Simon Frankau's blog posts

Playing with curved spaces (2024-06-05)
Why Smalltalk is not my favourite programming language (2024-06-01)
Team Topologies, Agile, Spotify and, well Methodologies (2024-05-24)
Exponential back-off, revisited (2024-05-20)
On Estimates in Software Engineering (2024-04-07)
More physics: Action and Lagrange (2024-04-06)
More Crochet (2024-03-13)
Determinism is awesome (2024-03-07)
Trashy Movies I Have Recently Watched (2024-02-29)
More crochet, cat edition (2024-02-26)
Playing guitar is like sailing (2024-01-26)
A small addendum on Henry Kissinger (2024-01-19)
Music theory for dummies: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (2024-01-15)
What works in interactive fiction? (2024-01-06)
Henry Kissinger (2023-12-01)
Ramblings on the philosophy of mathematics (2023-11-23)
The Internet's Memory and Nix's Logo (2023-11-17)
Game review: Iconoclasts (2023-11-14)
FIR and IIR filters (2023-11-06)
Michael Lewis talks about Sam Bankman-Fried (2023-10-11)
My first attempt at 3d printing (2023-10-08)
Raft, done weirdly (2023-07-15)
AI, the Industrial Revolution and Returns to Labour and Capital (2023-05-25)
What's the point of trivia questions in interviews? (2023-05-10)
On Domain-Specific Languages (2023-04-30)
Thoughts on the Turing Test (2023-04-29)
CMake is awful (2023-04-26)
On the Management of Socks (2023-04-09)
On the free idempotent monoids generated by a finite set of letters (2022-12-30)
Game Review: Dungeon Encounters (Square Enix) (2021-12-07)
Reinventing tomography (2021-10-23)
Management books vs. "no single root cause" (2021-09-19)
Solving nonograms (2021-08-14)
First Direct demonstrate how not to do a switchover (2021-08-10)
Playing with SIMMs (2021-07-31)
Eigenvalues of random matrices (2021-07-18)
Teleological incident postmortems (2021-07-14)
Game Review: Tumbleweed Park (2021-06-21)
Game Review: Fez (2021-06-15)
Thot leadership: A tale of two^Wthree outages (2021-06-14)
On configs and general-purpose languages (2021-06-14)
The Worst Books I've Read (2021-04-02)
Microcontrollers and OLEDs (2021-02-13)
Doing stuff in 2020 (2020-12-27)
A Fire Upon The Deep (again) (2020-01-03)
Galette: A GAL assembler (2019-04-22)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 22: TCP, and we're done (2019-03-23)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 21: All but TCP (2019-03-03)
This week's hobby: Crochet (2019-02-23)
Learning Rust and the Advent of Code (2019-02-10)
Stephen's Sausage Roll (2018-12-15)
The NTK 31337/Elite t-shirt, again (2018-11-03)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 20: Networking edges (2018-10-21)
Infocom's Enchanter (2018-10-06)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 19: Networking periphery (2018-09-23)
Magnetic Scrolls' Myth (2018-09-22)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 18: Character devices, part 2 (2018-09-09)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 17: Character devices, part 1 (2018-08-31)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 16: Low-level SCSI (2018-08-27)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 15: Low-level sound, high-level SCSI (2018-08-12)
Radiosity (2018-08-10)
Playing with GALs (2018-05-08)
On Learning to Write Copperplate (2017-12-30)
Worse is Better: Lego (2017-04-16)
Further Reversing of 'Head Over Heels' (2017-04-07)
Unicode combining characters (2017-04-07)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 14: Sound drivers base layer (2017-02-11)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 13: More file systems (2017-02-11)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 12: Some file systems (2016-10-24)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 11: Networking hardware (2016-10-24)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 10: Block devices (2016-10-16)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 9: fs/ buffers etc. (2016-10-16)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 8: fs/ buffers etc. (2016-09-19)
Electronics for Newbies: Disk writing (2016-07-30)
Electronics for Newbies: A working copy of CP/M (2016-07-16)
Electronics for Newbies: Reading a CP/M disk image and porting CP/M (2016-07-02)
Electronics for Newbies: Reading an SD card (2016-06-17)
Electronics for Newbies: SD card access (2016-06-05)
Reconstructing floppy drive data (2016-04-27)
Reading from a floppy drive with an oscilloscope (2016-04-19)
Generating VGA with a proper PCB (2016-04-16)
Alphago as BS detector (2016-03-13)
We are neural nets (2016-03-13)
More VGA generation (2016-03-09)
High(er)-resolution animation (2016-03-05)
Another switch-mode power supply goes bang (2016-03-05)
Dumb generation of VGA video (2016-02-28)
Spectrum composite mod (2016-02-21)
Knitting some swatches (2016-02-21)
VGA(ish) signal timing (2016-01-26)
Special relativity, part 3 (2016-01-17)
Special relativity, part 2 (2015-12-20)
Special relativity, part 1 (2015-12-19)
Another knitting project (2015-12-16)
Corruption (2015-11-23)
A frame for my cross-stitch (2015-11-21)
Haskell + Laser = Penrose (2015-10-11)
Finishing the plane (2015-10-10)
DIY laptop case (2015-08-15)
My ill-considered thoughts on golang/go (2015-08-11)
Lego Mindstorms is Trigger's Broom (2015-07-25)
A painted cube (2015-07-19)
Constructing things (planes and cubes) (2015-07-19)
Solving Rubik's Magic: Master Edition, Part 2: End game (2015-07-05)
Solving Rubik's Magic: Master Edition, Part 1: Group theory (2015-07-04)
Solving Rubik's Magic: Master Edition, Part 0: Counting configurations (2015-06-28)
Two Weeks of Google and a new phone (2015-06-17)
One Week of Google (2015-06-06)
Paper round: And then some (2015-05-31)
Paper round: Odds and ends (2015-05-27)
Tobin/Transaction taxes (2015-05-24)
Crowd-sourcing and the Wisdom of Crowds (2015-05-21)
The Internet is Street Art (2015-05-21)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 7: fs/exec.c and friends (2015-05-20)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 6: IBCS and IPC (2015-05-16)
Learning modern web technology (2015-05-08)
Julia sets with continuous deformation (2015-05-07)
Getting rid of some books (2015-04-28)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 5: Memory management (2015-04-19)
Recreating the NTK 31337/Elite t-shirt (2015-04-13)
An insight into the mind of a small child, or communications problems (2015-04-13)
Wrapping up computers and sensible industrial design (2015-04-13)
Some silly custom t-shirts (2015-04-05)
More craft stuff: Basic sewing machine usage (2015-04-01)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 4: The rest of kernel/ (2015-04-01)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 3: Kernel entry points (2015-03-29)
Inside a clothing security tag (2015-03-24)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 2: libs and include/asm (2015-03-21)
Code reading: Lua 5.1.4 (2015-03-11)
Linux 1.0 kernel source reading - 1: Initialisation (2015-02-19)
Malware-completeness (2015-02-19)
ToyTCP, a toy TCP/IP stack (well, not even that, yet) (2015-02-10)
GCSE physics lies: Rainbows and total internal reflection (2015-01-04)
Electronics for Newbies: An update on Dirac (2015-01-03)
Electronics for Newbies: The software (2015-01-03)
Ray-tracing fun: Transparency and refraction (2015-01-01)
Distributed ray-tracing versus financial Monte Carlos (2014-12-30)
Ray-tracing fun: Motion blur (2014-12-23)
Ray-tracing fun: Fuzzy reflections (2014-12-23)
Complex but not chaotic (2014-12-23)
Ray-tracing fun: Soft shadows (2014-12-22)
Ray-tracing fun: Depth of field (2014-12-21)
On the design of eyes (2014-12-13)
Anselm Keifer at the Royal Acdemy (2014-12-09)
Delimiters, escaping, stuffing and all that: How long is a piece of string? (2014-11-28)
Doing Google Code Jam questions (and knowing when to give up) (2014-10-01)
Fixing Only Connect (2014-09-16)
Finally, a complete hardware project: A keyboard (2014-08-09)
Generalisation from a single example (2014-05-30)
Library interface design isn't necessarily good interface design (2014-05-30)
More GitHub, some code (2014-05-03)
Computer Upgrade Fail (2014-04-08)
Yet another (minimally painful) disk crash (2014-03-06)
The Last Big Thing: Process (2014-03-05)
On the GitHub (2014-02-02)
Reversing 'Head Over Heels' - Work Starts (2014-01-24)
Cheap exploding power supplies (2013-12-05)
Another classic Cory Doctorow quotes (2013-12-04)
Electronics for Newbies: Basic serial communication (2013-11-14)
Electronics for Newbies: Tying up loose ends (2013-11-14)
Electronics for Newbies: SMD soldering (2013-10-30)
Return of the blog (2013-10-24)
Electronics for Newbies: Now with documentation... (2013-09-30)
Awesomes (2013-09-30)
Electronics for Newbies: Main Screen Turn On! (2013-09-23)
Electronics for Newbies: A bit of an update (2013-09-14)
Electronics for Newbies: Memory Banking (2013-08-23)
Electronics for Newbies: Getting serious (2013-08-20)
And while I'm at it: Cory Doctorow (2013-08-02)
Electronics for Newbies: A RAM-less microcomputer (2013-08-01)
Hipsters: Big bushy beards and dorky glasses (2013-08-01)
The British Censorwall: Libertarian Paternalism gone wrong (2013-08-01)
Electronics for Newbies: The simplest possible microcomputer (2013-07-28)
'Why Pascal is Not My Favourite Programming Language', revisited (2013-07-11)
Cynicism about motivation in science - An inappropriate approach to climate change (2013-06-27)
Technology vs. social norms ('Like') (2013-06-23)
Notes on being a software developer 2: Things to learn from books etc. (2013-05-19)
Paper round: Java and trading (2013-05-12)
Christminster, completed (2013-05-09)
Notes on being a software developer 1: Learning stuff (2013-04-20)
The flaw in LinkedIn's endorsement system (2013-04-11)
Why I don't like Bitcoin (2013-03-08)
Truth in Infographics: Tufte vs. McCandless (2013-03-06)
More ZX Spectrum Cross-stitch! (2013-02-06)
I have destroyed a Swiss watch (2013-02-04)
The Circle of Fifths part 2 - Scales (2013-02-04)
Miranda and the Whale (2013-02-04)
Analysing the musical 'circle of fifths' (2012-12-13)
A ZX Spectrum tape-loading themed scarf! (2012-11-18)
8-bit cross-stitch: Head Over Heels (2012-09-30)
Minor successes in geeky craftwork: RISC CPU display (2012-08-27)
Online courses (2012-07-31)
Mac-fixing Encore (2012-07-17)
Fixing a Macbook Air (2012-07-15)
Paper round: Distributed Systems (2012-07-11)
Apple's Time Machine (2012-05-10)
Ignoring non-sensical solutions (2012-03-24)
On Simplicity (2012-02-27)
Differential 1-forms, again (2012-02-13)
Sony and Abstraction Failure (2011-11-17)
Good Stuff: Raspberry Pi and the iPhone (2011-11-14)
Retro-gaming Update: Chimera, AGC and Christminster (2011-09-27)
Pushchairs and geodesics (2011-09-25)
On the Creation of Sentient Creatures (2011-09-11)
Choosing an Open Source Library (2011-09-11)
The English Riots: Business as Usual? (2011-09-11)
Oh, the Horror: Twitter (2011-08-24)
Simple Programming Advice: Put Examples in Comments (2011-08-24)
Programming "Experts" (2011-05-21)
On symmetry-breaking, logic, perception and AI (2011-05-17)
Miranda Elizabeth Patricia Frankau (2011-05-17)
Differential geometry, category theory and typing (2011-04-22)
The Universe as a Fixed Point (2011-04-13)
Optimal memory reallocation (2011-04-12)
Toddlers play Text Adventures (2011-02-13)
Guild of Thieves (2011-02-12)
Debugging is Computer Science (2011-01-21)
Happy Birthday David! (2011-01-20)
Fixing BoingBoing (2010-10-01)
Pseudocleverness (2010-09-29)
Art in Summer 2010 (2010-07-19)
Electronics for Newbies: Oscillator practice (2010-06-27)
Electronics for Newbies: Oh, silly scope (2010-06-27)
Bureaucracy and Broken Hinges (2010-06-06)
Return of the Mac (2010-05-08)
Electronics for newbies: Voltage regulation (2010-04-03)
To the dark side (2010-03-28)
Electronics for Newbies 3: Faffing with memories (2010-03-28)
E-book Reader Review: The Sony PRS-300 (2010-03-23)
Electronics for Newbies: Random catch-up (2010-03-21)
Electronics for Newbies: The LCM555 (2010-03-03)
Python is the new BASIC (2009-12-22)
Finding bugs in the GHC runtime (2009-12-12)
Magnetic Scrolls (2009-12-07)
David Alexander Frankau (2009-11-11)
Fun with pipes on Win32 (3) (2009-09-15)
Fun with pipes on Win32 (2) (2009-09-15)
Fun with pipes on Win32 (1) (2009-09-15)
I own a Nokia 2630. (2009-03-15)
We had a skiing holiday (2009-03-14)
I'm going to have a paper published! (2008-12-10)
The C++ Standards Committee Hate Me (2008-12-07)
Rules of thumb in writing code (2008-09-12)
On Rewriting Code (2008-07-29)
Yellow Peril (2008-07-26)
Protocol Buffers (2008-07-26)
Fun with CoLoadLibrary (2008-07-23)
On the Naming of Climbing Shoes (2008-07-20)
Best Art For Under 10 Grand (2008-07-07)
Wedded! (2008-06-13)
Solving Rubik's Cube (2007-12-10)
The St. Petersburg Game (2007-12-09)
Engagement! (2007-11-24)
Enterprise Middleware Development (2006-10-21)
Further Congratulations to Matt and Cat! (2006-09-19)
Software Reliability (2006-07-21)
New York, New York! (2006-04-26)
Congratulations to Matt Kelly and Cat White! (and other random bits) (2006-04-24)
Sore Throats Suck (2006-02-14)
I am a Doctor, Oh Yes (2005-11-16)
I have a new job! (2005-09-25)
Vienna! (2005-08-30)
Ten Years... (2005-08-02)
Working for The Man (2005-03-24)
Skiing is fun (2005-03-24)
Edinburgh and the Fringe (2004-08-28)
Yay for Caroline (2004-07-13)
They're coming to get you! (2004-06-15)
TheTrainLine.com are evil (2004-05-24)
Egyptian Holiday (2004-04-07)
C# vs. Java etc. (2004-03-18)