Author: Ross Wintle

Thinking today about perfectionism vs craftsmanship.

To be honest, the space of the holiday time means I’m having lots of thoughts about lots of things!!

But today is craftsmanship.

This is an excellent long read on enshittification and makes me feel like quite the rebel being the person that actively avoids crappy free/cheap stuff. (And yes, I acknowledge my privilege)
https://www.wheresyoured.at/never-forgive-them/

I swear I’ve spent about 75% of my “spare time” this holiday season just making sure that all my families devices are charging!!

Well I worked right up til Christmas Eve.

I only just realised I have NINE DAYS OFF!!!

That’s a gift right there!!

After earlier questions, I did a little weekend AI research project.

I tested whether AI can accurately refactor code. Spoiler: It can't! But I had some fun and did some neat meta-programming along the way.

https://rosswintle.uk/2024/12/ai-copilot-and-deterministic-code-refactoring/

After earlier questions, I did a little weekend AI research project.

I tested whether AI can accurately refactor code. Spoiler: It can't! But I had some fun and did some neat meta-programming along the way.

https://rosswintle.test/2024/12/ai-copilot-and-deterministic-code-refactoring/

Thinking about yesterday when I asked Copilot to refactor a loop through an array into a series of discrete steps.

It did it but I checked Every! Single! Change!

Because I know it’s non-deterministic. But I don’t know how non-deterministic it is.

I DO NOT TRUST IT!!

It did the job perfectly. But how was I to know that it would do that?

@mattgrayyes Hello! I’ve had you fireworks video queued up to watch for ages. I just found it and watched it. It’s a great little piece of film and you and the team clearly put a lot of effort into it. Great job. Thanks for entertaining and educating us!! 😃

For ages I’ve thought I’m someone who’s really very bad at making long term predictions. For example, I thought putting cameras in phones was a stupid idea.

But recent experience suggests that I may be quite the visionary sometimes!

– WordPress command palettes
– My social media choices
– Opinions about JavaScript
– Thoughts on the WordPress block editor

Experience has taught me things. There is wisdom in the years.

Klarna took over the Stocard app in the UK. What’s a good way to store loyalty card barcodes on iOS? Can I just add them to wallet somehow?
https://chaos.social/@leyrer/113667064197803074

I was thinking about generative AI today with all these messed up images and videos going round and I decided it’s like a fruit machine. You pull the handle and you might get something good out of it. Or you might not. But one thing happens every time: a very rich person gets a tiny bit richer!

@sarajw How have you been today? Hope it’s been more positive!

I actually shouted “That’s bovine!!” At my computer yesterday. Though I realise I should actually have shouted “NOT SO!”

Loving the legal streams. @questauthority.bsky.social has such a great way with words.

“Have no doubt: ‘not so’ is a two word variant of something that is much more commonly expressed as a single word. And that single word has certain… umm… bovine implications”

Gosh, it's slow work. And not quite there yet. But gosh I had fun with my little PICO-8 cookie-clicker game this evening!

https://santa-factory.pico.games/

Why are some new App Store apps showing “17+ years old”?

Is this an App Store bug?

I’ve seen two this week.

This is somewhat dramatised, but it's also an accurate explainer of my Sunday evening woes.

Come on a journey with me as I – an experienced developer – dive into old WordPress theme code, find myself in an enormous tangle, and question my competence.

https://rosswintle.uk/2024/12/im-not-sure-i-understand-themes-old-wordpress-code-journey/