Category Archives: Code & Development

Random? That’s a Coincidence…

My programming project of the last few weeks has been to build my own “rolling portfolio”, which shows random images from my photographic portfolio as either a screensaver or a rolling display on a second monitor. I’ve implemented a number … Continue reading

Thursday, April 11, 2019 in Code & Development, Photography, Thoughts on the World

That Was Too easy…

There is an old plot device, which goes back to at least Homer, although the version which popped into my head this evening was Genesis of the Daleks, a 1970s Dr Who story. A group of warriors fight a short … Continue reading

Thursday, July 26, 2018 in Android, Thoughts on the World

Inferring Algorithms: How Random is Your Music Player?

“You’re Inferring that I’m stupid.” “No, I’m implying that you’re stupid. You’re inferring it.” – Wilt, by Tom Sharpe My latest contract means spending some time on a bus at each end of the day. The movement of the bus … Continue reading

Sunday, April 8, 2018 in Code & Development, Thoughts on the World

Why REST Doesn’t Make Life More Rest-full

As I have observed before, IT as a field is highly driven by both fashion and received wisdom, and it can be difficult to challenge the commonly accepted position. In the current world it is barely more politically acceptable to … Continue reading

Monday, February 19, 2018 in Agile & Architecture, Code & Development

An Odd Omission

Let’s start with a common use case… "I have a television / hi-fi / home cinema system which has several components from different manufacturers. I would like to control all of them with a single remote control. I would like … Continue reading

Sunday, January 7, 2018 in Android, Thoughts on the World

How Strong Is Your Programming Language?

I write this with slight trepidation as I don’t want to provoke a "religious" discussion. I would appreciate comments focused on the engineering issues I have highlighted. I’m in the middle of learning some new programming tools and languages, and … Continue reading

Monday, March 20, 2017 in Agile & Architecture, Code & Development

Why I (Still) Do Programming

It’s an oddity that although I sell most of my time as a senior software architect, and can also afford to purchase software I need, I still spend a lot of time programming, writing code. Twenty-five years ago people a … Continue reading

Monday, March 6, 2017 in Agile & Architecture, Code & Development, Thoughts on the World

Dozy Android

I’ve just spent a good couple of hours sorting out a problem with my new phone, which has no good reason to exist. In fairness to Sony, it’s nothing to do with them: the issue sits squarely with Google and … Continue reading

Sunday, January 22, 2017 in Android, Thoughts on the World

Conversion Challenges

I have an interesting challenge, as one of the projects I am working on want to stop their environments to save costs, but I need ongoing access to the data. I have a dump from an Oracle database, but I … Continue reading

Friday, August 12, 2016 in Code & Development

Platform Flexibility – It’s Alive!

The last post, written largely back in November and published just before Christmas suggested that camera manufacturers should focus on opening up their products as development platforms, much as has happened with mobile phones. While I can’t yet report on … Continue reading

Monday, January 4, 2016 in Agile & Architecture, Android, Code & Development, Photography, Thoughts on the World

Do We Want Product Development, or Platform Flexibility?

There’s been a bit of noise recently in the photography blogosphere relating to how easy it is to make changes to camera software, and why, as a result, it feels like camera manufacturers are flat out not interested in the … Continue reading

Tuesday, December 22, 2015 in Agile & Architecture, Code & Development, Photography, Thoughts on the World

SharePoint: Simply C%@p, or Really Complicated C%@p?

There’s a common requirement for professional users of online document management systems. Sometimes you want to have access to a subset of files offline, with the ability to upload changes when you have finished work and are connected again. Genuine … Continue reading

Wednesday, November 4, 2015 in Agile & Architecture, Code & Development, Thoughts on the World