Software principles

The future's already here, it's just not evenly distributed.

I solve problems using Java, Scala, C# or Go. Don’t make me use Python. I can, but I don’t like it.

I’ll manage data with any RDBMS you choose to name, know the wrinkles of table design using Cassandra and can swear at a document-based DB with the best of them. SQL holds no fears for me.

Data gets processed with tools like Kettle and Pandas if it fits on a single machine and Spark if it doesn’t.

I’ve developed high availability and high volume software with 1000’s of requests per second, and know when and where it’s worth putting the effort in. If you want 5 9’s you’ve got to cluster.

HTML, CSS, JS and SVG allow you to design your UI however you want, but I’m always going to go for function over form. UI design is not my forte.

There are many good modern javascript frameworks, but I think less is more. I prefer Vue’s philosophy to Angular, but that’s probably because I started with jQuery. The problem is in keeping to just the one framework.

It’s good to see UI development finally catching up to what the backend Java developers have had for years, with the wonderful world of Node and Vite

Build and test should be automated and happen continuously, so you can trap those breaking changes. I’m happy using whatever tools are best suited, from the venerable Ant to Terraform and Docker build scripts to stand up and tear down entire clusters. Don’t make humans do the boring repetitive stuff.

Source code goes into git. Even the source code for this website. Nobody needs anything else nowadays.

The things you care about must get logged. Don’t log the things you don’t care about. If you really care, those logs should get mined with LogStash and ElasticSearch. Logging the right level of detail is an art form.

APIs get documented with Swagger / OpenAPI, because it’s more effort to not do it.

I use Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, Visual Studio code and whatever Python editor is to hand, and wish they all have the same default keybindings.

I’m equally at home in Windows or *nix. Haven’t had to compile the kernel for a while. It’s probably a lot easier now.

Sometimes it’s good to dive back into microprocessor coding in C, and remember how far we’ve come.

Other

I love to build things. I find technology interesting, and know a little bit about quite a lot. I also understand that folks only have a limited amount of attention they can give, and so have nothing but admiration for all the Open Source contributors who plug away so I can build on the shoulders of giants*

Continuous improvement is my motto. Agile works well for me, as there’s no better way of improving anything than actually using it.

I’m fully aware of the second-system effect. Things have to be really bad before you should start again and make exciting new mistakes.

I remain unconvinced by large language models. I think they’re really good at generating words, as long as those words don’t matter. They write text for people who don’t read, and who certainly don’t understand. Once they become integrated and invisible within existing tooling then we’ll probably wonder what all the fuss was about.

Personal

Enjoy kayaking, photography, long yomps along the coast path and co-operative board games (sometimes with my own online software aturo.)

Recently got into amateur ballroom dancing and various forms of dressing up in costumes, because being cool is different when you’re older.

Member of a local Baptist church. You need to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.

Love a bit of theatre, suffer through musicals, think Radio Paradise is glorious.

Read sci-fi books to escape and Private Eye if I’m ever feeling too cheerful. Play D&D for giggles.

4 kids, mostly grown and flown.

Used to scuba dive and windsurf, but life gets in the way.

Get a bit more left-wing every time I visit a stately home. I was a National Trust member once, but I didn’t inhale.