragmentation. Yes, I’m one of those people who think that their way of loading the dishwasher is the best way. This is part 2 of a probably 2-part series of articles on how washing up shines a light on computer … Continue reading Computer science while washing the dishes 2: The Stack
Computer science while washing the dishes 1: The Queue
Calvin and Hobbes said that there’s treasure everywhere. For a sad geek like me, there’s also computer science everywhere. Doing the washing up the old school way involves a metaphor for the computer science concept of queue, if you think of people collaborating around the draining board. Quite a lot of this is a statement … Continue reading Computer science while washing the dishes 1: The Queue
Software tools
I’ve been thinking about tools recently. It started when I compared myself to my father who, like me, had an office job for pretty much all his career. Every day he took a briefcase to work, which contained (paper) documents, pens and a calculator. I have never used a briefcase, and instead take a small … Continue reading Software tools
An introduction to building a CI/CD pipeline with Jenkins and Octopus
In this article I will give a high level overview of building a CI / CD pipeline using Jenkins and Octopus. There are alternative tools, and also other ways to use Jenkins and Octopus – please treat this as just some suggestions. I won’t try to answer all questions you might have about Jenkins or … Continue reading An introduction to building a CI/CD pipeline with Jenkins and Octopus
How far away from here is the most distant bit of the UK?
I like visualisations, particularly map-based ones. Done well, it’s as if they give you superpowers or a microscope or telescope – you can see something that normally is hidden from you. They help you to understand something, and in business that often means they help you to make a decision. Below is a visualisation that … Continue reading How far away from here is the most distant bit of the UK?
Emotion and software development
I vividly remember an appointment with a sonographer when my wife was pregnant. On one hand, it was a skilled professional using a combination of acoustic gel, a wand that contained a microphone and loudspeaker, a portable computer that did signal processing on what the microphone picked up, and a monitor that displayed a visual … Continue reading Emotion and software development
