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AI Made Me Write This
I have been inspired to write again by AI. By bad AI writing, to be exact. You know the sort. I don’t even need to elaborate at this stage. I’m by no means anti-AI. I use it constantly at work. It has transformed what I am capable of getting done as a software … read more › -
High Modernism & Software Design
Brasília was envisaged as the dawn of a new Brazil. Purpose-built from the ground up on a pristine site in just 41 months, it attempted to remould and redefine what it meant to be Brazilian in its own logical, elegant, efficient image. Brasília by Ramon Buçard on Unsplash This … read more › -
What Might Happen If You Share It
I grew up in the Winamp days. Napster, Limewire, cracks & warez, remember? Winamp was always open. And alongside my playlist of illicitly-downloaded mp3s would always be MilkDrop. If you don’t know, MilkDrop is absolute zenith of audio visualization software, and it … read more › -
But What About the Bus Factor?
The term “bus factor” refers to the number of project maintainers who, if hit by a bus and incapacitated, would cause that project to stall. You can replace the bus crash with any other form of physical or mental incapacitation or even changes in life circumstances or … read more › -
On Working Alone
Earlier this year I quit my job to work full-time on an open source ecommerce framework. After three years working as the lead of a small team within a department of around 20 devs, I’m now back to working alone. Here are some reflections on the thrills and perils of the … read more › -
The Covert Opt-In
About 13 years ago I built a web shop for my dad’s company. Like many small businesses, the company does not have an in-house development or IT department, so anything vaguely website-related tends to end up in my inbox. This is how I recently found myself in a conference … read more › -
Why I Haven’t Fixed Your Issue Yet
Hi there. You opened an issue with my project on GitHub, and it’s getting kind of stale by now. I am aware of it - GitHub was kind enough to send me an email containing your report, which I scanned one morning a couple of weeks ago while I ate breakfast. I’ve even … read more › -
The Republic of Virtue: Terror, Tolerance and the Internet
I’ve recently been listening to the excellent podcast series Revolutions by Mike Duncan. Right now we are in the thick of the French Revolution. It’s really riveting stuff, and offers some fascinating insights into the interplay of groups, ideology, virtue, violence … read more › -
Confessions of an Intermediate Programmer
I am an intermediate programmer. I have a pretty good grasp of the basics. I have made enough mistakes to have a good idea why they were mistakes. I am aware that there is a lot that I need to know more about. Crucially, I have some idea of what those things are, and I am … read more ›