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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN)
@cs4fn.bsky.social
620 followers 250 following 300 posts
CS4FN is currently an EPSRC funded project to inspire and educate about interdisciplinary computer science in a fun way. Read our blog at cs4fn.blog. Posts by Paul Curzon. Views are my own.
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · 1d
It is Ada Lovelace Day
Read about Women in Computer Science (lots of them) here
cs4fn.blog/the-women-ar...
The women are (still) here
Click on the magazine cover to get a pdf copy of the magazine. Too important to be left to men Women have been at the forefront of computer science and electronic engineering from the outset. Does …
cs4fn.blog
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · 3d
A simple, but misunderstood, theoretical result about a little gadget called a perceptron that is now the basis of machine learning tools, led to the AI winter that set back AI development decades. Find out about perceptrons and went wrong in the latest CS4FN blog post: cs4fn.blog/2025/10/12/p...
Perceptrons and the AI winter
A perceptron winter: Winter image by Image by Nicky ❤️🌿🐞🌿❤️ from Pixabay. Perceptron and all other image by CS4FN. Back in the 1960s there was an AI winter…after lots of hype about how Artifi…
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Reposted by Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN)
jobrodie.bsky.social
JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · 5d
If you have / teach children you might enjoy our free Hallowe'en Spooky Zine, from @cs4fn.bsky.social at @qmuleecs.bsky.social.

There are puzzles to solve and pictures to colour in, then fold into a cute booklet.
Bonus info: classroom links with computational thinking.
cs4fn.blog/halloweenzine/
Hallowe’en Zine
An activity for children, for Hallowe’en. Mostly just for fun (colouring in and puzzle solving) but as always we have sneaked in a bit of computational thinking ideas too.
cs4fn.blog
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · 5d
It is #BlackHistoryMonth
Read about Marc Hannah, a founder of Silicon Graphics, the original company pioneering fast graphics computers, and behind graphics pipelines that allowed realistic CGI in games and films.
cs4fn.blog/2024/10/31/m...
Marc Hannah and the graphics pipeline
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay What do a Nintendo games console and the films Jurassic Park, Beauty and the Beast and Terminator II have in common? They all used Marc Hannah’s chips and l…
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Reposted by Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN)
imascientist.org.uk
I'm a Scientist, Get me out of here @imascientist.org.uk · 6d
Unlock STEM career awareness - without leaving the classroom!

The Summer 2025 term feedback survey reported that 87% of teachers found the I'm a... activity to be extremely or very effective in raising students awareness of STEM careers.

imascientist.org.uk/book-activity
Student asks about researching physical diseases and how you run simulations on a computer. Chloe replies that she works with the data that people who do lab work generate. She uses command line tools, R and python.
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · 8d
October is cyber security awareness month though every month needs to be really. Read about the CS4FN take on cyber security at
cs4fn.blog/cyber-securi...
including cyber security at the movies and more...
Cyber Security
Adapted purple lock image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay CS4FN Issue 24 – Keep Out Be aware of cyber security risks October each year is Cyber Security Awareness month, though really every mon…
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · 12d
Free computing diversity role model posters for UK schools
cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · 19d
Lego Computer Science...Algorithms are core to computer science. So what is an algorithm? If you have ever used the instructions from a Lego set then you have followed algorithms for fun yourself and you have been a computational agent.
Find out more ...
cs4fn.blog/2025/09/26/l...
Lego Computer Science: Algorithms and computational agents
Image by Thomas G. from Pixabay The idea of an algorithm is core to computer science. So what is an algorithm? If you have ever used the instructions from some Lego set for building a Lego building…
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Sep 12
#ComputingByAllForAll - TODAY
September 12 2017
Edie Schlain Windsor died. She was a senior systems engineer at IBM who led the case that made gay marriage legal in the US
cs4fn.blog/2023/02/19/e...
Edie Schlain Windsor and same sex marriage
Edie Schlain Windsor was a senior systems programmer at IBM. There is more to life than computing though. She led the landmark US Supreme Court Case that was a milestone for the rights of same-sex …
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Reposted by Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN)
kingsnmes.bsky.social
KCL Natural, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences @kingsnmes.bsky.social · Sep 9
Calling all girls in Y12&13 to join us in Unlocking AI & Computer Science! Discover cutting-edge research and meet other people interested in this topic!

Apply now👇
bit.ly/uaics-2025

ℹ️Weekly Webinars
📆8 weeks from Oct 2025
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#EduSky #CSed #computing
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Sep 10
#ComputingByAllForAll - YESTERDAY
September 9 1947
Grace Hopper discovered the first computer bug (a moth)
cs4fn.blog/2023/01/01/s...
Sorry to bug you: Grace Hopper
by Peter W McOwan and Paul Curzon, Queen Mary University of London (from the archive) In the 2003 film The Matrix Reloaded, Neo, Morpheus, Trinity and crew continue their battle with the machines t…
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Sep 10
#ComputingByAllForAll - TODAY
September 10, 1955
Bonnie E. John born
Human Computer Interaction expert
Read about Cognitive Crash Test Dummies
cs4fn.blog/2023/01/30/c...
Cognitive crash dummies
Mathematical, digital and physical models can help us design things better (and more safely!)
cs4fn.blog
cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Sep 5
My 2nd new strand of work using Maton's LCT @lctcentre.bsky.social presented at #UKICER2025 on the problem of teaching skills (graduate, workplace, practical) with theory, visualising using the semantic plane, suggests should integrate with waves between theory and skills
dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
Using the LCT Semantic Plane to Reflect on Teaching Programming | Proceedings of the 2025 Conference on UK and Ireland Computing Education Research
dl.acm.org
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Sep 5
Today I presented 2 posters on new strands of work using Maton's LCT @lctcentre.bsky.social at #UKICER2025. The first was on the problem of ensuring students understand the 'rules of the game' in learning to program are (code quality matters) using the epistemic plane.
dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
Foregrounding the `Rules’ of Learning to Program with the LCT Epistemic Plane | Proceedings of the 2025 Conference on UK and Ireland Computing Education Research
dl.acm.org
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Sep 3
#ComputingByAllForAll - September 2 1815
Mary Edward dies
Mary and Eliza Edwards: the mother and daughter human computers who helped sailors navigate at sea with their work over 50 years for the nautical almanac.
Read about them at
cs4fn.blog/2025/09/03/m...
Mary and Eliza Edwards: the mother and daughter human computers
Lines of Longitude. Image from wikimedia, Public Domain. Mary Edwards was a computer, a human computer. Even more surprisingly for the time (the 1700s), she was a female computer (and so was her da…
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Sep 1
#ComputingByAllForAll
September is World Alzheimer’s month
Freddie Figgers invented a GPS tracker shoe for those with Alzheimer’s disease.
cs4fn.blog/2022/10/12/f...
Freddie Figgers – the abandoned baby who became a runaway telecom tech star
Freddie Figgers’ parents encouraged him to fix things – he now owns the first Black-owned telecommunications company in the US. #BlackHistoryMonth
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Aug 22
Computer Science at Sea
We think of computers and electronics generally as machines that must stay dry (not least because you can electrocute yourself ...don't do this at home!) but there are lots of ways that computer science is of help at, on, watching over or under the sea...
cs4fn.blog/the-sea/
Computer Science at Sea
Machines getting wet… We think of computers and electronics generally as machines that must stay dry (not least because you can electrocute yourself …don’t do this at home!) but t…
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Aug 18
For many of us, the deep sea is a bit of a mystery. But an exciting interactive digital tool at the National Museum of the Royal Navy brings the seabed to life! Find out about their augmented reality sandbox and its link to the voyage of HMS Challenger - by Daniel Gill
cs4fn.blog/2025/08/18/t...
The Digital Seabed: Data in Augmented Reality
A globe (North Atlantic visible) showing ocean depth information, with the path of HMS Challenger shown in red. Image by Daniel Gill. For many of us, the deep sea is a bit of a mystery. But an exci…
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Aug 12
Here is a neat little science experiment to do at home cs4fn.blog/2025/08/11/a... demonstrated at a family science workshop by the Dorset Wildlife Trusts to understand marine buoyancy - and how researchers can now use robots to understand ammonite (now fossils) life from 350 million years ago.
An experiment in buoyancy
Here is a little science experiment anyone can do to help understand the physics of marine animals and their buoyancy. It helps give insight into how animals such as ancient ammonites and now cuttl…
cs4fn.blog
cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Aug 10
If you were designing an underwater robot, what might you learn from the long extinct ammonite fossils and why might you need to program an ammonite brain?
cs4fn.blog/2025/08/10/a...
Ammonite propulsion of underwater robots
Image by M W from Pixabay Intending to make a marine robot that will operate under the ocean? Time to start learning, not just engineering and computing, but the physics of marine biology! And, it …
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Aug 4
Film Futures: how might movie plots change with Computer Science...
Just for fun, The Lord of the Rings if there was Computer Science in Middle Earth (and then the serious reality on our Earth)
cs4fn.blog/2025/08/04/f...
Film Futures: The Lord of the Rings
Image by Ondřej Neduchal from Pixabay What if there was Computer Science in Middle Earth?…Computer Scientists and digital artists are behind the fabulous special effects and computer generate…
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Aug 2
In an age of satellite navigation when ships have high-tech navigation systems that tell them exactly where they are, on accurate charts that show exactly where dangers lurk, why do we still keep working lighthouses? Because it makes for a more dependable system...
cs4fn.blog/2025/08/02/w...
Why do we still have lighthouses?
Image by Tom from Pixabay In an age of satellite navigation when all ships have high-tech navigation systems that can tell them exactly where they are to the metre, on accurate charts that show exa…
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Reposted by Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN)
jobrodie.bsky.social
JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · Jul 25
Free computing mini magazines to read and puzzles to solve for primary-aged children (roughtly 8-12 yo) from @cs4fn.bsky.social - get your PDFs here :)
cs4fndownloads.wordpress.com/primary/
- there are also printable certificates for puzzle book attempters and completers.
Screenshot showing 3 computing puzzle books and 5 mini computing magazines, part of the primary resources that are free to download.
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Reposted by Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN)
jobrodie.bsky.social
JoBrodie @jobrodie.bsky.social · Jul 23
Didn't know this! Love a bit of internet history :)
cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Jul 23
#ComputingByAllForAll - TODAY
July 23 1952
Mark Weiser was born
visionary proponent of calm and ubiquitous computing
(and drummer for the first band to livestream over the Internet)
cs4fn.blog/2025/07/23/t...
The first Internet concert
Severe Tire Damage. Image by Strubin, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons Which band was the first to stream a concert live over the Internet? The Rolling Stones decided, in 1994, it should be them.…
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cs4fn.bsky.social
Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · Jul 23
#ComputingByAllForAll - TODAY
July 23 1952
Mark Weiser was born
visionary proponent of calm and ubiquitous computing
(and drummer for the first band to livestream over the Internet)
cs4fn.blog/2025/07/23/t...
The first Internet concert
Severe Tire Damage. Image by Strubin, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons Which band was the first to stream a concert live over the Internet? The Rolling Stones decided, in 1994, it should be them.…
cs4fn.blog