Paul Sinnett

Category: process

  • Gnothi seauton

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    Paul Sinnett
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    While playing Assassin’s Creed a couple of days ago, I realised that whenever I pick up a new game I first learn the limitations of my game character. In a way I get to relive childhood for a short time and truly experience what it is to know nothing.

  • E-mail collection

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    Paul Sinnett
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    For a long time I’ve wanted a better home office e-mail system and I finally had some free time to set it up. It took a while. The information and tools are all freely available. But they are distributed in many different places and it’s difficult to find stuff when you don’t know what to…

  • Never mind the quality…

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    Paul Sinnett
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    I’ve recently been having some bandwidth problems. Although I have an “unmetered” account it appears I’m using too much. Actually it’s not all me, I’m in a flat share situation and it doesn’t make sense to have a dedicated Internet line each; at least it didn’t.

  • Back to School

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    Paul Sinnett
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    I’ve recently been watching the Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs video lectures. These are a boon to the programming community. I wish my school had just used these videos rather than attempting to teach Lisp themselves.

  • Democracy in action

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    Paul Sinnett
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    A mere three and a half years after voting to invade Iraq, MPs got their first chance to debate the wisdom of their decision. It is also the first time I’ve watched a parliamentary debate since that vote. It is time to review my opinion of our form of government.

  • Coding comments

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    Paul Sinnett
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    I’ve long favoured self-documenting code over code comments. But I’ve recently reconsidered the issue. After years of dealing with self-documenting code I’m beginning to see problems. With hindsight I’m less sure that self-documenting code is always the best way to go.

  • Confirmation bias

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    Paul Sinnett
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    I recently read a paper on confirmation bias: the tendency to focus on information that corroborates theories and dismiss information that contradicts them. It explained a general problem that I’ve noticed with many scientific studies (particularly in the field of software development) but I hadn’t been able to identify.

  • The rising cost of dying

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    Paul Sinnett
    in

    When my Nan recently died, my parents got an education in the cost of dying. For example, if you want a cremation, you have to get forms signed by two doctors. Each signature will cost you about £60. My parents were told that this was due to the case of Doctor Shipman. A little research…

  • Networking

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    Paul Sinnett
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    A post on one of the game developer newsgroups suggested that I got myself LinkedIn. It’s only when you do something like this that you realise just how many contacts you have in the business.

  • The best tester I ever worked with

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    Paul Sinnett
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    Reading an entry on James Bach’s blog reminded me of the best tester I ever worked with. It got me thinking about how he did it.