Hello there
Somehow, you have found your way onto the webpage of Brian Beckett, BSc (Hons) MBCS. My name is one part hereditory, one part whimsical and two parts earned. Can you guess which bit is which?From 2005 to 2008 I studied BSc Computer Science at Royal Holloway, University of London. I got a 2:1 at the end of my course, the result of spending too much time having fun with my friends rather than studying. My final year project was on Digital Fountain codes. I got 70% for my project, which is a first class grade.
In June 2008 I became a Professional Member of the British Computer Society. My course was accredited by the BCS, so I didn't need to take any more exams to become a member. This gives me the right to use the letters `MBCS' after my name.
My degree was also accredited by the Institute of Engineering and Technology. I am currently a student member of the IET. To upgrade my membership, I need to send them a copy of my degree certificate, which I don't yet have. So I can't be an MIET yet...
Let's have a few fun (?) facts about me, shall we?
- I like to watch anime in my spare time.
- I play both guitar and bass guitar. Not necessarily very well, but I play them.
- I enjoy photography - most of the photos I take are of landscapes and skyscapes.
- I am a fairly well rounded geek, not just an anime geek. I own a large collection of Star Wars books and Lego models, I enjoy watching live-action sci-fi like Stargate SG-1 and I own a model railway. The railway is currently packed up in boxes as I don't have any space to set it up, but one day I will devote an entire room to it. This is more awesome than it sounds.
- I like making model kits, particularly Airfix ones.
- I have played the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) Tibia for about five and a half years. I didn't play much during my time at university, since it would have been too much of a distraction. Now I've finished university, I'm going to play it quite a lot, I think! My main character is Cosmic Flame, and I play on the Secura server.
- I also play Guild Wars. My main character is called Cos Flame.
- Despite being the only programmer in my family, I have the least powerful computer. This amuses/horrifies me. My laptop, Cathryn, is a Sony VAIO VGN-FS215S - 1.86 GHz Pentium M, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB HDD, 15.4" WXGA LCD Screen, NVIDIA GeForce Go 6200, Windows XP Home. I need to upgrade...
- My main programming language is Java (J2SE), but I have also used:
- C++ (second year Performance Programming course)
- C# XNA (third year Games course)
- MIPS assembly language (first year Computer Engineering course, really need to relearn it)
- BASIC (Amstrad CPC 464 when I was growing up)
- TI Calculator BASIC (on my graphical calculator)
- Scripting language-wise, I have used:
- Python (haven't used since I started Uni)
- BASH Shell Scripting (third year Operating Systems course, and I love it)
- PHP (learning it as I go along!)
- Finally, I have also used:
- CSP (third year Concurrent & Parallel Programming course)
- Prolog (first and second year Logic courses)
- HTML (what this page was written with)
- CSS (learning it as I go along)
- LaTeX (wrote my entire third year project using it)
- I use the Eclipse IDE most of the time, but I have also used the Microsoft Visual Studio and BlueJ.
- I also use JUnit for testing my programs.
- For the three years of my degree I was a Staff-Student Committee Representative for my year.
- Since my second year, I have worked part-time as an IT Tutor for mature students. I also marked IT coursework for a few months.
- I worked briefly for Thinking SAFE at the end of my second year.
- I spent a summer working for the NHS in a hospital pharmacy.
- During my time at university, I was the IEE/IET Student Ambassador to Royal Holloway, University of London.
As a final note, I created the website of the Fen Line Users Association. The website is stylistically plain, but contains a lot of useful content that has (so I hear) drawn praise from various railways high-ups.