Personal
-
Like many thirty-something Brits (and possible non-Brits, for all I know) my earliest introduction to the world of graphics programming was via a language called Logo running on the BBC Microcomputer. This machine and its educational software were commonplace in UK schools in the 1980s, and I have clear memories of staying late at primary school (which I suppose means I was somewhere between 8 and 10) to fool around with BBC BASIC. With a friend I used to try to write text-based adventures ("you are in a cave, there are exits North, South, East and West" - you know…
-
I'm in San Rafael today, at Autodesk's headquarters, to present F# at an internal meeting. I've just come in for a few days, so rather than adjusting to the Pacific timezone I'm settling for living on Eastern time: I get up at 4am (whether I like it or not 😉 and go to bed as early as I can in the evening. Which gives me some time to catch up on email and think about blog posts. It's a fun time to be in the US, on balance: I flew in (via New York, as it happens) just as one…
-
Well, through them, anyway. Just letting you know that I'll be away from my desk, and from this blog, for the next week or so. We're heading through the Alps to Italy: first to Milan and then down to Ascoli Piceno, where an old friend is getting married. We decided to take the train, which should be interesting. It's 4 hours from Switzerland to Milan, plus another 5 or so hours from Milan to the rail hub nearest to Ascoli P. Luckily we have family in Milan and so get to spend time with them and break the journey in…
-
For those of you that haven't noticed the current obsession in the CAD blogosphere of creating Simpsons avatars of oneself, check out this post from the Autodesk Labs blog for some background. Now, to enter the fray myself. I spent some time a week or so ago playing around with the avatar creation tool on The Simpsons Movie website, but was pretty disappointed with the results: But then I discovered the Simpsonize Me website, and my life changed. 🙂 This site allows you to upload a photo, and it generates an avatar for you pretty much automatically (you have to…
-
Well, would you believe it: Through the Interface was started exactly a year ago today. I hope you've found this blog helpful over the past 12 months; I've certainly enjoyed sharing my (and above all, my team's) knowledge with you, and look forward to doing so for a long time to come. But please keep the post suggestions coming, as many of the best posts over the last year (in my opinion, at least) have originated from suggestions from this blog's readership. By the way, for those of you who are interested: I'm now back from Beijing - we arrived…
-
I've just started an extended break with my family, so it's time for me to sign off and wish you all a very Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays for those of you that are non-denominational in your festive activities) and the very best for 2007. I'll be back online the week of January 8th (unless I end up having trouble keeping away :-), but in the meantime, here's me making an elf of myself.
-
Our second son, Zephyr Ewan Walmsley, was born today (Wednesday September 20th) at 6:55 am CET, weighing 3.15 kg and measuring 49 cm in length. I'll be on paternity leave for the next week or so, but will hopefully continue to post between nappy changes. 🙂
-
[ Warning: this post is largely frivolous and non-technical, so please don't read on if that is likely to bother you. 🙂 ] Yesterday was August 1st, the Swiss National Day. During the afternoon, we (my wife, our 2 year-old son and I) visited my wife's parents at their place in the hills just outside Neuchâtel. My father-in-law gave me a fantastic present that I'm yet (but impatient) to play with: an Apple Newton in mint-condition. In the evening we went down to St Blaise, on the edge of Lake Neuchâtel, to watch the town's annual firework display. The last…
-
Welcome to "Through the Interface", a blog dedicated to programmers working with Autodesk technologies. My team, Autodesk's Developer Technical Services (DevTech), provides technical services to members of the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN), including programming support, consulting, training and evangelism. I'll be using this blog to share technical information about the use of our various Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and component technologies. Members of DevTech are experts on a wide range of Autodesk's products and APIs, so many of these posts will be contributed by members of my team. A little about myself… I have worked with a number of Autodesk's…