Welcome to edmil.net! I'm Eddie R. Millichip, and I'm currently studying my PGCE for secondary education at the University of Worcester. I'm also a computer science graduate from Aberystwyth University, where I spent some time as a committee member for the student-led computing society, aberCompSoc, and the BCS Mid-Wales branch, both from 2024 to 2026.
I mainly use this site as a respoitory of useful and interesting links, as well as a space to write about books I've read. There's also a blog section, where I write about projects I've worked on.
My main interest is computing history, and old technology in general. I collect old computers, with a particular interest in old Macintoshes, of which I own three four five:
I have quite a large collection of books on computing history (even a few on more current aspects of computing!), as well as old books on programming, electronic design, etc. (mostly from the Great Lecturer Book Purge at Aber a few years ago).
I have an (admittedly quite basic) interest in computer processor design, with my dissertation being on the implementation of a basic processor design outlined in the book Computer Architecture by Caxton C. Foster (1970). It's not a particularly complicated or feature-rich processor, but it was still incredibly fulfilling getting it to run code! More detail will be available in a blog post. I plan on developing this further, and possibly creating some kind of physical interface for it, for use in the classroom. I think most kids would go nuts at the chance to mess with the fancy metal box with dozens of switches and blinky lights on - or maybe that's just me!
I'm also interested in the concept of permacomputing, having been introduced to it in a BCS talk by my friend Rosia Evans. If you're not familiar, it's a movement about making computers last, reducing a lot of the waste and consumption present in modern computing. You can find a better explanation here.
Outside of computer science and electronics, I have an interest in music, being quite proficient in electric guitar and bass guitar, and dabbling in other instruments such as analog synthesizers. This ties into me being a bit of an audiophile, too!
After completing my PGCE, I intend to teach computer science at secondary and A-level. I enjoy talking about things I'm interested in, and teaching them to people, so it's an ideal job for me, really!
I think I'd like to take a more practical, "tactile" approach to teaching computer science. It's easy to show the abstract concepts in a graphical slideshow, but I think that bringing in cool gadgets (e.g. simple kit computers, oscilloscopes to show what's going on in them, etc.) to actually demonstrate these concepts in a concrete, real-world way would make the lessons much more exciting, as well as convey the information in a more effective way! Really, I'd like to make the sort of lesson that would have captivated me when I was younger. I was already excited about computing anyway, but something like that would've made me absolutely crazy for it!