Hello everyone.

I first got drawn in to the world of IT on a very brief 'introduction to computers' workshop at my employer. Commodore Pet to try writing a basic program to convert Fahrenheit  to Centigrade, it worked. I then saw an advert in a newspaper for the Sinclair ZX80 and decided to get one. Progressed via a Video Genie and Sinclair QL to a Schneider PC clone. At that point I persuaded my department to purchase an Apple II Europlus with Apple Write and Visicalc. To cut a long story short, I ended up doing an MSc Information Systems Engineering in 1996 and began to do IT support including building small client server systems  for my department with Visual Foxpro. I retired early from my main role in 2003 and went back 12 hours a week just on IT support, before finally retiring in 2010.

Since then I have been helping with software to time motorcycle speed hill climbs and I am the administrator for the Vintage Motor Cycle Club Forum (PHPBB). In January I began assisting at my local U3A Smart Device Drop In Clinic, which is held in cooperation with a local community association. Weekly 2 hour sessions where the problems people need help for are very varied. Sometimes I am only one step ahead of the 'client'.

So, on the basis that there is always something to learn when it comes to digital skills I have ended up here. Lately I have been using AI to reengineer the timing software. I use the Anthropic Claude Model both as a desktop client and the Claude Code Command Line Interface. The speed which I can generate code is amazing, but I code in a language I am familiar with, so it's not just 'vibe coding'. Plus I test, test, test 😉

Looking forward to reading the threads here and contributing if I can add anything useful.