Category: blog

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.

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

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

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