A friend asked a question to do with Coronavirus that I couldn’t answer but I thought I should. So I got some data, did some calculations on it, and then worked out how to display it. The question was: how bad were hospitalisations and deaths from Coronavirus (in the UK) when the daily reported Coronavirus … Continue reading Trends in UK Coronavirus cases, hospitalisations and deaths
Author: Bob
I'm a programmer working in the UK. Anything I post here are my own personal ramblings and don't necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Senior software engineers, power and freedom
This is a follow-up article to my recent article on Senior Software Engineers. The reason why I’m doing a follow-up so soon is because some interesting and useful points came up in a Twitter conversation about it, and I want to capture and build on those. The points concern different ways of looking at power … Continue reading Senior software engineers, power and freedom
The cost of flexibility
Flexibility in software design is often seen as a good thing, but it can come at a cost. This isn’t surprising, because software engineering is a kind of engineering, and engineering involves making trade-offs among several good things. For instance, there is no “best” car, just the best car for a given situation, with a … Continue reading The cost of flexibility
CV tips
A friend recently asked for some advice in writing her CV (résumé) and suggested I turn what I told her into a blog post, so here it is. I don't claim to be an expert in CV writing; these are just the ramblings of some random bloke on the internet. I hope you find them … Continue reading CV tips
Senior software engineers, authority and ability
Some Senior Software Engineers feel they must win every argument, which I think is a bad idea. Not only is this bad for the team, it’s bad for the Senior Software Engineer as an individual. In this article I’ll explore this a bit, with the analogy of Top Trumps. It’s also related to the strong … Continue reading Senior software engineers, authority and ability
A prayer before going online
Are you always your best self when you’re online or otherwise using your computer / tablet / phone? No, I'm not either. Given how much of life is moderated by a screen, and how imperfect a window to the world that screen can be, is it any wonder? This imperfect window hides from us important … Continue reading A prayer before going online
Influences on me as a programmer
In this article I will talk about two things that have influenced how I approach my craft, which is programming. They appear to be contradictory, but I think I can live with both at once. This is an area where everyone has to work things out for themselves. I’m not trying to preach; just talk … Continue reading Influences on me as a programmer
Regression to the mean
In this article I’ll try to explain the statistics term regression to the mean. I’ll describe what it is, why it happens, and what consequences there are for important things like developing medicine, training and education. What is regression to the mean? Imagine there is a group of students taking a test, where the range … Continue reading Regression to the mean
Measurements that matter?
I talk about data a bit here, but this is a bit different from what I normally write. I was opening the packet inside a box of cereal and wondered how many times I'd done that over my life. These thoughts started rattling around my head, so I've put them down here partly to get … Continue reading Measurements that matter?
Visualising wealth inequality using Lorenz curves
In this article I will do some analysis and visualisation of data on wealth inequality. The data is, slightly randomly, a combination of historical data from three towns in Suffolk from 1522, and the most recent data about Great Britain. I’ll go through the data a little, the analysis, the visualisations, and why I think … Continue reading Visualising wealth inequality using Lorenz curves
