Company Number 3322609

I have worked in both high and low level languages, on applications as diverse as Offshore Petrochemical Safety and Banking, Power Stations and Flight Recorders.

My full CV is available on line in either  HTML  or  Postscript  formats.

I've given lectures (and won awards for them), designed real-time kernels and filing systems, debugged everything from networks to single chips, written code in more than twenty programming languages, supervised teams and solved problems.

Most of my work has been on the application of software to Broadcast Television. I was for thirteen years in charge of the Advanced Development work at Questech Ltd, where I helped create the Charisma®, CLEO®, SSVR® and DTV® product ranges, which are now industry standards in large areas of the world. You can see these products at  the QuesTech web site.

I work from home using a 100MHz Pentium system running RedHat Linux with full Internet access over ISDN, or on your site if necessary.

I'm also environmentally friendly, as I pass on to you the savings I make by not using my car when I can work at home by telephone, fax and internet.

So if you want software that works first time, phone me on 01344-772849.

(Registered Trade Marks of Questech Ltd are acknowledged.)

• Born 5th August 1955
• British Citizen
• Cambridge Upper Second Class Honours Degree

Engineering and Computer Science, graduated 1977
• Full UK driving licence
• Lifetime US visa
• Married, no children
• Employment History
• 1973 CI Data centre
• 1974 MSDS Frimley
• 1974-77 Cambridge
• 1977-79 Arbat
• 1997-81 John Bell Technical Systems
• 1981-83 Cardkey
• 1983-96 Questech
• 1997-!! Tanglewood Algorithms
• 13 Major Patents
• Publications
• Television & Video Production -- April 1987
• Digit (Guild of Vision Mixers' Journal) -- May 1987
• International Broadcast Engineer -- May 1987 & Sept 1990
• Electronics Weekly -- Jan 25 1989
• Paper on SSVR in Proc IBC 1988

Particular Skills

• Linux

I have now been using Linux (mainly the RedHat implementation) for about two years, and am quite familiar with the internals, including X-windows.
• C language

I have been writing C for about 10 years, and have produced in excess of 100,000 lines of code, the bulk of which is now in use, either in house, or in TV installations around the world, much of it in "mission critical" applications, such as on-air use in television broadcasting.
• Assembler

I have written assembler for the 68000 family, transputers, Z80, many other processors. This includes both "bare metal" coding of device drivers, and assembler translation of mathematical algorithms for speed.
• PDP-11

This machine is sadly now only of historical interest, but I include it in order to demonstrate the length of time for which I have been writing assembler (over 23 years).
• VAX/VMS

I have been using this family of machines for about 14 years, and have programmed extensively in C and a little assembler. I have also been system manager on a MicroVAX for about seven years.
• UNIX

I have a working familiarity with the Sun and HP workstation implementations, including networking and X-Windows.
• OS/2

I pioneered in-house use of OS/2, and have set up a network using Warp Connect. I have also used the internet connection software, and have written PM applications.
• Microsoft

I have written both MS-DOS and MS-Windows applications.
• OS/9

I have attended the basic, advanced and networking courses. These were in preparation for use of OS/9 on a project which was postponed.
• TCP/IP

I am familiar with the internals of several of the protocols, and also with obtaining and interpreting the RFCs for the parts with which I am not familiar. I have written code to implement parts of the protocol suite which were missing from one particular implementation. I have used the UNIX, HP, IBM OS/2, Winsock and CMU-IP (DEC® VAX®) implementations, and have configured most of them.
• HTML

I have, for my own interest, learned the basics of HTML and used it to create this website.
• Television

I am familiar with composite, component, parallel digital, and serial digital television signals and have looked into the JPEG and MPEG standards. I have also designed (in conjunction with the hardware engineers) digital filters, interpolators, and special effects processors for television signals.
• Documentation

I have written extensive technical specification documents for a variety of projects. In particular I have learned to adapt the style of documentation to the particular needs of the project and the requirements of the intended audience. I have also written user manuals and promotional articles.
• Management

I have supervised programming teams of up to five on projects of varying duration.
• Safety

I have taken several first aid and fire safety courses, although I have no current qualifications.

I want to see design documentation distributed to all concerned, so that everyone knows what is going on.

I like to see each module commented with what it does, and each procedure commented with what goes in, what comes out, and what happens inbetween.

I haven't written a goto for years.

If you want to see my coding style here is a  free program to solve anagrams which is redistributable under GPL.

I operate the first search on a "no hits, no fee" basis. Searches are normally conducted outside normal working hours, when internet traffic is light, but can be run at any time by request.

This service is particularly useful for recovering lost driver software for hardware which would otherwise be unusable.

This service can also, on occasion, locate missing persons if they are using the internet.

Large volumes of data can also be downloaded to 100MB IOMEGA ZIP cartridges or 1GB IOMEGA JAZ, or transferred to CDR for use in any CDROM drive (OS/2 HPFS, Linux Ext2 and Macintosh HFS formats are available at no extra cost). Most simple driver retrievals can be acomplished in the first half hour. If you have an option card which you thought you would have to throw away, because you have lost the drivers, it is often possible to get the card running again for a few pounds.

I will also install, test, and set up any commercially available software product, on any machine, at my normal hourly rate.

I can also procure options or complete systems, please call for details.

(All trade marks acknowledged)