posts
AI Shoulder Surf V1
Notes from an informal Zoom session where developers shared AI tools, automation techniques, and projects. Topics included using Claude in headless mode to manage version bumps across 20+ packages, an overnight bot that processes GitHub issues and responds to PR comments, the “Talk About Us” copy-auditing …
Can Others Explain My Work Without Me?
It’s easy to fall into a trap of using jargon when discussing what you’re working on. Sometimes we need help expressing our thoughts in interesting and meaningful ways—using our own voices, in a way that’s memorable and repeatable. A blog post by Anil Dash helped me rethink my writing. I’ve …
Oops! I just broke git-bisect
I rarely use git-bisect, but thinking about it has changed how I structure my commits. The principle is simple: don’t break git-bisect. If a change breaks something, the fix should belong in that same change. This mental model helps avoid common anti-patterns like splitting a bug fix into two commits—one with a …
On a Prettier PATH
On getting a more readable $PATH, installing “is” in GitHub Actions and using $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY to put it all together.
How Many Versions of "X" Are in my $PATH?
When multiple versions of the same executable exist in your $PATH, the ‘is’ utility provides a clean way to discover all versions and their locations. This post demonstrates how ‘is’ can help identify version conflicts, clean up redundant installations, and streamline executable management with …
The Great PTS CLI Throwdown
At the Perl Toolchain Summit a few of us shared our favourite command-line tools and terminal configurations. This compilation covers recommendations from Paul Johnson, Shawn Sorichetti, Mickey Nasriachi, Julien Fiegehenn, and Olaf Alders, including GPU-accelerated terminal emulators like WezTerm, file managers like …
Battery Power-Ups: Enhancing SketchyBar with "is"
The new “is battery” and “is known battery” subcommands can detect battery attributes with a clean, readable syntax. This post walks through practical examples of replacing complex shell commands with these new subcommands, demonstrating how they simplify a SketchyBar configuration on macOS. …
Debounce All of the Things
I wanted a tool for debouncing shell commands, to ensure that tasks like installing nightly builds or running scripts only execute once within a set time period. This is the story of how I finally ended up with a solution that I’m happy with.
How I Spent My First London Perl Workshop
Earlier this year I was excited (one might even say well chuffed) when I heard that the London Perl Workshop was coming back after a hiatus of several years. I knew that in all likelihood I would not be able to attend, but it has been a bucket list item of mine for quite some time. You may be thinking to yourself that …