Author: Ian Hopkinson

  • A Rosetta Stone for programming ecosystems

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    The Rosetta Stone is a stone slab dating to 196BC on which is written the same decree in three different ancient Egyptian languages, it was key to deciphering these languages in the modern era. It strikes me that learning a new programming language is not really an exercise in learning the syntax of a new…

  • Book review: Broad Band by Claire L. Evans

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    This review is of Broad Band by Claire L. Evans, subtitled The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet. It is arranged thematically with each chapter focusing on a couple of women moving in time from the first chapter, about Ada Lovelace in the 19th century, through to the early years of the…

  • Book review: Storytelling with you by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

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    I recently reviewed Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic’s Storytelling with data, as a result the storytelling team sent me a copy of Storytelling with you to review. Storytelling with you is the next step in the journey which started with Storytelling with data, widening the scope to talk more fully about the whole process of presenting from…

  • Book review: The Mythical Man-month by Frederick Brooks Jr.

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    Next up The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering by Frederick Brooks Jr. This is a classic in software engineering which I’ve not previously read, I guess because it is more about software project management rather than programming itself. That said it contains the best description I have seen as to why we love to…

  • Book review: Masterminds of Programming by Federico Biancuzzi and Shane Warden

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    The next review in my work related books thread is of Masterminds of Programming by Federico Biancuzzi and Shane Warden. The subtitle, Conversations with the creators of major programming languages, is a good summary of the contents. The book is an edited transcript of interviews with the creators of major programming languages. Frequently the conversation…

  • Book review: Resonate by Nancy Duarte

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    I picked up Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences by Nancy Duarte following a couple of recommendations in Storytelling with Data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic. You can see how Resonate  influenced the storytelling elements of Knaflic’s book. Resonate  is about the importance of storytelling in making presentations, and a model to construct compelling presentations which…

  • Book review: Data Points by Nathan Yau

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    I picked up Data Points by Nathan Yau as a recommended book on exploratory data analysis in Storytelling with data. I have previously read Nathan Yau’s book Visualize This. Visualise This  was very focussed on the technical side of producing data visualisations, with code samples and so forth. This is a “bigger picture” book divided…

  • Book review: Storytelling with data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

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    This book, Storytelling with data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, fits in with my work, and my interests. It relates to data visualisation, an area in which I have read a number of books including The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte, Visualize This by Nathan Yau, Data Visualization: a successful design process…