What is "Matthew1471"?

Matthew1471! is an alias for Matthew James Roberts (or "Matthew Roberts" for short) used online when providing technical knowledge, ASP applications and other technical solutions. A full copy of my CV (with contact details) can be requested online.

Server Information

All of my websites are all hosted on my home web server. My ISP (Virgin Media) permits web servers (or any other server) so long as the bandwidth requirements do not impede their network's ability to function normally. The server is currently a 3.0Ghz Intel® Pentium® 4 powered system running Windows® Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Service Pack 2 with 2GB of RAM.

Website Involvement

I am/have been involved in the following websites:

Present: http://matthew1471.co.uk/ (also http://matthew-roberts.co.uk/), http://blogs.blogx.co.uk/, http://blogx.co.uk/
Past: http://students.guild.bham.ac.uk/filmsoc/, http://theteenforum.co.uk, http://stcyres.matthew1471.co.uk/, http://oxygendeliveryservice.co.uk/, http://individualdesign.org.uk/

History

I learnt a significant amount of computing knowledge by keeping up to date with events in the computing industry. Originally I started learning the web scripting language ASP (Active Server Pages) by reading and modifying an open source forum known as "Snitz Forums". After a short amount of time I then discovered I was able to develop my own applications from scratch. The syntax of VBScript (which is also used in logon scripts) is very similar to the language Visual Basic. I used my knowledge of VBScript and experimented with desktop programming to make a few useful applications.

Several years ago I decided to create a dedicated machine known as "SERVER" to share the printer, the Internet and files over the network. Today this has evolved into a Windows® Server 2003 Active Directory Domain Controller with IIS, Group Policy, DHCP, DNS, VPN, RDP, SMB, Shoutcast, ISA Firewall, SSH, Roaming Profiles and a Redirected Profiles setup that is automatically backed up and defragmented weekly. This has provided me with some interesting challenges. Many assignments and personal files are stored on my server and I often am to far away to easily fix faults. This led to having to learn about remote management technologies. Today, the network has 21 devices (1 virtual machine & 3 workstation computers).

Of course computing is not just about the technology, while at University I kept up to date on key industry issues such as the environment by regularly reading publications from the British Computing Society (BCS). My department (via MSDN AA) assisted me with keeping up to date by providing me with the latest software from Microsoft such as Windows® Vista.

Main Skills

I have expanded many of these acronyms, simply position your cusor over a bolded acronym and it will expand:

Programming Languages :

Web Programming        : ASP VBScript, HTML, XHTML, XML, JavaScript, JSP aka. Servlets, Trivial amounts of PHP
Desktop Programming : Visual Basic (up to .NET), Delphi (up to .NET), Pascal, NSIS, Basic, Java, VBScript, Trivial amounts of C & C++
Palm Programming       : NSBasic/Palm, PDAT

Server Management: AD, Mail Server (SMTP/POP/IMAP), IIS, GPO, DNS, DHCP, ICS, RRAS, ISA, Shoutcast, IRC, FTP, Telnet, SSH, SFTP, SIP/IAX aka. VoIP, RDP / TS, VMWare Server/Workstation, PerfectDisk, Norton Ghost, Microsoft® Backup, QoS.

Operating Systems

Windows : 3.11/95/98/ME/2000/XP Home/XP Professional/Server 2003/Vista
Linux : Ubuntu, RedHat 8, Knoppix, CentOS (RHEL Clone).
PDA : Palm OS (Both <> V4), Windows Mobile 2003, Symbian S60 V3
Other : BeOS, DOS 6.2

Note: I am of course familiar with a great many desktop applications but it would not be useful to list them here.

Current Activities

I have recently graduated from the University of Birmingham School of Computer Science with a 2:1 BSc in Computer Science.

I am currently looking for a graduate job in the IT Industry. I am willing to re-locate both inside and outside of the UK in order to attain a challenging but rewarding career in IT.

Education & Grades

Additional Degree Information

The modules I studied at the University of Birmingham were:

• Introduction to Psychology
• Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
• Foundations of Computer Science
• Introduction to Software Engineering
• Maths for Computer Science
• Software Workshop Java
• Logic for Computer Science
• Software Workshop Haskell
• Computer Systems and Architecture
• Software Engineering (Year 2)
• Software System Components
• Communication Skills & Professional Issues (with our team report being on the effectiveness of CCTV)
• Models of Computation
• Software Workshop Team Java (our team produced a Java applet to teach binary and hex conversions)
• Computer Networks
• Operating Systems
• Databases 2 (SQL)
• Commercial Programming (I also wrote reports on employment rights and the importance of open computer standards)
• Principles of Programming Languages
• Final Year Project (& dissertation on virtualisation and multitasking)
• Distributed Systems
• Individual Study (on the SMS text message protocol and how to programmatically use it)
• Systems Programming in C/C++