Author: Ross Wintle

🤔 I’ve always said I’d like to go and study something like philosophy of maths.

But sometimes I think I’d love to study psychology of computer programming.

Is that a thing?

🤔 There was an interesting thing recently where, in a group of developers, the younger/less experienced ones were the ones that liked using Git on the command line. And the older, more-experienced ones shunned the command line for GUIs.

A small data set, for sure. But is there something to learn there?

🙌 This resonates so much with me. It’s nice to see a really clear justification for using boring, well-understood and slow-moving technology.

https://boringtechnology.club/

I really want quote posts. I want to say nice things about things that other people have shared. Is that bad?

**ME ON A PODCAST ALERT**

I can't remember how this came about, but it was a privilege to share some of my journey and thoughts with the @coderushpod guys.

I love their podcast because they're two smart, experienced and gentle people sharing what they know just for the love of it.

They put a ton of effort into this. We all hope you enjoy it, learn something and are inspired in some way.

https://coderush.dev/episodes/10-jay

I use a little MacOS app called rcmd for app switching (no dock, no Cmd-Tabbing, no “interface” – it’s great for screencasting videos!).

But it’s kinda expensive for what it does (I’m sure it was cheaper when I bought it!)

But someone I know has now made a free tool that’s similar.

Check both out if you’re a MacOS keyboard ninja:

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/rcmd-app-switcher/id1596283165?mt=12

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/flicker/id6468769555?mt=12

This is GREAT for testing beta’s/RC’s/nightlies…

This is – and can only be – a personal project for me only. But I think it's cool.

Given a local PHP install on MacOS (and probably Linux) this CLI tool will fast-install a disposable #WordPress site.

Uses
– SQLite database
– Symlinked core files for speed
– PHP's built-in web server

Think wp-now, but without Node/npm/Express/WASM

Or like a local version of InstaWP.

💻 So nice to be working on a little greenfield Laravel thing. 😃

😀 A really restful day off today.

Recorded a podcast with some great folks.

Got a flu jab.

Worked on my secret CLI dev tool project.

Watched some YouTube.

Feeling nice and calm.

There's this thing that programmers say about looking back and being ashamed at the code you wrote years ago and realising how far you come.

If you do this, the latter observation is a good one to make: you probably have come far!!

But also: You should look back on past you with more compassion. Past you did good work with the knowledge and experience that you had at the time.

AND… Don't be scared of, or ashamed at the thought of what future you will say. You're doing good today too!

@changelog Oh please, PLEASE do another quiz game. I’ve not laughed so hard for a long time.

🤔 Programming: Fun, interesting, creative. Also: pays well.

Community/family: Relentless, exhausting, emotional. Also: pays nothing!!

✏️ I keep finding myself in jobs where I can see a lot of things going on, and I feel a responsibility to make connections.

A quick blog post on how, sometimes, the view from the “Bottom of the Pile” is uniquely broad. And that comes with opportunity, and maybe responsibility too.

https://rosswintle.uk/2023/10/the-view-from-the-bottom-of-the-pile/

🙄 I've been hanging out on other social medias today. There was ONE interesting post from… my kids secondary school!!! And one REALLY good interaction with someone that I know.

But mostly is was boring, aimless scrolling with occasional conspiracy theorists.

I get back onto Mastodon.

Two amazing, funny, interesting posts shared in the first few minutes.

I genuinely appreciate the good stuff on other socials, but gosh it's impossible to curate.

Does the fact that wordpress.org now supports security keys and passkeys mean that this might actually be coming to the Two Factor plugin soon?

PLEASE?