The value of constraints: a note about the Oulipo and computing

June 12, 2025

The early Oulipians in particular were interested in how mathematics and literature could be combined. Calvino, for example, wrote about using cybernetics in literature.

Feedback From A Course Called Writing The Oulipo

July 18, 2022

It’s been estimated that if you were to read one a minute for 24 hours a day it would take you around 200 million years to get through them all.

Applying constraints in the computing classroom

February 20, 2020

Constraints can be very useful for releasing creativity. This has been known for a long time in literature, but can it be applied in the ICT/computing classroom?

Innovation fund cover, by Terry Freedman

Constraints can be good for innovation - Updated!

February 4, 2020

UPDATED! Constraints may not always be a bad thing, and sometimes can even be positively advantageous.

Recent book reviews

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The book contains some interesting ideas.

A question of leadership

I have somewhat dichotomous views of this question of whether leaders make a difference, or much of a difference. I think my views can be classified as macro and micro.

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Daisy Christodoulou carefully picks apart the pitfalls of various kinds of assessment, drawing on different subject areas to do so.

principles and practice of assessment.jpg

Review: Principles and Practices of Assessment

There is plenty in this book to like.

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Although this is a few years old now (2018), it has stood the test of time.

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Two books on the Nazi era.

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No book about the craft of writing seems complete without a stern chapter on the importance of eschewing adverbs and adjectives - but what to put in their place?

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If you’re of a mathematical bent this could be just the book to delve into.

Review: How to lie with statistics

Although this book is over 60 years old, it is remarkably apposite for our times -- and especially in the fields of educational research and assessing pupils' understanding and progress.