Warning: This page is dangerously out-of-date in certain parts!
A little bit of background on myself, to start. I won’t bore you with personal trivia, except that my name is Alex, and I’ve grown up and lived in North London for essentially my whole young life. As much as I love the place, I don’t intend to remain there in the near future, having travelled my fair share already. I’ve just recently finished my undergraduate degree here in London, studying the wondrous subject of theoretical physics. This was an experience of mixed fascination, ennui, and eventual disenchantment. My plans are nonetheless to take up postgraduate study in applied mathematics and computer science following my current gap year of work, play, and travel. It would probably be fair to describe me, even at this relatively late stage in my education, as a bit of a jack of all trades (and master of none perhaps). Whatever the case, my blog ought to reflect my variety of interests and passions, both intellectual and leisurely. I hope to share the enthusiasm as well as insight into some of these disparate areas.
While it’s true that attaching labels to my subjects of writing is no simple feat, there are certainly a few wide-ranging topics that appear quite regularly: applied science, mathematics, and software above all, perhaps. Some of my other focuses include reading (mostly science fiction, fantasy, biographies, and non-fiction), philosophy (I’m a dilettante, be warned), music (of a variety, though mainly classical), and anything from ancient to modern history.
Whatever the reason you’ve stumbled across my blog and this page, I do hope that you’ll at least find the odd bit of content enjoyable and interesting. I am always glad to hear and take note of what people appreciate and would like me to blog about more (as well as what’s not working quite so well).
Any science and philosophy related posts you see here will likely a pretty wide scope, so you’ll have to excuse any tangents I go off on. I like to consider virtually all disciplines inter-related at some level, so if I find an appropriate link, it’s sure that I’ll take it. In any case, my effort is always to make it a worthwhile read. Stay open-minded and I daresay you will be entertained.
Within the realms of programming and open source software, my ramblings are primarily concerned with theoretical foundations, artificial intelligence, web development, Windows development, .NET Framework, C#, F#, and the Mono project, though this is by no means a complete or even static list. Don’t be surprised to find me venturing more into the Unix/Linux/OS X world as my dissatisfaction with Windows ideologies and products waxes and wanes. I’m also still searching for the perfect language, so expect perhaps a few musings on the topic over time.
Finally, in the off chance that potential employers/people interested in working with me stumble across this page, please feel free to peruse my Jobs page. It should generally link to an up-to-date version of my CV, and gives a good idea of where I’m looking to go career-wise in the near future.
Contact Information
The best way to contact me is usually through this blog. Feel free to use the general-purpose contact form. (Comments are also welcome on all posts and page.)
On the other hand, if the question relates to a specific project, it may be more appropriate and/or convenient to message me via the relevant website (for example, Launchpad).
Open Source Software
The following are my profile pages on various websites relating to open-source software, in which I’ve been involved, on and off.
Please see my Projects page for descriptions and statuses of the open-source (and others) projects on which I am currently working/have worked.
Communities
In the past I have been a pretty avid user of the well-known StackOverflow site. Additionally, I do sometimes show my presence on the English Language and History StackExchange sites. Chances are however that you won’t see too much of me on online forums/communities, as my life and schedule permits few such luxuries these days.
I’ve recently started becoming active in the Quora community, on quite a range of topics. My profile should give an idea of some of the questions and answers I’m involved with at any given time.
The best bet if you wish to catch me online is to join one of the following IRC channels, where I idle fairly regularly:
- ##wchat, #web, #windows, ##csharp, #fsharp, ##wpf, #bzr, #launchpad, ##physics on Freenode
- #mono, #monotouch, #monodevelop, #monodev on GIMPNet
(And you guessed it; my IRC nick is Noldorin.)
Past & Current Competitions
- Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008. See Herbert.NET project on Projects page.
- Microsoft RoboChamps 2008. Invited to World Finals in Barcelona and placed 3rd overall.
- IEEEXtreme Programming Competition 2011. Our rag-tag team somehow placed first in the UK. Blog post upcoming.
2010 Computer World Stratego Championships. In the process of creating a bot. (Originally intended to enter the 2009 event, but got preoccupied. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again this year.)