Today my work machine graduated from Windows 11 to Ubuntu 24.04. The hardware hasn’t changed. I would have preferred Kubuntu. They gave me ext4 instead of btrfs. But my wishes there are nice-to-haves. What they gave me is a huge step! #linux #windows #ubuntu #ext4 #btrfs #upgrade

I love Bash. I used to write tons of Bash. There is a lot of Bash in my life, even to this day. But here's my life now: * Bash holds some stuff together (small stuff: usually setting variables, aliases, and/or piping together a few CLI tools. See […]

I hate that we have to change the clocks. But given **that**, I **love** that I don't have to change any clocks! Every single one of them just does the right thing. ...a thing I think is completely stupid. #eliminatedaylightsavingstime

My friend Jay Wren recommended a book yesterday at lunch: "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman A recommendation from Jay is an insta-buy. I got it as an audio-book (because of my commute). It is not **at all** what I was […]

I just said in a podcast (http://RuntimeArguments.fm, though this episode won't be released until Saturday): "I love `uv`. I want to marry it and have its baby!" #uv #python #runtimearguments

I have found voice input to be super helpful. I use it entirely for prose: notes, tasks, and reminders. I **don't** use it to make the machine "do things" or for coding (but that's just me ... you do you; and also, I don't use it for coding **yet**). I currently use two tools: * Spokenly […]

Are you asking questions? Are you asking **enough** questions? Are you asking the **right** questions? Are you taking responsibility for finding answers?

The obvious answer isn't even **usually** correct!

I evaluated zoxide as a cd replacement and decided against it. zoxide does one trick — frecency-based (yes, that's a real word, it means frequency+recency) fuzzy directory jumping — and it's a genuinely great trick. `z foo bar` instantly finds the best-matching deep path. If that's your main […]

The combination of #obsidian (which I've been using for years, now), the Obsidian #dataview plugin, the YAML frontmatter in my notes that #claudecode helped me put together: give me super useful queries. Using Dataview, YAML, and doing queries within Obsidian is new to me; but that's an […]

Rewriting my bash scripts in python … I think this is the best way to learn a language. My bash-scripting skills are average at best, but my python skill is nigh-abmyssal, but I am gradually building them 😁 #bash #python #devops #linux

There are #shortcuts and then there are behaviors that #reducefriction and/or end up saving time. Not wiping off the cutting board after you use it (maybe waiting to the end of the day) is a shortcut. Putting your work bag by the door the night before reduces friction. Shortcuts **can** lead to […]

@siracusa I use #claudecode a **lot**, but not as much for principal code as others. It’s good at many things I don’t want to do. I leverage those powers. Tickets, testing, documentation, rubber-ducking, narrowing in on errors, writing commit messages, tracking and updating task lists and […]

@caseyliss I just heard you on ATP discussing "cloning a repo multiple times" to do different work at the same time. #worktrees (a #git feature) might be helpful in some of these situations.

#pomodouroboros is a pomodoro timer for people with #adhd (or anyone else with executive functioning challenges), #opensource and written in #python. There's a working version for macOS today and you can download it if you like, but it's more of a prototype than a finished product (although I do […]

In #python, given some kind of bunch of things (a `dict`, a `list`, whatever), but you only want one thing out of it, there are lots of ways to do it: * All the normal things: the first one, the last one, some specific index, using a key, whatever (appropriate for almost every case where the […]

My day job is all about #python (which I love). Here are some personal rules, specific to working with Python projects: * Do **not** install or modify global tools, especially Python itself or any packages. This means a given system might not even **have** a global Python * Always use virtual […]

I'm not religious about tools. I have loved using my #mac (for many decades) because **for my tasks** it was the best choice; but I do use all three major platforms every day. I am certainly **not** any kind of cult member. But #macostahoe sucks. It's all downside and no upside. Every place […]

Not so unpopular opinion: #python whitespace significance is not an issue ; no really it isn't.

My port of the Alabaster theme (family) for Helix was approved, merged to `main`, further modified as per requests, and modifications merged to `main`, too. The time from creating the PRs to having them merged was really short. Now how long it takes to get from `main` into an actual **release** […]

My best friend Jim @jammcq and I work in very different ways. We have the same **goals**: finding or building the right answer for the customer (solves the right problems, costs the right amount). Both of us are very good with our tools. Both of us, for any given problem, probably already have […]

When people or businesses treat you right, I feel like they should get credit. If you don’t want to hear about some business I like, stop reading this post now. Probably this is more interesting when I talk about software tools than businesses, but it’s the same compulsion. I just had […]

Tests are power.

Published my port of the Alabaster theme family for Helix. Alabaster is a minimal syntax highlighting approach by Nikita Prokopov (tonsky) - only 4 semantic colors: strings, constants, comments, and definitions. Everything else stays plain text because code […] [Original post on hachyderm.io]

In #python `any` and `all` are global functions that work on any `Iterable` producing elements that can be converted to `bool`. If you wanted (semantically) `find` #find or `first` #first, they are less obvious (though specific types can provide them, such as `str.find`). `first` implies the […]

Yes. The #git stash is super helpful. But here’s my advice: don’t use it as long-term storage. Stash stuff to temporarily get it out of the way; then pop it and get back to work. If you have stuff you want set aside for a long time, make a branch, name it appropriately, decide if you want it to […]

All I want for 2026 is that the following expression remains true: `len(mt_rushmore.faces) == 4` #python

I use #git. A feature of Git I leverage heavily is #worktree. I usually have at least four around at a time. For small tasks, sure, a simple branch and then switch back, but bigger things: a worktree. Making a worktree is actually annoying for me: not just the upfront decisions about branches […]

I’m a #bash expert. Not at the level of the "You Suck At Programming" guy (Dave, see https://ysap.sh; his YouTube videos rock), but if I need it to happen in Bash, I can probably make it happen. But … if it goes just a little too far, if it needs an associative array, it doesn’t take too much […]

Working with #ai (I prefer #claudecode) has significantly upped my #testing game; but when it comes to actually writing real #python, I constantly have to hold #claude’s hand to get what I consider decent code. If you’re not already a pretty good #programmer, you’re not going to end up with […]

I am not getting used to holding my phone further away to see it. And often, the puppy on my lap is in the way of that! #cataractsurgery

The earlier you see your errors, the cheaper they are to fix. Interpreted languages suck here, because you don’t see trouble until runtime, and then only if you go down the unhappy path. Compiled languages are better, because some errors are revealed at compile-time (though some compilers show […]

It's tight this year, no doubt; but I'm happy. I love my family (which includes my dogs), I love my team at work, I love what I do for a living. I hope, especially if this is a holiday for you, that you are happy, too. And may it last a whole year long!

I absolutely **hate** that in #safari on #iOS it now requires three taps to close a tab instead of one. WTF #Apple?

#til In the #HelixEditor you can configure different #lsp (s) on a per-project basis by having a `.helix/languages.toml` file starting at the root of your project.

There a many reasons to choose an employer/problem/project. I won't bother to cite examples, you already know what you care about. What I care about is, and always has been, the team. Yes, you have to make enough money to pay your bills, but as long as that bar is met, what matters is how you […]

The more I learn about #direnv, the happier I become. It **already** works with #pixi. It **already** helps you with secrets (ignore `.envrc` in your `.gitignore` or equivalent). I grabbed a `layout_uv` from the direnv wiki (made some small modifications), and it works basically everywhere I […]

My brand-new #airpods Pro 3’s were having charging troubles I couldn’t resolve on my own, so I made a #geniusbar appointment at my local #applestore (Briarwood Mall, Ann Arbor). No trouble getting the time or day I wanted. No trouble on arrival. I was assigned a Genius named D'Air (spelling may […]

I talk a lot about #measuring things (so one knows if one is doing the right amount of the right thing); but I don’t measure my own use of **all** apps and tools across all OSs! I have some general ideas (and I’ve often talked about how wrong general ideas often are). I spend most of my time on […]

Possible one of the greatest lines in any movie I can recall, from a note pinned to the chest of a bad guy revealed when the elevator doors opened: "Ho, Ho, Ho! Now I have a machine gun." Many modern movies make hey about the bad-ass hero not telling the bad guys what they’re actually up […]

@atpfm I replied directly to Casey a bit ago, but just heard the episode where you discuss this problem in depth. This level-crossing communication problem is not new. Except in very special circumstances, workable program architecture (and I mean absolutely every kind of program) is acyclic […]

If you’re not constantly ready to learn new things and to try new things, there’s a word for you: "Done". You don’t have to be open to **everything**; but you have to be open to something!

In #heyemail, I was lulled into rarely unsubscribing. In #fastmail, I unsubscribe right away.

For various reasons, I build #HelixEditor from source (at least weekly). This turned out to be the reason why I (confusingly) wasn’t seeing syntax highlighting in certain situations. When you put yourself in charge of building the editor, you will also often have to fetch and build all the […]

I try to walk the mall every day (try and fail) and my average pace is 25, sometimes 26. I don't know what's gotten into me today my pace is actually under 21.

By the way: switching to #fastmail, including making my email address use my own domain and importing all my old email from #heyemail #hey was quick, easy, and in the end cost something like 40% less. Of course I don’t know yet how much I will enjoy using the interface; but everything I’ve done […]

Yes, I carry a bag (a #tombihn #makersbag). Yes, it’s heavy. Heavy enough that every single person who touches it has to comment. Yes, I hang things from my belt, too: like a #leatherman #arc, and a #modlite PLHv2-18650. I admit: I probably carry too much stuff. You and I are different! I’m […]

Usually, when something is really good or helpful for me, I tell people! (In fact, I’m a little too enthusiastic.) But somehow I have failed to mention how f-ing amazing #Tailscale is! Man is Tailscale great!

I really liked #heyemail #hey. It fit me very well. But at a fundamental level #dhh’s values differ from mine; and in a way that pretty much means I have to switch. So, #fastmail, here I come.

More than half of the #youtube videos I have watched recently look completely real but are actually completely false. Somethingi couldn’t tell until I tried to corroborate. I can’t get YouTube to filter out the bullshit. No wonder people believe so many crazy things. I think I have to throw […]