Andrew Orlowski

Collected Journalism

Tag: programming

  • Compulsory coding in schools: The new Nerd Tourism
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    Compulsory coding in schools: The new Nerd Tourism

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    The writer Toby Young tells a story about how the modern 100m race is run in primary schools. At the starting pistol, everyone runs like mad. At the 50m point, the fastest children stop and wait for the fatties to catch up. Then all the youngsters walk across the finishing line together, holding hands.

    I have no idea if this is true – it may well be an urban myth. But the media class’s newly acquired enthusiasm for teaching all … Read More

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  • Verity Stob – programming’s funniest memoir

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    As anyone who’s ever done it professionally knows, programming computers isn’t as glamorous as they make out in the movies. Take for example, Independence Day, where the hero lashes together a program in 30 minutes and conjures up a piece of code that saves the world. Have you ever seen anyone do in that real life? And did you bill them for the full hour?

    Or take another glamorous example of the mercurial codesmith-as-shamen. In Po Bronson’s Nudist On … Read More

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  • The Cell chip – what it is, and why you should care

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    Part 1: A look at how it works

    No chip in years has caused as much excitement as the Cell processor developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba. It promises to be the most important microprocessor of the decade, with potentially enormous repercussions for how the industry computes, and how the rest of us use digital media. It will power the PlayStation 3 and technical and commercial computing.

    Technical details of Cell will be disclosed at the International Solid State Circuits … Read More

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