Writing and things

TIL 2025.3.17

Today I learned

  • Maybe not so much as learned but remembered: Break things down.
    • I tend to over complicate things by getting into the details (a plus/minus of being so highly monotropic), but when that just results in errors I can remind myself to break it down into silly small steps.
  • Don’t forget the print tool.
    print(foo)

    • It’s such a simple little thing, and yet I (again) over-think problem solving. The print command is one of those things you can learn as a beginning coder and then just fly right past when you feel more intermediate (note I say feel here).

This reminds me of a Zen parable:

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era, received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.
Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”
“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

  • Using LLM tools are a good starting point for building better things.

TIL 2025.3.10

Today I learned

  • That I know enough about making API posts that I created one!
    • I’m working on a tool to update my Habitica To Do list with information generated by another tool.
    • I made a test POST call today! It worked!
  • Next I need to figure out how to do the harder part (maybe not that hard) of taking the data (in the form of a JSON object) and updating the info to match Habitica’s POST requirements. Maybe not so hard. That’s for tomorrow.
  • I hope this stuff is informational? I enjoy writing about it actually. This is more interesting than I though it would be!
    #todayIlearned

TIL 2025.3.7

Today I learned

  • Motivation when trouble shooting is crap.
    • Seeing the same error over and over when you try new fixes is exhausting.
    • Seeing the same error is actually good too. At least there aren’t new errors.
  • My desk step up is not very comfortable for long term projects. Time to move some stuff around and make room.
  • Short note today. I spent a lot of time the last few days getting my silly bash script to run on a schedule. Like way too much time.
    #todayIlearned

TIL 2025.3.3

Today I learned

  • That I can actually understand documentation when I read slowly.
    • I’ve had problems understanding what Apple Documentation is trying to say. It’s not that it’s written poorly, I just don’t understand exactly what it means.
    • Today I read through SwiftData docs and actually had an "OH! I know what that means" moment. AND (this feels big) was able to understand what the error messages were telling me in context!!
    • But wait there’s more: I resolved the errors! WHAT?! Yah. WITHOUT GOOGLING OR RELYING ON A TUTORIAL.
  • I also learned when working with @Model you have to initialize the object. I mean, yes, that sounds simple and Xcode will give you a warning. But not being a CS major, and understanding that still sometimes feels like a major milestone.
  • It helps to go back an relearn what a lot of CS majors might think of as "basic" information. I also have to remember that this, to a CS major, is the same as what makes up a scale to me (I was a music major in college).
    • It’s very easy for me to remember the anatomy of a major scale (whole, whole, half…ect). I started playing violin in the 3rd grade.
    • Remembering the difference between an object and the Class (in this case the model) is still a new fact that takes time to be solid.
  • I’m pretty conflicted about using LLMs and their clients still. But, I listened to a recent podcast about using tools to help make my own accommodations. Some of these tools were tools that had a LLM wrapper of some kind. So I felt less ikky about using a tool to ask it how to write a bash script to automate a task. Since bash scripting has a bit of a steep learning curve and I don’t have the energy to learn that (on top of everything else).
    • Nice bit here is I didn’t feel lost following the directions it gave.
      So that’s a LOT today. I want to publish this kind of "TIL" post, and I may restructure my blog to put these in a slightly different page. That’s for another day.

KEEP LEARNING MY FRIENDS!

#automation #todayIlearned #til

How I’m seeing it now

What I want to become

The idea that has been forming in my mind of what is comfortable and interesting to me has evolved in the last 2 years. I originally started learning Swift a few years ago because I like Apple products and have been in the ecosystem since 2001. When I was in college, I bought my first iMac (Sage) and just fell in love with how easy everything was to use. That ease really spills into Swift as a programming language. It’s unfair to compare it to older things, but the syntax is so much more friendly. I digress.

The idea that is forming for me is to be indie. Some form of an indie developer/creator. I’ve always been a maker of some kind. I do really want to make tools or applications that will make my life, and the life of people in my community(ies), easier. A big draw to this (for me) is scheduling. Currently working part time is nice, but I don’t really like working one day, having one day off, working another day, having another day off, and then working 4 days in a row. What the crap is this? Scheduling like this makes my mostly skewed since of time just go right out the damn window. What day IS IT ANYWAY?!

So making a schedule that works for me during times that feel better to work. Another draw is being my own boss. I don’t have to follow some article in the database that tells me how I have to fill out my TPS report. I can make my own format that matches how I think. Yes, I understand that if I have clients I’ll want to cater to their needs. But I can do that in my way.

Where to go

All this is brain vomiting leads me to want to put this idea out. I have realized that I am strongly monotropicand that I work very well when I focus on the things I like. The bad news is this leads to perfectionism. So in order to combat this perfectionism, I’m working on just getting stuff out there. Like before, I want to start this shit up.

This blog is an attempt to keep myself accountable for my ideas and goals. I’m working on automating things to help me remember my goals. Greasing the wheels on creativity. The lower the friction, the more I’ll just slide right down the hill. This stuff is hard y’all.

Still Kicking it!

I have been not present on this space for a long time. That’s really not good for visibility. When you’re not visible you can’t be…..visible?

What have you been doing?

I’m glad you asked.
I’ve been surviving! That’s the short answer. The long answer is highly personal and not something I find myself wanting to dump on the internet thank you very much. I’ll give you a short-ish version of it.

I’m in a new-ish field. For 15 years or more, I was in the performing arts/theater world. I worked in ticketing systems to build events and to sell tickets. March of last year was a HUGE shock and disruption to that version of my self. All of that work was done either in a municipal setting (think a City government running a theater), or as a non-profit employee. The jobs were always backed up by a sense of mission that seemed to make everything worth it. It’s hard not to be left with a dark sense of resentment when things are upended. That’s why I won’t go into detail. I just want to let these things be what they are now, and move on.

What are you doing?

I’m still kicking it! I’ve not worked on iOS projects much. But after the last few weeks, I really want to make something. Apps that I think lift my own personal mission, and not an organizations. Things that help people get a sense of peace or accomplishment when they use them. And things that can bring in a little extra income for me.

Now what?

I’m going to keep on keeping on. I’ll try to post more again in this space. I have a few silly web projects I’m thinking about. Things that are still a part of my mission. The hard part here is making sure I stay motivated and actually do these damn things. The place where the dreaming meets the doing is the place that I get lost. It’s a bit of a dark and murky place, and I just have to take more light with me. That light is going to be this silly blog. If you read this, you’re amazing. Send me a note or find me on the social media! I’m trying to be a bit more active on @iosdev.space again.

As Ze Frank has said:"My pencils are sharp enough! Even the dull ones will make a mark! Warts and all, let’s start this shit up!"

When you figure it out.

It may not be the best idea, but I know that everyone makes stupid errors. It also feels really awesome to figure out what the stupid error was and fix it!

Mine goes like this. I’ve followed along in a HackingwithSwift course on a simple SwiftUI ToDo list app. Finished, done, lovely. I started another solo project, and thought “Oh, the Navigation on this will be very similar to the ToDo app I just did, I’ll use that as a nice template.” And I thought I made all the correct changes to my data model, my main ContentView, and everything! The dreaded “White Screen of NOTHING” greeted me when I launched the app.

Nothing. Natta. Zilch. Not even the NavigationTitle string. Just a blank white thing.

So I have to kick in the bug squash mode. Data Model? Nope, it’s fine. ContentView? I don’t think so? Oh. Oh Justin. You didn’t inject the NavigationView into the WindowGroup of the app’s ‘@main’ struct. Wow. Fixed.

IT WORKS.

I mean. It’s an odd feeling when you feel both silly and accomplished at the same time. I think that is a very interesting aspect of learning to Code and being in the Software Development field. I never really had this same feeling in college studying music.

 

Don’t rely on Future You

Don’t rely on your future self to follow through on what present self wants you to do. You’re going to have to also not rely on “motivation” to help you develop good coding/developer habits.

Future Justin is going to get up at 7:00am and meditate for 20 minutes before showering and getting ready for the day. Future Justin is going to come home after an 8 hour day and work for another 2 – 3 hours on coding projects so he can have better skills.

Like hell he/I will.

When Future Justin becomes Present Justin at 7:00 and the bed is comfortable and sleep coats your will and motivation, your real motivation becomes “keep sleeping because it’s comfortable.” When Future Justin becomes Present Justin gets home from an 8 hour day of dealing with people, questions, and issues the last thing he’ll want to do is work for another minute on a computer.

So where does that leave me? Well, without “should”-ing all over myself the only thing is to create conditions that lead to better habits. Instead of going back to bed after feeding the dog, I go directly to the meditation cushion to start that habit. Instead of zoning out at the TV, after changing out of work stuff I grab my lap board and start a pomadoro timer to work and break for a set amount of time.

So tldr; f*cK your motivation. Develop good habits.

This shouldn’t be so difficult

Beginners are inclined to give rise to all kinds of thoughts; they have pain…and don’t know how to undergo the training.

Master Hsu Yun “What is a hua t’ou?”

I’ve been terrified to write, blog, or try to make any kind of contribution. Like so terrified that in the almost three years that I’ve been learning Swift code, I haven’t made any kind of contribution. I know the why of it, but that’s hasn’t been enough to actually push me off the cliff to write anything. Until today.

So this post is my promise both myself and you (whoever you are). I will write things and publish them here. So what will I write about? Primarily I want this space to be a blog about tech, learning, and my experience with these things. Occasionally I may write more personal thoughts, but I don’t want this space to be too much about that. I have other, not so public, places to do that. Mostly I’d like to explore the realm of learning to write Swift code and creating apps for macOS and iOS platforms. Hopefully what I write here can be helpful or useful to other people. I also hope that, if people read my word vomit, it can bring me help also.

Feel free to say hi! Find me on Mastodon: @JustinSeal@iosdev.space

This is what it is

So something happened to my WordPress installation. So here I am starting over. Again. It’s okay. Things happen, and I should learn to back-up my site frequently.