Software Developer and AI BSc teaching Computer Science in Python and Java

Find out more about Leon

• Can you tell us about your first experience using a computer?

  My first experience of using a computer is probably the same as most kids growing up in the 90's: Playing with Microsoft Paint and watching my dad play computer games. At 12 I was making websites and games in Macromedia Flash in the computer lab, this was when schools still hadn't phased out floppy discs and we could get round system firewalls by using mirror sites. But my real interest in programming came from studying Electronics at A Level. Once I saw the component level operations of a computer, everything clicked; now I like to try and pass on that intuitive understanding of what is happening at the binary level to students who quite often jump in to courses at the very top and never get to see it.

• What is the technological evolution that has marked you most and what will be, in your eyes, a turning point in this field?

  Neural Networks. Engineers can make electrons do maths; mathematicians can make maths make decisions. Once you see how simple neural networks are, but how powerful they have become (they are everywhere already; in Google Translate, Snapchat, Tesla, Huawei) they will only become used more and more as an easy way to apply Machine Learning to problems.

• Explain your expertise, your interest in it and, more broadly, its importance in the computer world.

  I am currently studying Data Science and Artificial Intelligence with a view to work in computer vision and machine learning. Humans are able to infer from visual stimuli far more information that computers are currently able to. Despite being able to identify and categorise many road signs and vehicles, when presented with an unknown, a computer has no way of inferring a solution without reams of labelled data, something that humans can do fantastically. This area of research and application is key to so many current technologies such as self-driving cars, face identification, and augmented reality. It also is likely to keep growing at a high rate as more things become automated

• Do so-called 'visionaries', such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg inspire you or do you have other role models?

  No, a fantastic book called 'Outliers: The Story of Success' explains why the Gateses, Jobses and Zuckerbergs of the world were dealt a very good hand, being born at the right place and time to benefit from a clash of different events. If you are looking to become the next Bill Gates ... I really doubt that will happen. So don't compare yourself to them, compare yourself to where you were yesterday, last week and last year.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  I had an electronics teacher called Mr Dufton, who was by far my favourite teacher, and also happened to be my form tutor, so gave me advice on grades and such. Once, after some quite poor results, he sat me down and said "Leon, you're just like me, you're not very smart ... so you are going to have to work really hard to do well at things". I think that is some of the best advice I've had in my life. Just keep working hard.

• What would you say to an uncomfortable person in front of a screen who says that "Programming is too complicated"?

  Programming certainly is complicated! Computers are incredibly unforgiving to mistakes and can be very bad at providing good clear feedback of where you have gone wrong. But you don't need to understand all of the overwhelming amount of information at the start, taking it piece by piece is the key to learning to program. Break the problem into smaller parts and suddenly the solution will become far easier to find.

• What are your other passions, related or non-related to computers?

  I am an avid adventure sports enthusiast! I'm a licenced skydiver, climber, and motorcyclist. I love getting outside and enjoying free time away from a computer screen, which is just as important as spending time solving problems. The great thing about those sports is that you still have to solve problems (aerodynamic, route wise and mechanical) and you can apply the same skills as programming to them ... plus they are just great fun!

• What makes you a Superprof in Programming?

  I think what sets me apart from most tutors in programming is that I have quite a strong background in both Electronic Engineering and in Mathematics. I like to be able to tell my students what the computer is doing at a lower level, and why it is doing that. I think an intuitive understanding makes concepts far easier to grasp than being told a solution in a few lines of code.