So you want to be a programmer? That’s awesome! This guide will help you with (maybe your first programming language,) Python. To do this you will need a few tools, and you may feel like you’re being plunged in the deep end at times, but worry not - this is what I believe is the best way to learn and become a skilled programmer. What is Python? Python is extremely accessible if you haven’t done programming before! Read more...

Motivation I am lazy, I am cheap and also care about the planet (to an extent). What I wanted to make was a quick and dirty script to put two PDF pages on one page, as the printing options in college are extremely restrictive and do not let you perform magic with putting multiple pages on a sheet of paper. This saves money and paper, a lot of it, considering the amount of past papers I’m dragging myself through! Read more...

Motivation For my third year project I needed a way to put my annoyingly large Simulink system into a document. Screenshots won’t do because the quality is far too low, so I generally avoid putting raster images in reports. There clearly had to be a better way, which I hope show in this short but useful post. These methods will work with MacOS and *nix systems. At the end of the post is a tool which will give you the ability to split and crop a multi page pdf all in one go, with some basic usage directions. Read more...

Errata and Post To-Do’s The $F$ in the diagrams in the $x-z$ plane below should be $(1-e)F$. Unfortunately I lost my workings so this post is incomplete, it will be updated when I’m back in the UK. Introduction I wasn’t always an engineering student, I used to spend my summers packing boxes in a warehouse where I gained the valuable experience in how to properly seal a box. In my time as a student I have found that most people don’t know how to do this simple task! Read more...

Why Should I Do This? Well… have you seen Apple’s offerings at a terminal? As a software developer, you will extensively use the command line, as it offers faster, more efficient use of your computer. I am of the firm belief that if you want comfortable, easy usage of your command line, you should customise it to how you want it! Brew - the Missing Apple Package Manager Brew is a macOS package manager, this means you can install various UNIX packages (like wget - a way to download webpages) with one simple, worry-free command. Read more...

Why do I want one of those? If you are developing in a language like php, or are using tools like websockets, it is beneficial to have a local test environment before you push updates to the production server. Many web design softwares have built in methods for pushing to a remote server, unfortunately I use a laptop, and working without internet sometimes is a must, which is what led me to setting up this environment. Read more...