This bit me again today, so I thought I’d look it up and write it down here so I can find it. When you create a git repository using git clone, git very helpfully sets up a default remote repository and branch for you, pointing back at the originating repository. This is helpful, because it …
I’ll say at the start that there’s no real reason to do this. The Raspberry Pi has far more memory than any little bare-metal program is ever likely to use. However, this just struck me as a bit of fun, and arguably instructive in thinking about data representations. Last Time I wrote about Charles Moore, …
Continue reading ‘Data representation – squashing Morse code’ »
A few days ago I wrote about looking for metaphors to get to grips with what happens when a computer appears to be doing multiple things for multiple people at one time. The outcome was some ideas based on the physical metaphor of a house I lived in while studying at university. At that point …
I am interested in all sorts of software development and related areas. In particular I do a lot of Java and Ruby development, both for my day job and for fun. Once a month I try to get along to IPRUG, our local Ruby user group and meet up with other Ruby software folks for …
A relatively quick post today. I started back at work after the Christmas break, and I wanted to take my little Pi in to show my colleagues some of the things I have been playing with during the holidays. Last night, while I was getting my stuff ready I though I’d have one more try …
When I was first learning about computer science in the early 1980s, much was made of the difference between “low-level” and “high level” languages. Back then, it seemed as if the distinction was fairly clear: “low level” languages are languages which require you to understand the mechanics of how a computer works, and tell it …
I was just browsing around the Raspberry Pi area of farnell.com and saw that the new crop of Raspberries have 512MB of RAM. This is twice the amount in my original “Model B” (and theoretically four times the amount in the “Model A”). I can’t see why anyone would want the Model A – have …
Continue reading ‘I just noticed a new crop of Raspberries’ »
Over the Christmas break I visited my mother. She had become fed up with her old TV, and wanted a new, larger one with a built-in DVD player. We went for a shopping trip and I helped her choose one she liked. I set it all up and it it seemed to do the job, …
I am a big believer in the power of metaphor and analogy in software development. While these things can certainly be misused, they are also a useful way of viewing a design from different perspectives to gain fresh insight. Some metaphors are so common that we even lose sight of the fact that they are …
Continue reading ‘Operating System metaphors: Rooms and Doors’ »
Introduction A few days ago I was suffering the lack of output from a bare-metal Raspberry Pi – very little as output to hint what is going on inside the electronics. I had struggled through the first few “Baking Pi” tutorials and got as far as programming the GPIO to switch the “OK” LED on …