programming – Mechadarwin

Open Source, For Great Autonomy

I’ve made it so I can easily keep track of all the batteries that need replacing in our networked compound.

Xcode project framework: Tuist

I saw a couple of tools (mise, tuist) in use at NSScreencast and thought I’d try them out. They seem kinda useful, but it’s possible (likely) that I’m just not using them to their full potential, since they solve some problems that I sometimes have, and introduce new friction that I usually don’t have.

App Design Project: Inbox Assistant

The other day, Miguel de Icaza announced a pair of Swift packages to do email stuff. This, of course, makes me happy. I love email. Email is one of the greatest technologies in existence for the sometimes online computer: it gracefully handles periodic disconnections, so it’s my go-to for thinking about how to deal withContinue reading “App Design Project: Inbox Assistant”

Local or Cloud? I Dunno.

This is more of a whinge than anything constructive. For all three readers who follow this blog, feel free to skip this entry unless you’re dying to find out why I haven’t made any progress on my current coding project.

Software Architecture Headache – Dependencies

I want to make my applications share data across devices, and do it even if the greater Internet is unavailable, if there’s a local network. So, peer-to-peer stuff. I went looking and found a framework that seems to be aimed directly at peer networking: LibP2P. There’s even a Swift implementation of it, sort of. EarlyContinue reading “Software Architecture Headache – Dependencies”

Framework: PowerSync

I’ve decided not to sweat trying to sell my applications (or even make them available) through the App Store. That is pretty freeing, really. It means I can stop trying to solve everyone’s problems and just focus on solving my problems. Given this new clarity, I’ve been thinking about what my problems really are, and the oneContinue reading “Framework: PowerSync”

MTBP: Take Two, This Time, With Guidance

Let’s try this again. This time around, I’ll start with a clear and simple statement of what I want to achieve with the program, and how I want the user experience to feel. There’s a clear use case, and it will probably exclude a lot of people, and I don’t care. I’m not trying toContinue reading “MTBP: Take Two, This Time, With Guidance”

I Made an Offline Thing!

I’ve built a bridge between my RSS readers (Vienna and Tapestry) and my web browser so that I can connect my laptop to the Internet, fetch updated news stories, then disconnect. Later, while looking through the feed, I can queue up individual articles to be downloaded fully. Even later, I can connect the laptop toContinue reading “I Made an Offline Thing!”

Social, But Offline

I just saw a software update that mentioned GoToSocial so I looked it up to see what it is. And honestly, it’s kind of a thing I want, but barely. So, think about posting, reading other people’s posts, you know, that whole online conversation thing. What do I really want? I want to hear from peopleContinue reading “Social, But Offline”

Frameworks: Ensemble, Forked, Swift Data

I just learned about the existence of a framework called, “Forked.” The blurbs about it talk about “local first” application design and automated merging of concurrent offline editing. This seems very interesting to me. So I started looking at the source code and the example applications, and then reading about other stuff in the “localContinue reading “Frameworks: Ensemble, Forked, Swift Data”