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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 2d

Then you'll enjoy this geodesic organ made from Dyson vacuum cleaner parts I saw at @emfcamp.bsky.social a few years back.

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 5d

I work in software development. Since the advent of generative AI, much of my work has changed from coding in programming languages to sculpting and manipulating software through expression in English. English has never been more important.

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 5d

But mostly, I’ll code up a tool in Python, even for throwaway things.

Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 5d

Only spreadsheets: for business budgeting, planning cycle tours, organizing hobby electronics components.

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 6d

What a beast!

Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 11d

Friday morning, 8½ hours of work lined up for the coding servant. The weekend starts here?

Total: 8.5-11 hours
After each phase:
- V Run full test suite (uv run pytest packages/demon
- V Approve HTML changes (approve-all -v packages/dem
- V Git commit with descriptive message
- V System remains fully functional
Key Benefits:
- V Explicit layer APIs - no filename inference
- V Self-documenting code
- V Type-safe layer collection
- V Clean separation of concerns
- V Stable at every phase

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 12d

On decibels: ”The bel is named in the honor of Alexander Bell; this is in the same tradition that prompted us to name the “wat” in honor of James Watt.“

Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 12d

I was also careful to give my kids names representable in 7-bit ASCII.

Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 12d

TBH, I only started taking i18n seriously myself when I emigrated from the Anglosphere to Norway and had to work with processing ÆØÅ regularly in pre-Unicode C++. Horrible!

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 12d

Probably not the best time to mention my experiences with pyautogui and non-US keyboards mappings. 😜

Still, I’m enormously grateful that you made it available. Thank you. 🙏

(The other keyboard automation packages are no better in this regard ☠️ ).

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 15d

I agree we should use less fossil fuels – ideally none (Though I don’t agree we necessarily need to use less energy.) That said, how should we remove the CO2 that has already been emitted? Should we just wait a very very long time?

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 17d

When I move house I tell one agency, the national folk register. Everything else follows. Not just gov. agencies like tax, electoral representation, but private concerns like bank accounts, cell phone contracts etc. You have the ID from a few days after birth or few weeks after immigration.

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 17d

Spend a few years living in a country like Norway to see that ID systems and registers systems can work incredibly well and reduce friction in so many aspects of personal and business life. You sound like dinosaurs, and pay for it as a nation with every passing second.

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 17d

I’d like to be able to claim this this is my 15 year old daughter’s first international independent travel experience 🇳🇴 ✈️ 🇬🇧 , but she’s already had a day out in Göteborg 🇸🇪 without asking.

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 17d

As a citizen of a country with functioning digital ID and single sign on for basically everything public and private, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 19d

Go Trump!

[Not really]

Forbes @forbes.com · 19d

A proposed stake comes as the Canadian mining company negotiates terms for a multibillion-dollar loan with the Trump administration.

Lithium Americas Shares Surge 90% As Trump Requests Stake

A proposed stake comes as the Canadian mining company negotiates terms for a multibillion-dollar loan with the Trump administration.

www.forbes.com

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 20d

I've been working on three systems in parallel with agents (two for work, one for fun). That's at and often beyond what I can cope with. It's a worthwhile experiment, but can also quickly become quite exhausting.

Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 20d

There are two rational responses to AI-assisted programming:

1) Do the same work in (much) less time. Work less. Enjoy life.

2) Manage multiple agents concurrently, and work just as much as before.

At an individual level many would prefer 1.

At a population level we'll all be driven to option 2.

Gergely Orosz @gergely.pragmaticengineer.com · 20d

Until now, programming was a "single-threaded" activity. As a dev, I'd get "in the zone" and get it done.

AI agents change this: you can now kick off parallel coding tasks.

I see more devs do this... and this feels like brand new territory. We'll need to learn. A lot!

Reposted by Robert Smallshire

European News @eunews.social · 21d

Workers have completed the main excavation of the Brenner Base Tunnel between Austria and Italy, set to become the world’s longest underground rail link. The project is a key part of the EU’s push to shift freight from road to rail, cutting pollution and boosting European trade.

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 22d

Claude:

My apologies for the Americanism.

label. isHidden = true
label.wantsLayer = true
label. layer?. isHidden = true // Belt and braces

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 22d

A short tale illustrating the need for sovereign European AI:

Claude:

label. isHidden = true
label.wantsLayer = true
label. layer?. isHidden = true // Belt and suspenders

Me:

I'm British. Belt and *braces*. Suspenders are what ladies use to hold up their stockings.

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 22d

No wonder the rear brakes on my touring bike were protesting for the last day or so of cycling from Oslo to Monaco. No brake lining left at all. Still, they got me down four mountain ranges and around 30000 metres of descent, with a heavily laden bike. 🚲

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Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 23d

As a keen cyclist I can’t wait to be sharing the roads with attentive robots rather than distracted and bored humans.

Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 28d

Yes, but isn't it a compelling one?

Robert Smallshire @robert.smallshire.no · 28d

Short video demo. youtu.be/xnlVTBzeBuM

Prototype support for the Apple Mac Touch Bar in the BeebEm-mac BBC Micro emulator.

YouTube video by Robert Smallshire

youtu.be

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