Facebook’s custom IPv6 range

I noticed an interesting thing with a certain visitor after posting a blog post to Facebook. The IP address that the Facebook crawler uses to visit the site on callback to get meta-data has a custom IPv6 sub-range. IPv6: 2a03:2880:ff:1a::face:b00c Host: fwdproxy-prn-026.fbsv.net Notice 2a03:2880:ff:1a::<strong>face:b00c</strong> How this is done The IPv4 addresses could only use regular integers (decimal); numbers between 0 and 9. However, IPv6 can use any and all hexadecimal; 0-9 and a-f....

June 30, 2020 · 1 min · 122 words · Andrew

Converting from Legacy to Client-Server or Distributed Systems

What is a legacy system? A legacy system is a computing system that has been around for a very long period of time, tends to be difficult to maintain, is prone to issues such as lack of scalability and feature additions, usually centralised in operation and is still heavily utilised in a particular organisation. What is a client-server / distributed system? A distributed system is a decentralised networked cluster of computers (servers) that are able to scale according to peaks and troughs in usage (Manoj A....

May 19, 2020 · 3 min · 490 words · Andrew

Functions of an Operating System

I am in a bit of an unusual situation where “I use” a combination of three different laptops, which each run different platforms. Namely; MacOS primarily at work with a combination of Linux servers and then Windows as well as Ubuntu on two separate home laptops that I switch between on my desk all the time between tasks. A bit on Windows Windows is good as a general consumer OS and there are many applications that are created to run on it....

May 11, 2020 · 6 min · 1108 words · Andrew

An Introduction to Data Structures

When bringing up the topic of “Data Structures”, it is first important to understand what they are. TechTarget states that “a data structure is a specialized format for organizing and storing data”. This provides a high-level definition to get you started; so let’s explore it a little deeper. Below are a few examples of common data structures: Primitive types: Boolean, Integer, Double, Character, String Composite/Non-primitive types: Array, Record, Union Abstract types: List, Associate Array, Stack, Queue, Tree...

May 3, 2020 · 3 min · 586 words · Andrew

The Best Note Taking Apps

We’re all using a Note Taking App these days, they’re incredibly useful and come jam packed with loads of features. But which ones shine out from the rest and which should you use in 2019? Among the many tens to hundreds of possible candidates, I have chosen the seemingly obvious top 5 to explore in this post. These were initially chosen from my own experience having used many over the past few years to find the ultimate single Note Taking app to conquer all others....

December 20, 2019 · 1 min · 148 words · Andrew