Bora M. Alper

Hi! I am a software engineer at Stripe in Dublin. My interests are computer systems (e.g. compilers, operating systems, and databases), computer networking (edge computing, and decentralisation), and computer security (modelling, protocols, and applied cryptography).

Table of Contents
  1. Experience
  2. Education
  3. Publications
  4. Organisations
  5. Awards
  6. Scholarships
  7. Languages

Other things you might be looking for on this website:

/blog/
My personal blog on computer science, software development, the Internet, systems, and decentralisation.
/labs/
My body of thought-work. Also see my GitHub.
/notes/
My notes on certain subjects.

If you see @boramalper somewhere on the Internet, that is probably me. Here are some of my accounts that you might be interested in:

Flickr
My photo gallery.
GitHub
My directory of Free & Open Source Software.
Mastodon
My microblog.

To contact me, please send an e-mail to bora at boramalper dot org. My GPG fingerprint is 5B9D 07D8 5C2C 024A 5525 9CF9 8710 7A4B 2A5D 1BFE.

Experience

Software Engineer

Stripe

December 2021 — Dublin, Ireland

Software Engineer

The University of Edinburgh

May 2021 – August 2021 — Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Tutor & Demonstrator

The University of Edinburgh

September 2019 – December 2020 — Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Software Engineering Intern

The University of Edinburgh

June 2020 – August 2020 — Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Advanced Research Unit Intern

Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology

June–September 2019 — Yerevan, Armenia

Exam Marker

The University of Edinburgh

December 2018 – January 2019 — Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Education

The University of Edinburgh

BEng (Hons.) Computer Science

September 2017 – May 2021 — Edinburgh, United Kingdom

United World Colleges Dilijan

International Baccalaureate

August 2015 – May 2017 — Dilijan, Armenia

İstanbul Cağaloğlu Anadolu Lisesi

Anatolian High School

September 2011 – June 2015 — İstanbul, Turkey

Publications

How many values are errors in Go?

June 2019

Analysed the number of errors returned as values from functions in Go, to explore the inefficiencies of Go’s error handling mechanisms. Cited by Herb Sutter, a prominent C++ expert working at Microsoft, in Zero-overhead deterministic exceptions: Throwing values.

Published on the blog.

A New Checksum Formula for Error Detection in Decimal Codes

November 2017

Developed a new algorithm for generating checksums of decimal codes, that can detect 91.05% of all transmission errors, outperforming industry-standard Luhn Algorithm, and performing on-par with other modern algorithms such as Damm and Verhoeff. Written as an extended essay during my International Baccalaureate programme.

10.5281/zenodo.2541760

Organisations

Turkish Society

President

March 2019 – June 2020 — Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Leading Turkish Society at the University, whilst collaborating closely with the Turkish Consulate for communicating with the diaspora. Overseeing the initiatives of the committee, organising flagship events, and raising funds for the society.

Awards

Edinburgh Award

The University of Edinburgh

September 2019

Awarded for volunteering abroad in the summer of 2019 as a research intern in Armenia.

Functional Programming Competition Second Prize

The University of Edinburgh

September 2019

Awarded to piet∞ – interactive, infinitely-recursive, procedurally-generated Piet-esque compositions.

Scholarships

Scholæ Mundi Scholarship

Scholæ Mundi Foundation

September 2017 – Current

Receiving a grant from Scholæ Mundi Foundation on the basis of my academic achievements for my studies in The University of Edinburgh.

United World Colleges Scholarship

United World Colleges Dilijan

August 2015 – May 2017

Received a grant from United World Colleges on the basis of my success in high-school for my studies in UWC Dilian.

Languages

Turkish
Native
English
Second-language
German
Proficient, with B1 CEFR certificate
Russian & Armenian Créole
Beginner