Title
First stream: Introduction. Mood board. Maybe a turtle. Ask me anything.
Plan
- a little of my history with computers
- a little fun to break it up: Python ~turtle;, GLSL shaders
- create mood board web page
VOD: none yet — maybe later
Live notes (tidied)
About Technosoap
Software engineer. Career summary, most recent first
- 3 years: misc application development
- tech used: Python, Dart/Flutter, SQLite, a little JavaScript & TypeScript
- 3 years: backend, telemetry, ETL
- tech used: Python, hyperscalar managed infrastructure services like AWS EC2, Lambda, etc.
- 4 years: medical devices: bare metal, motor control, reading sensors
- tech used: 80% C, 5% C++, 10% Python, tiny bit of Prolog, ARMv7 assembly
- 5 years: 3d graphics device drivers
- tech used: 80% C, 20% Python
Before that:
- 3 years BA Computer Science
- high school: terrible C++ game prototypes
- DarkBASIC
- The Games Factory, by Europress
Security warning
I’m live-streaming an Oracle VirtualBox virtual machine running Xubuntu.
why:
- avoid accidentally sharing PII
- disposable — no worries about messing things up.
- if I install a malicious or badly broken program, the damage done is limited
Be careful what you install on your main computer. Use your judgment before running a program that you see on this stream
- consider using a container/VM for less trusted programs.
A little coding diversion
Poll:
- Python Turtle (similar to LOGO language, like vector graphics)
- online sandbox: https://pythonsandbox.com/turtle
- GLSL shaders — windows media player visualization
- online sandbox: https://glslsandbox.com/e
Turtle wins
Motivations — why am I live-streaming
- give me permission to work on the lower priority stuff by committing to stream it
- practice talking at length
- atrophied since I started self-employment / working alone
- “Working with the garage door up”
Mood board
”desktop computer is like a nervous horse and has the capacity for love”
https://x.com/ellis_ellis_ell/status/1894028751375081773
ipads have no soul but desktop computer is like a nervous horse and has the capacity for love
Quote: uber driver hiccups @IdahoBones
I don’t think you should give kids phones or iPads but you should give them free access to a desktop computer
- loss of programmability, control
Security/permissions situation on mobile is an improvement, but I think we can have both
- aside, just as you should be wary of installing software, be wary of some web browser extensions — see reporting at https://palant.info/
“He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing”
SAAS — Software as a service, a kind of managed service
every few years or so I see a story in social media or Hacker News, “I have been locked out of my Google account”
Exports mitigate some of the problem but not everything
- suddenly not being able to receive emails!
local-first software helps
All the red string leads to “TAKE BACK THE COMPUTER”
Using your own domain name is an inexpensive way of taking back control of the Internet
kinopio
I love the energy of this thing.
don’t take yourself too seriously
Look at Pompompurin once in a while
retrofitting / malleable computing
- web browser extensions
-
bookmarklet: invert colours / make dark
javascript:(d=>{var css=`:root{background-color:#fefefe;filter:invert(100%)}*{background-color:inherit}img:not([src*=".svg"]),video{filter:%20invert(100%)}`,style,id="dark-theme-snippet",ee=d.getElementById(id);if(null!=ee)ee.parentNode.removeChild(ee);else%20{style%20=%20d.createElement('style');style.type="text/css";style.id=id;if(style.styleSheet)style.styleSheet.cssText=css;else%20style.appendChild(d.createTextNode(css));(d.head||d.querySelector('head')).appendChild(style)}})(document)
-
- SwitchBot — little internet controlled switch that attaches to a real switch
- contrast with nest thermostat getting bricked because servers down
- autohotkey — https://www.autohotkey.com/
- examples:
- let me enter date quickly
- create Anki audio flash card from audacity
- examples:
I would like ordinary non-software-engineers to have better access to this
Paul Biggar, Tech For Palestine
- app: Boycat
misc
some Firefox extensions I like
- https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/ — ad blocking
- https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/sidebery/ — trees of tabs
devdocs.io
Handy for trying to find standard library functions.