IBIS Gets a Tune-Up
I thought I would wrap up Intertwingler by the end of 2023, but I got diverted by a request to do something that ultimately turned out to be equally important.
Dorian Taylor VERSO FEED
Latest posts
The Great Deshittification
Recounting an impromptu episode last week where I helped Venkat Rao fix his blog, Ribbonfarm dot com.
The Specificity Gradient
This is the definitive write-up of the conceptual framework I am calling the Specificity Gradient.
Spreadsheet Rantifesto
I think I have finally identified what bugs me so much about spreadsheets: they come right up to the line of being useful for SO many other things, but stop short. I am almost mad enough to do something about it.
A Short Meditation on Testing
Lots of people have opinions about testing software, so I get to have some too.
Programming Languages I Have Known and Loved/Loathed/Lulzed
À propos of nothing, I decided to do a roundup of all the programming languages I have used more than zero.
Networked Follysystem
Last Friday I tempted fate by changing my work setup. Let's just say I learned a lot about the state of the art of networked file systems.
There Is No SQLite for RDF
The lack of a lightweight, efficient, directly-attached persistent storage mechanism, that can be readily shared between programming languages and frameworks, has frustrated Semantic Web development. I intend to do something about it.
A Theory of Information Resources
I find this matrix to be extremely useful when considering Resources, as understood by, e.g., Roy Fielding's REST dissertation.
Betamaxed
After 11 years as a staunch Mercurial user, I am finally capitulating to Git.
The Only Argument You Will Ever Need Against PHP
It doesn't even involve aesthetics.
Production Code
“I don't really see a difference between prototype and production code.” OK what the hell do I mean by that?
Introducing Verso
I need a separate place to put my technical writing. As an homage to (French) LogoWriter, I am calling it the Verso.
RDF-KV
This is a draft of a protocol I designed for embedding RDF statements in plain HTML forms, enabling quick-and-dirty Semantic Web applications.
Intelligent Heterogeneity
A design principle I've been developing, for a good six or so years, finally gets a name.
Pull Requests
A pull request ensures a happy ending.
Something I'd Like to Do
My roots in information security have long given me the “no” feeling when it comes to the increasing dependency on JavaScript to get basic things done on the Web. This is an idea to fix it.
UUID Vexillology
This is just an idea at this stage, and I'm confident I'm not the first to consider it: using flags and/or heraldry to make long, generated identifiers more memorable. (Disclaimer: no examples yet!)
Schadenfreude Bait
If you are blissfully unaware of the ins and outs of Linux system maintenance and its many failure modes, you can ignore this piece. Otherwise, put on your sanctimony hat.
The State of Web Development, Continued
This is the second installment of my observation of the state of Web application development, along with my vision for the kind of system I would like to use.
A Brief and Fuzzy History of Web Application Development
This is an attempt to articulate my understanding of the state of Web development and how it came to be. It is not meant to be a completely accurate account. Plus, it wouldn't be right to post something on the Web without a healthy dose of editorial. It is the first of a two-part series, the second consisting of what I'm doing about it.
Two Expedient, Desirable Products
In order to promote my principle of expedient desirable products, I figured it would make sense to begin providing some.
Key Continuity for Kindergarteners
When it comes to information security, user experience is often an afterthought. The non-paranoid rarely understand for themselves the principles that keep them safe while simultaneously bringing their offspring online. What can we do to help them?
Expedient Desirable Product
Every business problem can be imagined having a corresponding minimum viable product, which represents the most bare-bones solution somebody will buy. But how much of our relative effort do we want to spend finding it?
Working Against the KLOC
Looking back on a particularly challenging episode of my career, I consider the value of conceptual integrity and how it affects the bang-to-buck ratio of writing code.
Reverse Polish Notation for People
Reverse Polish Notation is an extremely economical way to make sense to computers at the cost of making sense to people. But what about applying the same principle to arrange language in a way that is most useful to people?
An Early Iteration on Iteration
With the advent of Agile process models and the increasing influence of user experience design, iterative development promises value early on — but does it deliver?
MOAR FEECHARZ.
A conversation on Twitter this summer with a lead at an agency led to this screed about features as a metric for software projects.
Maintenance Work is Important Too
I drew inspiration from an annoying software misconfiguration left untouched for an age to pen a screed about the value of ancillary and maintenance-oriented knowledge work.
Working Titles get Random Cryptonyms
This is a sketch of an idea for naming projects and other processes and properties within an organization by way of randomly-generated cryptonyms. These cryptonyms serve as intentionally meaningless handles to ultimately decouple projects from products and minimize the psychological implications that meaningful names may evoke.
Syndicating Links
What if, instead of (or in addition to) syndication feeds for new articles, we made feeds for new links?
Defining Feeds
This document explores the relationship of Web syndication feeds to conventional hypertext documents.
The Programmer in Fallow: In Contrast with Incumbent Solutions
This note is a cursory, non-scientific inquiry into the application of the concept of crop-rotation, an ancient agricultural technique for preserving the fertility of land, into the implementation phase of a software project. No research as of yet has been performed to ascertain if this adaptation has been attempted in similar environments. This note is one of an upcoming series on software…
The Programmer in Fallow: An Implementation
This note is a cursory, non-scientific inquiry into the application of the concept of crop-rotation, an ancient agricultural technique for preserving the fertility of land, into the implementation phase of a software project. No research as of yet has been performed to ascertain if this adaptation has been attempted in similar environments. This note is one of an upcoming series on software…
The Programmer in Fallow: Augmenting Productivity Through Selective Idleness
This note is a cursory, non-scientific inquiry into the application of the concept of crop-rotation, an ancient agricultural technique for preserving the fertility of land, into the implementation phase of a software project. No research as of yet has been performed to ascertain if this adaptation has been attempted in similar environments. This note is one of an upcoming series on software…
Tongue-Twisters and Vocabulary Gaps in URIs
Avoid using characters in URIs your users don't know how to pronounce.
HTTP URL Path Parameter Syntax
No, wait: THIS is by far the most popular page on this site.
Distinguishing Persistence from Publication
In order to save a file you typically have to come up with a name for it. Here I advocate separating the naming part from saving part (from the publishing part).
The URI Naming Conundrum
Making the case for a mechanism for preserving URI history to track renames and deletions.
Other Opaque Data Objects
Some Web resources really are just files.
URIs, Resources and Representations
Policy guidelines for Web resources proper.
Other Non-Alpha-Numeric Characters in HTTP URLs
TL;DR there are a lot more available than you'd expect.
File Extensions in HTTP URL Paths
TL;DR you don't need 'em.
URI Path and Query Parameter Semantics
Policy guidelines for how URI parameters in both the path (underutilized) and query components ought to be interpreted.
Distinguishing Resources from Files
Web resources are much richer objects than files, and this fact is rarely taken full advantage of.
HTTP URL Path Syntax Constraints
This is, by far, the most popular document on this entire website.
Hyphen vs. Underscore
Hyphens-rule, underscores_drool.
Domain Name Recommendations
General guidelines for choosing a domain name.
URI Syntax Constraints
The standardized constraints on URI syntax are a lot looser than you would expect them to be, but it behoves us to come up with artificial constraints that create behaviour we can depend on.
Case Mixing in Domain Names
You cannot depend on the CaseMixing of your domain name to be preserved.