@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] ​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 --

@[email protected] This is a really clear explanation that I've sometimes missed in the past. Thank you for making it happen!​

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

@[email protected] ​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

@[email protected] Is this newsletter a thing that people can sign up for?​

@[email protected] ​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)

@[email protected] ​I'm with @[email protected] here - ten years ago when I first heard it, it seemed catchy and came with good enough advice I liked it. The more I've thought about it since, the more I've decided it is actually quite harmful in it's imprecision. A strong like, weakly held, I suppose...

Originally published in the Guardian theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

I missed it at the time, but someone recently pointed me to this Stephen Collins comic which is both brilliant and also perfectly captures a lot of what is broken in the current usability of technology. Assumed meanings, performative "checks", etc.

@[email protected] @[email protected] I love good game system design in the way I love a good board game, or a good programming language, but in terms of actually running #ttrpg I feel like I notice bad system aspects much more than I appreciate good system design.

Like... hit points and falling damage; if the character knows in universe that they can jump off a ten story building and brush it off but the universe doesn't "feel" like that should happen, that's an issue.

But clunkly, awkward, weird systems? Honestly they seem to fade pretty quickly into the background as long as they don't break the universe.​

@[email protected] "I don't understand it" <- I think this is what makes it so hard. I don't understand my own task avoidance even when it's happening; I mean sometimes I just get lost, but sometimes I'll be sitting there feeling miserable and not understanding why I can't just get up and do the thing. I'm slowly learning to recognise more realistically when I can and can't do things, and on a good day feel less guilty about the "can't" - but as to why? Often it just feels so stupid.

@[email protected] @[email protected] ​That was really helpful!

Unfortunately, since then I've mainly seen it used as an excuse for loud voices to drown out the quiet ("well, if I can't state this opinion forcefully it's not a real conversation") or to justify a lack of due diligence/research ("well, I have a gut feel so I'll just go for that strongly until someone else does the work to point out why it's a really stupid idea - but it was weakly held so I don't need to feel any guilt!")

@[email protected] @[email protected] I have some history with this phrase...

It was first explained to me in the context of being a Brit working in a US company for the first time, where my new manager mentioned that I was putting forward good ideas in a tone that to Americans sounded like I didn't believe in them. His comment was that it was better to state an opinion clearly and without excessive caveats and let it stand and fall on its merits, being willing to give way if you were convinced by the feedback that it wasn't the best option.​

@[email protected] The wonders of technology never cease.​

A one hour writing jam later, and the adventures of the GSV Badly Sketched are now longer, more dramatic, and in places a bit less finished.

But great fun was had by all, and several of the course members are now planning their own full games to make!

Check out the updated version here to see what four young teens with keyboards can make of a shipboard disaster in an hour: visualink.mavnn.eu/published...

After a discussion on here recently about chat services allowing your local nicknames to override people's display names, I was amused this morning to see "Admin Mum deleted this message" in a chatroom where my mum happens to be a moderator but isn't just for our family.

Apart from a moment of double take, it also struck me as the kind of super hero the world needs sometimes. "Admin Mum; overcoming bureaucracy for a better world!"

My Ink support in CodeMirror is now in its own project separate from @VisualInk , meaning it can be easily used in other JavaScript projects.

Github Repo: github.com/mavnn/codemirror-...

NPM package: npmjs.com/package/@mavnn/cod...

Still to come: grammar aware autocomplete

#interactivefiction

@[email protected] the scary thing about this framing is that it rather highlights the fact that security issues don't tend to have (short term) cash flow implications, while downtime incidents do.

@[email protected] ​(context for any readers who aren't aware: even private health insurance in the UK is enormously cheaper than US health insurance, even before you get to the NHS part)