I was having a conversation today with someone about ETL pipelines, and I realised that the word pipeline brought along only some of the associations that would be helpful in data processing. In this article I will go through three different terms, and the associations they each bring. I think that they’re all useful in … Continue reading Mental models for data processing
Simulating how birds form flocks
This article is about using a computer to simulate how birds form into flocks. This probably also applies to fish forming shoals and dinosaurs moving and grouping together like they apparently did. There’s a static snapshot of this simulation below, and clicking on the picture will take you to a live version where you can … Continue reading Simulating how birds form flocks
Language, discrimination and software development
I recently noticed myself using gendered language to talk about computer things where gender was irrelevant. This got me thinking about language, and prejudice and discrimination, more broadly. Beyond the obvious, decency-related reasons, being more open to how people are different from you could help you do your job in IT. Gendered magic The trigger … Continue reading Language, discrimination and software development
Great British Place Names Made of Smaller Bits
I was driving recently and saw a sign for a place whose name was built up of two things joined together. That got me wondering about other places I’ve seen whose names were like that. So I found some data, downloaded it, played around with it, and this is the result. There’s no great point … Continue reading Great British Place Names Made of Smaller Bits
Coronavirus, risk and software testing
I was catching up with old episodes of the Radiolab podcast, and one on Coronavirus and numbers made me think about risks to do with Coronavirus, and that thought expanded out to risk more generally and also how it can apply to software testing. UK Coronavirus numbers I need to prefix all this with quite … Continue reading Coronavirus, risk and software testing
A beginner’s guide to practical quantum computing
I recently started dabbling with quantum computing, and this post is kind of the introduction I wish I’d found before I started. It’s not intended to be anything other than a very small tip of a very big iceberg. Hopefully, this will give you enough to help you know if quantum computing is worth your … Continue reading A beginner’s guide to practical quantum computing
How far is it to the coast?
We recently felt like escaping to the seaside, but it's quite far away from us and the weather was awful, so we settled for tea and cake nearby instead. That got me wondering how far it was to the (UK) coast, and which bit of the UK was furthest from the coast. So I dug … Continue reading How far is it to the coast?
Obsolescence – building to last
This is part two of a series on obsolescence, value, cost and things like that. It's mostly about computer hardware and software, but drawing on other things too. Cars and computersBuilding to last Boots and white goods The Discworld books by Terry Pratchett are full of wisdom. (They also have interesting characters, humour, and an … Continue reading Obsolescence – building to last
Obsolescence: Cars and computers
Even by my standards, this is going to be a random walk of an article. Actually it was going to be a pilgrimage-length random walk so I have chopped it up into a few instalments: Cars and computersBuilding to last The overall walk is based on the concept of obsolescence, mostly to do with computer … Continue reading Obsolescence: Cars and computers
Organising technical documents for a good user experience
I was doing some technical writing at work recently, and I realised that I had automatically and unconsciously used a particular structure for the document. It’s not something that geeks like me are always taught – I know it only because my Dad used to help people improve their technical writing. So, in case it’s … Continue reading Organising technical documents for a good user experience
