Paul Grenyer

From the moment I walked into the refectory at the Cathedral, ahead of the Saturday night pitches, I felt there was something special going to happen. It wasn’t until the pitches actually began an hour or so later, that I realised exactly what it was. I’m ashamed to say I’ve never been to Sync The City, despite it being in its fourth year. The idea behind the event it to build a tech based startup in just 54 hours and then pitch for funding at the end. It was these final pitches I had come to see. Twelve startups waited anxiously for Fiona Lettice, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the UEA, SyncNorwich and Sync The City organiser, to make her introduction to this year's event. She described Sync The City as The Apprentice crossed with Dragon’s Den, with all the tension and hard work compressed into a little over two days. With this, and the prize of £3,000 in funding on their minds, the twelve groups began their pitches. When I’d been in the refectory earlier there was clearly som...

How Norfolk Chamber of Commerce can help digital business When: Tuesday 5th December, 7.30am to 8.30am. Where: Maidshead Hotel, Norwich How much: £13.95 RSVP:   https://www.meetup.com/Norfolk-Developers-NorDev/events/qqwhznywqbhb/ 7.30 am Breakfast 7.50 am How Norfolk Chamber of Commerce can help digital business 8.30 am Finish Successful Norfolk entrepreneur Chris Sargisson was appointed as Chief Executive of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce in June 2017. Chris was educated in Norwich and lives in the city with his wife and two children. He worked in the 1990s shaping Norwich Union Direct before leaving to set up and launch its4me plc, one of the UK’s most successful online car insurance brokers and major Norwich employer. Chris also created House Revolution, one of the UK’s first online estate agencies, alongside running his own business consultancy practice which has helped organisations of all sizes across the UK. At the nor(Dev) breakf...

My comfort zone had left the building. Heading out on a cold, dark, Monday evening to yet another Norwich networking event is not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s certainly not mine, and definitely not with the cream of the Norfolk tech sector midway through my first attack of a winter cold in I don’t know how long. We all do things we think might help us to build relationships in business and gain favours with those people around us that might help to push us in the right direction. Accepting an invitation to the November nor(DEV):biz dinner at The Library Restaurant in Norwich was one of those such occasions. I had worked opposite The Library for about 3 years and not actually made it into the building. Seeing as I have been known to travel many miles through the most challenging of conditions for some decent eats and beautiful architecture, I wrapped myself up and loaded with tissues, I braved the elements resolutely deciding to be back home and in bed by 9:30pm. I could get thro...

Defining what it is to be a machine is tricky to say the least. In everyday terms a machine is something man-made that performs an automated function. Computers are often referred to as machines but they are much more than the limited definition above. Perhaps, instead of trying to pin down exactly what a ‘machine’ is in the 21st century, it would be more pertinent to define what a machine is to us. Isaac Asimov once described machines as ‘the true humanising influence’. In his mind machines would only be used to perform functions and carry out tasks that make life possible, leaving humans more time to do the things that make life worthwhile. Essentially through their ability to perform mundane but necessary actions, machines would allow us to indulge in every part of life outside basic functions, to allow us to enjoy what it is to be human. From a more modern writer’s point of view, machines have gone beyond their initial point of freeing us to taking us over. Stephen King focuse...

If I had to give someone an album which was an example of heavy hetal, The Crimson Idol would fulfil the criteria. It is the best heavy metal album by any band ever and the second best album by any band ever. It’s not thrash, progressive or power metal. It’s just heavy metal. Right from the opening track it’s clear why WASP’s 1992 masterpiece is the ultimate heavy metal album. Line up changes have always plagued WASP and by the time of the Crimson Idol, long time guitarist Chris Holmes had left the band and only Blackie Lawless was left. Did it matter? No, Blackie writes everything anyway and on The Crimson Idol he played everything except drums and lead guitar. The first thing you notice is the the drums. They’re different and significantly better and more intricate than on any other WASP album. Then there’s the lead guitar work. Chris Holmes is good, but he’s no Bob Kulick (brother of Bruce who played with KISS in the early 90s). Of course you’ve got that signature BC Rich guit...

Software patterns have their roots in architecture. In 1978, Christopher Alexander published a book called ‘A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction‘ (ISBN-13: 978-0195019193) about the patterns he’d discovered designing buildings. A pattern can be thought of as a tried and tested way of doing something which can be applied in different contexts.  Think about how the Observer or Visitor pattern is implemented across languages such as Java, Ruby and JavaScript, where the different language idioms dictate slightly different implementations of the same basic pattern. Software Patterns became popular with the publishing of the Gang of Four book, “Design patterns: elements of reusable object-oriented software” (ISBN-13: 978-0201633610) in 1994. It contains a number of patterns, most of which every developer should know, even if it’s to know to avoid the likes Singleton. However, these aren’t the only patterns! Indeed, patterns are not created, they are discovered and docum...

Event: Burkhard Kloss on The Ethics of Software & Panel: Talking to the clouds When: 6 November 2017 @ 6.30pm Where: Whitespace, 2nd Floor, St James Mill, Whitefriars, Norwich, NR3 1TN RSVP: https://www.meetup.com/preview/Norfolk-Developers-NorDev/events/239616865 The Ethics of Software - some practical considerations Burkhard Kloss @georgebernhard As Uncle Bob pointed out, software is everywhere, and without software, nothing works. That gives us great power, and – as we all know – with great power comes great responsibility. We have to make choices every day that affect others, sometimes in subtle and non-intuitive ways. To mention just a few: What logs should we capture? How does that change if we have to hand them over to the government? Are our hiring practices fair? Are we sure about that? Is there bias in our algorithms that unfairly disadvantages some groups of people? Is the core function of our software ethical? How about if it’s deliberately...