John Palmer

Preston, Weymouth, Dorset

To contact me, please use this link to send me a message, and my reply will include my e-mail address.

John Palmer, BA MBCS CITP

Personal
Current availability
Work history
Specific skills
Formal qualifications
Memberships and special interests
Publications

Personal

Born November 27, 1938. British citizen. I live with my wife on the coast in Dorset; we have four children, all left home.

Current availability

June 2002: I am retired as a programmer but still do some unpaid computing consultancy work for Dorset County Museum. I am also engaged on my own research project in Romano-British archaeology.

I specialise mainly in Linux operating system, Perl programming language, and TeX typesetting system.

My home computing installation runs Linux and I am happy to advise people who are considering moving to Linux, either from Microsoft Windows, or from other Unix systems.

If you have a project you think I can help with, you can contact me from my home-page.

Work history

January 2000--March 2002: Self-employed programmer. Clients include John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Dorset County Museum.
February 1998--January 2000: project developer in the journals division of John Wiley & Sons, scientific publishers, Chichester: mainly Perl programming on Linux and Sun Unix hosts.
- developing systems in object-oriented Perl (Perl 5);
- CGI programming of automatically-generated Web pages;
- converting SGML to HTML;
- converting SGML text to suit a revised DTD (document type description).
- consultancy on TeX and LaTeX typesetting systems
- automated processing of TeX sections in SGML documents
- programming in Tcl and Tk, including the Tcl plugin for Netscape web-browser.
Currently developing a graphical user-interface to TeX using Tcl and Tk. I gave a presentation to the UK TeX Users' Group in September 1998, on SGML to TeX translation, and for 2 years was Secretary of UKTUG.
January 1997--February 1998: mathematical typesetting for Gordon & Breach, scientific and specialist publishers, Reading. Using TeX, SGML, perl, awk, sed, and related text-conversion tools, SGML tools nsgmls and jade, and graphical interface tools Tcl and Tk, on a Linux host.
Principal projects: [1] converting mathematical material (expressed in TeX or SGML) to images for Web-publishing; [2] verifying and improving the TeX code, feeding back advice on TeX to distant data-capture companies; [3] inserting TeX material into the publisher's text archive; [4] converting SGML material to TeX for proofing purposes; [5] documenting the whole package in LaTeX and HTML form; [6] upgrading the Linux installation from Red Hat 3 to Red Hat 5.
March 1996--January 1997: After retiring from the posts listed below I continued part-time as Network and Unix administrator, Wessex Institute of Public Health Medicine (which by then had become part of the University of Southampton). Ethernet, TCP/IP, e-mail including POP and Eudora, World Wide Web, HTML with CGI, Lynx, Netscape, CERN httpd. Administering NFS (network file system), linking Dos/Windows and Unix systems.
From 1982 to 1996 I held a sucession of posts under the Wessex Regional Health Authority which followed on one from another and had connected duties:
1991--1996: Computer network manager, Wessex Institute of Public Health Medicine, and computing consultant, Cancer Intelligence Unit.
Chair of CRIT, the computing specialists' group of the United Kingdom Association of Cancer Registries, 1993--1995.
April 1994: completed 4-day Learning Tree International course on object-oriented analysis and design;
Feb 1992: completed 4-day Learning Tree International course on data communications and networks.
1987--1991: Computer manager, Cancer Intelligence Unit.
During 1985--1996 I developed the Wessex cancer register system. This evolved from a Vax machine to PC hardware (twice), and then to a Sun (Solaris-2.4). The basic technology of the system was throughout Unix, Pascal, C, and a relational database ( Informix ), with much shell, sed, awk etc. programming used for handling diverse input material.
Administered Informix (v.4 and 5) database management system (including embedded SQL in C), and Oracle versions 6 and 7.
Used TeX (LaTeX) 1986--1997 for preparing Cancer Registry reports (including large statistical volumes) and computer documentation.
Author of the following parts of the registry system:
- browser, the data-validation program used 1985--1994;
- Easyprints, preprocessors for relational database enquiry languages;
- camm, a semi-interactive program for cancer registration, developed and used over 1987--1994 (latterly with Simon Brown), and described in a paper cited under Publications, below.
- Markup programs which adapt data from outside sources, in various formats, for input to camm; mainly in the common Unix utilities sed, awk, etc.
- Redesign of the cancer register system 1994, moving from tumour-based to person-based organisation, and introducing cammv, the new improved camm which includes the functions of browser.
- Statistical analysis and typesetting of annual reports of the Cancer Intelligence Unit, using fct (see below) and TeX.
- Other data-conversion programs using common Unix tools ( sed, awk etc.) and consultancy on such problems.
- Programs (in sed, awk, sh) etc. for analysing statistical data and generating output for eventual typesetting with TeX or LaTeX.
About 1990: I acted as occasional data-conversion consultant to courses run by the National Casemix Office (National Health Service Executive).
1984--1987: Statistics department computer manager and mental handicap register manager, Wessex Regional Health Authority.
MBCS, 1986.
During this period I wrote
- Graf, an interactive statistical graphics system for Commodore Pet;
- Capta, a general data-entry package.
- iclview package for reading and writing ICL George tapes on Unix (in C);
- ugcp, a Unix-to-ICL data-transfer package using an asynchronous link (in C);
- extract program for reading foreign magnetic tapes on Unix systems (in C);
- fct frequency counter (basic tabulator) in awk, sed, sh;
1982--1984: Temporary computing officer, WRHA.
In 1983 I became part of a team creating a new computer system for both thr mental handicap and cancer registers; took a major part in drawing up statement of requirements, going to tender, selecting soft- and hardware; prototyped parts of the new system on Commodore Pet using the UCSD p-system and Pascal.
The mental handicap register (below) continued till 1987 under my management till it was considered superfluous by WRHA.
AMBCS, 1983.
In 1982--7 I was an occasional lecturer on British Computer Society courses, Southampton Institute of Higher Education, especially on Pascal programming.)
During 1980--1982 I was a part-time student at Southampton Institute of Higher Education: British Computer Society examinations parts 1 and 2, Ferranti Prize for part 2 in 1982.
1973--1982: Research officer in epidemiology, Health Care Evaluation Research Team, (University of Southampton and Wessex Regional Health Authority). Managed register of mentally handicapped people.
Managed computer system developments from the user standpoint, briefing our successive programmers to provide suitable tools for myself and the register staff, and wrote ad-hoc enquiry programs. IBM 370, later 4341; OS/VS, PL/I, much locally developed filehandling and report-writing software (Hampshire County Council installation); SAM macroprocessor, TAP survey analysis package. Learned Pascal.
1969--1973: Research executive, Research Services Ltd (market and social research), London. Used, installed, and adapted a multivariate statistics package for analysis of repertory grids (psychological interview data). Ported it from CDC machines to IBM 1130 and later to IBM 370; wrote other statistical programs for use in Research Services; language mainly Fortran with a little assembler. Subsequently wrote a more advanced version of the repertory grid programs in modular, standard-conformant Fortran.
1967--1969: Research assistant, housing development, London Borough of Camden. Wrote simple system for forecasting population consequences of urban redevelopment programmes: Fortran, ICL 1900.
1965--1967: Research Fellow in Sociology, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Social Medicine, St Thomas's Hospital Medical School.
1962--1965: Member of scientific staff, Medical Research Council Epidemiological Research Unit, Cardiff.
1962: Diploma in Public and Social Administration, with distinction, Oxford
1961: BA Oxford, Classics (II final, I Moderations)

Specific skills

Perl programmer since 1997, up to Perl 5 and object-oriented programs. SGML, HTML and CGI programming.
Shell programmer since 1983, mainly with Unix shells (including ksh and bash), interpreted languages sed, awk, perl etc.
User of TeX typesetting system since 1987, mainly on Unix systems, also on Ms-Dos. Secretary of UK TeX Users' Group since 1998. Used TeX to produce annual reports for Cancer Intelligence Unit, and mathematical text for Gordon & Breach and John Wiley. Use TeX for all my printed work including program documentation. A typeset version of this document was prepared with teTeX and LaTeX2e on my own Linux system.
Currently developing a graphical user-interface to TeX using Tcl and Tk.
Unix systems administrator since 1983, with experience of Berkeley and System V versions, on Vax, Sun and PC hardware, including SCO, Solaris and Linux; my home computer installation is Linux.
Continuous Pascal programming experience from 1983--1996, supplemented by C for those parts that can not be conveniently expressed in Pascal (mainly interfaces to operating-system and database-systems).
Mail administrator ( postmaster ) since 1983; have used both sendmail and MMDF transfer-agents; also administered POP (Post Office Protocol) servers, Nupop and Eudora POP-clients, and Lotus Cc:mail with interface to SMTP Internet mail.
UUCP network administrator since 1985, both `original' and HoneyDanBer versions.
TCP/IP (Internet Protocol) network administrator since 1990, including NFS (Network Filesystem), using a mixture of Unix and Dos/Windows computers, and various Dos/Windows versions of IP ( FTP Software Inc., PC-NFS, Wollongong, Novell Lan Workplace, Trumpet Winsock).
PPP (dialup IP) networking since 1995, administering SCO and Sun PPP servers, Lan Workplace and Trumpet clients.
Worldwide Web server administrator since 1995. The Institute of Public Health used its Web-server to provide local computer documentation, mostly written by myself in HTML. CGI protramming for Institute of Public Health, John Wiley and Sons, Gordon and Breach. Prepared GIF graphics of mathematical equations for Gordon & Breach. Experience of CERN httpd and Apache web-servers.
Special interest in data-protection issues since 1984; data-protection officer for Cancer Intelligence Unit 1987--1991, for Institute of Public Health 1995--7.
Data-capture and -conversion specialist since 1984. Experienced user and programmer of Unix text-conversion utilities sed, awk, etc. in original and Dos implementations, and more recently perl.

Formal qualifications

BA, Latin and Greek classics, Oxford 1961, 1st class in Moderations, 2nd class final.
Diploma in Public and Social Administration, Oxford 1962, distinction.
Member of British Computer Society, 1986.
Advanced Certificate in Archaeology, King Alfred's College, Winchester, 1998.

Memberships and special interests

Member of TeX Users' Group, of UK TeX Users' Group, and sometime Secretary of the latter.
Member of Hampshire and Dorset archaeological societies. Advanced Certificate in British Archaeology, December 1997; research interest in Roman quarry industries.
Member of Dorset Geologists' Association Group.

Publications

1966: `Staff-patient communications in a chest hospital', British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine.
1967: `Smoking, caning, etc. in a secondary modern school', British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine.
1967: `Punishment, a field for experiment', British Journal of Criminology.
1968: `The use of hospitals by a defined population', British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine.
1973: `Thinking geometrically', European Research. (On presenting multivariate statistics to non-statisticians, especially in market research).
1974: `Of attitudes and latitudes', Journal of the Market Research Society; reprinted 1976 in Explorations in Intrapersonal Space, ed. Patrick Slater, Chichester: Wiley. (A case-study in multivariate analysis of consumer preferences).
1982: `The Wessex ability rating scale', British Journal of Subnormality.
1989: `Problems in automatic matching of cancer data', paper to annual meeting of International Association of Cancer Registries, Maastricht, Netherlands.
2000: `Survey of UKTUG members', Baskerville, 9, no.3, 8-18.
2002: `Roman Purbeck stone: a new database', Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 123, 104-109.
2005: `Catalogue of Roman Purbeck mortars', Lucerna, the Roman Finds Group newsletter, 29, 2-4.
2005: `Database of the Roman Purbeck stone industry, a progress report', Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 126, 170-171.
2007: `An old road at Bare Cross, Church Knowle', Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 128, 95-100.
2009: `The sources and distribution of Roman Purbeck Limestone roofing slabs', Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 130, 155-166.
2014: `Roman Purbeck stone mortars',, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 135, 222-234.
2015: `Response to the commentaries on J. W. Palmer: Smoking, caning and delinquency in a secondary modern school', International Journal of Epidemiology, 44, 26-27.