We’re getting closer to a long vacation with intermittent Internet, so I’m going through all my developer tools, making sure that everything’s ready. Now that I know how to get VSCode to persist its downloaded stuff between runs in a given container (make sure there’s a .vscode-server/extensions directory in the container user’s $HOME), I wantedContinue reading “Here’s a (docker) image for you”
Category Archives: Practical Applications of Knowledge
I’m Dead, We Have So Many Forks
The post title is something one of our kids said, years ago, when our utensils drawer contained the combined tableware of two adult households. They were spoiled for choice. Anyway, since suddenly people I actually want to stay in touch with have started showing up on Mastodon and following me, I have started paying attentionContinue reading “I’m Dead, We Have So Many Forks”
Conflict
I am gonna surprise precisely no-one by saying, I do not like conflict. I’m conflict-avoidant. I don’t like having to confront someone and tell them they’re wrong, or that I don’t like what they’re doing, or anything even close to that. That means, of course, that when I’ve finally got the determination to enter conflict,Continue reading “Conflict”
How Do You Talk to the World?
There’s nothing like a natural disaster to get a person thinking about resilience. In 2020, lightning struck and started a fire in some dry brush in a canyon near Davenport, and the fire spread and took out nearly a thousand houses. While the fire was spreading, PG&E, which owns and operates the power distribution networkContinue reading “How Do You Talk to the World?”
Language Feelings Matter
I just finished a first pass at implementing a new feature in an application I wrote in Flutter. I’ve been working hard at it, not letting myself get distracted with any of my fun programming projects. So, to celebrate handing it off for evaluation and feedback, I just took this morning to do a massiveContinue reading “Language Feelings Matter”
Offline VS Code – maybe?
I just went on a week-long vacation wherein I was programming, among other things, in locations with dodgy or nonexistent network connections. My offline Swift modifications worked great; so, local mirroring of packages is a total win! But here’s a thing: a dinner conversation got me working in Flutter again. And, a few days beforeContinue reading “Offline VS Code – maybe?”
Insidious Arrogance
There’s this problem that comes when one deals with a complicated system or process for a long time — one internalizes all the details and complexity, and starts to factor all the weird inner workings of the system into communication about the system. In human terms, this is where professional jargon comes from. There’s stuffContinue reading “Insidious Arrogance”
Data Representation
I’m currently working on a suite of programs (which sounds a hell of a lot fancier than, “a couple of apps and a database,” — word to the wise, &c.) that deals with people. A person record has, as an option, a birthdate. You never know, someone, somewhere, might like to commemorate great-great-great-uncle Ralph’s birthdayContinue reading “Data Representation”
Oh, Syntax
I’m working on a new application. I got the basics done, and because I’m an old crank, I made the data storage a file. So, you can do all kinds of cool things with the data you enter, and you can do it without having a network connection. It’s like a spreadsheet! But then, myContinue reading “Oh, Syntax”
Put a Computer In It, Part…A Jillion
Got an email just now, from the marketing department of a company that makes some server software that I occasionally use. The notification of new email popped up on my screen, with a snippet of the body saying that cyberattacks are increasing in sophistication and volume, so I should…presumably, the rest of the email wasContinue reading “Put a Computer In It, Part…A Jillion”