Writing boring code with the help of ChatGPT
I’ve been dragging my heels on experimenting with ChatGPT for writing code. As someone who gets a lot of pleasure from crafting code, having it generated for me is just… boring. But maybe we can use...
View ArticleWhy Grace Matters (for Software Development)
Someone asked me why I named my developer training site “Graceful.Dev“, so I thought I’d write about that. The theme of “grace” has been an emergent one in my work for years. I think that grace is an...
View ArticleMastodon: Zero to Green Tests Locally (as of December 2022)
So I’ve been getting up to speed on the Mastodon codebase. Here are some notes on getting to green tests locally. Aside: I generally prefer, in order: Improve a project so it needs less documentation...
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SIGAVDI #96: Olbas Edition
Hello friends, I have a summer cold courtesy of my children and I’m not sure if it is making me more depressed, or providing a distraction from the depression. Either way, I got that summertime...
View ArticleOn Rigor, White Supremacy, and Occam’s Razor
A correspondent once took issue with my amplification of Alex Hanna’s indictment of Google as a racialized organization. They objected that Hanna’s accusations weren’t backed up “rigorously”. I’m...
View ArticlePreface to an Unwritten Programming Language Book
This book is intended as a programmer’s introduction or refresher to the Blub programming language. It is incomplete, opinionated, and short. We assume that you are a working programmer with several...
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SIGAVDI #95: Muhammara Edition
Hello friends, Spring is in the air, here in St. Louis. Nothing is blooming yet, but the daffodils are looking optimistic. I find myself, for the first time, attempting to plan a garden. In...
View ArticleThe Enterprise Riptide – A Pattern of Banana Stands
I’m at an interesting point in the career of my banana stand. I’m either actively replacing, or thinking of replacing, many of the software-as-a-services (SaaS) providers I’ve built my business on....
View Article(Relatively) Painless WordPress Hosting Migration with WP DB Migrate
A week ago I migrated my membership site Graceful.Dev from Nexcess to Cloudways. It was a pretty low-drama process, and I thought I’d write down what made it so while the memory is fresh. First, a...
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The Pre-Sale Trap
If you’re not careful, running a banana stand can feel like an endless bootstrap. Which works about as well as running a nation in a constant state of emergency. Or a body on nothing but caffeine and...
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SIGAVDI #94: Belgian Coffee Edition
Hello friends, It finally got cold here in St. Louis, albeit still with a sad paucity of snow. We got a dusting the other day. I’m on the last day of a quarantine with my partner; she got a surprise...
View ArticleYour Autoresponder (A Pattern Language of Banana Stands)
OK so you know that your mailing list is the foundation of your banana stand business. Now it’s time to talk about the tech you use to manage your mailing list. First, let’s make this concrete What...
View ArticleThrow, Catch, Raise, Rescue – I’m So Confused!
One of the aspects of Ruby that often confuses newbies coming from other languages is the fact that it has both throw and catch and raise and rescue statements. In this article I’ll try and clear up...
View ArticleThe Pond Scum
When you’re first starting a Banana Stand, you’re hungry for guidance. Tips and tricks. Knowledge to give you a leg up. And it’s out there. Somewhere. But first you have to get through The Pond Scum....
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SIGAVDI #93: Magic Hummus Edition
Hello friends, I know it’s been a long time even by SIGAVDI standards. I’ve been busy. Let’s do bullet points, and then if you want you can stick around for some catching-up. What’s good Amy Newell:...
View ArticleOn Piracy
At some point in your Banana Stand’s lifetime you will become aware that people are consuming your content without paying you for it. Either someone will send you an email that’s like “hey, I think I...
View ArticleThe Tote Bag Economy
The Banana Stand businesses I’ve been writing about are digital content businesses. Today I thought we could talk about the economics of selling lumps of data. One upon a time, selling information was...
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Your Newsletter (A Pattern Language of Banana Stands)
OK so hopefully I’ve convinced you of the paramount importance of your mailing list. But where to start? (If you’re lost, see There’s Always Money in the Banana Stand for an intro to this series)...
View ArticleYour Mailing List (A Pattern Language of Banana Stands)
So I’m doing this series of posts on the various parts that go into a “banana stand” business. And I’m going to tackle them like software design patterns, because I’m a nerd like that. Starting with…...
View ArticleThere’s Always Money in the Banana Stand
In the TV show Arrested Development, character George Bluth Sr. repeatedly reassures his son Michael, that no matter what other dire financial mishaps are occurring to the comically mis-managed family...
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