Phillip Trelford's Array

A few backs I visited New York City taking in some of the many sites like the Empire State Building for the views, Grand Central Terminal for the oysters, Central Park for waffles & dinges, Harry’s Bar for steaks, the American Museum of Natural History for stars and stuffed animals and the MoMA for modern art.

MoMA

The department of Architecture and Design at the MoMA had 14 video games on display including PacMan. Are video games art? They sure are.

I also found an interesting piece by Philippe Decrauzat entitled D.T.A.B.T.W.H.A.H.E.

Here’s a short F# snippet to generate similar text blocks:

// Generate text from Philippe Decrauzat's D.T.A.B.T.W.H.A.H.E. 2010
let print (s:string) =
    [|
    for y in 0..s.Length-1 ->
        [|for x in 0..y-1 -> s.[x]
            for x in y..s.Length-1 -> s.[y]
        |]
        |> fun cs -> 
            System.String(cs) + 
            System.String(cs |> Array.rev |> Seq.skip 1 |> Seq.toArray) 
    |] 
    |> fun ys -> [|yield! ys; yield! (Array.rev ys |> Seq.skip 1)|] 
    |> String.concat "\r\n"
print "A HAPPY ENDING"

F# for Trading

While I was in New York I also gave a talk on F# for Trading at the local F# User Group:

Thanks for all the kind feedback.

Tate Modern

I work round from the corner from the Tate Modern in London. Last week I popped in and on my exit through the gift shop I picked up a book with the title Null Object and a postcard of a painting called Hyena Stomp by Frank Stella:

I liked it as it reminded me of the end of level sequence in Robotron 2084 & Llamatron:

As an aside, I've been having a lot of fun recently making bleeps and beeps, more often found in 80s video games, with Korg's Monotribe analogue synth.

Inspired by Llamtron I’ve created a simple animated version of Hyena Stomp in Silverlight:

Music

Why not sit back and relax with some art inspired music:

• On the Run by Pink Floyd
• Art Bitch by CSS
• Modern Art by Art Brut

Are you a high performing Developer looking to use the latest technologies? Perhaps you want to be more than just a cog in the wheel, playing an integral part in high level projects? Or maybe you are looking for a company that puts an emphasis on work life balance? If so we would be keen to hear from you.

What you’ll be doing

We are currently looking for a passionate Developer to join the front end team. Working as part of a high performing team, the role will involve

· Working as part of one of the three software teams at Trayport, you’ll develop top-of-class trading software – both front ends and servers

· Having the responsibility and flexibility to choose and develop tools and technology required to meet the goals of the product owner

· Working on a range of features and products, producing top quality tested code and having a say in all areas across the business

· Innovating new product features

· Taking an active role in all stages of development including the analysis of business requirements, planning, implementation and delivery.

· Producing high quality code with automated tests

You…

We are looking for candidates who have a mix of being able to work effectively as part of a team while at the same time being passionate about coding. The ability and willingness to pick up new technologies is paramount and you will be rewarded with the chance to work on some exciting projects. The successful candidate will be;

· Enthusiastic about designing and building exceptional software.

· Skilled with C#, .NET and / or C++ and have knowledge of design patterns, algorithms and data structures.

· Want to work with a team of talented technologists who will challenge and inspire you

Us…..

· Have a track record of delivering the software that powers energy trading.

· Offer a great benefits package including healthcare, gym membership, profit share and a well-stocked kitchen.

· Hold regular social events for the whole company, including an annual weekend away.

Why work for us

Not only will you be working on the latest technologies (.Net 4.5, C++11, F#), you will be part of a team of talented technologists who will challenge and inspire you. You will be working in a relaxed environment, taking part in regular tech talks and attending top conferences.

If this sounds like you, please forward your CV ASAP to discuss further.

Trayport

Trayport was founded in 1993 and now has 200 employees, but we’re still proud of our small company feel. Our range of clients spans household energy companies, banks, hedge-funds and regulation bodies – providing Windows-based front-ends and servers to facilitate all aspects of trading. We’re moving to top-class offices in a great City location soon – if you’re interested in what you’ve read, apply today by letting us know how you can help shape our future.

You’ve read the introduction books, you’ve keyed in the hello world examples, now it’s time to dive deep into solutions from experienced developers working in interesting domains.

Deep Dive

Like many of you I’m sure I’ve collected a bookcase full of books introducing an array of languages and technologies. But like you I crave material that is based on actual experience of developing real-world systems in interesting domains. The excellent Beautiful Architecture and Beautiful Code books present chapters from experienced developers who talk about real-world applications they’ve worked on. F# Deep Dives goes deep on simple functional solutions with F# applied to interesting domains like finance, machine learning and games.

F#

F# is a practical, functional-first language that lets you write simple code to solve complex problems. By focusing on F# we have been able to draw from a wealth of experienced developers working on practical problems in interesting domains. F# is also a very expressive language which means that each chapter can focus on showing solutions without having to sacrifice content because of excessive amounts of boilerplate. The solutions should be easy to follow for developers with or without F# experience and interesting whether you intend to solve problems with F# or another functional-first language like Scala or Clojure.

Deal of the day

If all that sounds interesting I think you’ll enjoy F# Deep Dives:

Work on the book started in December 2012, it’s currently in MEAP with Manning and today (17th May 2013) F# Deep Dives is Manning’s deal of the day - use code: dotd0517au