Translating my Grandfather’s biograpy
My grandfather, Dr Kornelis Sietsma was a Dutch Reformed Church minister in wartime Amsterdam. He preached in ways that offended the Nazi occupiers, and the...
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family
A geeky kind of sabbatical
A geeky kind of sabbatical I am on sabbatical! After 10 years at Thoughtworks, I’m getting a nice long break. (I’ve actually been on sabbatical for a few ...
Hiatus
Long time no blog I don’t often post personal things here, but I thought after a 15 month gap I should put something up. We are all well and happy here, bu...
What on earth happened?
So, last significant update was 2014 - and most of the posts before that were about clojure. (I used to have a personal blog as well at blog.sietsma.com but...
polyglot tools
New polyglot code tools releases
My sabbatical is winding up, I naturally got far less coding done than I expected! Our lovely daughter has had a big sleep regression, so a lot of my focus ...
A geeky kind of sabbatical
A geeky kind of sabbatical I am on sabbatical! After 10 years at Thoughtworks, I’m getting a nice long break. (I’ve actually been on sabbatical for a few ...
Introducing the Polyglot Code Explorer
The Polyglot Code Explorer is my open-source tool for visualising complex codebases written in multiple programming languages.
Better D3 sites with react
My approach to get D3 to play nicely with React
clojure
Clojure snippets
I’m planning to build a proper clojure snippets/cheat-sheet page, for all the things I do regularly, or want to encourage team members to do regularly. But ...
Parsing FreeMind files
Example of parsing FreeMind xml in clojure
Xml manipulation in clojure
“XML is like violence - if it doesn’t work, use more”
visualization
Hiatus
Long time no blog I don’t often post personal things here, but I thought after a 15 month gap I should put something up. We are all well and happy here, bu...
Introducing the Polyglot Code Explorer
The Polyglot Code Explorer is my open-source tool for visualising complex codebases written in multiple programming languages.
Better D3 sites with react
My approach to get D3 to play nicely with React
rust
Better Claude Code permissions
This is a short post (two in one day!) to talk about a new tool I’ve written to help with Claude Code permissions. Note see also my standard AI Disclaimer ...
Mac toolbar widgets with xbar and rust
(aside - I have some much bigger blog ideas but haven’t had the time to write them properly - so here’s just a small thing I find handy) Lately I wanted som...
Playing with Rust and Copilot
The world is full of AI hype aright now - and often it’s blown out of proportion, both on the “everything is fine” side and the “machines are going to take o...
mostly-for-me
Revisiting Mermaid.js for simple diagrams
Why Mermaid? I’ve always loved diagrams as code - you can easily express graphical information in a text file, with easy searching, renaming, git tooling, a...
Custom URI schemes in Obisidian (on a mac)
My youngest child started school this week, so I have a bit of time for blogging! This is another “a neat hack that I’m sharing partly so I remember how I d...
Refreshing multiple git repos
File under “blogging so I remember how I did this”… I often have the situation where I have a directory full of related git repositories related to one area...
tools
The power of the Unix philosophy for LLM agentic tools
I was demonstrating Claude Code to a colleague the other day - I was working on an ASP.Net Core C# service, using Claude within the JetBrains Rider IDE. And ...
Parsing pdf files is trickier than I thought
I had a shower thought the other day - “I’m an ebook hoarder, I have a bunch of technical ebooks as mobi/epub files, but also pdfs. It’d be nice to be able ...
Mac toolbar widgets with xbar and rust
(aside - I have some much bigger blog ideas but haven’t had the time to write them properly - so here’s just a small thing I find handy) Lately I wanted som...
llm
The power of the Unix philosophy for LLM agentic tools
I was demonstrating Claude Code to a colleague the other day - I was working on an ASP.Net Core C# service, using Claude within the JetBrains Rider IDE. And ...
Parsing pdf files is trickier than I thought
I had a shower thought the other day - “I’m an ebook hoarder, I have a bunch of technical ebooks as mobi/epub files, but also pdfs. It’d be nice to be able ...
Analysing Stonemouth with an LLM
There’s a lot of positive and negative discussion happening about AIs at the moment. I have thoughts - lots of them - and I want to blog more, mostly about c...
claude
A real-world AI coding case sample
I thought it’d be worth posting an example of a bigger task I did the other day - just to show what can be done, without crazy vibe-coding, on a non-greenfie...
Parsing pdf files is trickier than I thought
I had a shower thought the other day - “I’m an ebook hoarder, I have a bunch of technical ebooks as mobi/epub files, but also pdfs. It’d be nice to be able ...
Analysing Stonemouth with an LLM
There’s a lot of positive and negative discussion happening about AIs at the moment. I have thoughts - lots of them - and I want to blog more, mostly about c...
agents
Agent Mermaid reporting for duty
Note see also my standard AI Disclaimer Update: This post was updated to use the latest Mermaid version, and a few other tweaks. 1 Introduction My last f...
Agentic AI and Security
This is an edited version of a post I wrote for the Liberis internal engineering blog - it is not particularly original, most of the ideas come directly from...
The power of the Unix philosophy for LLM agentic tools
I was demonstrating Claude Code to a colleague the other day - I was working on an ASP.Net Core C# service, using Claude within the JetBrains Rider IDE. And ...
jekyll
New job, new blog!
I quit my job! Yes, after 12 amazing years at Thoughtworks, I decided it was time to move on. I’m starting a new job in November - more on that later - but ...
It’s alive!
I’m moving everything to Google Domains as I don’t see the value in paying for complex hosting. I’m using github pages for hosting static sites like this on...
git
Refreshing multiple git repos
File under “blogging so I remember how I did this”… I often have the situation where I have a directory full of related git repositories related to one area...
multiple git identities
Configuring git to swap between identities easily
obsidian
Custom URI schemes in Obisidian (on a mac)
My youngest child started school this week, so I have a bit of time for blogging! This is another “a neat hack that I’m sharing partly so I remember how I d...
Building a personal digital garden with Gatsby
Building a digital garden (obsolete, now I use Obsidian!)
sabbatical
New polyglot code tools releases
My sabbatical is winding up, I naturally got far less coding done than I expected! Our lovely daughter has had a big sleep regression, so a lot of my focus ...
A geeky kind of sabbatical
A geeky kind of sabbatical I am on sabbatical! After 10 years at Thoughtworks, I’m getting a nice long break. (I’ve actually been on sabbatical for a few ...
Interesting folks to follow on Mastodon
My highly-idiosyncratic list of interesting people on Mastodon I’ve been really enjoying moving from the crumbling mess of Twitter, to the chaotic federated...
Is Mastodon a Twitter replacement?
It depends which bits of Twitter you want…
mastodon
Interesting folks to follow on Mastodon
My highly-idiosyncratic list of interesting people on Mastodon I’ve been really enjoying moving from the crumbling mess of Twitter, to the chaotic federated...
Is Mastodon a Twitter replacement?
It depends which bits of Twitter you want…
mac
Mac toolbar widgets with xbar and rust
(aside - I have some much bigger blog ideas but haven’t had the time to write them properly - so here’s just a small thing I find handy) Lately I wanted som...
Custom URI schemes in Obisidian (on a mac)
My youngest child started school this week, so I have a bit of time for blogging! This is another “a neat hack that I’m sharing partly so I remember how I d...
AI
Agentic AI and Security
This is an edited version of a post I wrote for the Liberis internal engineering blog - it is not particularly original, most of the ideas come directly from...
Translating my Grandfather’s biograpy
My grandfather, Dr Kornelis Sietsma was a Dutch Reformed Church minister in wartime Amsterdam. He preached in ways that offended the Nazi occupiers, and the...
LLM
Agentic AI and Security
This is an edited version of a post I wrote for the Liberis internal engineering blog - it is not particularly original, most of the ideas come directly from...
Translating my Grandfather’s biograpy
My grandfather, Dr Kornelis Sietsma was a Dutch Reformed Church minister in wartime Amsterdam. He preached in ways that offended the Nazi occupiers, and the...
ai
A real-world AI coding case sample
I thought it’d be worth posting an example of a bigger task I did the other day - just to show what can be done, without crazy vibe-coding, on a non-greenfie...
The power of the Unix philosophy for LLM agentic tools
I was demonstrating Claude Code to a colleague the other day - I was working on an ASP.Net Core C# service, using Claude within the JetBrains Rider IDE. And ...
software-development
Clowns to the left of me …
I’ve had the song “Stuck in the Middle with You” in my head for a few weeks. (R.I.P. Michael Madsen!) 1 But not because of Reservoir Dogs - but because of ...
A real-world AI coding case sample
I thought it’d be worth posting an example of a bigger task I did the other day - just to show what can be done, without crazy vibe-coding, on a non-greenfie...
claude-code
Better Claude Code permissions
This is a short post (two in one day!) to talk about a new tool I’ve written to help with Claude Code permissions. Note see also my standard AI Disclaimer ...
Agent Mermaid reporting for duty
Note see also my standard AI Disclaimer Update: This post was updated to use the latest Mermaid version, and a few other tweaks. 1 Introduction My last f...
middleman
A wild blog appears!
Starting a new blog in 2013
css
A wild blog appears!
Starting a new blog in 2013
excel
Excel life
This isn’t actually all that new - I hacked this together during a global day of coderetreat in Melbourne in 2012 - but I’ve mentioned it to a few people, an...
game of life
Excel life
This isn’t actually all that new - I hacked this together during a global day of coderetreat in Melbourne in 2012 - but I’ve mentioned it to a few people, an...
macos
OCR Hack - grabbing text from the screen on a Macbook
My hacks to easily grab and OCR text on my mac
hacks
OCR Hack - grabbing text from the screen on a Macbook
My hacks to easily grab and OCR text on my mac
testing
The swiss cheese model and acceptance tests
Testing and Agile I’ve seen testing, especially acceptance testing, done horribly wrongly over the years, and sadly I often see the same anti-patterns repeat...
agile
The swiss cheese model and acceptance tests
Testing and Agile I’ve seen testing, especially acceptance testing, done horribly wrongly over the years, and sadly I often see the same anti-patterns repeat...
garden
Building a personal digital garden with Gatsby
Building a digital garden (obsolete, now I use Obsidian!)
markdown
Building a personal digital garden with Gatsby
Building a digital garden (obsolete, now I use Obsidian!)
gatsby.js
Building a personal digital garden with Gatsby
Building a digital garden (obsolete, now I use Obsidian!)
d3
Better D3 sites with react
My approach to get D3 to play nicely with React
react
Better D3 sites with react
My approach to get D3 to play nicely with React
blogging
Hiatus
Long time no blog I don’t often post personal things here, but I thought after a 15 month gap I should put something up. We are all well and happy here, bu...
mental health
A geeky kind of sabbatical
A geeky kind of sabbatical I am on sabbatical! After 10 years at Thoughtworks, I’m getting a nice long break. (I’ve actually been on sabbatical for a few ...
minecraft
Buying minecoins on a child’s Android Minecraft account
Sharing here as this was a world of pain, and maybe I can save someone else this pain. Information is as of November 2022 - earlier advice on the web is wro...
thoughtworks
New job, new blog!
I quit my job! Yes, after 12 amazing years at Thoughtworks, I decided it was time to move on. I’m starting a new job in November - more on that later - but ...
copilot
Playing with Rust and Copilot
The world is full of AI hype aright now - and often it’s blown out of proportion, both on the “everything is fine” side and the “machines are going to take o...
genai
Playing with Rust and Copilot
The world is full of AI hype aright now - and often it’s blown out of proportion, both on the “everything is fine” side and the “machines are going to take o...
mpd
Custom URI schemes in Obisidian (on a mac)
My youngest child started school this week, so I have a bit of time for blogging! This is another “a neat hack that I’m sharing partly so I remember how I d...
platypus
Custom URI schemes in Obisidian (on a mac)
My youngest child started school this week, so I have a bit of time for blogging! This is another “a neat hack that I’m sharing partly so I remember how I d...
xbar
Mac toolbar widgets with xbar and rust
(aside - I have some much bigger blog ideas but haven’t had the time to write them properly - so here’s just a small thing I find handy) Lately I wanted som...
mermaidjs
Revisiting Mermaid.js for simple diagrams
Why Mermaid? I’ve always loved diagrams as code - you can easily express graphical information in a text file, with easy searching, renaming, git tooling, a...
plantuml
Revisiting Mermaid.js for simple diagrams
Why Mermaid? I’ve always loved diagrams as code - you can easily express graphical information in a text file, with easy searching, renaming, git tooling, a...
books
Analysing Stonemouth with an LLM
There’s a lot of positive and negative discussion happening about AIs at the moment. I have thoughts - lots of them - and I want to blog more, mostly about c...
iain-banks
Analysing Stonemouth with an LLM
There’s a lot of positive and negative discussion happening about AIs at the moment. I have thoughts - lots of them - and I want to blog more, mostly about c...
Parsing pdf files is trickier than I thought
I had a shower thought the other day - “I’m an ebook hoarder, I have a bunch of technical ebooks as mobi/epub files, but also pdfs. It’d be nice to be able ...
unix
The power of the Unix philosophy for LLM agentic tools
I was demonstrating Claude Code to a colleague the other day - I was working on an ASP.Net Core C# service, using Claude within the JetBrains Rider IDE. And ...
philosophy
The power of the Unix philosophy for LLM agentic tools
I was demonstrating Claude Code to a colleague the other day - I was working on an ASP.Net Core C# service, using Claude within the JetBrains Rider IDE. And ...
asp.net
A real-world AI coding case sample
I thought it’d be worth posting an example of a bigger task I did the other day - just to show what can be done, without crazy vibe-coding, on a non-greenfie...
ai-coding-tools
Clowns to the left of me …
I’ve had the song “Stuck in the Middle with You” in my head for a few weeks. (R.I.P. Michael Madsen!) 1 But not because of Reservoir Dogs - but because of ...
security
Agentic AI and Security
This is an edited version of a post I wrote for the Liberis internal engineering blog - it is not particularly original, most of the ideas come directly from...
MCP
Agentic AI and Security
This is an edited version of a post I wrote for the Liberis internal engineering blog - it is not particularly original, most of the ideas come directly from...
mermaid
Agent Mermaid reporting for duty
Note see also my standard AI Disclaimer Update: This post was updated to use the latest Mermaid version, and a few other tweaks. 1 Introduction My last f...
diagrams
Agent Mermaid reporting for duty
Note see also my standard AI Disclaimer Update: This post was updated to use the latest Mermaid version, and a few other tweaks. 1 Introduction My last f...
ai-tools
Agent Mermaid reporting for duty
Note see also my standard AI Disclaimer Update: This post was updated to use the latest Mermaid version, and a few other tweaks. 1 Introduction My last f...
permissions
Better Claude Code permissions
This is a short post (two in one day!) to talk about a new tool I’ve written to help with Claude Code permissions. Note see also my standard AI Disclaimer ...
social media
Interesting folks to follow on Mastodon
6 minute read
My highly-idiosyncratic list of interesting people on Mastodon I’ve been really enjoying moving from the crumbling mess of Twitter, to the chaotic federated...
Is Mastodon a Twitter replacement?
4 minute read
It depends which bits of Twitter you want…