// Personal website of Chris Smith

Image of Chris, distorted with scan lines and a hologram effect
Name:
Chris Smith
Class:
Programmer
Type:
Human
HP:
929
✪✪ Yak Shave After attacking, add 1d6 side project tokens to this card.
✪✪✪ Side project Multiply all damage by number of side project tokens.
01/001

Chameth.com

Hello :)

Hello! I'm Chris, a software developer from the UK. That's me over in the picture. My $dayjob generally involves Android app development, but I also have an excessive collection of side projects. Outside of
programming
, I enjoy
video games
,
reading
, puzzle hunts, DIY,
board games
,
films
, escape rooms, and tinkering with electronics.

This website houses my blog and some other random bits and bobs. There's a full site map if you want a quick overview of what's here. Here are my latest blog posts:

Lead image for If all you have is a hammer…

If all you have is a hammer…

I presume everyone is familiar with the idiom “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”. If not, well, there it is. It’s generally used pejoratively about being single-minded, but I think it also gives a glimpse into something more interesting: mental and perceptual sets.

Lead image for An app can be a ready meal

An app can be a ready meal

Three years ago I read “an app can be a home-cooked meal” by Robin Sloan. It’s a great article about how Robin cooked up an app for his family to replace a commercial one that died. It’s been stuck in my head ever since. It’s only recently that I’ve actually done anything like Robin described, though. Part of the reason was my brain got too hung up on the family aspect: in my head, a home-cooked meal is one where your family or friends all gather around to eat it with you (in much the same way as Robin’s app is used in the article). It took me an embarrassingly long time to realise that you can apply all the same arguments to an app built just for you. And it doesn’t even have to be difficult. In fact, it can be more like a ready meal than a family dinner.

Lead image for Building a new Computer

Building a new Computer

I recently built a new computer, after exclusively using a laptop for three years. It’s also the first time I’ve departed from the usual combo of an Intel CPU and Nvidia GPU.