The First True Branch Wins
Control flow is where a program starts making decisions. What stuck for me was not the syntax but the boundaries — which branch gets checked, where a range really stops, and how much a single space can change.
Learning
Same Input, Same Answer
The second half of my first Python chapter was about where values live and whether a program gives the same result twice. Both turned out to be questions I already ask for a living.
Learning
It Ran. That Doesn't Mean It's Right.
I learned to code by shipping small fixes to real problems. Starting Python from the first chapter showed me which basics I already had, and which ones I had been getting away without.
Learning
Order and Precision Are the Same Lesson
Learning to program made one idea stick — instructions have to be specific and sequential. Building an early app of my own made that idea concrete.
Learning
Which Mobile Forensic Vendors Publish Testable Specifications?
Seven vendors' public pages, read on one day against nine questions an examiner would need answered before a capability claim could be checked. Some answer eight of them. Some answer one.
Forensics
What CFTT Testing Shows About Mobile Extraction Tools
Fourteen government test reports, read for what they measured — where extraction tools omitted data, where they reported it wrongly, and why the extraction method matters as much as the tool.
Forensics
The Legal Questions Around Mobile Device Extraction Are Not One Question
Searching the device, defining the search, compelling a passcode, compelling a biometric and reaching cloud data are five different legal questions. Two have Supreme Court answers. Two are split. This is a source review, not legal advice.
Forensics
Extraction Depth and Device State Are Not the Same Thing
Two independent questions hide inside most extraction capability claims — how much data a method returns, and what condition the device has to be in. Read separately, vendor documentation becomes much easier to interpret.
Forensics
Access, Disclosure and Testimony Around Restricted Mobile Forensic Tools
Buying the tool, reading its documentation, and questioning how it works are three different problems with three different answers. One vendor agreement, two product pages and two appellate opinions, read on one day.
Forensics
An iPhone Photo Can Tell You More Than Its File Path
A practical iOS finding — the Photos database can preserve application-import context for an image that sits in an ordinary DCIM path.
Forensics