Feb. 22, 2019
TOPLAP 15th Birthday Streamed Algorave

As part of the TOPLAP 15th Birthday live-stream I live-coded some algorithmic rave music in Speccy:

Speccy is a browser based environment for live-coding 8-bit algorithmic rave music in ClojureScript.

You can watch the videos of everybody who participated here.

Feb. 4, 2019
Global Game Jam 2019: Otoch

album-cover.png

A couple of weekends ago my friend Crispin and I made this game as part of Global Game Jam, an event in which participants build a game in 48 hours.

It was a lot of fun and I got to spend most of the time drawing and doing graphics and music, which was a nice break from writing software.

Play it online!

Dec. 29, 2018
Catskills, NY, USA

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So long 2018.

Nov. 20, 2018
Inkscape Animation with SVG Animation Assistant

Update! SVG Flipbook is an app doing flipbook-style layer animation with Inkscape.

SVG Animation Assistant is an open source companion application for Inkscape.

SVG Animation Assistant interface showing Inkscape and a walk cycle animation

It runs along side Inkscape and helps you animate by cycling through the layers of your SVG as you edit it.

This allows you to do basic flip-book style animation. Each layer in your SVG is one frame of the animation.

Customise frame timing and behaviour by editing the layer name:

Inkscape layers UI with customisation

  • Set the number of milliseconds to pause on each frame by entering a number in brackets in the layer name like (100) for a pause of 1/10th of a second.
  • Add static background frames by putting (static) in the layer name.

The animation live-reloads in the assistant window whenever you hit save in Inkscape.

SVG Animation Assistant interface showing live reloading

Run on Linux

If you are a Linux user you can use the online version of this app.

You can get the full source code to this application on GitHub.

Nov. 12, 2018
Zero Feature Software

Let's build software like an axe.

An axe in a block of wood

feature

n.

A prominent or distinctive aspect, quality, or characteristic: a feature of one's personality; a feature of the landscape.

Properties of an axe:

  • Does not have "features".
  • Useful to ordinary people.
  • Does only one thing & does it well.
  • Simple to obtain, use, and maintain.
  • Does not have "upgrades".
  • Works on a platform that nearly everybody has.
  • Is the property of the owner.

For the task of chopping wood the axe is a perfect technology.

An axe is made to do one thing and do it well. It has no features.

An axe is finished. You buy the axe from the store and it chops wood.

The axe design changes only over millenia: slowly and carefully. The axe itself does not change.

An axe does not receive upgrades. Nobody wants "continuous delivery" for their axe. The axe is immutable.

Software axes

Let's build software like an axe.

  • Let's remove all the "features".
  • Let's do one thing and do it well.
  • Let's build things simple enough to secure.
  • Let's finish the software before we release it.
  • Let's release immutable, self-contained artifacts.

By all means, experiment. When it comes time to release let's be disciplined and craft something secure, wholesome, and complete.

Examples of software axes

Hand holding an axe