Category Archives: Random thoughts

Blockchain 101

Posted on July 22, 2018 by Gaius

If you are a developer who uses Git and knows what fast-forwards are and when and when not to use them, you already know literally everything there is to know about distributed/decentralised ledgers. A blockchain controlled by a single organisation is … Continue reading →

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WSL is a Game Changer

Posted on June 16, 2018 by Gaius

Why did we (developers) flock to Macbooks? Even if using platform-agnostic languages and/or writing applications that would run on servers, we wanted portable Unix workstations with a high build quality and none of the hardware compatibility issues that come with … Continue reading →

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Less Facebook, More Faces and Books

Posted on December 29, 2017 by Gaius

I made the decision back in mid-November to radically cut down on my use of Facebook. Thus far it has been a great success, I have recovered at least ½-hr per day, maybe more. Even if I spent it sleeping, … Continue reading →

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My First MOOC

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Gaius

Just completed the Data Analysis for Life Sciences XSeries on EdX, my first MOOC. I had been meaning to learn R for a while as I’ve seen some cool stuff being done with it (I am mainly a Python guy), … Continue reading →

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Clouds

Posted on August 13, 2016 by Gaius

I have been having a play with some cloud stuff recently, as hinted at in my last post, and have put together some nice Python objects wrapping APIs/command-line tools so I can do things like: VBox is just my local … Continue reading →

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Turbo Boost

Posted on June 19, 2016 by Gaius

We have a couple of machines at home†: Core i7 – 2 cores, hyperthreading, 3Ghz turbo boosting to 3.5Ghz, 16G RAM Core i5 – 4 cores, no HT, 3.2Ghz, 32G RAM I compared them using the POV-Ray 3.7 benchmark with … Continue reading →

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HP Calculators I Have Owned

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Gaius

Over the years I have owned several HP calculators: HP 28s, my first RPN programmable that I used when an engineering student in the mid-90s, and made the jump from GCSE/A-level Casio to a grown-up calculator. HP 48GX, a very … Continue reading →

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What is Experience?

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Gaius

Like many people of my generation, I started programming at an early age. At 10, I was writing 6502 assembly language. My beloved BBC Micro lacked built-in flood fill, circle and ellipse drawing, and other graphics commands, and I spent … Continue reading →

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Can anyone learn to code?

Posted on January 3, 2015 by Gaius

Anyone can learn to code, we are constantly told these days, but is it true? Yes… in the same sense that it is true that anyone can learn to play a musical instrument. Many people do, and many of them … Continue reading →

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2014

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Gaius

So, how was 2014 for me, in tech at least? Pretty good. It has been quite an interesting experience adapting to an all-proprietary tech stack (database, language, IDE, job scheduler) but I feel I am finally getting a grip on … Continue reading →

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