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Smashing Magazine

I have written a series of articles for renowned web-dev/graphic design network Smashing. The first of these, frequently found in early search result pages in Google, sought to clear up confusion over various jQuery methods, such as parents() vs. closest().

Pudding CMS

Pudding is a CMS I built, and continue to develop. Several sites already run off it. It is primarily designed for the PHP developer, though once the basic architecture of a site is set up it is very easy for non-developers to add or modify site content.

Iterative content - blog entries, products, whatever - is at the heart of Pudding, and is stored in 'modules' set up by the developer. The developer has full control over the fields and look of the form that is used to add content to the module, which fields are used to display the iterative content when browsing or searching it, and so on. It's really quite powerful, and all about customisability.

Espresso Education

I lead front-end development at Espresso Education, an e-learing company based in Hammersmith, London. Their content is used by thousands of schools in the UK, US, Canada and Sweden. Some of the projects I have led development on include:

.NET magazine

In Summer 2011 I was approached to write an article for .NET magazine, a monthly designer-developer magazine sold throughout the UK. I wrote a four-page introduction to regular expressions in Javascript.

It was pitched at elementary-intermediate JS developers who are perhaps too used to relying on jQuery. It began by selling the concept of REGEX and how powerful it can be, before introducing them to some of the key functions and components used in building and employing REGEX, backed up by code examples.

I am currently (March 2012) writing a second article for them.

And a bit about me

I'm a Javascript developer originally from Nottingham but now living in Wandsworth, London. I specialise in native JS, jQuery, AJAX, XML/JSON and XSL, though I also have a background as a PHP developer.

I am a classically-trained pianist and musician by education. I discovered the incredible music and life of Dmitry Shostakovich during A-level music, which inspired me to the extent that I moved to Russia for four years, living in the city of Nizhny Novgorod (formerely Gorky) and working as a developer. I speak Russian.

If you're interested, , his 'comeback piece' after vicious criticism by Stalin of an earlier work. This is a false triumph; it fooled Stalin, who hailed Shostakovich's return to the fold, but the joke was on him. Shostakovich later said it was pretty obvious the 'triumph' was forced. In his own words (though there is some doubt he said it)

"I think it is clear to everyone what happens in the Fifth. The rejoicing is forced, created under threat, as in Boris Godunov. It's as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying, 'Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing,' and you rise, shaky, and go marching off, muttering, 'Our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing.'"

I adore house music. To those who quickly dismiss it, you are wrong and naiive. At the centre of house music are traits found throughout classical music such as minimalism, liet motif and, above all, ostinato. I once wrote a musicological analysis (and defence) of a piece of trance music to demonstrate its compatability with comparisons to classical music. House music is not something you like, it's something you feel, deep within you. It is life affirming, peaceful, spiritual and keeps you young.

I am also a former tennis coach and an avid ice hockey player (though I currently lack a team... any offers!?)