vipinajayakumar

Moving to bluprince13.com

Fri, 25 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I have had a lot of fun making this blog. It’s based of Hugo, a static website generator written in Go. However, I wanted to switch to something based on JavaScript and React.js as that’s what I know and love. I experimented with react-static and later with Next.js on a new domain at bluprince.com. I’m very pleased with this new setup as not only will I be able to write articles, but I will also be able to develop the website to my heart’s content.

My favourite apps in 2020

Sun, 12 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I am a productivity geek and one of the things I’m particularly fond of is using software to make my life as lazy as possible. In this article, I share some of my favourite iOS and macOS apps. Note that some of these may be UK specific. I had to make some pretty hard decisions about removing many not-as-awsome apps from this list. These remaining ones are the cream of the crop. :) I hope you like some of them.

Getting started with JavaScript

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

JavaScript is the most fun language I have ever played with. Today, I’m a full-stack web developer working in London as part of a fab team. So, I have brilliant and experienced people around me to guide me. However, two years ago, when I first decided to learn JavaScript, I remember being very confused about where to start. There are way too many frameworks and courses to choose from and I didn’t know how to make those choices. In this article, I make some of those difficult choices for you and help you get started with JavaScript. The goal is to help you rapidly reach a point where you know enough to figure out your own way forward. I hope you find it useful.

An interactive explanation of the statistical t-test used to compare sample means

Sun, 11 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This is an Observable notebook I created to explain statistical t-tests.

Renting vs buying a house in the UK

Sat, 20 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Work in progress :P

Standard error of the mean

Sat, 15 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This is an Observable notebook I created to explain what standard error of the mean is.

Is it worth investing in a pension in the UK?

Sun, 07 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This is an Observable notebook I created to explore the benefits of a workplace pension.

Continuous Integration of LaTeX projects with GitLab Pages

Thu, 17 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Do you use LaTeX? I used to hate writing reports until I discovered LaTeX. However, one issue I had with it was that there was no easy way of sharing the PDF output online, especially if it’s something that’s a work in progress that you might want to edit and deploy frequently. This is particularly true in the case of CVs and resumes. In this article, I show you how to set up Continuous Integration [CI] of LaTeX projects with GitLab Pages. Once that’s set up, all it takes is a commit and a push, and voila, your finished work is published online within minutes! My own CV is deployed this way.

If I could travel back in time and give my teenage self some advice

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Last year, I visited my high school and was invited to give a talk to their GCSE and A-level students. I’m sure there was lots of room for improvement in my speech, but I enjoyed the experience regardless. In this article, I present the advice that I would give my teenage self if I could travel back in time (assuming I don’t have to worry about causality or time travel paradoxes). This article is aimed at children, teachers, parents and free-thinkers who might have an interest in what I have to say on the subject.

Why everyone should learn to code?

Sat, 08 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Digital transformation. Big data. Machine learning. Artificial intelligence. Internet of things. Industry 4.0. There is a digital race going on which every business is taking part in whether they know it or not. With all this excitement about, we all have to ask ourselves whether we have the right skills to thrive in the near future.

Contrary to what the title says, what I actually want to explore in this article is whether or not you should learn to code. It is aimed at undergraduates or employees who don’t have a coding background but are wondering if it’s worth learning to code.

A guide to planning your first ski or snowboarding holiday

Sun, 02 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Planning your first ski holiday can be intimidating, especially if you’ve never tried it as a child. I have only been a couple of times myself, but I can’t recommend it more. It is a truly magical experience that everyone deserves to experience at least once. Magical! You have no idea how much I regret not learning to snowboard while I was still at university.

Where to start? How much does it cost? What equipment do I need? How long will it take me to learn? Is it safe? How early should I start planning? I had so many questions before my first time! This article is aimed at UK residents who are considering going on their first ski/snowboarding holiday.

Getting started with Python

Sun, 24 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

You want to try out programming, but you don’t know quite where to start. In this article I share some thoughts on that based on my own experience when I started learning Python a year and a half ago.

Parsing text with Python

Sun, 07 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I hate parsing files, but it is something that I have had to do at the start of nearly every project. Parsing is not easy, and it can be a stumbling block for beginners. However, once you become comfortable with parsing files, you never have to worry about that part of the problem. That is why I recommend that beginners get comfortable with parsing files early on in their programming education. This article is aimed at Python beginners who are interested in learning to parse text files.

Managing your money

Wed, 20 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This article is dedicated to my father. He had begun lecturing to me about the importance of saving when I was still in primary school. I ignored him for years. Thankfully, like any good parent, he never gave up on me. A year or so into my first job I finally understood what he was trying to tell me. My target audience for this article are graduates in their first job in the UK.

PyCon UK 2017

Sat, 04 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I had the pleasure of attending PyCon UK for the first time this year. This is a record of my experience of PyCon UK, where I’ll focus on the things that were the most interesting to me. The conference was a five-day event with lectures/workshops on the first four days and sprint sessions on the fifth day. I was slightly worried that I wouldn’t quite fit in with a bunch of programmers since I have an engineering background, but I was blown away by how welcoming the python community was.

Hello world!

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 20:54:16 +0000

Hello?