Eng. Andrea Bizzotto

My name is Andrea Bizzotto and I'm a computer engineer currently living in the UK.

The intent of this website is to describe myself as a professional and to illustrate some of the projects I've been working on during my career.

Detailed information about my current and past experiences can be found as well on my LinkedIn profile.

Biography

I was born in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, and was very interested in computers from a young age.
My first computer was a Commodore 64, which I used in my early years to learn the basics of computers.
I quickly became interested in computer games and at the age of 16 I started programming in C++. My first projects were some 2D games that grew more complex over time.
At the age of 17 I developed a basic ray-casting engine, writing the most performance critical code (a scan-line based texture mapper) in assembler.
The first real 3D engine followed at the age of 18. This project gave me insight about OpenGL and some 3D geometry which I used to implement a BSP-tree partitioner.

While attending a technical high school that allowed me to make the first steps in the world of programming, I developed MFC-based desktop applications for a small software company in Italy.

After school I joined a BS course in computer engineering at the University of Padova.
The first three years of academic study gave me a solid background in mathematics, physics and engineering-related subjects, as well as a deeper understanding of Object Oriented programming, developed through some projects in Java.

After receiving my BSc degree in 2003 with final score 106/110, I joined a MSc course in computer engineering at the same university, and in the following two years I developed some practical projects and studied more advanced subjects such as abstract algebra and algorithm theory.
During these years I became interested in web development, and created a successful PHP/Javascript web application that allows professionals to compile their fees on-line. I managed the life-cycle from the analysis to the implementation and testing process, and the application is currently used by a large number of professionals in Italy.

Within a course in Computer Vision, I developed a MATLAB application able to reconstruct 3D position and diameter of a set of tubes from 2D pictures taken to a refinery. A highly creative and successful approach allowed to meet the requirements, and the project won a prize as the best solution to the given problem.

In June 2008 I moved to the UK to join my current employer, Imagination Technologies, where I received a deep exposure to embedded systems and Linux. I developed several successful C++/OpenGL ES 2.0 demos that greatly supported the Sales teams in their licensing processes.
Within my role I also developed a texture-streaming framework that allows to integrate camera/video streaming (through GStreamer) and 3D graphics. I'm currently supporting a number of customers in integrating this framework in their products.
Additionally, I developed an innovative touch-screen interface that improved user interaction in specific applications. As part of this, I wrote an article that has been published in "GPU Pro: Advanced Rendering Techniques" (previously known as ShaderX).
I recently authored a second article for the new edition of GPU Pro (due to release in 2011) by the title "A shader-based EBook renderer" which illustrates how to use shader-capable hardware to implement an ebook reader capable of page peeling effects.

I received my MSc degree with top grade and distinction in July 2009, authoring a thesis with title "Developing 3D-enabled applications for embedded systems".

I have years of experience in C++ development and my main interests are:

Aside from my technical skills, I'm attracted to social relationships and I firmly believe in the importance of good communication skills in any kind of business, including software development.
I'm quite interested in public speaking, and seldom have the chance to do some presentations for internal audience within my company.

My plans for the future include doing some OpenCL research in order to enable some advanced techniques on current GPUs and integrate this with latest DX11/OpenGL4 techniques.
Additionally, I'm extending my knowledge towards Effective C++, STL, Boost, multi-threading and advanced concepts introduced by the C++0x standard and exploring higher level programming techniques and paradigms such as those offered by Common Lisp.

My mid-term career ambitions are to become a lead programmer of a small team within a company with a strong focus on making software of the highest quality standards.

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