Tag Archives: learning

A-Z of Digital – K is for Knowledge

02 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by in Tools

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books-2158737_1920Following on from my blog post outlining an A-Z of Digital, here is “K is for Knowledge”.

Understanding what is going on in your streams, market places and industries is a big task. We can be deluged with information, news and articles coming in on a daily basis through many streams/channels (as well as all the work emails you get in a day)  means that we tend to drink from the fire hose and not be able to assimilate all of the data coming in.

One way of helping is to create your own Personal Knowledge Management System, that will help navigate the sea of information and pick out what is key to your requirements and what can be dropped.

Here is my updated Personal Knowledge Management System that I use to sort and store useful artefacts, blogs, information, inspiration, articles and bits that get in a day.

Personal Knowledge Management System

Personal Life

Personal Journal

Journalling in both a Personal and Work life is a useful tool to keep notes on your thoughts and ideas. In my personal life I opt for recording these in a Moleskine – See my blog post No batteries required for further details.

Social Media

I separate from my work life from my personal life using things like Instagram and Facebook for friends and family with appropriate security settings in place. Even with those settings you still need to consider that once something is online, it could be public in the future.

Work Life

Research

This is split into several areas and these are a few of the inputs that I use to grab information, feeds, data from:

  • Podcasts
  • Audio subscriptions
  • RSS Feeds
  • Web Searches
  • Blog Posts

Podcasts cover both Audio and Video casts that I watch/stream online or download to my Media Player (Audio and Videos) to listen to on journeys (Audio)

Flipboard

Flipboard provides another stream of data that I consume bringing in news feeds from many sources around a series of topics. It does work well on a mobile device allowing you to flip the pages through the articles.

Feedly

Feedly provides an aggregation tool which I use to collect the stories from blogs and web sites I regularly pull information from.  This provides a list of stories that can be scanned tin a few minutes on a single screen without going via multiple sites. Clicking on a story will bring up a snippet from the source site and provide the link to read the source article if required. Using a series of key strokes you can read the headlines, then move down the articles at a reasonable speed, stopping and opening when needed.

Sources can be categorised to allow an all view or just whats new in a category.  There is a new noise filter to take out articles that are not relevant which I will be looking at shortly (paid for version).

Instapaper

Instapaper is one of several tools I use to store the articles I need to keep to refer back to and want to save. There is a link from Feedly to provide this (paid for version) which saves the articles. Instapaper then tweets the link out on a separate @Hemingwayreads Twitter Account when I want it to.

IFTTT

IFTTT (If This Then That) provides a level of automation to my lists from saving articles to creating alerts on topics and triggering different actions as needed to my devices.

Thinking Time

This is where view the data streams through the tools and assimilate and think about what has been reported/said.

Blogging and Being Social

From thoughts and research I will write about things through my blogs and publish these into Social Media streams such as Twitter, Linkedin and G+/

Future Tools

Future additions to my tools will probably include some machine learning and further automation to bring out more of the articles I am interested in and filter out the noise. Then bringing in a voice based capability to read out targeted articles to me when I am mobile and travelling.

Do you have a Personal Knowledge Management System or using tools not mentioned above?

Further Inspiration from others

Some other good Personal Knowledge Management Systems from colleagues:

Building a Quadruped

07 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by in Arduino, Open Source, Programming, Robotics, STEM

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Robot3I decided to have a go at building a robot for a STEM session last weekend, to show the power of code and how it can be used to control something.  A moving robot is a great visualisation to demonstrate this.

After some searching I settled on a quadruped shown on thingverse (a 3d printing site). This is a build based on a robot called Chopstick Junior by Lumi.

Parts being printed, I set about thinking about the controls and motors. The parts are compatible with an SG90 servo. I needed 8 of these, for the knee and hip joints of the quadruped.

The assembly of the parts was a bit of a challenge as in the instructions it said you needed 3mm x 6mm screw/nuts to connect the shoulders together. You really need 3mm x 8mm screw/nuts as I have to countersink the holes a bit more to get the nuts to attach to the 6mm screw length.

Inserting the servos into the holes in the hips and legs required the unscrewing of the 4 small screws in each servo and temporarily removing the gear top. Once inserted this can be replaced and screwed down.

Once the servos were in place I centered the servos the best I could to allow backwards and forwards movement in each joint. I knew that later adjustment may be needed! This can easily be achieved removing the servo arm and hip/leg, then re-positioning and attaching the arm again.

The power is provided by 4 x AA batteries in a square battery holder. This was glued down onto the frame and fitted well into the build.

The power bus is provided by a small piece of circuit board. I used two lines for -v and +v. Each servo was then wired into the lines and the control wire to an Arduino Nano which is used as the brains of the robot.

The following pins were used on the Digital I/O on the Arduino Nano:

  • D2 – Hip 1
  • D3 – Knee1
  • D4 – Hip 2
  • D5 – Knee 2
  • D6 – Hip 3
  • D7 – Knee 3
  • D8 – Hip 4
  • D9 – Knee 4

I also wired in a sensor on the front of the robot to D10 and D11.

Wiring is grouped together to allow movement, but cut to a length that reduces excess that could get in the way of the legs.

A toggle switch provides an on/off for the power fixed to the rear of the robot. Remember to break the lines on the circuit board so it does not join any of the lines.

Once assembled I then got round to coding. I decided to use the opensource code for the Chopstick Junior as a base and make alterations. The quadruped responded well to the code and several physical servo adjustments were needed. Its now in a reasonable state, however balance is an issue in terms of walking steadily, so need to work more on this.  I have not yet coded movement to respond to the sensors yet, this will be done later.

The code is available via my Github:  https://github.com/Cloudmage/Robots

The robot went down well at the STEM session. Now to tweek that code……

Top view

Robot2

Side View

Robot3

Front View

Robot1

How you can begin to Code

06 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by in Programming, STEM, Tools

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code1With all the recent STEM activities I have been involved with and blogged about, I have been asked to write some posts around how someone can start learning to code.

The school curriculum covers an element of coding with some subjects and pupils may be lucky to get a BBC Micro:bit or Raspberry Pi, however you don’t have to wait until school before learning any coding.

You don’t have to be young to start coding either. Using the same methods and tools anyone can learn to code.

The phrase “Learning to code” may strike fear and thoughts of hundreds of lines text and numbers, but it doesn’t need to. There are lots of websites available to help people start to code and present a fresh way of learning to code.

So where to start…….. If your reading this blog then you have access to a computing device. All you need to get started is a computing device with a web browser and access to the internet.

At this stage, its not worth getting hung up on the choices of the many different languages out there such as Python, Java, C etc, but concentrating on some fundamentals of coding.

Depending if you like Minecraft, Star Wars, Dr Who or Frozen, you can learn basic commands through gaming and interaction. These games teach you some basics of coding and commands by getting you to move a character on a screen to complete a number of tasks. Each of the games work in a similar way, using someones favorite characters to help them learn. These also help keep focus and attention.

The first code that you will learn is through blocks.

Minecraft – https://code.org/minecraft

Dr Who – http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/games/doctor-who-game

Frozen – https://studio.code.org/s/frozen/stage/1/puzzle/1

Star Wars – https://code.org/starwars

Moana – http://partners.disney.com/hour-of-code

Once you have completed the tasks in blocks, you could then also try using a different language with some of the games such as Java if you wish. Its a great way of experiencing some of the differences in the languages.

 

 

The main program behind blocks is Scratch. To see more on the block programming method have a look at Scratch itself.

https://scratch.mit.edu/

At the scratch site there are learning tools and lessons to help you learn as well as access to the full programming language. The Scratch site also hosts a lot of other peoples programs which you can run/play and look at how they have constructed their code.

Scratch is a free visual programming language developed by the MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Media Lab.[1] Scratch is used by students, scholars, teachers,and parents to easily create animations, games, etc. It provides a stepping stone to the more advanced world of computer programming. It can also be used for a range of educational and entertainment constructionist purposes from math and science projects, including simulations and visualizations of experiments, recording lectures with animated presentations, to social sciences animated stories, and interactive art and music.[2] Viewing the existing projects available on the Scratch website, or modifying and testing any modification without saving it requires no online registration.

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_(programming_language)

Scratch allows users to use event-driven programming with multiple active objects called sprites.[1] Sprites can be drawn, as vector or bitmap graphics, from scratch in a simple editor that is part of Scratch, or can be imported from external sources, including webcams.

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_(programming_language)

All you need now is to dedicate some time each week to learn to code.

Programming Nostalgia – Back to the 1980’s

08 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by in Programming, Tools

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As part of the update to the Usborne’s coding books for today’s kids releasing two new books:

Usborne have released some of their 1980 computer books as PDF’s that can be downloaded for personal use.

The released titles include:

Introductions to Programming

Computer Games ListingsSpeccy

Adventure Games

First Computer Library

Definitely a blast from the past. Thank you Usborne for taking me back to my early years! Now where is that emulator software….

Source

http://www.usborne.com/downloads/books/1980s-computer-books/programming-tricks-and-skills.pdf

Digital Scouting

25 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by in Development, Innovation, Programming, Tools

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digitalThere have been a series of new badges introduced by the Scouting movement. Two of these replace the traditional IT Staged Badge with a Digital Citizen and Digital Maker staged badge. These are aimed at giving young people skills in the digital age and help with STEM education.

These badges also teach young people to follow the Scouts digital manifesto:

The Scouts’ Digital Manifesto

  1. Use digital to learn and embrace new skills
  2. Share your adventures digitally and inspire others
  3. Know when to switch off, balancing screen time with outdoor activities
  4. Use digital skills to support your family and community
  5. Use digital to be creative
  6. Stay safe online and know the risks

Each of the badges provides 4/5 stages and builds on each stage. The badges can be earn’t from Beavers, through Cubs, Scouts and Explorers (ages 6 up to 18) so start with the basics, then build into writing apps.

These are a set of badges that I am looking forward to helping the local Scout Group out with. All I need to find for my local Scout Group is some spare Laptops or some Raspberry Pi’s…….Any offers welcome.

Perhaps there is a Scout group near you where you can help volunteer your skills with these badges.

Badge requirements

(Source: https://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/4282/digital-citizen-staged-activity-badge)

Digital Citizen – stage 1

How to earn your badge
Complete every task to achieve Stage 1, showing that you have thought about the potential risks and how to stay safe for each activity.

  1. Show that you can:
    • turn on and log into a computer
    • use a piece of software, for example email or a game
    • name the main parts of a computer system
    • connect a peripheral (for example a scanner or printer) to your computer and use it.
  2. Create a piece of digital media. It could be artwork, a photograph, music or animation.
  3. Use the internet for research:
    • decide on an area of interest
    • find three websites with content that matches your area of interest
    • collect relevant information by printing or saving as files.

Digital Citizen – stage 2

How to earn your badge
Complete every task to achieve Stage 2, showing that you have thought about the potential risks and how to stay safe for each activity.

  1. Plan and then create a piece of digital media. It could be artwork
    or a photograph that you alter using creative tools, music, animation, CAD (Computer Aided Design) or a 3D sculpture.
  2. Show that you can:
    • send or reply to someone with a short email and include an attachment
    • download photos or other media from a camera or smart card
    • open and save a document then share it using a cloud service (like Google Docs or Microsoft Sharepoint) or a USB stick
    • create a document that includes media that you’ve downloaded or copied from another source.
  3. Use the internet for research:
    • decide on an area of interest
    • use two different search engines to find three websites you think are reliable
    • collect information by printing the pages or saving  as PDF documents
    • select relevant information by copying text or an image and pasting into a document
    • display your findings as a poster or a short report.

Digital Citizen – stage 3

How to earn your badge
Complete every task to achieve Stage 3, showing that you have thought about the potential risks and how to stay safe for each activity.

  1. Plan, make, edit and share a piece of digital media. It could be
    artwork or a photograph that you alter using creative tools, music, animation, CAD (Computer Aided Design) or a 3D sculpture.
  2. Explore social networking sites that are appropriate for your age, then create an example of a good social network profile. Show that you know how to:
    • use anti-virus software
    • set up or adjust settings for accessibility
    • recover from a frozen programme or screen.
  3. Use the internet for research:
    • decide on a specific area of interest
    • use at least two different search engines, using operators like AND, NOT and OR in the search box
    • collect information by using bookmarks or favourites. Save URLs or use a social bookmarking tool like Diigo, Reddit, StumbleUpon, del.icio.us or digg.
    • select specific, reliable information relevant to your area of research
    • create a structured display of the information you have gathered. You could do this in a document, on a website or using a social tool such as Pinterest.
    • share your research with other people, for example by email, on the web, by MMS or social media.

Digital Citizen – stage 4

How to earn your badge
Complete every task to achieve Stage 4, showing that you have thought about the potential risks and how to stay safe for each activity.

  1. Create a portfolio of digital media. It might include artwork or a
    photograph that you alter using creative tools, music, animation, CAD (Computer Aided Design) or 3D sculpture.
  2. Create a film, video, stop-motion animation or podcast and share it using a suitable media sharing tool.
  3. Create a social network profile for your section, a band, local interest group or something similar. Alternatively you could make a small
    website that can host content, like the film you made in step 2, photos, poetry or information about your local area.
  4. Use the internet for research:
    • Choose a local, national, community or Scouting issue, or something from the news or current affairs.
    • Collect information from different sources, such as spreadsheets, databases, online news services and ‘open access’ data sources.
    • Put your information together in a structured way, for example grouping similar information. Make sure you know where each
      piece of information comes from.
    • Select the information you think is most appropriate and reliable.
    • Create a multi-page website with your information and make it public. Present your information in a variety of ways – you could
      use infographics, images or graphs.
    • Share your website with a wide audience.
    • Explain your sources of information and why you picked out what you did.
    • Get some feedback on what you have done and make changes to
      improve your website based on that feedback.

(Source: https://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/4283/digital-maker-staged-activity-badge)

Digital Maker – stage 1

How to earn your badge

  1. Connect computer peripherals or accessories, such as a screen and
    keyboard, and explain what job they do.
  2. Design a game:
    • Use role play to act out how your digital game would work. Play the game with a group of friends and change the rules.
    • Using paper, prototype a game and explain to someone how it works. You could video your explanation.
    • Evaluate and share your idea.
  3. Edit an existing website. You could change the design using a paper printout or software.
  4. Play a game with a friend where one of you acts the part of a robot and the other sends the robot commands. Record on paper what sort of commands worked best and which were hard for the ‘robot’ to follow.

Digital Maker – stage 2

How to earn your badge

  1. Connect two devices and exchange data between them using WiFi,
    Bluetooth or a cable.
  2. Show that you can use two different platforms or operating systems. They could be systems that run different devices such as computers,  tablets, phones or games consoles.
  3. Design a game:
    • Make a cartoon, animation or video of a game using a video camera or other equipment.
    • Create some pseudo code to explain how some parts of your game will work. Pseudo code is an instruction for the computer to follow, but is not written in a specific language.
    • Design a sequence of a game, like a whole level or an in-game puzzle.
  4. Design a single page website. You can use a design tool but writing HTML code would be fine too.
  5. Create a set of instructions for a programmable Robot, turtle or toy to
    follow. Games like Minecraft can help you do this.

Digital Maker – stage 3

How to earn your badge

  1. Show how to troubleshoot problems with computing equipment, such as hardware  devices and software updates.
  2. Make a prototype of a game using a suitable tool. It must include:
    • event conditions (when your game reacts to something that happens)
    • user movement controls
    • iteration (when your code or instructions are repeated)
    • variables (for scoring, health or counting things within the game).
  3. Build, design and publish a multipage website with working hyperlinks for navigation between the pages.
  4. Make a robot using prebuilt components.

Digital Maker – stage 4

How to earn your badge

  1. Set up a home network and connect it to the internet.
  2. Install or run an alternative operating system on a computer. Alternatively,  use a ‘Live DVD’ or USB stick.
  3. Design a game:
    • Build a game that includes progression and is fun and interesting to play.
    • Get someone else to play and evaluate it.
  4. Create a fully functioning website including linking to a database.
  5. Make a robot using a kit with components that respond to sensor input (for example, a robot that backs away from an object in its path).

Digital Maker – stage 5

How to earn your badge

  1. Install the software to run a web server and host a webpage on a  computer or other device. Tools like LAMP, WAMP or Google’s Webserver project for the Raspberry  Pi could help you. You can find these for free online.
  2. Make a game or app that serves a purpose. It should:
    • have a clear objective
    • be challenging for the user
    • have a clear sense of progression
    • keep a score
    • offer a reward to the user for playing (for example the score could unlock levels or icons).
  3. Make a website that serves a purpose, provides a good experience for the user and meets any legal requirements.
  4. Use off-the-shelf components to make your own robot that responds to the environment (for example a robot that reacts to light, its proximity to other objects or sound).

 

 

Learning to Program

14 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by in Development, Programming, Uncategorized

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CodeIf one of your new years resolutions is to learn how to program? If not why should you consider to learn to program and add it to your list? As businesses become more focused on  Cloud, DevOps/OpsDev, aaS (as a Service) or SDnn (Software Defined) a knowledge of programming and a language will help you understand these advancements, services and technologies, as well as allowing you to participate in their delivery.

Here are some good resources to help you:

A good book resource on how to program can be found on Gthub at https://github.com/braydie/HowToBeAProgrammer

The site covers the following topics:

Contents

  1. Beginner
    • Personal Skills
      • Learn to Debug
      • How to Debug by Splitting the Problem Space
      • How to Remove an Error
      • How to Debug Using a Log
      • How to Understand Performance Problems
      • How to Fix Performance Problems
      • How to Optimize Loops
      • How to Deal with I/O Expense
      • How to Manage Memory
      • How to Deal with Intermittent Bugs
      • How to Learn Design Skills
      • How to Conduct Experiments
    • Team Skills
      • Why Estimation is Important
      • How to Estimate Programming Time
      • How to Find Out Information
      • How to Utilize People as Information Sources
      • How to Document Wisely
      • How to Work with Poor Code
      • How to Use Source Code Control
      • How to Unit Test
      • Take Breaks when Stumped
      • How to Recognize When to Go Home
      • How to Deal with Difficult People
  2. Intermediate
    • Personal Skills
      • How to Stay Motivated
      • How to be Widely Trusted
      • How to Tradeoff Time vs. Space
      • How to Stress Test
      • How to Balance Brevity and Abstraction
      • How to Learn New Skills
      • Learn to Type
      • How to Do Integration Testing
      • Communication Languages
      • Heavy Tools
      • How to analyze data
    • Team Skills
      • How to Manage Development Time
      • How to Manage Third-Party Software Risks
      • How to Manage Consultants
      • How to Communicate the Right Amount
      • How to Disagree Honestly and Get Away with It
    • Judgment
      • How to Tradeoff Quality Against Development Time
      • How to Manage Software System Dependence
      • How to Decide if Software is Too Immature
      • How to Make a Buy vs. Build Decision
      • How to Grow Professionally
      • How to Evaluate Interviewees
      • How to Know When to Apply Fancy Computer Science
      • How to Talk to Non-Engineers
  3. Advanced
    • Technological Judgment
      • How to Tell the Hard From the Impossible
      • How to Utilize Embedded Languages
      • Choosing Languages
    • Compromising Wisely
      • How to Fight Schedule Pressure
      • How to Understand the User
      • How to Get a Promotion
    • Serving Your Team
      • How to Develop Talent
      • How to Choose What to Work On
      • How to Get the Most From Your Team-mates
      • How to Divide Problems Up
      • How to Handle Boring Tasks
      • How to Gather Support for a Project
      • How to Grow a System
      • How to Communicate Well
      • How to Tell People Things They Don’t Want to Hear
      • How to Deal with Managerial Myths
      • How to Deal with Organizational Chaos

 

List of useful books on GitHub on programming:

If you are now wondering which language to base your learning on this post may help

There are lots of online courses available to help you learn – alot are free

An A-Z Guide to being an Architect

07 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by in Architecture, Big Data, Cloud, Development, DevOps/OpsDev, Enterprise Architecture, Governance, Innovation, IoT, Open Source, Productivity, Programming, Security, Social Media, Tools

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Back in 2008 Microsoft published An A-Z Guide to ABCBeing an Architect in their Architecture Journals.

Here is my take on an updated A to Z Guide to being an Architect. A couple of these may be similar.

A – Architect

Having the right level of skills as an Architect or engaging an Architect with the right level of skills will depend on the work needing to be undertaken. There are several types of Architect with some specialising in certain areas and others being multi domain skilled. The list below covers some of the different types of Architect- this is not an exhaustive list:

B – Blueprints

Following Blueprints and Patterns either published by vendors (such as the Microsoft Blueprints) or developed internally around your products and services will ensure repeat-ability and cost control around the design process.

Some examples showing different pattern types can be found at Architecture Patterns

C – Contextual Web Era

The up and coming 4th Platform area is the Contextual Web Era

  • 1st Platform – Mainframe Era
  • 2nd Platform – Client Server Era
  • 3rd Platform – Cloud Era
  • 4th Platform – Contextual Web Era

This is an up and coming era with lots of new innovation and developments. Keeping up with developments is key going forward for any architect to understand designs/solutions, art of the possible now and future, innovation and for developing roadmaps for solutions.

D – DevOps

To quote Wikipedia – “DevOps (a clipped compound of “development” and “operations”) is a culture, movement or practice that emphasizes the collaboration and communication of both software developers and other information-technology (IT) professionals while automating the process of software delivery and infrastructure changes”. Having knowledge of DevOps, OpsDev and Agile assist with Architecting a solution for a business understanding their practices and modes of interacting with technology to meet business requirements. A Good book on the subject of DevOps is “The Phoenix Project” by Gene Kim.

E – Enterprise Architecture

EA (Enterprise Architecture) is a blueprint that defines how a business can meet its objectives and strategy. This is achieved by conducting analysis, design, planning, recommendations and implementations through an Enterprise Architecture Framework

Enterprise Architecture Wikibook

F – Four Two Zero One Zero

42010 is the ISO Standard that most frameworks adhere to. Working to a Framework brings structure to your designs and life cycles.

There are a number of frame works available such as:

  • DoDAF
  • MoDAF
  • TOGAF
  • Zachman
  • Other Frameworks are available

Enterprise Architecture Wikipedia Book

G – Governance

Governance is an important part of architecture as it

  • Ensures Conformance
  • Controls Variance
  • Maintains Vitality
  • Enables Communication
  • Sets Direction
  • Issue Resolution
  • Provides Guidance and Prioritisation
  • Promotes Best Practise
  • Minimises Risk
  • Protects IT environments from tactical IT changes, project solutions, and strategic proposals that are not in an organisations global best interest
  • Controlling Technical Diversity, Over-Engineering and Unnecessary Complexity
  • Ensures projects can proceed quickly & efficiently
  • Control over IT spend
  • Quality Standards
  • Efficient and optimal use of resources and increase the effectiveness of IT processes

H – Hands On

It is important to be current and understand the technologies you are architecting. There are lots of options available to get your hands dirty using technology from using Cloud Servers to virtual machines on your compute device. There are other computing devices such as the Raspberry PI that provide a cheap alternative to standing up small farms to learn on.

I – IoT

IoT (Internet of Things) is where physical things are connected by the internet using embedded sensors, software, networks and electronics. This allows the items to be managed, controlled and reported on. My blog posts on IoT Device Security Considerations and Security Layers goes into more detail on this subject.

J – Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is something an architect should be doing to compare things/items/artefacts etc.
noun;
1. an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.
2.the state of being close together or side by side.

Source:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/juxtaposition

K – Knowledge

I would class Skills with Knowledge. It is important as an Architect to ensure that your skills/knowledge are up to date and where you are unsure of a technology, you have a plan to address and skill up. Build a good CPD (Continuing Professional Development) plan and work towards completing it.

L – Language

With the move to cloud it is important to ensure your scripting skills are up to date as most cloud platforms use scripting to assist with the deployment of environments. This is also true of other DevOps/OpsDev applications. If you are unsure on what to learn this guide may help you – Learn a Programming Language – But which one?

M -Micro Segmentation

Micro Segmentation allows a business to use Networks, Compute and Storage to automate and deliver complex solutions by carving up and using the infrastructure. This segments part of the infrastructures to specific functions/tasks. It can also be used in a security context to segment networks, firewalls, compute and storage to increase security and reduce cyber attacks.  VMware have produced a book “Micro Segmentation for Dummies” that can be downloaded from here.

N – Next Generation

Next Generation refers to the next stage or development to something such as a new release of hardware or software. Next Generation is becoming a common term now to define products and artefacts, an example being Next Generation Firewalls.

O – Open Source

Open Source has been available for a long time with software such a Linux, however there is a bigger shift towards using Open Source and acceptance by businesses. Some examples of Open Source that is now mainstream within business include;

  • Ansible
  • Chef
  • Docker
  • Puppet

P – Performance

Performance can cover people as well as solutions / systems. Performance metrics should be set out at the inception of an engagement then monitored and reported on. This will be a factor in driving Continuous Improvement going forward as well as forecasting / planning for future upgrades and expansion.

Q – Quality

Quality is a huge subject and has a lot if standards governing it and how it affects all aspects of business and architecture. Knowing which standards and how they affect a solution will assist in the whole architecture lifecycle. There are also a number of tools available to help you;

  • Architecture Frameworks
  • ITIL
  • Six Sigma

There is also a level of pride and satisfaction in producing a quality solution and system achieving the objectives and requirements set out by the business.

R- Roadmap

Any architecture/solution should have a roadmap to set out its future. Roadmaps should include items such as:

  • Current state
  • Future state
  • Innovation
  • Upgrades / Releases
  • New Features / Functions
  • End of Life / Replacement

S – SMAC

SMAC stands for Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud. SMAC is an acronym that covers the areas and concepts when these four technologies are brought together to drive innovation in business. A good description of SMAC written by a colleague can be found here Acronyms SMAC.

T – Transformation

The majority, if not all systems will undergo a form of transformation. This may be in the form of a simple upgrade or to a complex redesign and migration to something else.

U – UX

UX (User eXperience) affects how people interact with your architecture / design and how they feel about it (emotions and attitudes). With the boom in apps and the nearing Contextual Web Era, UX is one of the most important factors to getting an architecture used. If your users don’t like the system they may find something else to use that they like.

V – Vision

Understanding the vision of your customer and their business is the driving factor for any architecture.

On working with your customer you should look to become a Trusted Advisor and also with your colleagues. A great book on the subject is The Trusted Advisor by David Maister. The book covers 3 main areas which discusses perspectives on trust, the structure of trust building and putting trust to work.

W – WWW

The internet is a key delivery mechanism for systems. Knowing how this works and key components to the internet should be understood such as:

  • IPV4 – IPV6
  • DNS
  • Routing
  • Connectivity
  • Security

X – X86

X86 – is a standard that every knows as its one of the most common platform types available.

Y – Year

Year is for the longevity of the solution you are designing. How many years are your expecting it to last What are the Business Requirements, statutory obligations, depreciation etc that need to be planned in. Consider things like End of Life, Maintenance and Upgrades on hardware and software from a solution point of view.

Z – Zero Defects

The best solution is the one with zero defects, but reaching this goal can be a challenge and can also consume a lot of expense. The best way to ensure Zero Defects is to use:

  • Best Practice
  • Reference Architectures
  • Blueprints/Patterns
  • Checklists
  • Reuse
  • Lessons Learnt

This is my current A to Z and some of the entries may be different in your version so “What is in your A to Z of being an Architect?”

I will look to write some further blog posts on the areas listed in this A to Z

Q. What does Dr Who and Star Wars have in common? A. Teaching young people to code.

09 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by in Development, Programming

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Earlier this year I wrote a blog post on how the BBC were using their DR Who characters to help teach young people how to code whilst playing a game to get a Dalek through a series of puzzles. Doctor Who: Friendly Dalek teaches you to code

Now Disney and Code.org have joined in, to engage young people to move from playing games to creating games.

This time instead of controlling a Dalek you can control BB8 around some puzzles.

These interactive tutorials will appeal to anyone looking to learn coding and a great way to introduce young people into learning whilst gaming.

There are some similarities between then the two versions and moving a character around the screen. The Dr Who version uses the Characters of the show to explain what you need to do whilst the Star Wars version uses videos of one of the films developers to talk through what the tasks involve.

Screenshot of the interface to control BB8 – source/credit: Code.org/Disney

bb8

Screenshot of the interface to control a Dalek – source/credit: BBC

Dr Who Game Screeshot 1

Which Sci-Fi universe will you choose to help you learn?

All we need now is a Star Trek version…….

Getting to grips with Probability

14 Monday Sep 2015

Posted by in Data Science

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calcWhen learning Data Science one area to learn is that of probability.

William Chen has created a good 10 page Probability Cheat Sheet to help guide you through. The content is based on “Harvard’s Introduction to Probability”.

The cheatsheet summarizes important probability probability concepts, formulas, and distributions, with figures, examples, and stories.

There are also 16 Data Science books listed on his site. A couple of which cover statistics and probability.

http://www.wzchen.com/data-science-books/

Some other Probability resources to get you started:

Source: http://www.wzchen.com/probability-cheatsheet

Microsoft Free e-Books

14 Tuesday Jul 2015

Posted by in Tools

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Microsoft have released a large number of free ebooks across a number of subjects via a MDSN Blog.

The subjects covered in the books are:

  • .Netbooks
  • Azure
  • Dynamics
  • Hyper-V
  • Lync
  • Office
  • Powershell
  • Sharepoint
  • SQL
  • System Centre
  • Surface
  • Windows 7
  • Windows 8
  • Windows 10
  • Windows Server

Link to MSDN Blog – Free Books