www.nobugs.org

This is Andrew Birkett’s website. I’m a software developer, living in Edinburgh. Contact me at andy@nobugs.org. I write one blog mostly about software engineering, and another about cycling and unicycling.

Edinburgh Software Companies

I maintain a list of Edinburgh software companies as a resource for the local software developer community. I’m always interested to hear from people about new companies, or any news about existing companies.

Professional

I am a Principal Engineer at Amazon.com, where I’ve worked since 2005. Prior to that, I worked in 3D medical visualization, development tools and educational simulators.

I’ve been involved in a number of IT-related events around Scotland:

On the judging panel for the ScotlandIS “Young Software Engineer of the Year” award since 2011.
Working with Phil Wadler, Simon Gay and Nobuko Yoshida on the EPSRC funded project From Data Types to Session Types: A Basis for Concurrency and Distribution.
Participating in the 2013/2014 SICSA PhD conferences as a panelist.
“Opinionated languages”, a guest lecture for the Advances in Programming Languages course at Edinburgh University.
Presenting “Agile @ Amazon” and a panel session at AgileScotland/ScotlandIS
Presenting “Hadoop & Industry” at SPLS

I have attended a variety of seminars and events, including ICFP, SPLS, EMNLP and MGS.

Software Development

I program stuff for fun. My main interests are programming language theory, graphics, compilers, cryptography, software quality issues and development tools.

I program mainly in Java, C++ and Haskell, but I like learning and using lots of different programming languages. Over the years, I’ve written a bunch of random programs:

A couple of raytracers - one in java and one in haskell.
A go client and a lisp interpreter in ocaml, which I coded a tiny pda running debian in 2001.
An example L-system written in Postscript (why not!).
A Quick C++ unit test framework for C++.
An attempt at a DTP program which was more educational than functional.

I’ve also written a few articles:

A tutorial for Yi, the emacs-in-haskell editor.
The XMMS plugin tutorial, which you can also find at www.xmms.org.
Parsing C++.
The GCC C frontend.
The Win32 Debug CRT Heap.
My not-so-good experiences of teleworking back in 2003.
A guide to speeds of networks, disks etc

Engineer

Have you ever melted metal? I built my own furnace to do just that. I also wrote a furnace diary, which explains how to build one if you’re willing to risk life and limb. I’ve since built a simple wood lathe which lets me cast metal pulleys.

I also dabble in electronics, building a wireless temperature sensor network. Previously, I used PICs and built a PIC programmer and test circuit. I’ve also played with RC aeroplanes, particularly hacking receivers.

I ride an XL700VA. Previously, I had a CB500 and wrote articles about replacing brake pads, yokes, fork seals and have some photos regarding how to dismantle a fork leg. And a few more:

How bolts work
How chains work, and
How engines work.
Some photos about electrolytic rust removal
Repairing Yamaha F6C outboard gear shifter.

Misc

I keep my camping list here so that I can find it when I need it!
I once broke my clavicle falling off a bike and wrote it up for posterity.
I once cycled up the rather steep “Alpe d’Huez” in France

Contact

You can email me. Please use my public key (also on keyservers) if you are a PGP/GPG user.