"what if the ship of theseus was sentient" is not a question I was prepared to grapple with on a monday

@kabel42@polymaths.social @gsuberland@chaos.social @rl_dane@polymaths.social ​Had a job once where we emailed airline customers if their plane was cancelled or delayed. We had to page requests to one of the SOAP APIs because if you asked for too many customer details at once, you got back malformed xml ending with -- more --

I have a December gift for you all 🎁

I am finally able to open up a general call for ADVANCE READERS for my book: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SOFTWARE TEAMS (coming 2026). I cannot tell you how much it means to me to share this!

I am able to select a handful of folks to receive a free advance copy, and I would love to ensure this group represents a broad range of perspectives and experiences.

You can indicate your interest here. And you are welcome to share this form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdMFf2RbEOYqbWLB4XqXThUPlqlt0uiA_mIBqcFBuwZMwJxHw/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=101137009349226307307

Sorry I have no other means. The #GivingTuesday is over, but @bonfire campaign is in need of support (including boosts all over the world).
Here's the link to support them directly:

https://www.indiegogo.com/en/projects/bonfire/community

@b0rk@social.jvns.ca This is a really clear explanation that I've sometimes missed in the past. Thank you for making it happen!​

this fall I worked with the core Git folks on writing an official data model for Git and it just got merged! I learned a few new things from writing it. https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/Documentation/gitdatamodel.adoc

A new week, and a new example #visualnovel. This time we have a reasonably complete 1800 word example to work through rather than a workshop; can you impress your sensei as you enter the Steel Street Fist Combat for the first time?

The game: visualink.mavnn.eu/published...

Script part 1: github.com/mavnn/VisualInk/b...

Script part 2: github.com/mavnn/VisualInk/b...

(no artwork this week - it's tracking state across the story we're focused on)

#interactivefiction

@steve Nominative defiance. Here's to all the gluten intolerant Bakers out there.

From your name I assume you write nothing but highly aberrant fanfic.

@sue@glasgow.social ​The only unfortunate issue with that is that it involves going to shops; the kind of things that I'd buy from the shops I'd like to visit (board games, books, etc) are pretty easy to order reliably online (and there aren't many local options), while the things that can't reliably be bought online tend to be in shops that are a full on sensory assault.

Both of these things make me sad.

It's always fun to slip a few references into the examples, even if they are probably from the wrong decade for the students.

Because sometimes they're the obvious thing to reference for a reason.

#interactivefiction

@grimalkina@mastodon.social Is this newsletter a thing that people can sign up for?​

@grimalkina@mastodon.social ​Sort of related to this: I've taught professional developers (who had been taught recursion is potentially dangerous and hard to reason about) recursive coding techniques, and I have taught multiple 10-12 year old kids how to use recursion.

The two groups find this specific aspect of coding about equally easy to learn despite the much broader capabilities of the "professionals" in general (explaining why .NET APIs are built of classes with interfaces to 10-12 year olds is a whole other challenge).

(Obviously there are also many professional devs who weren't taught that recursion was a Dangerous Evil to Be Avoided™, but that's not the point here)

Beginning to realize just how much "achievement is not ability" is a well known truism in psychology but perhaps not in tech 😬