Reminder: 18:30 Wed 2 Apr 2025, BCS London & online: Learning to Program Again - pairing with AI
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Immo Hüneke
Mar 27, 2025, 10:13:44 AM3/27/25
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BCS Software Practice Advancement specialist group - 400th meeting!
=======================================================
SPA-400: Learning to Program Again - how I came to love pairing with AI
Speaker: Romilly Cocking
When: Wednesday 2nd April 2025, 18:00 for 18:30 - 20:00 BST
Where: BCS London, 25 Copthall Avenue, London EC2R 7BP and also online
Price: Free
Booking Link: https://2april25spa.eventbrite.co.uk/
Your confirmation email will provide the next step to enable you to access the webinar. 48 hours and 1 hour prior to the event reminder emails will be sent to those registered, with the non-transferable URL needed to gain access. The session will be recorded. If you do not wish to feature in the recording, please keep your microphone muted.
AGENDA
* 6:00pm - networking in BCS London over refreshments
* 6:30pm - presentation and group exercise begins, questions and answers either ad hoc or at the end
* 8:00pm - networking in BCS London (pizza & refreshments)
* 8:45pm at the latest: everyone off the premises - adjourn to The Old Doctor Butler's Head to continue discussion if desired
SYNOPSIS
Romilly started using AI to help him code in April 2023, and he'll be talking about the projects he's built since then.
He's built software to help him with his research, including tools to build, manage and access a personal library of over 10,000 PDF files.
He's also been using AI coding agents to build a platform for creating and delivering online courses.
He'll finish his talk with some tips on the value of AI coding agents: when you should _not_ use them, and how to use them effectively when you do.
The session will wrap up with some fun team-based activities in which you'll tackle some code-related tasks with ChatGPT and/or Anthropic Claude (Sonnet).
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Romilly wrote his first programme for the Ferranti Pegasus in 1958 at the age of 11. In 1966, before starting University, he joined a compiler team at the University of London Institute of Computer science, working on a compiler using Booker and Morris's compiler-compiler on the London Atlas.
in 1968, during a vacation job at Imperial College, he experimented with IBM's Computer Based Training program Course-Writer II on the IBM 1401. In 1974 he took an MSc at Birkbeck College in London.
His research project involved simulating a neural network based on Marr's model of the cerebellar cortex. In 1975 he co-founded Cocking and Drury, which became the largest APL software house in the UK. In 1987 he started programming in Smalltalk.
In the 1990s he developed, coached and taught a generation of programmers about Object Orientation in both Smalltalk and Java. In 2002 he discovered XP and joined the BCS Object Oriented Programming and Systems specialist group, which later became SPA. He thought he had retired in 2008, but he started work again in 2012 developing add-on boards for the projected Raspberry Pi computer just in time for its launch in 2014.
In the 2020s he's been working on AI, coding agents and courseware to teach TDD. Believe it or not, he has interests other than IT! He loves walking near his home in Suffolk, enjoys good food and wine, loves music and reads lots of golden age detective stories.
Other commitments mean that he can't be physically present at BCS London on the day, but he has kindly offered to lead the session remotely.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BCS SPA Home Page - http://bcs-spa.org/ (sorry that ISP issues took the site off air for about four days)
Meetings Schedules
London - http://bcs-spa.org/index.php?page=london-meeting-programme
Cambridge - see http://http://softwareast.ning.com/events
Presentation materials from previous talks are available from the BCS SPA resources site: http://bcs-spa.org/resources.html
Also see YouTube playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKBhokJ0qd3_wlvr0j85YhmNfNj8ZJ8M-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPA London Meetings Programme Organiser - Immo Huneke, Zuhlke Engineering Ltd. [Im...@Huneke.Co.UK]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forthcoming meetings: We're looking for volunteers to present or lead workshops on topics of interest to software practitioners. Please come forward with suggestions!
7 May 2025 - Eoin Woods: The Green Software Imperative - measuring and minimising emissions from software systems
=======================================================
SPA-400: Learning to Program Again - how I came to love pairing with AI
Speaker: Romilly Cocking
When: Wednesday 2nd April 2025, 18:00 for 18:30 - 20:00 BST
Where: BCS London, 25 Copthall Avenue, London EC2R 7BP and also online
Price: Free
Booking Link: https://2april25spa.eventbrite.co.uk/
Your confirmation email will provide the next step to enable you to access the webinar. 48 hours and 1 hour prior to the event reminder emails will be sent to those registered, with the non-transferable URL needed to gain access. The session will be recorded. If you do not wish to feature in the recording, please keep your microphone muted.
AGENDA
* 6:00pm - networking in BCS London over refreshments
* 6:30pm - presentation and group exercise begins, questions and answers either ad hoc or at the end
* 8:00pm - networking in BCS London (pizza & refreshments)
* 8:45pm at the latest: everyone off the premises - adjourn to The Old Doctor Butler's Head to continue discussion if desired
SYNOPSIS
Romilly started using AI to help him code in April 2023, and he'll be talking about the projects he's built since then.
He's built software to help him with his research, including tools to build, manage and access a personal library of over 10,000 PDF files.
He's also been using AI coding agents to build a platform for creating and delivering online courses.
He'll finish his talk with some tips on the value of AI coding agents: when you should _not_ use them, and how to use them effectively when you do.
The session will wrap up with some fun team-based activities in which you'll tackle some code-related tasks with ChatGPT and/or Anthropic Claude (Sonnet).
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Romilly wrote his first programme for the Ferranti Pegasus in 1958 at the age of 11. In 1966, before starting University, he joined a compiler team at the University of London Institute of Computer science, working on a compiler using Booker and Morris's compiler-compiler on the London Atlas.
in 1968, during a vacation job at Imperial College, he experimented with IBM's Computer Based Training program Course-Writer II on the IBM 1401. In 1974 he took an MSc at Birkbeck College in London.
His research project involved simulating a neural network based on Marr's model of the cerebellar cortex. In 1975 he co-founded Cocking and Drury, which became the largest APL software house in the UK. In 1987 he started programming in Smalltalk.
In the 1990s he developed, coached and taught a generation of programmers about Object Orientation in both Smalltalk and Java. In 2002 he discovered XP and joined the BCS Object Oriented Programming and Systems specialist group, which later became SPA. He thought he had retired in 2008, but he started work again in 2012 developing add-on boards for the projected Raspberry Pi computer just in time for its launch in 2014.
In the 2020s he's been working on AI, coding agents and courseware to teach TDD. Believe it or not, he has interests other than IT! He loves walking near his home in Suffolk, enjoys good food and wine, loves music and reads lots of golden age detective stories.
Other commitments mean that he can't be physically present at BCS London on the day, but he has kindly offered to lead the session remotely.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BCS SPA Home Page - http://bcs-spa.org/ (sorry that ISP issues took the site off air for about four days)
Meetings Schedules
London - http://bcs-spa.org/index.php?page=london-meeting-programme
Cambridge - see http://http://softwareast.ning.com/events
Presentation materials from previous talks are available from the BCS SPA resources site: http://bcs-spa.org/resources.html
Also see YouTube playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKBhokJ0qd3_wlvr0j85YhmNfNj8ZJ8M-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPA London Meetings Programme Organiser - Immo Huneke, Zuhlke Engineering Ltd. [Im...@Huneke.Co.UK]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forthcoming meetings: We're looking for volunteers to present or lead workshops on topics of interest to software practitioners. Please come forward with suggestions!
7 May 2025 - Eoin Woods: The Green Software Imperative - measuring and minimising emissions from software systems
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