A user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within ten seconds. Ted Nelson As I was preparing more Software Engineering lecture notes today, I came across the quotation above and others in a similar vein. It started me thinking about the many fascinating aspects around user interfaces. [...]
I hesitate to write anything about the weather. It must be supremely boring to read about how much it is raining halfway around the world. But I must. Sorry. It is pouring here. Not very cold, but very, very wet. This afternoon my backyard was under water and when I nipped out to go to [...]
I watch a lot of television when I visit my parents, and occasionally I’ll watch a DVD at home, but for the most part I listen to radio or music on my iPod. I have noticed lately how my week is structured around radio shows. The weekend is the highlight when Wait, wait don’t tell [...]
I’m gearing up to write an essay about psychology and have been trawling the literature. For some reason our university library subscribes to many psychology journals, many more than for Computer Science. When I was in high school, everyone was interested in psychology. I’m not sure that we really understood what it was all about, [...]
It has been many a year since I took Maths 3. Although I can still recall many details of those first three years of university, the third year is the blurriest. My majors were computer science and mathematics, and I know that I took courses in compilers, operating systems, and networking, but the fourth subject [...]
I know I’m right. Almost always. It is therefore surprising, sometimes pleasantly so, when I find that I’m wrong. And a little disappointing. To guard against this, I have tried to adopt a more flexible attitude. Especially since I also noticed that hardly anything I think I’m right about usually turns out to be of [...]
Some people believe that at some point in the future (they usually believe it is the near future), the size of the internet in conjunction with the sophistication of software will reach a critical mass, and the internet will be concious. This being’s computational power will exceed that of the whole of mankind, and terrible [...]
Busy day. For me, at least. Early morning at the office to fax off some examination papers I moderated for another university, then a long discussion about future reseach and student motivation, email from a student reporting some very good results on research we are working on, meeting with a student… In fact, let me [...]