iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 15/07/2026

As seen at the Festival of Computing hosted by @craigndave.bsky.social and @aqaeducation.bsky.social My new #coding fluency app six(im).possible().things() is FREE until end September and early adopters get a discounted Teacher Pro subscription for just £99/year. #TeamCompSci #UKEd #Programming

Screenshot of a website showing an IDE-like layout with title Six Impossible Things, a coding sandbox, output window with testing shown and feedback messages.

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 14/07/2026

This is great stuff and influenced me to put Data Rep as chapter 1 in my book, and to ask you to join me on an early podcast episode! pod.httcs.online/e/e003/ #TeamCompSci

Screenshot of a double page of my book "How to Teach Computer Science" Chapter 1 "Data Representation". The image shows morse code and braille diagrams and this is a sample of the text:

We need to head over to France to find an early binary code. Louis Braille injured
an eye in his father’s leather workshop at the age of three; the resulting infection
led to blindness in both eyes by the time he was five. At the age of 10, in 1819, he
obtained a scholarship to the National Institute for Blind Children in Paris, which
at the time used a system of raised letters invented by Valentin Haüy. Letter shapes
are not distinct enough to be easily discerned by touch, however, and Braille found
Haüy’s system hard to use.
While attending the institute, Braille was shown a system of raised dots used by
the military to communicate at night. He took this system and improved upon it,
using just six dots to communicate all the letters of the alphabet, plus numbers and
some punctuation symbols. Each dot is raised or flat, and a blank space (effectively
six flat dots) separates words and sentences. In this way, the grid of six dots could
represent 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 2 to the power 6 or 64 different characters.

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 20/05/2026

It goes on (ignore the bit about a book I'm probably not going to write...) "Even where I'm reliably accurate, I'm producing text that pattern-matches to correctness without the kind of understanding that would let me know why it's correct or when to doubt it. " More in Alt Text #TeamCompSci #UKed

A deeper point for your book:
The confidence question isn't just about accuracy — it's about the type of knowledge. Even where I'm reliably accurate, I'm producing text that pattern-matches to correctness without the kind of understanding that would let me know why it's correct or when to doubt it. A student who writes a correct answer for the wrong reasons is a concern to a teacher; an LLM that produces correct outputs through processes that don't constitute understanding is a more fundamental issue — and one that sits right at the heart of what you're arguing.

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 19/05/2026

Then you'll love this...

Sketch of a hedgehog labelled "head" and "chog"

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 24/10/2025

Book now for my #Programming #Pedagogy short course from OTSA. Learn proven techniques like #PRIMM, #SemanticWaves, Parson’s Problems and the Notional Machine to help you teach programming more fluently in Secondary Schools. Wed, 12 Nov 2025 16:00 - 17:30 GMT, £45. #TeamCompSci bit.ly/otsaprog1

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 24/10/2025

Places still available on my #Programming #Pedagogy short course from OTSA. Learn proven techniques like #PRIMM, #SemanticWaves, Parson’s Problems and the Notional Machine - teach programming more fluently in Secondary Schools. Wed, 12 Nov 2025 16:00 - 17:30 GMT, £45. #TeamCompSci bit.ly/otsaprog1

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 24/10/2025

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 23/10/2025

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 13/10/2025

Spot on as always. Meanwhile, Tech power broker Peter Thiel is having a normal one...

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 13/10/2025

Are you trolling? Altman says exactly that. "If jobs get wiped out..." See headline.

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 07/10/2025

Battery manufacturers: can we just start again at A?

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 07/09/2025

Haha remember Lock Stock...

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 19/08/2025

From that link.. "... Over 70 years old. Refurbished in 2017 by North Byron Resort, the train has solar panels on its roof that provide 6.6 kW of power. This is enough to power the train for its 3 km journey between North Beach and Byron Beach stations at an 18 km/h leisurely speed. "

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 17/08/2025

Ah sad news, he was a great British icon. My favourite Terence Stamp story is this one, hat tip Instagram user "loveshackvinyl" www.instagram.com/loveshackvin... text in alt text.

The cover of The Smiths’ single “What Difference Does It Make?” has featured both Terence Stamp and Morrissey in a tale of evolving album art. Originally, the UK single showcased a photo of Terence Stamp from the 1965 film The Collector, with Stamp holding a chloroform pad. However, the 12” version notably omitted the band’s name. Displeased with the use of his image, Stamp refused to approve it, prompting Morrissey to cleverly re-enact the scene, this time holding a glass of milk. Some pressings went on to feature Morrissey’s homage. Eventually, Stamp changed his mind, and the original Collector-inspired cover was reinstated, completing the cover’s intriguing journey.

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 16/08/2025

After 8 months of training and 18 Parkruns I broke through the 30 minute barrier today. Thank you @mracolley.bsky.social for your support and encouragement, even if you did have the cheek to be in France for my big day! #TeamCompSci #Edurunners

Screenshot of Parkrun email showing time of 29:58

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 14/08/2025

I like to think that this is a single complete article. The image is, in fact, "what happens".

A low-budget clickbait ad, the headline says "Doctors Reveal: If You Drink Olive Oil Every Day After 50, This is What Happens." The picture at the left side shows a very large man in his 50s, drinking from a bottle, with a round face and huge double chin and fat neck and thick arms. I'm sure that is what happens!

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 13/08/2025

Every day a spam message or two gets through the filter on one of my email accounts. They are usually very earnest Chinese businesses. But they don't seem to know (or care) what I actually do! Enjoy today's...

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 06/08/2025

Read this and get back to me www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 06/08/2025

It's all here. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 06/08/2025

Again who knows. Pretty flimsy evidence to convict someone of murder. I share this again. It's all in this story, the flaws in the prosecution's case. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 04/08/2025

Let me remind you, via Cory Doctorow, that Google has *deliberately made it's search feature terrible* to make more money out of you: doctorow.medium.com/https-plural... Sure they will use this tech wisely for the benefit of all 🙄. Hassabis is brilliant but naive.

Screenshot from the article, Hassabis is saying “Assuming we steward it safely and responsibly into the world, and obviously we’re trying to play our part in that, then we should be in a world of what I sometimes call radical abundance,” says Hassabis. He paints a picture of medical advances, room-temperature superconductors, nuclear fusion, advances in materials, mathematics. “It should lead to incredible productivity and therefore prosperity for society. Of course, we’ve got to make sure it gets distributed fairly, but that’s more of a political question. And if it is, we should be in an amazing world of abundance for maybe the first time in human history, where things don’t have to be zero sum. And if that works, we should be travelling to the stars, really.”

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 24/07/2025

I just verified my age by chanting Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, ******* ****** and **** (redacted for security reasons)

Image of the Trumpton fire engine and several fire crew

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 24/07/2025

I wrote to @mikekanemp.bsky.social to demand the #Labour @teamlabouruk.bsky.social government: * stop arms sales to Israel * demand humanitarian access * Name the #GENOCIDE * Recognise Palestine. If you learned about the holocaust and said "never again", never again is happening now.

STOP ARMS SALES TO ISRAEL AND DEMAND HUMANITARIAN ACCESS IMMEDIATELY
DEMAND AN END TO THE GENOCIDE. RECOGNISE PALESTINE.

I have written to you many times about the failure of this Labour government to stand up for traditional Labour values of justice and human rights for all. I IMPLORE you to demand that the British Government ends its COMPLICITY IN GENOCIDE immediately and:
* Stop arms sale to Israel
* Demand humanitarian access and an urgent food program run by trusted international organisations - not Israel
* Call the genocide what it is, a GENOCIDE
* Recognise the Palestinian state and open diplomatic relations and trade links, showing the world that they matter.

This is the most important letter I have written to you. Please reply to confirm you will represent me in this important matter.

Yours sincerely,

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 22/07/2025

Monday challenge: post the least flattering photo you have of your pet(s) (sorry it's late)

White Patterdale Terrier facing the camera, looking up. Mouth open, angle makes tongue look a foot long. Dog looks daft as a brush. Can confirm this is true.

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 18/07/2025

Yep, could not live without Windows-V, it's a game changer. Also go get Powertoys, and use the Smart Paste, you can copy an image and paste the text from the image straight into a document with Win-CTRL-V (or choose ur own) learn.microsoft.com/en-us/window... - loads more great hacks in the toy.

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 18/07/2025

Did someone say "game theory"?

John Von Neumann, father of the modern computer and founder of game theory. Einstein called him a genius.

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 07/07/2025

I love the Forest app for helping me with screen time.

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 07/07/2025

Ah the old "photo of the space where the missing item was", textbook stuff.

A picture of a pole on some grass by a village street captioned "Pole where the scarecrow was taken from (Image: Louise Haggerty)"

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 02/07/2025

Well done @craigndave.bsky.social and @johnnypalmer.bsky.social for another excellent conference, I didn't take many pictures but I nabbed this one at the end.

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 27/06/2025

post an unusual sign if you feel like it

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 26/06/2025

Nice. I wondered why the board wasn't displaying properly, then I realised google was auto translating from French and deleting repeated spaces! Turned off and it's fine...

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 25/06/2025

Another slide preview from next week: #TeamCompSci This should put the cat among the pigeons. Also posted on Facebook! These views are not mine and are fictional! Which one are you???? #CSEd #ComputerScience #Computing #caschat

Slide screenshot, lots of text but the gist is there are four quotes from fictional computing teachers describing their understanding of the subject. They are very different. Teacher A says "“Computing is all about solving engineering problems with intelligent machines. Babbage’s difference engine was basically a big steam calculator using gears where today we would use silicon chips… Programming isn’t much use to lads who want to be builders, but they might use CAD and Illustrator. Photoshop and website building might be useful for girls starting a hair salon.”
Teacher B says "I loved the ICT curriculum, we achieved 100% pass rate at GCSE ICT and 100% pass rate at ECDL too, and Business pass rate was pretty good, so SLT loved this department until the ICT to Computing curriculum change… Computers are basically productivity tools that make businesses and manufacturing more efficient.”" C says "“As a former Science teacher, I love teaching computing as the subjects share a common ancestry, most of the early pioneers were mathematicians or scientists, for example Von Neumann started as a chemical engineer, and the Manhattan Project was basically particle physics… We do Scratch and Python using the NCCE resources. I like the mix of activities in them. I’ve just introduced a data science unit and I’m trying out “machine learning for kids” as AI and ML seem to be the next big thing.” and D says "“Modern computing really exploded with Claude Shannon’s Master’s thesis in 1940 which joined up the fields of mathematics and physics. (Shannon also gave us game theory and the “zero-sum game”). He’s just one of my heroes, along with Lovelace, Boole and Turing: all mathematicians who laid the groundwork for computing… I read “Hello World” a lot and use PRIMM programming and Semantic Wave explanations.”

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 24/06/2025

Join me next week for "What my Master’s research taught me about the “gaze” of a computer scientist and why it matters to you." It's going to get all philosophical. But don't worry, I'll try and make sense of it all, and who knows, I may bring chocolate! craigndave.org/conference/ #TeamCompSci

Screenshot of a slide titled "so what is computing's gaze?" and quotes from Foucault, Ruth Ashbee and Heidegger

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 24/06/2025

I wrote to my MP urging him to back the amendment to prevent second reading of the cruel disability cuts bill. You can write to your MP quickly and easily here www.writetothem.com/write #TakingThePIP #disability "There are two kinds of people in this world: disabled, and temporarily non-disabled."

Dear Mike Kane,

I wrote to you a few months ago urging you to resist the disability benefit cuts. I was disappointed by your response.

Punishing the most vulnerable by plunging them into poverty and misery is NOT the way to fix the errors of the Conservatives.

I agree with the Disability Rights UK statement that "Labour MPs in particular must ask themselves why their cabinet colleagues are demonising and punishing Disabled people for the economic failures of successive governments rather than looking to the rich to plug the funding gap."

We can and MUST raise taxes on those that can afford to pay more, both personally and as corporations. We must close taxation loopholes that allow vast profits made here by big companies to go untaxed. We have ample opportunity right now to justify breaking the election promise to not raise taxes, given the global political and security situation, and the need to ramp up civil and military defence spending. A patriotic case can be made for a new budget that asks those who can to pay more. The country is awash with money, it's just all held by the 1%. I voted Labour for a fairer society, not to punish the most vulnerable for the greed of the powerful.

Vote for the Reasoned Amendment signed by Tan Dhesi, Helen Hayes, Florence Eshalomi, Patricia Ferguson, Ruth Cadbury, Dame Meg Hillier, Ruth Jones, Sarah Owen, Debbie Abrahams, Cat Smith, Louise Haigh and Vicky Foxcroft. Pause this cruel bill and give the most vulnerable in society a break.

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 22/06/2025

Dude has all the moves...

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 13/06/2025

You've been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who is coming to save you?

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 12/06/2025

Seen in Japan... To be fair to the crow, that burger is bigger than his head, surely he can't eat it all.

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 30/05/2025

Also what you describe was predicted by Douglas Adams (of course). "[the Reason software's premise] was simply to construct a plausible series of logical-sounding steps to connect the premises with the [desired] conclusion." www.goodreads.com/quotes/81148...

Screenshot from Goodreads. Quote is from Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams...

Well, it was a kind of back-to-front program. It’s funny how many of the best ideas are just an old idea back-to-front. You see there have already been several programs written that help you to arrive at decisions by properly ordering and analysing all the relevant facts so that they then point naturally towards the right decision. The drawback with these is that the decision which all the properly ordered and analysed facts point to is not necessarily the one you want.’

‘Yeeeess...’ said Reg’s voice from the kitchen.

‘Well, Gordon’s great insight was to design a program which allowed you to specify in advance what decision you wished it to reach, and only then to give it all the facts. The program’s task, which it was able to accomplish with consummate ease, was simply to construct a plausible series of logical-sounding steps to connect the premises with the conclusion.

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 24/05/2025

So @mracolley.bsky.social has gone to Spain for half term, which is rude, so I had to keep the #TeamCompSci #Parkrun streak without him. No PB, but the real parkrun is the friends we make along the way. 😏

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 08/05/2025

Ope, there goes Rabbit, he choked he’s so mad, but he won’t give up that easy? No he won’t have it, he knows his whole back’s to these ropes It don’t matter, he’s

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 07/05/2025

There's SO much wrong with the Gammonifesto, but this is... something. Nothing for Scotland and NI? And St. David's day to celebrate our English national identity?

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Alan Harrison @httcs.online · 01/05/2025

I am back at Ada College for a couple of months of lecturing on the Technology Degree Apprenticeships.

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