Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN)

@cs4fn.bsky.social

CS4FN is a project based at QMUL to inspire and educate about interdisciplinary computer science in a fun way. Read our blog at cs4fn.blog.

What a surprise ….. “Is AI ruining our skills? Early results are in — and they’re not good Reliance on artificial-intelligence tools degrades the abilities of physicians and software engineers, studies show.” www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Is AI ruining our skills? Early results are in — and they’re not good

Reliance on artificial-intelligence tools degrades the abilities of physicians and software engineers, studies show.

nature.com

Shortly to give a 2-minute lightning talk about careers in and around computing & tech (for delegates at the KCL / Computing At School Computing Teachers' Conference) based on my collection of ~130 archived computer science job packs techdevjobs.wordpress.com/kclcas/

For Computing Teachers’ Conference 2026 delegates

This page accompanies the lightning talk about this website that I gave / will have given to delegates at the CAS and King’s College London Computing Teachers’ Conference 2026. Imagine …

techdevjobs.wordpress.com

What do you do when you have run out of funds to build your revolutionary machine that will change the world? Charles Babbage turned to game AI. Find out why he gave up having decided he could build it in our latest blog... cs4fn.blog/2026/06/11/b...

Babbage: making money through game AI

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay Victorian Innovator, Charles Babbage, had big ideas. He intended to build the first ever general purpose computer, despite living in the age of steam …

cs4fn.blog

Just saw the really inspiring Royal Shakespeare Company musical "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" about William Kamkwamba, the young teenager who worked out how to make a wind turbine from scrap to bring electricity to his Malawi village. Here is a CS4FN article about him cs4fn.blog/2026/06/07/w...

William Kamkwamba: The boy who harnessed the wind

William’s wind turbine made from local wood, scrap metal and a destroyed bicycle by CS4FN [SPOILER ALERT] “The boy who harnessed the wind” is a new musical from the Royal Shakespe…

cs4fn.blog

Now published in The Computer Journal: my editorial, “In Memoriam: C. A. R. Hoare”: doi.org/10.1093/comj... A brief tribute to Tony Hoare’s extraordinary contributions to computer science, and to the journal’s particular connection to that legacy through the publication of “Quicksort” in 1962.

Screenshot of header and abstract of Hoare editorial in The Computer Journal.

Ancient Egyptian binary in multiplication and division algorithms. What are the origins of binary? Binary may be linked to modern technology, but it goes back a long way. Even the Ancient Egyptians used a form of binary around 4000 years ago. Read more at cs4fn.blog/2026/05/10/a...

Ancient Egyptian Binary

A segment of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, unknown (c. 2000 B.C), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons What are the origins of binary? It is the way of representing numbers (and all other data) t…

cs4fn.blog

Born #OnThisDay in 1900 was Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin. In her doctoral thesis she concluded stars are primarily composed of hydrogen & helium, an idea dismissed by the establishment of the day. It was later described as "the most brilliant PhD thesis ever written in astronomy."

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