https://iansomme.github.io/ Recent content in Home on Images and Opinions Hugo -- gohugo.io en-uk Sun, 12 Apr 2020 15:30:52 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/research-impact/ Wed, 06 Apr 2022 09:56:26 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/research-impact/ This article was prompted by responses to a tweet I wrote in response to an analysis of the research area of papers submitted to the 2022 ICSE conference, the flagship conference for software engineering research. These led me to reflect on software engineering research in general. I’m sorry to say that I think that we, as a community, have not really delivered very much that’s substantive in over 40 years of research. https://iansomme.github.io/professional/about/ Fri, 24 Apr 2020 10:28:40 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/professional/about/ I wrote my first computer program in 1970 and have been involved in software engineering research and teaching since the late-1970s. So I have lived through changes to computer generations from mainframes to minicomputers to PCs and mobile devices. I started using the Internet in the early 1980s and my first web site was published in 1995. I was born in Glasgow, Scotland and educated at Strathclyde University (BSc Physics) and St Andrews University (MSc, PhD Computer Science). https://iansomme.github.io/technology/teaching/out-with-uml/ Thu, 23 Apr 2020 06:34:41 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/teaching/out-with-uml/ In the 1980s and 1990s, universities started to introduce software engineering courses into their computer science degree programs. At that time, software engineering was dominated by the problems of creating large custom software systems. These were developed by managed teams working on long-lifetime software projects. This project-based approach was reflected in software engineering courses and in textbooks developed to support these courses. My own book adopted this approach as did texts by Pressman, Van Vliet and others. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-14/strathcarron-to-st-cyrus/ Tue, 14 Apr 2020 21:41:46 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-14/strathcarron-to-st-cyrus/ Fundamentally, any route across the Highlands falls into 3 logical parts - the West, between the coast and the Great Glen, the middle between the Great Glen and eastern Cairgorms and the East, which is the bit from Glen Muick/Clova/Ballater to the coast. The middle is the biggest bit as you need to get across two bits of high country - from the Great Glen to the A9 and then across the Cairngorms. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/deeside-way-guide/ Tue, 14 Apr 2020 19:57:23 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/deeside-way-guide/ We live right beside the Deeside Way, a walking and riding path that stretches from Aberdeen to Ballater (about 55km). I walk on the Way every week that we are at home and have taken hundreds if not thousands of photographs on these walks. I decided to set myself a wee project to write a short guide to the Deeside Way that was a bit better than the rather bland description on the official website. https://iansomme.github.io/technology/website/startingwithhugo/ Mon, 13 Apr 2020 15:18:42 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/website/startingwithhugo/ I’ve become increasingly fed up with Wordpress - particularly the fact that there seem to be millions of malicious hackers and spammers trying to get into your site. I’ve been short of time to do anything about this but the coronavirus locked means that I’ve finally got round to doing something about this. I’m currently rebuilding the content of my site (which will take a while) but, apart from tweaks, I’m happy with the new design. https://iansomme.github.io/about/ Sun, 12 Apr 2020 15:30:52 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/about/ I live in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland and I’m interested in photography, hill-walking, and outdoors/environment stuff in general. I have two adult daughters and three delightful grandchildren. This website is an amalgamation of my previous personal and professional sites. These were implemented using Wordpress but I found the task of managing the installation, dealing with malicious attacks and the poor performance to be increasingly irksome. I’ve now shut down my Wordpress sites and have re-implemented my web sites using Hugo, a static site generator. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-15/lochailort-to-stonehaven/ Tue, 14 Apr 2015 20:04:59 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-15/lochailort-to-stonehaven/ I started doing the TGO Challenge - a cross Scotland walk - a couple of years ago. About 300 people of all ages spend a couple of weeks walking from the west coast to the east coast of Scotland. Start points are between Ardrishaig in the south to Torridon in the north and most Challengers finish somewhere between Aberdeen and Montrose. One of my motivations for taking part in the Challenge was to revisit some of the places that I’d been to many years ago. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-13/mallaig-to-aberdeen/ Sun, 14 Apr 2013 20:57:17 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-13/mallaig-to-aberdeen/ Mallaig to Aberdeen: My original route plan I start in Mallaig with the Bruce Watt ferry from Mallaig to Knoydart. This has a lot of memories for me as I first went on a Bruce Watt boat (called the Clansman) in the 1950s when I was just a wee boy. I had a shot of driving the boat which was great fun (that’s me in the wheelhouse). Driving the 'Clansman' I hope to stop at the pub in Inverie for a pint then over the hill to camp at Sourlies bothy. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-18/shiel_bridge_to_johnshaven/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-18/shiel_bridge_to_johnshaven/ I spent 10 years from 1968 to 1978 stravaiging around the Scottish hills. I was away most weekends climbing or walking and travelled all over the Highlands. Then things changed - family and work - the usual suspects - meant I had less time to get away. I moved away from Scotland for work for almost 20 years and, at best, I managed one or two weekends a year in the Highlands. https://iansomme.github.io/technology/research-failure-2/ Tue, 12 Apr 2022 13:59:38 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/research-failure-2/ I wrote in a recent article about my views on why software engineering research has had very little direct impact on software engineering practice. I identified three short-comings in the research community that I believe has contributed to this namely short-term thinking, a mistaken belief in reductionism and a failure to cooperate rather than compete. To be fair to the research community, however, the problems of research impact are not all of their own making. https://iansomme.github.io/technology/teaching/esp/ Sat, 16 May 2020 15:46:00 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/teaching/esp/ An introduction to modern software engineering In 1981, I wrote a short book that was an introduction to software engineering for computer science students. This covered most of software engineering as it was at that time. Virtually all software was then developed in ‘projects’, where a client supplied the ‘requirements’ and the software was implemented by a separate team. Over the years, the discipline expanded and so did my book. It was no longer just an introduction but embraced several advanced topics. https://iansomme.github.io/professional/research/ Fri, 24 Apr 2020 08:11:42 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/professional/research/ This page summarises my research career from its beginnings as a PhD student in the 1970s to my retirement from St Andrews University in 2014. I have published lots of papers during that time – my Google Scholar profile includes a reasonably complete list (at least of those papers that are available on the Web). Early research I completed my PhD at St Andrews University in 1977 where I worked in the areas of computer architecture and programming languages. https://iansomme.github.io/technology/website/first-thoughts-on-hugo/ Wed, 15 Apr 2020 16:02:38 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/website/first-thoughts-on-hugo/ Changing technology platforms, for whatever purpose, is always a disruptive experience. You get used to the features and the inbuilt assumptions made by a platform, such as Wordpress, and develop an internal model of how to use the platform to do what you want. When you change platform, your tendency is to try and adapt what you kow to that platform. However, this rarely works as each platform is built around a different set of assumptions and a different model of work. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-14/overview/ Tue, 14 Apr 2020 21:43:48 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-14/overview/ Challenge blogs from recent years are full of tales of derring-do as Challengers write of their gonad-freezing experiences wading Highland rivers in spate after several days of rain and battling through Monadliath blizzards. Folks experienced black hole of Calcutta conditions as innumerable people crammed into squalid bothies because it was too windy to pitch their tents. The weather, to put it mildly, has been ‘challenging’. Not this year. Perhaps the best description of the weather in the Highlands this May was benign. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-15/ten-images/ Tue, 14 Apr 2020 20:43:14 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-15/ten-images/ Rather than a trip diary, I thought that I’d try to sum up my 2015 TGO Challenge in 10 photos. I decided on 10 photos deliberately so that this couldn’t just be 1 photo per day - it forced me to be quite ruthless in editing the images I’d taken. These are not the 10 best photos that I took - rather, they’re the way of capturing what the Challenge was to me. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-18/loch_mullardoch/ Thu, 30 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-18/loch_mullardoch/ The north shore of Loch Mullardoch is not a Challenge trade route. From Strathcarron, the obvious route west is via Loch Monar and from Shiel Bridge, Glen Affric is the logical route. Mullardoch may be a route from Dornie but it seems that most Dornie starters head for Glen Affric - either via the Falls of Glomach or via Gleann a Choilich at the west end of Loch Mullardoch. I’d seen Loch Mullardoch from the hills but I’d never been on its shores so I thought it would be an interesting route to try. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-13/week-1/ Sun, 14 Apr 2013 21:15:04 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-13/week-1/ Day 1: Mallaig to Sourlies About 30-odd Challengers set off for Knoydart. Experienced Challengers were chatting; newbies like myself were quieter and a bit apprehensive about what they had let themselves in for. On the ferry, I met Lindsay - a wonderful lady who had her rucksack on what looked like a golf trolley. She told me she’d recently had an operation and couldn’t carry her rucksack so she had rigged up this trolley to drag it across Scotland. https://iansomme.github.io/technology/website/portfolio/ Thu, 17 Mar 2022 17:35:58 +0000 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/website/portfolio/ Adobe Portfolio is a web builder that is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud ecosystem. It is specifically designed to showcase images with the target market being photographers and designers who use the Creative Cloud suite. It isn’t available without a Creative Cloud subscription. The USP of Adobe Portfolio is that it is integrated with Lightroom, a photo management and editing system that is also part of the Creative Cloud ecosystem. https://iansomme.github.io/professional/critical-systems-engineering/ Fri, 24 Apr 2020 08:24:45 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/professional/critical-systems-engineering/ Many software systems are now critical systems whose failure can have serious economic, human and social consequences. This course is an advanced software engineering course that is focused on system dependability and security and how business-critical, safety-critical and mission-critical systems can be developed. For critical systems, we need to be confident that system failure will not have serious adverse effects and this means that a range of analysis and assurance techniques have to be used in their development. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-14/photographic-impressions/ Tue, 14 Apr 2020 21:44:35 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-14/photographic-impressions/ I guess that most Challengers take photos of their walk and there are some great landscape photos on Challenger blogs. I’ve been learning about digital photo manipulation recently so I thought that instead of the usual colour pictures, I’d present a more impressionistic view of my Challenge, in monochrome. Some of these I’m pleased with and I think they capture the atmosphere well; others, I’m not so sure. Improving weather - Loch Calavie. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-13/week-2/ Tue, 14 Apr 2020 21:20:39 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-13/week-2/ Day 8: Glen Feshie to Mar Lodge I woke up to cloud but the weather looked set to improve as I set off - as ever, I was not early and a few Challengers had already passed me although they had stayed at the bothy or camped further down the glen. The upper part of the Glen is not as attractive as the more wooded lower Glen Feshie and, after crossing the watershed, the path was pretty boggy and a wee bit dull. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-15/route-reflections/ Tue, 14 Apr 2020 20:43:26 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-15/route-reflections/ It is now 2 weeks since I got back from the 2015 TGO Challenge, when I walked from Lochailort to Stonehaven. I blogged about my route when I planned it and, more or less, stuck to the planned route. I didn’t do a hill on Day 3 as it was chucking it down so I road-bashed along Loch Arkaig; I took to the forest roads to the south of Loch Rannoch - a longer but less tiring route, and, in spite of a snowstorm, stayed high when travelling east from Mount Keen. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-18/ten_images/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-18/ten_images/ Digital photography is wonderful but it’s too easy to take too many pictures. Many of us have computer hard drives with thousands of images. Most of us will never find the time to sort them out. Because it is so easy to take photographs, some people over-illustrate their accounts of their outdoor adventures. They take lots of pictures so feel the need to include lots of these pictures in their blogs. https://iansomme.github.io/professional/systems-engineering-for-lscits/ Fri, 24 Apr 2020 10:05:19 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/professional/systems-engineering-for-lscits/ Large-scale complex IT systems(LSCITS) are organizational systems, used by a range of stakeholders with differing goals and priorities. Their scale and complexity means that they may exhibit unexpected behaviour and performance and changing these systems can be difficult and have unpredictable consequences. Usually, LSCITS are made up of a number of other systems (sometimes, they are referred to as a system of systems) with the component systems independently managed. LSCITS are deeply embedded in organizational socio-technical systems and so their procurement, development and operation is influenced by human, social, organizational and cultural factors. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-18/an_unfortunate_ending/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-18/an_unfortunate_ending/ I shouldn’t be writing this post tonight. I should have been on my last wild camp of the 2018 TGO Challenge in Drumtochty forest, finishing tomorrow in Johnshaven. Instead, I’m sitting at home sorting out my photos from the Challenge and wondering if I did the right thing in withdrawing yesterday. For us baby boomers, morning twinges and muscle stiffness and pains are pretty normal. I’m regularly told to stop the ‘old person noises’ as I stretch and groan to relieve aching joints. https://iansomme.github.io/professional/socio-tech-systems/ Fri, 24 Apr 2020 10:17:59 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/professional/socio-tech-systems/ This course was presented as part of an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) course in Large-scale Complex IT Systems at York University. Students had a background in computer science or engineering and were all working on systems research projects in conjunction with industry. Aim of the course The aim of the course was to introduce socio-technical systems and explain why socio-technical issues are particularly important in the procurement, design and operation of large-scale complex IT systems. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/scottish-delicacies/ Sat, 11 Apr 2020 15:47:14 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/scottish-delicacies/ In 2014, I wrote a short guide to some of the Scottish food that Challengers from outwith Scotland may come across. I’ve now revised this and turned it into a more general guide in the food section. Scottish food has a bad reputation but, in the last 15 years or so, it has improved immeasurably, especially in Highland hotels and restaurants. If you eat in a reasonable restaurant, there’s every chance you will get a good meal. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-14/reflections-on-the-crossing/ Tue, 15 Apr 2014 10:18:51 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-14/reflections-on-the-crossing/ One of the best bits of advice that I’ve come across about the Challenge was to remember that it’s a holiday, not something to be endured. There is no point in planning an ambitious route if you end up over-tired, injured and miserable. So, my aim was just to have a wee wander across Scotland, without worrying too much about knocking off Munros or covering huge distances in a day. https://iansomme.github.io/professional/books/ Thu, 23 Apr 2020 16:05:13 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/professional/books/ Like lots of things in life, I got into writing technical books through a fortunate correspondence of events. As a young lecturer at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, I volunteered to present a course on large-scale software (so called) and I wrote a set of notes for this. My then colleague, Andrew McGettrick had recently taken on the role of series editor for a new UK book series to be produced by Addison-Wesley and he suggested that I might like to turn these into a book. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/finishing-the-challenge/ Sat, 11 Apr 2020 15:47:14 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/finishing-the-challenge/ The TGO Challenge is a cross-Scotland walk, starting on the west coast between Ardrishaig and Torridon and ending on the East, between Arbroath and Fraserburgh. Roger Smith has written an excellent “Essential Guide to Finishing Points” for the TGO Challenge but to slightly misquote Alice in Wonderland: “what is use is a book that has no pictures”. As I’ve visited lots of the places on his list as I’ve wandered up and down the east coast, I thought I’d write a pictorial guide. https://iansomme.github.io/professional/videos/ Fri, 24 Apr 2020 10:24:54 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/professional/videos/ Many students find videos helpful in developing their understanding so I have made a number of videos on a range of software engineering topics. Many of these were made to support a course I was teaching in Critical Systems Engineering, so there is a focus on system security and dependability. Some of the videos cover material (such as SCADA control systems) that is not covered in the book. I have included these as some readers may be interested in following up topics in more detail. https://iansomme.github.io/books/ Sun, 12 Apr 2020 15:30:52 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/books/ I’ve written a number of books during my academic career that I’ve listed under the Books link on my professional pages. Two of these books are widely used and I maintain web sites to support them. Software Engineering, 10th Edition. This site supports the 10th edition of my software engineering textbook, which was first published in 1982. The 10th edition was published in 2015. There’s lots of teaching material that can be downloaded from this site. https://iansomme.github.io/technology/website/why-tow-sites/ Thu, 31 Mar 2022 10:36:18 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/website/why-tow-sites/ I decided to switch to Hugo for my web sites a couple of years ago after almost 10 years of using a Wordpress site. I got fed up with the maintenance overhead of Wordpress, its security problems (my site was hacked a couple of times), its slowness and its appalling image management system. The key advantage of using a static site generator is that everything is on your own computer and you don’t depend on an external provider who hosts the system. https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/portfolio/ Thu, 17 Mar 2022 17:35:58 +0000 https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/portfolio/ Adobe Portfolio is a web builder that is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud ecosystem. It is specifically designed to showcase images with the target market being photographers and designers who use the Creative Cloud suite. It isn’t available without a Creative Cloud subscription. The USP of Adobe Portfolio is that it is integrated with Lightroom, a photo management and editing system that is also part of the Creative Cloud ecosystem. https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/photography-rebooted/ Fri, 03 Sep 2021 14:56:35 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/photography-rebooted/ My photography has taken a back seat for the past couple of years. We have additional family responsibilities (twin grandchildren), we’ve moved from a semi-rural environment near Aberdeen to suburban Edinburgh, we bought a house that needed major work that has dragged on and on and, of course, we’ve been living with COVID restrictions. I’ve had no motivation to take any photographs except family snaps (on my phone) and my camera has not been out of its bag for almost a year. https://iansomme.github.io/opinions/petrol-or-electric/ Thu, 19 Aug 2021 16:04:46 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/opinions/petrol-or-electric/ My thoughts on whether to buy an electric car or a petrol car with carbon offsetting by tree planting. My car is now 10 years old and has done over 90, 000 miles. It’s starting to show its age and I’ve started thinking about replacing it. I want to do what I can to reduce my personal carbon footprint so I’ve been wondering about an electric car. Now, of course, you might say just give up your car and travel by public transport (or don’t travel at all). https://iansomme.github.io/opinions/ubi/ Fri, 15 May 2020 07:58:09 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/opinions/ubi/ Should an independent Scotland consider introducing a universal basic income? During this Coronavirus lockdown. many people, including me, have been posting on blogs and social media about their current or past lifestyle. They write about and share photographs of meals they have cooked, bread they have baked, things they have crafted and walks and holidays they have enjoyed in the past. A perspective on posts like this that they are middle-class boasting of a lifestyle that many of our fellow citizens do not share. https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/ten-ten/ Tue, 12 May 2020 15:57:14 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/ten-ten/ In this state of lockdown, we are all constrained in where we can travel and who we can meet. We should stay close to home so trips to the hills or the seaside for walking or photography are impossible. I make a point of getting out for a local walk for an hour or so every day so I set myself a wee challenge to chose 10 images taken from 10 walks on consecutive days. https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-13/first-day-tgoc13/ Fri, 08 May 2020 13:21:09 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/tgoc/tgoc-13/first-day-tgoc13/ My first Challenge did not start well. As a newbie, I decided that the most sociable way to start was to catch the ‘Challenger Special’ from Glasgow to Mallaig and this meant taking a fairly early train from Stonehaven. On our way to the station, I mentally ran through the list of what I should have with me when I realised with horror that I’d been messing around with my compass the evening before and had left it on the window ledge. https://iansomme.github.io/foodpages/lunches/ Thu, 07 May 2020 21:43:54 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/foodpages/lunches/ A while ago, I set myself a 365 photographic challenge where I photographed something that was food related every day for a year and posted it on what was then my first blog. I haven’t looked at these for years but I just checked and it’s still there. I have done bits and pieces of food photography since then but nothing for the past few years. I’m still interested in food and cooking but haven’t had a lot of time for it and lunches especially are usually rushed affairs. https://iansomme.github.io/opinions/uk-had-its-day/ Mon, 04 May 2020 15:24:59 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/opinions/uk-had-its-day/ Why I believe that leaving the EU has the inevitable consequence of the break up of the UK? I originally wrote this post shortly after the Brexit referendum in 2016. I set why I have changed my views on Scottish independence and why I believe that Scotland should be an independent nation that us part of the EU. Since then, we have had years of uncertainty, the election of a right-wing, pro-Brexit government and, most significantly a global pandemic that has had immense human, social and economic consequences. https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/drawing-with-light/ Mon, 04 May 2020 15:05:22 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/drawing-with-light/ The word ‘photography’ derives from two Greek roots, which roughly translated mean ‘light’ and ‘to draw’ so photography means ‘drawing with light’. It isn’t ‘copying with light’ because when photography was introduced it did not reproduce what was in front of the camera exactly as seen. Individuals draw the same scene differently, emphasising what is important to them, and until not so long ago, the same was true of photographers - they interpreted and presented what was in front of the camera in quite different ways. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/edinburgh/water-of-leith/ Fri, 01 May 2020 11:04:48 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/edinburgh/water-of-leith/ The Water of Leith is a short river that runs from its source in the Pentlands to the Firth of Forth at Leith. There’s a path along most of it, starting at Balerno and finishing at Leith. It’s about 13 miles (19km) and flat so it’s an easy day’s walk. As it’s a linear walk, I think it best to use Edinburgh’s excellent buses rather than a car to get to the start. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/glen-dye/ Thu, 30 Apr 2020 15:49:26 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/glen-dye/ In 2016 there was a proposal to build a 26-turbine windfarm in Glen Dye. I’d never been there and I thought that I should have a walk there before the monstrosity was built. I’m in favour of renewable energy and wind farms have their place in this. However, I think they should be built in areas of low amenity - not in wild land. I decided to do a round trip over Clachnaben then from there drop down into Glen Dye. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/tgoc/ Thu, 30 Apr 2020 10:13:19 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/tgoc/ The TGO Challenge is an annual event where people walk across Scotland from the west to the east coast. They choose their own route and there are various meeting points, such as Braemar, where participants congregate. I’ve taken part in this 4 times (so far) and I hope to be able to do a few more. I’ve documented my Challenges under a separate heading. The TGO Challenge https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/monochrome/ Tue, 28 Apr 2020 22:18:49 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/monochrome/ I have been spending more time exploring the possibilities for monochrome images in landscape photography. The problem with colour landscapes, especially in good weather, is that the colours dominate and distract. Sometimes the colours are critical eg. for sunrises and sunsets, but often I think monochrome images are better at communicating an atmosphere and capturing the essence of a place. Oxen Craig on Bennachie. Less visited than the main top. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/edinburgh/arthurs-seat/ Sun, 26 Apr 2020 16:07:59 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/edinburgh/arthurs-seat/ Edinburgh is unusual in the it has its own hill called Arthur’s Seat close to the centre of the city. It’s in Queen’s Park, a large green space at the foot of the Royal Mile. I’ve walked up Arthur’s Seat countless times and in all weathers apart from torrential rain. I normally walk up Arthur's Seat from the west by walking over the Meadows to the Commonwealth swimming pool and then into the park. https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/autumn-in-scotland/ Sat, 25 Apr 2020 14:30:57 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/autumn-in-scotland/ Autumn is the most colourful season and, like most outdoor photographers, I love to get out to photograph the landscape at that time of year. Obviously the landscapes are beautiful but I also like to look at a smaller scale for autumn details. Most of the images here were taken close to my home in Aberdeenshire with a couple on visits to the Highlands. River Faskally, near Pitlochry River Broom near Ullapool with An Teallach in the background. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/highlands/culmor/ Sat, 25 Apr 2020 14:15:40 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/highlands/culmor/ Cul Mor and Cul Beag (Mor is Gaelic for big; Beag for small) are easily accessible hills from the road north from Ullapool. I’ve climbed them botha couple of times but, sadly, never in good weather. This walk was probably the best - not much rain but thick damp mist on the tops. We had views for about 5 minutes during a brief clearance. We took the standard route, the path of the A835 by Knockan Crag and then up the shoulder of the hill. https://iansomme.github.io/technology/complexsys/complexity/ Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:39:15 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/complexsys/complexity/ Lots of people talk about ‘complex systems’ and ‘complex issues’ and we are never sure if different people mean the same thing when they use the word ‘complexity’. I’m interested in this in the context of large software-intensive systems but the I think the discussion here is equally applicable to other types of system such as ‘the healthcare system’, ‘the power generation system’ and so on. Some argue that the term complexity should be reserved for complex adaptive systems, systems which are dominated by emergent behaviour. https://iansomme.github.io/technology/complexsys/reductionism/ Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:35:05 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/complexsys/reductionism/ Reductionism is a philosophical position that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts, and that an account of it can be reduced to accounts of individual constituents (wikipedia). This notion is the foundation for the engineering of large systems – essentially, design a system so that it is composed of discrete parts which, because they are smaller, are easier to understand and construct, define interfaces that allow these parts to work together, build the parts of the system then integrate these to create the desired system. https://iansomme.github.io/technology/complexsys/systems-of-systems/ Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:22:45 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/complexsys/systems-of-systems/ I recently re-read Mark Maier’s now classic systems engineering paper ‘ ‘Architecting Principles for Systems of Systems’. In that paper, Maier suggests that the difference between a general system and a system of systems are that some of the elements of an SoS are operationally and managerially independent. This means that these systems can operate and provide useful services outside of the SoS and that the management of these systems is undertaken by separate organisations according to their own policies and rules. https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/edinburgh/ Wed, 22 Apr 2020 15:32:54 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/edinburgh/ One of the first books of photographs that I bought in the 1970s was entitled ‘Edinburgh’ by Douglas Corrance. As well as the ‘tourist’ sights of Edinburgh, Douglas also included more intimate and quirky images that captures the people and details of the places. I really liked this approach and I’ve collected here ten images that present an alternative view of Edinburgh from that seen by most tourists to the city. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/highlands/ben-hee/ Tue, 21 Apr 2020 15:28:10 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/highlands/ben-hee/ We were staying in Ullapool for a mountaineering club dinner and it looked like a typical dreich November day. Low cloud and no sign of a break in the sky. We debated what to do and my pal Dave said that one of the Corbetts that he had still to do was Ben Hee in Sutherland. Others decided on a low-level walk to keep below the clouds but four of us decided to head north to Ben Hee. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/england/hutton-roof/ Tue, 21 Apr 2020 14:47:25 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/england/hutton-roof/ The unexpectedly early arrival of our first grandchild in spring 2019 meant that the last two weeks has been a blur of driving up and down the A90, hospital visits, homecoming and helping the new parents adjust to sleep deprivation. Writing deadlines have been missed; social media skimmed at best and email ignored. Thankfully, Mum and baby are both fine and the baby, at least, is thriving. I’ve had no time for outdoor wandering or photography, apart of course from baby photography. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/edinburgh/hillend-to-colinton/ Tue, 21 Apr 2020 14:20:56 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/edinburgh/hillend-to-colinton/ Visiting family in Edinburgh last weekend, Saturday dawned misty and gloomy. My wife and daughters decided to have what they call an ‘Edinburgh Saturday’, which consists of a leisurely lunch, a couple of hours of shopping then cocktails somewhere. I am not at all welcome (thankfully) at such gatherings so I decided that, in spite of the weather, I would get out for a walk somewhere. One of the great things about walking around Edinburgh is its excellent bus service. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/highlands/lochnagar/ Mon, 20 Apr 2020 20:51:14 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/highlands/lochnagar/ Mount Keen is the nearest Munro to where we live but it’s a bit of a lump. Lochnagar is the nearest ‘interesting’ hill, which is about 90 minutes drive from our house. Lochnagar is one of my favourite hills. I first climbed there in the 1970s in the days when I was into winter climbing and I’ve been to the top countless times since then. Winter climbing on Black Spout Buttress This year, I was chatting to our (relatively) new neighbours and discovered that, although natives of Aberdeen, they had never been to the top of Lochnagar. https://iansomme.github.io/technology/complexsys/software-simplicity/ Mon, 20 Apr 2020 20:09:31 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/complexsys/software-simplicity/ I gave a talk a while ago about complexity and large-scale systems. In the discussion following the talk, one of the audience suggested that what we should be doing is making our systems simpler, not more complex. Simplicity is one of the Holy Grails of computer science. Edsger Dijkstra, a pioneering computer scientist, emphasised the importance of simplicity in the 1960s and ever since then, the CS community has claimed that, in systems construction, the KISS principle – Keep It Simple Stupid – is the approach we should follow. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/edinburgh/seven-hills-of-edinburgh/ Mon, 20 Apr 2020 14:26:02 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/edinburgh/seven-hills-of-edinburgh/ I said I’d do it and I did. Today, I got started on a training walk for TGOC-2014. This was in an unlikely location - Scotland’s capital. We were in Edinburgh for my daughter’s birthday and I didn’t have the option of a day in the north. I didn’t have any work today that had to be done, the sun was shining so I thought that I’d do the 7 hills of Edinburgh. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/edinburgh/seven_pentland_hills/ Mon, 20 Apr 2020 11:03:58 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/edinburgh/seven_pentland_hills/ Our plans today were to head home from Edinburgh but my wife decided that she’s like to go with our daughter to the Ideal Home Show in Glasgow. This did not appeal to me one bit so I had a free day for a wee dauner in the Pentlands. I wrote this post several years ago but I thought it worth preserving as it’s a relatively uncommon Pentlands walk. I decided that, to reflect my walk around the 7 hills of Edinburgh, I would do 7 tops in the Pentlands. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/highlands/beinn-mor-coigach/ Mon, 20 Apr 2020 10:34:26 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/highlands/beinn-mor-coigach/ Scotland’s weather is notoriously fickle so when you head for the hills in November, you hope for the best but plan for the worst. Sometimes, the worst happens but sometimes you get one of these unforgettable days on the hill. Typically, you start off in poor weather wondering if you should have taken the ‘sensible’ option of a coastal walk, where you might actually see something. But then the weather improves, the clouds disappear, the landscape emerges and you know that you’ve done the right thing. https://iansomme.github.io/technology/understanding-the-cloud/ Fri, 17 Apr 2020 13:29:57 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/technology/understanding-the-cloud/ An introduction to the Cloud for people who don’t care how it works but want to know how it might be useful for them. There are basically two ways in which computers are used: Personal computers which are used by one person (or sometimes a family) and which can store data, run applications and so on. Shared computers where the computer is shared by a number of different people and which, usually, provide quite specific services. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/bennachie-2017/ Wed, 15 Apr 2020 22:43:39 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/bennachie-2017/ Rising just over 500 metres from the North-East lowlands, Bennachie is an iconic hills for folks from Aberdeen and the surrounding area. I guess that a large chunk of the population of Aberdeen have been up Bennachie at least once and it has it’s own conservation charity, the Baillies of Bennachie. It’s about 45 minutes drive from where I live so it’s not exactly a local hill. Nevertheless, I like to try and get up there once or twice a year for the fantastic views. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/west-highland-way/whw-2012/ Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:59:49 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/west-highland-way/whw-2012/ I walked the West Highland Way in the first week of May in 2012 as my first long-distance walk after many years where I only had time for day walks. I was concerned about both my fitness and over-crowding on the path. It turned out that I was still fit enough and there were fewer people than I expected. I think starting on a week-day rather than a week-end helped here. https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/photo-walks/autumn-abstractions/ Tue, 14 Apr 2020 13:14:42 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/photo-walks/autumn-abstractions/ Last week, I went to an interesting talk entitled ‘Art, Photography and Creativity’ by Stan Farrow. Stan talked about the evolution of painting from a representative art to something much more diverse. Painting evolved from explorations of abstract presentations of subjects through to pure abstracts from painters such as Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock. Stan showed examples of his digital photographic art and how it has developed from purely representative photography. https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/iceland/ Fri, 10 Apr 2020 13:23:59 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/iceland/ Iceland. What kind of weather comes to mind when you hear the name? I think cold, obviously, snow, rain and cloud. I see monochrome landscapes with volcanic formations emerging from the mist. But sunshine was what we experienced on two short trips to to Iceland in 2017 and 2018. Not quite wall to wall sunshine - we had some cloudy days and a bit of rain when we went south to Vik. https://iansomme.github.io/foodpages/scottish-delicacies/ Thu, 09 Apr 2020 15:43:12 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/foodpages/scottish-delicacies/ I wrote this short guide to some ‘traditional’ Scottish food and drink for people planning a TGO Challenge - a cross country walk across Scotland, which I’ve done a few times. However, I think it may be of more general interest so I’ve extended it a wee bit and put it in the more general food section rather than the TGOC pages. I won’t write here about the excellent ‘high-end’ Scottish food such as venison and langoustines, that you might get in restaurants. https://iansomme.github.io/foodpages/recipes/coping-with-courgettes/ Thu, 09 Apr 2020 15:42:54 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/foodpages/recipes/coping-with-courgettes/ Courgettes (Zucchini if you are Italian or American) in Scotland are a bit unreliable but the warm weather this summer has really suited them. Expecting a poor crop, we planted 6 plants and now we are overwhelmed with yellow courgettes. Simple roast courgettes are really nice but more variety is needed so we’ve been looking for things to do with them. Courgettes-tomatoes-and-shallots. The simplest recipe - chop up a few courgettes, some tomatoes and a couple of shallots. https://iansomme.github.io/opinions/highland_spaceports/ Wed, 13 Nov 2019 15:28:46 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/opinions/highland_spaceports/ My thoughts on the development of spaceports in environmentally sensitive areas in the Scottish Highlands. Over the past year or so, the potential of the Scottish Highlands as a suitable area for launching small rockets has been recognised with proposals for development in Sutherland, Shetland and, most recently, North Uist. My twitter feed has been full of retweets recently from outdoor folks asking me to write to the Western Isles Council opposing the North Uist development. https://iansomme.github.io/opinions/signs-on-the-hills/ Sat, 14 Sep 2019 13:02:23 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/opinions/signs-on-the-hills/ Should there be more signposting to reduce navigation mistakes on the hills? A tweet caught my eye a while ago about a proposal by a mountain rescue team in the Lakes to put signs up on Scafell Pike because so many people are getting lost and then calling out the mountain rescue. The reaction from the mountaineering and backpacking community was predictable outrage. Signs despoil the landscape, remove any feeling of remoteness and encourage people who don’t know what they are doing onto the hills. https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/photography_or_digital_art/ Tue, 13 Aug 2019 15:11:04 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/photography_or_digital_art/ When I visited Edinburgh last August, I went along to the International Exhibition of the Edinburgh Photographic Society. This is an annual event with over 3000 submissions from across the world and around about 200 acceptances. So it should represent the best of amateur photography. Yet, when I wandered around the exhibition, I was disappointed. I reckon that at least 50% of the accepted images were ‘Digital art’, created in Photoshop or other image manipulation programs. https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/photo-walks/a-walk-in-the-woods/ Sun, 14 Apr 2019 13:44:00 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/photo-walks/a-walk-in-the-woods/ Life has been a wee bit busy this summer (2019). Our daughter gave birth to twins (boy and girl) at the end of July and we’ve been involved helping with them and our older grandson since then. Before that, we had decided to move to Edinburgh to be closer to family and, maybe unwisely given that we are no longer spring chickens, bought a house that needs complete renovation. So the summer has been spent working on a house, trying (with no success) to sell a house and helping look after babies and a two-year old. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/west-highland-way/whw-2019/ Sun, 14 Apr 2019 13:21:57 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/west-highland-way/whw-2019/ After treatment for a serious illness in 2011, I decided to walk the West Highland Way in 2012 (writeup here) to convince myself that I was still up to multi-day backpacking. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience but I never imagined that I’d ever repeat it. However, 2 or 3 years ago my daughter, Jane, who had never previously shown much interest in outdoors activities, decided that she would like to do the walk and asked if I would do it with her. https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/sleepwalking_into_impermanence/ Fri, 12 Apr 2019 15:18:42 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/myimages/sleepwalking_into_impermanence/ I was reading a blog post a while ago which reflected on why we take photographs and some of the problems of digital photography (Alex Roddie: The photos you’ll never look at again). This is something that I’ve been thinking about myself and I’m not sure that I’ve come to any definite conclusion. If and when I do, I’ll blog about it. But, for sure, one reason we take pictures is to capture memories of significant events in our lives - family events, trips and occasions. https://iansomme.github.io/contact/ Thu, 22 Feb 2018 17:01:34 +0700 https://iansomme.github.io/contact/ https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/crawton-to-catterline-2017/ Sun, 16 Apr 2017 13:05:22 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/crawton-to-catterline-2017/ I love coastal walking and, at one time, I thought I might write a guide to the Aberdeenshire coastal path. On paper, this goes from Portsoy to St Cyrus and it should be a fantastic walk. Unfortunately, however, it’s a coastal path in name only and lots of the walk is on roads (even the busy A90) which are a fair bit from the coast. I don’t much like road walking so I’ve given up on this idea. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/glen-tanar-2017/ Sun, 16 Apr 2017 10:00:41 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/glen-tanar-2017/ I ripped my Paramo jacket on a gate and handed it in to Hilltrek in Aboyne for repair (recommended). I picked it up and, as the sun was shining and I had a couple of hours to spare, I thought that I’d have a wee walk in Glen Tanar. We don’t live that far from Glen Tanar but I tend to forget about it and head further west to Ballater or Braemar. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/edinburgh/city-wandering/ Sun, 17 Apr 2016 16:41:15 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/edinburgh/city-wandering/ When I get out and about, my first preference is to get to the hills. Unfortunately, family circumstances mean that I can’t get there nearly as often as I’d like so I spend more time daunering in the lowlands rather than the highlands. So, city walking is not my first preference but it has its own charms. Sometimes this walking is directed (e.g. the seven hills of Edinburgh) but more often than not, I like to wander aimlessly in the city, following unfamiliar streets and paths just to see where I end up. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/dunnotar-to-skatie-shore-2015/ Thu, 16 Apr 2015 14:31:02 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/dunnotar-to-skatie-shore-2015/ My well-intentioned idea of using public transport to access the Aberdeenshire coastal path and to walk the path in linear sections has not really worked. Short winter days and infrequent buses mean that too much precious daylight would be spent on or waiting for a bus. So, for this bit of the path, I drove to Stonehaven then walked the sections north and south from there. I’ve written it in the reverse order to my walk so the afternoon photos come first. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/muchalls-to-stonehaven-2015/ Thu, 16 Apr 2015 13:49:10 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/muchalls-to-stonehaven-2015/ On the ‘official’ maps of the Aberdeenshire coastal path, there’s a gap between Muchalls and Stonehaven, with the implication that you need to walk along the edge of the busy A90. But my experience is that the ‘official’ maps don’t really reflect the reality on the ground so I thought I would try to see if there was actually a coastal route. My original idea when walking the coastal path was to do it in sections and use public transport to get to each section. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/aberdeen-to-portlethan-2014/ Wed, 16 Apr 2014 13:05:22 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/aberdeen-to-portlethan-2014/ The Aberdeenshire Coastal Trail stretches for about 160 miles from Cullen in the north to Montrose in the south. I have walked bits and pieces of it on days out but never in any kind of systematic way. As a national trail, it is not well documented - there are (not very good) maps available from the Aberdeenshire Council website and Gil Campbell has written briefly about it on his blog of walking around the Scottish Coast. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/clachnaben-2013/ Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:05:54 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/clachnaben-2013/ It’s the heat that gets to me. My daughters, aided and abetted by their mother, insist on an almost tropical level of heat in the house at Christmas and, after being indoors for Christmas Day, I needed to get out. So, on the 26th December, whatever the weather, I make a point of going out for a walk somewhere. On this occasiom, we are in the calm between storms and the sky was cloudless at 8am when I got out of bed. https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/ballater-to-aboyne/ Sun, 15 Apr 2012 21:43:53 +0100 https://iansomme.github.io/walks/aberdeenshire/ballater-to-aboyne/ The Deeside way is a long distance path that follows the valley of the River Dee from Ballater to Duthie Park in Aberdeen. It mostly follows the old Deeside railway line which was built in the 19th century and which became well-known as Queen Victoria’s route to Balmoral Castle. It is a ‘work in progress’ i.e it isn’t finished and there is a gap between Banchory and Potarch Bridge and a shorter gap between Aboyne and Kincardine O’Neill.