Links, September 6, 2024

In case you missed it, I made an album of cinematic/experimental electronica. I’m really happy with it, and would appreciate if you gave it a listen.

I’ve been busy otherwise, so this is short this week, but I’ve got a bunch of open tabs to read & close so next week should be really good.

The Door Problem

This oldie but goodie came across my radar again, and more and more describes how I think of my own work.

“So what does a game designer do? Are you an artist? Do you design characters and write the story? Or no, wait, you’re a programmer?”

50 tips in 50 days

A collection of documentation tips by Astro doc-writer Sara Rainsberger. There are all great, and many of the principles extend beyond doc writing into good UI design (mise en place) or code review (don’t let the easy edit distract you) and some are just plain good advice for technical communication (I dislike “like”, just follow this one simple tip, what’s in a name?).

Your pie doesn’t need to be original (unless you claim it so)

Baking a pie is a creative act. It’s personal, it’s inherently delightful, it’s an act of caring for others. It’s also a craft that one can improve at over time. Just buying the “best” pie would defeat the point.

Sometimes we just like to do things for the sake of doing them, and that’s ok. We’re here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you any different.

DynamicLand

Dynamicland is a nonprofit research lab creating a humane dynamic medium.

What that means is a way for real people in the real world to explore ideas together, not just with words and pictures, but with computation.

Bret Victor’s project has a new website. Watch the intro video. Victor has been one of the consistently biggest influences on my career, and I think this work is incredibly inspiring. There’s some background for DynamicLand in his rememberance of Doug Engelbart.